When Jean Munson left Guam and arrived at 51吃瓜网万能科大 as a student in 2005, she thought the university was humongous. As campus evolved, so did her perspective.
After earning a bachelor's in history in 2009 and participating in NEW Leadership Nevada (NEWL), she became program manager for the program run by the Women鈥檚 Research Institute of Nevada in the College of Liberal Arts. There, she helps the state鈥檚 college women cut big goals down to size and take up space in the classroom, boardroom, and the community. Along the way, she鈥檚 broken barriers as an Asian American business woman and artist and used her voice to raise awareness of Asian American and Pacific Islander issues.
What inspired you to get into your field?
Pre-NEW Leadership I was thinking I had to have one career, either at a museum or teaching. NEW Leadership taught me that I can have all kinds of careers, at all types of seasons and ages in my life. I hit the ground running with art. I liked baking. I even tried my hand at being an aerobics instructor. My strongest experiment was in art.
Now as program manager at NEWL, I鈥檓 teaching and fostering flexibility in our students who are about to graduate or even in their college careers. That鈥檚 how I got into this role, a lot of experimentation and networking. NEW Leadership gave me a chance to work with a lot of people. Now I鈥檝e been on podcasts with other alums. I鈥檝e worked on a children鈥檚 book with another alum. It鈥檚 just been a really great space.
Tell us a little about your artistry and the impetus for starting your comics publishing company.
I graduated with a history degree and realized I wasn鈥檛 going to teach history. What did I really want to do? I was in the middle of the recession. Why not experiment with what I think I鈥檓 really good at, which is art. I put myself out there on Craigslist. I got work on murals. I illustrated a chapter book. I was still a very raw artist.
Even while working my day job, I would always take days off to learn from other artists in the valley, or I would go to networking events or conventions for artists. I decided to make my own series between 2010 and 2015. I gained a great amount of capital working on my comic 鈥淧ushover鈥 about being senior class president and being really burned out. With that capital and after a work injury at the bakery I managed, I decided to create an organization that could carry the good values I learned in NEW Leadership.
One day I went on Facebook and announced that anyone who wanted to start this comics company with me should meet me at the diner Blueberry Hill. Six men showed up. My husband and I have been sustaining Plot Twist Publishing since 2016. We鈥檙e continuing to make collaborative comics in the valley as well as teach comics. I am the first Asian woman/woman of color to run my own comics publishing company in Nevada. I wouldn鈥檛 even be able to label or name that if it weren鈥檛 for NEW Leadership. It taught me to pay attention to things I was pioneering.
What鈥檚 the last big project you completed and how did you celebrate or decompress afterward?
There are a lot of cool projects happening at WRIN like the . This 20th year I felt like an investigator. I looked at the roster of all our alums on social media and reached out. That was a big project. We had a really big following. We had 40-45 alums since 2003 participate. We got to hear their stories and reinvigorate their love for the program. It was a very emotional moment for me because it鈥檚 like they have this fervor to give back and be involved, and it鈥檚 because someone took a chance scouring LinkedIn to notice them. It鈥檚 like an unofficial sisterhood. Seeing them where they said they were going to be and then arriving there has been a very cool part of that project.
Is this what you thought you鈥檇 be doing when you grew up?
I always wanted to be a high school teacher, but not the kind that just collects homework and gives quizzes. I always wanted to be like the teachers I grew up with who were invested in my emotional well-being and where I wanted to go. I thought of a minor in education at the time, but it just didn鈥檛 feel like a good fit. Now in the role of program manager, the possibilities are endless. I have the ability to invent and to make something in a space better. I really am glad I found this role overall.
Tell us a funny story about one of your colleagues.
With NEW Leadership you get to see these very accomplished student leaders unwind when we have karaoke night after our keynote. Everyone feels very pumped. You see even the shyest person come out. This night was invented because when I was a NEWL student in 2009, we wanted to stay up late and kick up the CD player. To see something that I built as a young person still be used is great. Sometimes the speaker鈥檚 not working, or the projector鈥檚 not working. We鈥檙e just seeing the ingenuity and having fun. It鈥檚 always been something we look forward to in the middle of stressful programming.
What was your greatest day on campus and what was your toughest?
There was one summer where we were helping a student fight homelessness. We pulled every resource on campus to get them care. It鈥檚 really something to watch them thrive in their full-time employment now. Old Jean would鈥檝e said, 鈥榃hat can I get you?鈥 But every conversation I started with this student, I said, 鈥楬ow are you going to help yourself today?鈥
Teaching strategy versus codependency was a hard lesson I learned as an educator and a mentor. Just to see them have gained a little bit of weight has been really transformative for me. You come to work and want to help change lives and be part of their greatness.
What would campus look like without NEW Leadership?
There wouldn鈥檛 be as much female camaraderie. We created a community that isn鈥檛 money based. We wouldn鈥檛 see the level of female and queer leadership on campus. Those two things would be far less, especially in hard sciences. We鈥檝e given a great deal of skill-set training to those fields.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Do not drink three Frappuccinos a day. Get some real sleep. Otherwise you鈥檙e on track for some really poor health choices and stress. Schedule the pause.
Tell us about an object in your office and what it represents to you.
A candle I got in my first semester teaching in the art department. It was from my student who had a lot of attitude, and she was on track to be an art educator. It felt like a little bit of pressure teaching that semester. She gave me that candle after I gave everyone a comic book curated to their interest to close out the last day. She held me by the hand, looked me in the eye and said, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e a good educator. Please accept this.鈥 I have never lit this candle because it reminds me of her and what I aim to do for students.
Tell us about a moment in life when you鈥檇 like to have a do-over.
I really didn鈥檛 think graduate school was for me. I loved my history degree, but I didn鈥檛 know if it was going to expand more in women鈥檚 history because the faculty were starting to retire. I didn鈥檛 know if I wanted to get an MBA even though I run a publishing company. I already deal with the day-to-day operation of that. I thought I didn鈥檛 have a place for graduate school.
Sometimes during finals and midterms week, my students would open up to me on very personal issues they were dealing with. I kept thinking 鈥業鈥檓 their art instructor. Why are they telling me these things?鈥 I realized I had the power to make people feel safe and heard. I started to consider graduate school again for school counseling. This is an avenue that I can thrive at and that I care about. I haven鈥檛 been in school since 2009. It鈥檚 wild to finally arrive here.
What would be your ideal summer vacation?
I just did it. Even if I had a $1 million to travel the world, I would still always go back to Guam. For me, it鈥檚 home. It鈥檚 very far, 17-hour flight, not fun. But that鈥檚 my ideal vacation because being a historian, I love who I was in the past. I love learning about how that鈥檚 transforming now.
You鈥檝e lent your voice to important conversations about stemming anti-Asian hate such as the program. Why did you feel compelled to speak up?
As an undergrad here, I was doing cultural presentations for the Filipino-American Student Association. As for gaining my history degree, I only learned about women鈥檚 activism. I didn鈥檛 really learn about AAPI activism until I was a staff member, and I audited classes in the Asian and Asian American Studies program. I attended a Barrick Lecture Series and went up to one of the faculty members from that department. I told them I鈥檇 love to learn more, and they let me audit their classes.
I networked and collaborated with the students. I built a podcast with one of the students. We had candid conversations and educated each other on nuances in our culture. Having those conversations brought me to the 鈥淲e Need to Talk鈥 panel. After that I was absorbed into the logging my personal history about being in the comics scene as an Asian woman. Having those positions in advocacy don鈥檛 really matter to me; I just care about the conversations we鈥檙e having. I always had my hand in a lot of things.
Undergrads aren鈥檛 really encouraged enough to take those classes. I feel like I鈥檓 a gateway to say if you really like the things I鈥檓 talking about, check out Asian and Asian American Studies.
