Our Team

CIDA / Our Team
STAFFBOARD & COMMITTEESINTERNS

Young Seh Bae, Ph.D.

President/Executive Director

Founder Dr. Bae is a mother of two young men. One of her sons, Eugene, is a person with a disability. Ever since more

her son’s diagnosis, she has spent her life fighting for individuals with disabilities and their families. She earned her Ph.D. in special education from the Teachers College at Columbia University, and a MA in Business Education from NYU. She is the former President of KABHA and a faculty member of the Teachers College. Dr. Bae initiated the first parent education programs for Korean-American families with a NYS DDPC grant.

Joon Her

Youth & Adult Service Specialist

Joon Her graduated from Hunter College where he majored in Psychology. With an interest in pursuing more

child and adolescent psychology in the future, he hopes that CIDA will be a great learning opportunity. He has a strong background in data management and wants to make a positive impact in the community through his contribution to CIDA. In his free time, Joon loves to travel to eat all kinds of interesting foods and update his food blog.

MiJung Kim

Field Associate

Mrs. MJ Kim has a son, Willfree, who is a person with a psychiatric diagnosis. She has played a key role in more

community outreach and developing after-school program resources for the Korean American Alliance for Families with Disabilities (KAAFaD), including the free Taekwondo lesson project for children with disabilities. Formerly, she worked in the advertising department in the New York Korea Times and Family Day Care for a number of years. Mrs. MJ Kim is in charge of family engagement in Queens, NY.

Kelly Hur

Assistant Director of Communications

Kelly Hur is a mom of twin boys and lives in Long Island. Prior to joining CIDA, she worked more

in kids and family entertainment industry where she found her passion for education and curriculum development.

Kelly received a Bachelor of Business Administration from The George Washington University and a Master of Arts in Communication from Johns Hopkins University. She will be starting her second master’s degree in special education at St. John’s University in fall 2020.

Haewa Trakansook

Intake Specialist

Haewa Park (Intake Specialist) lives in Queens with her husband and two children.  After having a child more

with a developmental delay, she participated in CIDA’s parent gatherings and became an active parent leader.  In Korea, she majored in print media and she completed her art history major at Queen’s College in New York.  Haewa has been trained to participate in IEP meetings and learned about special education through CIDA’s Volunteer Advocacy Project (VAP) 2019.  In Fall 2020, she will be starting her Master’s program in social services at Fordham University.

Wendy Xia

Field Associate

Wendy Xia is a Chinese-American parent who is actively involved in her child’s school and other Chinese parents’ networks more

in New York City Public Schools in Queens. She speaks mandarin fluently and has a Master’s degree in Economics from Renmin University in China.
She also has a continuing education credential from Biola University and has received a Certificate in Integrative Counseling in 2018. Her tasks include: reaching out to Chinese parents and schools in Queens, coordinating parent training events, translating and interpreting, training and one-on-one assistant sessions.

Thomas Kim

Project Assistant

Tom is a first-generation Korean-American and lives in Brooklyn, NY.  As an undergraduate of the Class of 2020 at Macaulay more

Honors College at CUNY Brooklyn College, he majored in psychology with a minor in accounting. He is now pursuing a master’s degree in human resource management and development at NYU SPS. Tom helps to oversee various administrative tasks at CIDA such as donor management and grant proposal research and writing.

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