Meet Our Team

Founded with heart and driven by community, PCPL is powered by its founder, an incredible volunteer Board of Directors and volunteer team. Their leadership, expertise, and generosity of time make our programs possible and ensure that every contribution directly supports meaningful, lasting impact for the families we serve.

黄可靈
Theola Wong
Founder + Executive Director

Hi! I’m Theola and I’m so happy you are here. I am a 2nd generation CBC (Canadian born Chinese) who now lives in Portland, OR with my husband, stepdaughter and young son.

My mother and grandmother who lived with us, are from Hong Kong. My father’s side of the family is from Guandong Province, in Taishan County.

Our family spoke Cantonese at home, and I attended Cantonese weekend and summer school as a child. I am conversationally comfortable in Cantonese

Now, married to an American, we speak English at home though I speak to my son daily in Cantonese. As I am not a native speaker, I push myself to teach him what I do know and keep learning together in the process.

彭明儀
Leah Pang-Garcia
Board Secretary

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Leah moved to New York City at age 15, where she served as the primary translator and interpreter for her non–English-speaking parents. Her Cantonese roots have remained central to her identity, from her close friendships in New York to her ongoing commitment to preserving her native language and culture. As one of Portland Cantonese Play + Learn’s founding families and current Board Secretary, Leah is passionate about fostering a welcoming space where Cantonese language and culture can thrive for future generations.

Kevin Lo
Board Treasurer

Kevin Lo (he/him) is a native Cantonese speaker originally from Hong Kong. Before settling in Portland he lived in Canada and the San Francisco Bay Area. He currently works as a Data Manager for a community development financial institution (CDFI) focused on affordable housing and early care and education. He earned his Bachelor's in Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, before completing his Master of Public Administration and Master of Arts in International Relations at the Maxwell School in Syracuse, New York.

許沃文
John H. Chung
Board Advisor

John H. Chung is a retired attorney with 35 years of experience in securities regulation, compliance, and BD/RIA oversight. He has served as Chief Legal and Compliance Officer for Silicon Valley Bank’s broker-dealer and asset management subsidiaries and as Executive Vice President and COO of Wells Fargo Van Kasper. John has also provided expert testimony in over 80 securities litigation and arbitration cases nationwide.

A graduate of Queens College, Brooklyn Law School, and the Securities Industry Institute (SIFMA/Wharton), John is a member of the New York and California Bars. He served on the board of the Asian Pacific Fund for over 10 years, contributing to community outreach, donor cultivation, and judging the annual Growing Up Asian in America program.

呂詠琳
Melanie Lui
Community Volunteer

Mel was born and raised in Toronto, ON, Canada (CBC like Theola!). Her parents were originally from Hong Kong and she was exposed to a lot of dimsum, bolo baos and HK cinema while growing up. While English is her primary language, her grandmas only understood Cantonese, so she had to learn it to converse with mama and popo. Since moving to Portland for work, her Cantonese felt out of practice and she is so glad to have discovered PCP&L! She became a volunteer to celebrate holidays with the community and to improve her conversational Cantonese with kids and adults of all ages.

余誠信
Dale Yee
Community Volunteer

Dale was born in Boise, Idaho, but spent his early childhood in Chinatown, San Francisco, CA before moving to Eastern Oregon in the mid-1980s. His family is originally from Kowloon, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China, and have been in the Chinese restaurant business for over 35 years. Dale had the unique experience of only speaking Cantonese until age 5, not learning English until kindergarten. He attended Oregon State University and moved to Portland for work thereafter. A veteran of the Iraq War, he served for 7 years in the US Marine Corps. Dale also organizes many events with Cantonese Social PDX to bring people together and share in our collective culture. When he’s not volunteering, you can usually find him singing karaoke, enjoying nature and hiking, finding new places to eat, or spending quality time with his two wonderful children.

Jon Miller
Community Volunteer

Jon works in tech for a living, but his real passions lie in his many hobbies, including playing music, badminton, and spending time outdoors. He is an avid learner of Cantonese and is deeply involved in the Portland Cantonese community as a volunteer. Beyond his local work, he is also part of an online team creating free, speech-accurate Cantonese subtitles for existing Cantonese media; the project can be found at https://cantocaptions.com.

The second of nine siblings, Jon brings many years of experience working with children and families, including roles as a math tutor, middle school teaching assistant, and daycare volunteer.