a homage to the ocean, where i grew up :)
As a researcher and Ph.D. student, Cecilia explores questions that concern civic/political behaviour, media effects, social capital, and deliberative democracy. As an individual and volunteer, she is driven by a curiosity and passion for how she, with others, can contribute sustainably and meaningfully to the world through collective action.
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Currently, she is thinking about local and community civic engagement in third spaces (as a bridging mechanism across political difference). Can community based activities or community oriented dialogue facilitate civic skills that can build respectful mutuality across difference? And to what extent do these type of social spaces and consequent networks change individual’s political efficacy and their political participation? More broadly, does community civic engagement shape their broader perceptions / values of democracy?
contact: cxpang@sas.upenn.edu
Her research and professional pursuits stem from roots in activism, advocacy, and entrepreneurship as a child and young adult in her local community. Having grown up immersed in the arts, she co-created spaces for youth civic engagement over the span of eight years by founding ajourney2success.com (2012) and Art2Heart Foundation (2014) and co-chairing YWCA Metro Vancouver’s Youth Advisory Council. As an award-winning artist, writer, and pianist (active 2005-2013), she connected thousands of youths until 2020 locally and globally online by providing opportunities for community involvement via arts, writing, and volunteering.
Previously, she worked as a policy analyst with the Canadian government and as a communications aide with the UN International Computing Center. For three years, she also served as a board director for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society’s B.C. chapter. Currently, she spearheads civic engagement initiatives in Philly as a WEF Global Shaper.
For her community engagements and scholastic achievements, she has been awarded Canada's Top 20 Under 20 (2015), YWCA Young Women of Distinction Nominee (2018), and UBC Wesbrook Scholar (2020). For her contributions towards Canadian politics, she was recognized with the Walter D. Young award (2021) and endowed with the Lieutenant Governor's Medal for Inclusion, Democracy, and Reconciliation (2021).
Acknowledgements
My parents left all that they knew in 1999. Restarting their lives in Canada with humble beginnings and working hard to give my sister and I a lifetime of opportunity, they are all that I am and all that I hope to be. It is with their sacrifice, fears, pain, and unconditional love that I have the honour and immense privilege to do the things I do. Pursuing my passions and having the space to learn, to fail, and to grow continually impacts my work and is at the heart of my unrelenting commitment to empower others, inspire them with their own strength through their difficulties, and most importantly to pursue love (empathy) above all.