Alum: Tia Ho ’13

Fresh from graduating college in 2017, Tia Ho ’13 was faced with a choice: jump into the workforce, or pursue a path of self-discovery? Tia chose the latter, making the decision to move to Vietnam, a country she had never visited. 

“Being raised by two generations of women—both political refugees who fled Vietnam with the rest of my mom’s family in 1975—within a multicultural context had a huge influence on my upbringing, outlook, and values,” she said. “It was important to me to connect with my family’s roots and their extensive history in the country before starting my career.”

That courageous move had a ripple effect in Tia’s life that has guided her to a career driven by a passion for philanthropy and the arts. Self-described as social, adventurous, and brazenly optimistic, Tia currently resides in New York City and works for KEXP—a Seattle-based nonprofit arts organization serving music lovers through in-person, broadcast, and online programming. Tia manages social media and digital community building, in addition to producing content and being part of the station’s remote crew for international festivals. 

During the pandemic, she led a life-changing grassroots fundraiser that raised emergency relief funds for Asian and Pasifika artists in Washington. Tia explained she was able to make a difference by assisting KEXP’s efforts with the Seattle Artist Relief Fund (SARF) coupled with a virtual music festival. 

The Seattle Artist Relief Fund was started by Gabriel Teodros, a KEXP DJ and Seattle hip-hop artist, and his partner, Ijeoma Oluo, author of the best-selling So You Want to Talk About Race. Tia said Teodros and Oluo started the fund to provide artists with emergency relief for immediate needs such as rent, food, and medical costs. Ultimately, SARF became the largest fund for independent artists in the region—eventually raising over one million dollars. KEXP was also the official sponsor of Refill 2020, a festival showcasing local talent, raising more than twenty-four thousand dollars for SARF. 

Tia said that seeing the impact SARF had was motivation to do more, especially within her own community. “The initial rumblings of the pandemic in early 2020 were accompanied by stories of Asian-owned restaurants seeing fewer customers, with some being vandalized, and Asian people being attacked in the street,” Tia said. “It was hard to stomach the idea of Asian elders being targeted out of misplaced anger and bigotry fanned by a divisive political ‘leader.’ I started thinking about how to support my community and how to challenge the ignorance that had bubbled to the surface in many, many fearful people.” 

In the summer of 2021, she launched UPLIFT: a twelve-week giveaway series that featured twelve artists in different disciplines and industries across Seattle’s Asian and Pasifika communities. “I partnered with Wing Luke Museum, the only pan-Asian museum in the country, to manage the applications and distribution of funds to the artists,” Tia said. “We raised over fourteen thousand dollars that was distributed to Asian and Pasifika creatives who had applied for emergency relief.”

This fall, Tia is headed to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she’ll help film sessions with twelve Argentinian bands as part of KEXP’s road crew. “You never know what opportunities will lead where, so get in the habit of saying, ‘yes,’” Tia said of her advice to graduating Bush students. “Take risks, and I guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised that—get ready for the cliché—you’re capable of doing anything you set your mind to.”

Fresh from graduating college in 2017, Tia Ho ’13 was faced with the choice: Jump into the work field or pursue a path of self-discovery? Tia chose the latter, making the decision to move to Vietnam, a country she had never been to. 

“Being raised by two generations of women—both political refugees who fled Vietnam with the rest of my mom’s family in 1975—within a multicultural context had a huge influence on my upbringing, outlook, and values,” she said. “It was important to me to connect with my family’s roots and their extensive history in the country before starting my career.”

That daring yet courageous move has made a ripple effect in Tia’s life that has guided her to a career filled with a passion for philanthropy and the arts. Tia currently resides in New York City and works for KEXP—a nonprofit arts organization serving music lovers through in-person, broadcast, and online programming. Tia manages social media and digital community building, in addition to producing content and being part of the station’s remote crew for international festivals. In the summer of 2021, she was responsible for a life-changing grassroots fundraiser that raised $14,000 in emergency relief funds for Asian and Pasifika artists in Washington during the pandemic. 

“We’ve all been tasked to be courageous every day within our current climate, and I’ve certainly felt and embraced a responsibility to be courageous as I’ve gotten older,” Tia said. “The idea of courage has definitely changed for me, partially because I’ve gotten older and realize I’m more capable than I thought myself to be.” 

Tia, who began at The Bush School in the Fifth Grade, said art has always been a focal point in her life, in particular music. She credits former Bush Music Teacher Michael Gettel as someone who helped ignite that passion.  

“He led with so much passion and enthusiasm, and it was infectious,” she said. “I had no idea that I would end up working in music, even though I’d known I’d wanted to since I was in the Fourth Grade.”

Attending Scripps College in Claremont, California, and graduating with a degree in organizational studies with a focus in social entrepreneurship, Tia knew music was at the crux of what she wanted to pursue. After making the decision to move to Vietnam in 2017 to learn more about her own history, Tia was presented with a job offer to continue living in Vietnam but was pulled back to Seattle to help a close friend. Tia began a part-time job at KEXP as a social media assistant. Since that moment, her love for music has blossomed into a career. 

“I’ve loved music ever since I was a kid,” Tia said. “I’ve always been acutely aware of its power to bring people together, to acknowledge feelings that are difficult (or impossible) to describe with words, and to inspire a transportive experience among listeners.”

Fast forward a few years, and Tia is now working full-time for KEXP. It’s the summer of 2020 and like many individuals, artists and artists of color are struggling during the pandemic. Tia explained she was able to make a difference by assisting KEXP’s efforts with the Seattle Artist Relief Fund (SARF) coupled with a virtual music festival. 

The Seattle Artist Relief Fund was started by Gabriel Teodros, a KEXP DJ and Seattle hip-hop artist, and his partner, Ijeoma Oluo, author of the best-selling So You Want to Talk About Race. Tia said Gabriel and Ijeoma started the fund to provide artists with emergency relief, and they became the largest fund for independent artists in the region—eventually raising over one million dollars to help artists pay for immediate needs such as rent, food, and medical costs. KEXP was also the official sponsor of Refill 2020, a festival showcasing local talent, and raising more than twenty-four thousand dollars for SARF. 

“One of the ways we (KEXP) promoted the festival was a conversation I had with Gabriel and Ijeoma that dug into the issues artists of color were facing during the initial wave of the pandemic and the impact that donating to SARF had,” Tia said. 

Self-described as social, adventurous, and brazenly optimistic, Tia said that seeing the impact SARF had was motivation to do more, especially within her own community. 

 

“The initial rumblings of the pandemic in early 2020 were accompanied by stories of Asian-owned restaurants seeing fewer customers, with some being vandalized, and Asian people were being attacked in the street,” Tia said. “It was hard to stomach the idea of Asian elders being targeted out of misplaced anger and bigotry fanned by a divisive political ‘leader.’ I started thinking about how to support my community and how to challenge the ignorance that had bubbled to the surface in many, many fearful people.”

She explained that so much of the art we enjoy has been created at the hands of Asian and Pasifika artists, in Seattle and beyond. With that in mind, Tia began to develop an idea for a fundraiser that would raise emergency relief for artists of Asian descent in Seattle, spotlighting some of those artists through the fundraising model itself, and celebrate the resilience of our communities. 

After a few initial chats and more brainstorming with top executives at KEXP, in the summer of 2021 she launched UPLIFT: a twelve-week giveaway series that featured twelve artists in different disciplines and industries across Seattle’s Asian and Pasifika communities. 

“Every week of the campaign, I partnered with a different artist to offer a giveaway that would raise money for an emergency relief fund that Asian and Pasifika artists in Washington would be able to apply to,” Tia said. “I partnered with Wing Luke Museum, the only pan-Asian museum in the country, to manage the applications and distribution of funds to the artists. I started an Instagram account for the campaign, and with support from the Wing—and, most importantly, the partnering artists’ communities—the results were truly incredible. We raised over fourteen thousand dollars that was distributed to Asian and Pasifika creatives who had applied for emergency relief.”

Since January 2021, Tia has been working in NYC for KEXP building the digital community. This fall, she’s headed to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she’ll help film sessions with twelve Argentinian bands with the station as part of KEXP’s road crew.