Dr. MayKao Hang found support and strength in the St. Paul Eastside YMCA upon arriving to the Twin Cities as among the first of many Hmong refugees who arrived in the late 1970s.
Growing up in the largely Italian and German community, MayKao regularly visited the Y and participated in the many programs, including martial arts. She also appreciated a warm welcome from the Eastside Y's director, Larry.
"He was an Italian gentleman who grew up on the east side of St. Paul, and he used to come out and give hugs to all the kids that were there," MayKao recalls. "He was an ever-present community figure for young people in the neighborhood."
After graduating from Como Senior High School, MayKao earned a bachelor's degree from Brown University, an MA degree in Social Policy from the University of Minnesota and a doctorate in public administration from Hamline University. As president and CEO of the Wilder Foundation, she designed programs and initiatives to address community issues and worked to integrate behavioral health services, partnering wit the Eastside YMCA. She's currently the Vice President Strategic Initiatives and Founding Dean of the Morrison Family College of Health at the University of St. Thomas.
Check out highlights of MayKao's interview:
On her career: “It’s been a privilege and honor to travel what I say is a long distance in one generation. I feel like this community has given a lot to me. A lot of hands helping across the generations, and a lot of places helping along the way. And I find myself to be in a very fortunate situation where I’ve had opportunities that might not have otherwise have been possible because of great organizations like the Y and the Wilder Foundation.”
On her community impact: "I've mostly been driven by doing good, and because I've always had this passion for improving everything that comes into my life and circle, I have heard this call to serve from one job to the next, and people are always asking, 'How did you get to these roles?' And I think I'm just really passionate about what I'm working on. I try to do a really good job. I listen to feedback. I'm not scared to tackle big challenges over time, and I listen deeply to the people who are affected by the ills of society or whatever it is that they can't get access to. And I'm someone who's been motivated by never letting hope expire."
I know I'm not the greatest leader ever, and I think that maybe that humbleness comes from understanding that it's not how much you make, it's not how much you have, it's really about this mutual relationship that we have with each other and with society that determines how important we feel at any moment in terms of value and really makes us human and makes us become who we are. And when you don't have much of an ego, I guess you just can go far."
On her motivation to join the Y board: “The short answer is I was asked, and I care about the mission. The Y touches so many lives in so many places that aggregate impact makes a really big difference for individuals, families, and communities. And I also like the focus on whole person health and community wellbeing. There's alignment with the College of Health, and I've believed in this model and the work that the Y is doing for a really long time now because it's been my own experiences and also maybe from a research and scholarly perspective. Most of the evidence is actually pointing to the fact that you can't have healthy individuals without healthy communities, and that means a healthy network of organizations that are really committed to the people in different places.
On well-being for all: “Wellbeing for All is a great vision to strive for. It’s much harder to achieve than what most people realize because there are systemic inequities, policies, financial resources that don’t really promote or foster that kind of vision. As long as we remember that mind, body, spirit and community are all central to everything and that these are dynamic, interwoven factors that can’t really be separated from the human condition, then I think we’ll be okay. So it's something I can get behind and also something that is hard to achieve. But my dream would be that we work ourselves out of this work, but that probably won't happen for at least a hundred years or more.
On what moves her: “What’s moving me right now is gardening and running. There is something about being connected to nature, being connected with yourself physically and building that confidence that really builds confidence and leads to other great things. So I’m finding through running that I’m actually building social relationships, and there's a whole gardening community out there, just as passionate as I am about planting and growing things. Being in touch with that part of moving myself spiritually, physically through nature has been really important.”