Island Liaison Board Members

JakinDee Perez Kosaka
Board Chair

Joni Pourchot
Board Treasurer

Miriam Aneo
Board Member

Merci J. Hernandez
Board Member
JakinDee Perez Kosaka is a Chamorrita, born on Guam and raised in the states and Germany, as the child of an Army veteran. She has lived with her family in Arizona since 2006 and currently serves as a Workforce Development Instructor for the Maricopa County Adult Probation Department, where she helps people improve their education, find employment, and prepare for advancement in their careers.
JakinDee spent over five years as an employment coach specializing in helping people with criminal backgrounds re-enter the workforce. She is a lifelong learner who enjoys sharing resources with others. When she isn’t working, she enjoys volunteering and mentoring women through SHE Leads! women’s leadership program and sharing scouting outdoor adventures with her family.
Joni Pourchot is the owner of Pourchot Accounting, LLC, which provides accounting services for non-profits and other small business in the greater Phoenix area and consults on non-profit governance. She has 20-plus years of non-profit accounting experience, including budgeting, audit preparation, business connections, and department supervision. Joni holds an MBA with accounting emphasis from the Keller School of Management of DeVry University and a bacherlor's degree in microbiology from Arizona State University. Joni also pursued a year of advanced study at Moody Bible Institute.
Miriam Aneo is from the Marshall Islands. Her parents are the late Dr. Enta Peter (dentist) and Jeita Peter, RN, whose impact on the medical community was significant during and after World War II.
Miriam was inspired by her parents' field of work and decided to pursue a career that would help her community. In 1994, while working for Mercy Healthcare, Miriam was transferred to Honolulu, Hawai’i, where she was the Patient Referral Coordinator, assisting patients (under the Section 177 Health Care Program) from four of the atolls that were affected by radiation as a result of nuclear testing conducted by the U.S. Miriam went on to work at Queens Medical Center as a translator for Marshallese residents who lacked necessary proficiency in the English language.
Later, Miriam worked for more than three years for Swissport International Ltd. at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, Hawai’i.
In 2015, Miriam moved her family to Phoenix, Arizona, after her eldest daughter graduated from high school in Honolulu. Since then, Miriam has continued to work with the Marshallese community living in Arizona. In 2020, Miriam became a part of the Arizona-based nonprofit organization Island Liaison as a member of the Board of Directors, focusing on Community Outreach/Interpreter (Marshallese).
Born on Guam, Merci J. Hernandez has made Arizona her home for the past 20 years. An employee of the Judiciary, she serves as a Departmental Liaison with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office and works closely with the Victim Advocacy Office. As a former member of the Maricopa County Diversity Council, Merci’s role with Island Liaison unknowingly began almost 15 years ago after a colleague requested a presentation featuring Guam and Micronesia for the City of Phoenix Diversity Program.

Kathy Nakagawa, Ph.D
Board Member

Joanne L. Rondilla, Ph.D
Board Member
Dr. Kathy Nakagawa is an Associate Professor in Asian Pacific American Studies and Culture, Society & Education in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University. She is a native Arizonan and received her Ph.D. from Northwestern University. Her research focuses on the social context of education and Asian Pacific American women's health & storytelling.
Originally from Dededo, Guam, Dr. Joanne L. Rondilla (she/her) is the proud daughter of Fernando and Sonia Rondilla, both of whom are immigrants from the Philippines. At the age of 13, Joanne moved with her family to Union City, California, where she finished high school. Currently, she is an assistant professor in Sociology and Interdisciplinary Studies and Asian American Studies at San José State University. In addition, she serves as a Program Specialist & Regional Steering Committee Facilitator for the ‘Ohana Center of Excellence (CoE). An award-winning educator, Joanne is a public scholar who served as a Public Voices fellow at The Op-Ed Project. Her writing and research focus on colorism, popular culture, and media representations. For more information, you can visit her website.

Xena Baza
Board Intern
Xena Baza is a graduate student studying Nonprofit Leadership and Management at Arizona State University (ASU). She was a military kid and grew up in Japan for 12 years, mostly in Okinawa, JPN. A proud Sun Devil, she graduated from ASU with a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Pacific American Studies and now considers herself a Phoenician. At the College of Health Solutions, Xena oversees academic contracts and health compliance as the Coordinator Sr. of Community Placements.