Gallery Talk: Nuclear Remembrance Day with ACOM​

Join us this Saturday as we commemorate Nuclear Remembrance Day with a special conversation featuring Melisa Laelan from the Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese (ACOM). This insightful talk is held in conjunction with the focus exhibition Navigating Lolelaplap.

Free, no tickets required.

Jowi (Clan Name): Raarno
Melisa Laelan is a native of the Marshall Islands, born and raise in the capital city of Majuro.  At age 17, she decided to leave the Islands to enlist in the United States Armed Forces.   Her career in the Army required her to travel globally, which gave her the first-hand exposure to other cultures.  It was then that she found her interest in working with people from different walks of lives. After ten years of serving in the Armed Forces, she ended her enlistment to attend University of Arkansas.  Shortly after her move to Arkansas, she discovered the need to have an interpreter in the court system. After two years pursuing her interpreter & license, Laelan became the first certified interpreter in the nation in 2013.  Subsequently, she was appointed by former Governor Mike Beebe to serve on the Arkansas Minority Health Commission.  Her official appointment makes her the first Marshall Islander to serve on a state agency capacity.  She was reappointed by Governor Asa Hutchinson.  She is a recipient of 40 under 40 award by Northwest Arkansas Business Journal in 2014.
Laelan is the founder of Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese (ACOM), a not-for-profit organization that is a Marshallese-operated organization and focuses on health, leadership, education, and culture. ACOM is a Marshallese community-led non-profit organization that promotes the preservation and revitalization of the Marshallese language and culture. She is now the Chief Executive Director of the organization