Episode 12: Kristina Wong
Kristina started the “Auntie-Sewing Squad” as a way to connect with friends during the pandemic. Today it’s a national network with more than 800 volunteers doing their part to help vulnerable communities. Like Kristina, many members of the Sewing Aunties are of Asian descent, and their families’ involvement in the garment industry played a role in their passage to America.
Although sewing has been a part of Kristina’s life since she was young, she shares that she only took it up seriously when she started sewing props for her shows. Whatever the performance—whether it’s her current show, “Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord,” “The Wong Street Journal”, or “Kristina Wong for Public Office”, Kristina discovered that using props made it easier for the audience to relate to her and to the stories she’s sharing. One of her favorite examples was when she created hundreds of felt hashtags as props to demonstrate the rise of the cancel culture. Whether she was throwing hashtags at the audience or they at her, it was a very tactile way to describe a culture that’s very digital. (6:30 -11:08)
When her tour of “Kristina Wong for Public Office” was canceled due to the pandemic, Kristina saw an article that hospitals were looking for cloth face masks, and so she made one. Then she posted on social media that she’d make masks for anyone who was immunocompromised or a frontline worker. For every 30 masks she sent out, a request for 90 more would come in. Her passion builds as she talks about the impact this effort had on her, the mask recipients, and the volunteers. When a neighbor who was helping her said that aunties are being called on to fix this, Kristina was struck by the image of aunties because it made her think of a non-threatening immigrant lady who’s just kind of caring and sweet and doing the work of a soldier. And so, the group became the Auntie Sewing Squad. (13:12- 17:50 )
Before long, the group shifted its focus from medical workers to farmworkers, indigenous reservations, migrants at the borders, incarcerated people, and poor communities that were impacted and that had no other source of support. The fact that many of these people were victims of systemic racism was not lost on the Auntie Sewing Squad. To provide support for The Auntie Sewing Squad volunteers, the group has started “Auntie Care.” It has partnered with Hollaback for bystander intervention training and is also providing self-defense training for many of its volunteers. Kristina explains that while the actual pandemic is winding down, the racial pandemic continues. She and the Auntie Sewing Squad are committed to helping fight it through labor and fabric.
Because of assimilation and loss of her native language, Kristina feels that she lost connection to her heritage. She re-discovered that connection through sewing. When she was with her grandmother, and her grandmother started adding stitches to what she was working on, Kristina realized that sewing was a language they shared — a language that can provide a bridge to the past and the future. (40:00 -43:19)
Kristina shares how the group has taught everyone to be generous with each other, and she talks about the power of generosity. Her book, The Auntie Sewing Squad Guide to Mask Making, Radical Care, and Racial Justice will be released in the fall and chronicles the evolution of The Auntie Sewing Squad. A cross between anthology, memoir, and visual record, it shines a light on the power of community. In addition to the book, she’s also re-working “Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord” for the stage. It will be premiering in New York this coming fall.
Kristina’s generous spirit, and her belief that giving more to others is a way to create more power for yourself, are both brought to life in her work and in this interview. As you listen, you’ll find yourself thinking about ways you can create a better world.
If you’d like to reach out to Kristina or find ways to support the Auntie Sewing Squad’s efforts, visit auntiesewingsquad.com