Suelin Chen Redacted — File 25-0655

Dear Ms Saulters, ​ I'd like to join the human rights commission because I'd like to contribute to my Somerville community and work on the important issues of our time. I've been a Somerville resident for ten years; before that I lived in Cambridge since 1999 and I grew up in the Boston area. ​ I’m a founder who also sits on the board of 2 different non-profits--the MIT List Visual Arts Center and the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center (CIMC). I also co-chair the DEI committee at the CIMC. ​ As Founder and CEO, I have raised $9 million dollars for my company Cake (joincake.com), the largest site for funeral and end-of-life planning in the world, that over 100 million people have visited. Women only receive 2% of venture capital funding, so I am well aware of the disparities and challenges there. Prior to founding Cake, I served as the Director of the Lab at Harvard University, advised​ healthcare companies on commercial strategy as a transaction advisor at IMS Health​ Capital, and earned my BS and PhD from MIT, where I engineered new medical​ technologies to support doctors and patients in making better treatment decisions. I was​ named to the Fortune 40 under 40 list and the Care 100 list for being one of the most influential people in care. I've co-facilitated a 13-week anti-racism course, and have been invited to speak on anti-racism to groups like Pfizer. I am also engaging more in volunteer opportunities including in Cambridge Heart and Green and Open Somerville. I'm an Asian-American, and have been a victim of a range of racist actions. I also fully understand that my relative proximity to whiteness grants me privileges that many people, especially Black people, do not have. I am troubled by how the model minority myth is weaponized to prevent solidarity between Asians and other groups oppressed by white supremacy. I'm also an engaged member of my community, with two young kids. In my opinion, kids are often dehumanized and oppressed and I'd like to be a voice for them as well.

I work hard to deconstruct the oppressive systems that I have been born into, and am humble and open to all that I still have to learn. I believe in the inherent value of all human beings (and all living things!). Thank you for your consideration, and I'm happy to discuss further. Suelin