Luann (Lulu) is a queer and disabled pinay cultural worker with over a decade of experience in digital strategy, creative production, and grassroots community building. Her art practice is an embodiment and collaboration with the Babaylan spirit, connecting the Self with the Collective to manifest new realities, bring balance to the Earth, and align with our Higher Selves. She’s based in Anaheim, CA with her corgi, Bao. Follow her on Instagram at @bgdecolonized.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES
2017 – Current: Freelance Writer and Digital Strategy
2019 – 2021: Digital Strategist, ‘me too.’ International (The #MeToo Movement)
2016 – 2018: Communications Director, Family Forward Oregon
2013 – 2016: Community Engagement Manager, Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon
2013 – 2015: Co-producer, Disoriented Comedy
2013 – 2014: Staff Writer, Persephone Magazine
2012 – 2014: Contributor, APA Compass Radio Collective
2011 – 2013: Copy Aide, The Oregonian
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS & SCREENINGS
6/10/2022 Queer Women of Color Film Festival for Gabby Smashes season 1, San Francisco, CA
4/1/2022 DisOrient Film Festival for Gabby Smashes season 1, Eugene, OR
10/19/2019 Portland Film Festival for Gabby Smashes season 1, Portland, OR
6/17/2018 Gabby Smashes (screening + workshop), Allied Media Conference, Detroit, MI
6/8/2018 Queer Women of Color Film Festival for Gabby Smashes pilot, San Francisco, CA
5/6/2018 Worker’s Unite Film Festival for Gabby Smashes pilot, New York, NY
9/2017 – 2/2018 Igniting Voices: Object Stories (participatory space) art installation, Portland Art Museum, OR
SELECTED AWARDS
2017 Golden Spot Award Residency, Caldera Arts
2018 Project Grant, Regional Arts and Culture Council
BIBLIOGRAPHY & PRESS
Interview with Radicals and Revolutionaries Lab podcast, February 28, 2021
Creator And Activist Luann Tan Reflects On Life In Portland And Deciding To Leave, OPB, 2019
Interview with KBOO’s Pacific Underground for Gabby Smashes web series, Pacific Underground, 2018
“New Web Series “Gabby Smashes” Is One of the Most Realistic Representations of Portland Yet,” Willamette Week, 2018
“Indie Web Series Gabby Smashes… Depicts an Alternative Portlandia,” Portland Mercury, 2018
“Life Inside the Mickey Suit (Yep, It Gets Hot in There),” Los Angeles Magazine, 2017
“California Native Finds Her Racial Identity Changes in Ultra-White Oregon,” OPB, 2017
“Finally, a web series about that ‘nonprofit’ hustle,” Angry Asian Man, 2017
“Nonprofit” Web Series Centers POC as Protagonist,” Colors of Influence, 2017
“What is Creative Placemaking?”, Why Isn’t Anyone Talking About This? Podcast interview, 2015
EDUCATION
2015 M.A. Conflict Resolution
2012 B.A. Women, Gender, & Sexualities Studies
TRAINING
Shelly Lipkin, Film Acting Classes & Coaching
SPECIAL SKILLS
Yoga
Dance (ballroom, jazz, and hip hop)
LANGUAGES
English (Native)
Tagalog (Novice)