Pa Y. Vang

Pa Y. Vang is, first and foremost, a daughter of the Most High God. She is currently living in Chiang Rai, Thailand as a volunteer for the Mekong Minority Foundation (MMF), a nonprofit organization working with the “ethnic communities in the Greater Mekong Subregion to have strong bonds of love and kinship, enabling them to utilize available resources to their fullest potential and rely on each other sustainably”—good family, good community good society. She is the wife of Tongber S. Vang for 40 years, who went home to be with his Lord in 2016. Together, they pastored for 20 years in the Southern Baptist churches. She is a dedicated mother of three wonderful and incredibly strong sons, Solomon (32), Josiah (26), and Joseph (24). At best, she is the grandmother of four beautiful and smart girls and one amazing son, Charity (11), Genessa (10), Ellery (5), Grace (4), and Canaan (2). As a pastor’s wife, she supported her late husband in leading and shepherding the congregations through her work in the Sunday School, children’s ministry, and women’s ministry departments, both locally and statewide. She served as Sunday School multiplier and Children Ministry for the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist State Convention for more than 15 years. She led the MN-WI Hmong Woman Missionary Union as president for two years and remained active in its mission and work. Her passion is to see every child and woman to experience a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. 

As a professional, Vang is a philanthropist, social justice leader, and an advocate for Hmong women and girls. She has dedicated over 30 years to ending gender-based violence in the Hmong community, both as an advocate, and also a co-author and trainer for the nation’s first Hmong Batterer’s Intervention program, Sib Paj Ciaj Vaj. In addition, she has extensive expertise in organizational capacity building for culturally specific organizations, coalition building, community organizing, participatory action scholarship, batterer’s intervention, program development, advocating for language access for survivors of violence, and engaging men in gender justice work. Vang’s life 
work is to build spaces for Hmong women to become leaders in their own community, and for them to lead with passion, but also be grounded in purpose and community. Vang has received numerous recognitions for her work:

• The Significant Achievement in Domestic Abuse Issues award by the Governor’s Council on Domestic Abuse (1999)

• “DV Diva” by the WCADV for her work in expanding WCADV’s reach to 
communities of color (2003)

• The UW System Outstanding Women of Color in Education Award by the UW 
System Women’s Studies Consortium (2005)

• Dedication of over 10 years working to end violence against women in the 
Hmong community by her peers and the Department of Children and Family, 
Domestic Abuse Program, and

• Hmong Women of the Year by the Milwaukee Hmong Consortium (2011). 
Vang has her undergraduate degree from Hannibal-LaGrange College, Hannibal, MO and Masters in Urban Planning from UW-Milwaukee, and a Doctor of Ministry from the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, North Carolina.