Esther K. (she/her) is an active participant in grassroots organizing around Asian American and Pacific Islander issues; specifically, as it relates to sex workers’ rights and anti-gentrification efforts in Chinatowns. She is an organizer with Red Canary Song – an Asian-American sex workers and allies lead group focusing on migrant massage parlor workers outreach. With RCS, she is working on the full decriminalization of sex work in New York, in coalition with Chinatowns across the U.S. to build political lines, and does public education. She’s spoken at the University of Chicago, U Mich Law, and Columbia University around anti-trafficking laws and sex workers’ rights. 

Currently, she is the Communications Associate at The Bronx Defenders and works cross-practice to roll out press releases, press placements, social media campaigns, and tracking social media analytics among other responsibilities. 

Prior to RCS and BxD, she interned for Rahm Emanuel for the City of Chicago’s Press Office and, during her time in Illinois, did anti-trafficking work in Chicago. She received both her B. A., with a double major in English and Philosophy, and a Journalism Certificate from Wheaton College (IL). During her time in college, she studied abroad at the University of Oxford under Dr. Emma Plaskitt and Dr. Richard Lawes.