Rooted Leadership: A conversation with Bo Thao-Urabe

In this conversation, Metro State alumna Bo Thao-Urabe ’99, one of Minnesota’s most impactful and recognizable Asian American leaders, will share her story and path to being her most authentic, powerful self. She will reflect on lessons of perseverance, growth, and innovation, and engage audience members to consider what it means to be a rooted leader.

Bo is responsible for creating and building numerous civic and social organizations locally and nationally, as well as businesses that have advanced the ideals of justice, equity, and shared prosperity in Minnesota and beyond. She has done all of this by being grounded in her roots and working across sectors, generations, and cultures to make possible new paths forward. Bo’s lived experiences at the intersections of war, poverty, immigration, gender, culture, and race have continuously shaped how she connects the dots to reimagine and create solutions.

Bo is a practice-based “possibilian” with over 25 years of impactfully building community-centered, asset-based solutions. She recently transitioned as the founding executive and network director of the Coalition of Asian American Leaders (CAAL). She continues as Senior Advisor to CAAL and provides her expertise to other social justice efforts locally and nationally, serving as a Senior Consultant for the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund and the Common Counsel Foundation.

In addition to founding CAAL, Bo co-created RedGreen Rivers, the Anti-Racism and Intersectional Justice Fund, Hmong Women Achieving Together, and the Asian Pacific Islander Institute on Gender-Based Violence. She is one of the few people in Minnesota with a day named after her in the city of Saint Paul and state of Minnesota.