Gayle Isa is the founder and former Executive Director of Asian Arts Initiative, a multi-disciplinary arts center in Philadelphia that engages artists, youth, and people of all ages and backgrounds to create and present art that addresses our social context and imagines and effects positive community change. She was the first Asian American appointed to serve on the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and has served on the Philadelphia Mayor’s Commission on Asian American Affairs and the Mayor’s Cultural Advisory Council, and the boards of organizations including the National Performance Network and the Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists. In 2014 she helped to organize and host the National Asian American Theater Festival and Conference in Philadelphia. After celebrating Asian Arts Initiative's 25th anniversary in 2018, she recently relocated back to her hometown of Los Angeles.