Meet the Board
Meet the people behind AKA-LA…bringing Korean adoptees together through community and connection.
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Heather Gromley
President
Heather was adopted as an infant from Seoul to her family in central Illinois. She wasn’t interested in Korean culture or activities growing up, despite her parents’ best efforts. She later came out of the fog as an adult thanks to moving to Los Angeles, being introduced to BTS, joining AKA-LA, and finding her birth family. Heather reconnected with her birth family in 2018 and has since made a few trips to South Korea, and her brother has visited her in LA. Korea has become one of her favorite places to travel to. -
Rebecca Whitehead
Vice President
Rebecca is a mixed Korean domestic adoptee based in Riverside, CA. Growing up in Riverside, a city with a foundational role in Korean American history, Rebecca was exposed to bits and pieces of Korean culture through attending Korean churches throughout childhood. t 13 years old, Rebecca planted the seeds of her original family reunion with a…
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Lucas Lund
Secretary
Lucas was adopted from Korea when he was a little over six-months old to a family in Minnesota. He grew up with one adopted sister in rural Minnesota and was not exposed to much Korean culture for most of his life. Lucas moved to California for school in 2010 and has been in California on and off since then. As he grew up, he found a love of food and the…
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Kate Manthei
Treasurer
Kate was adopted from South Korea around the age of 2 and grew up in both Michigan and California. Growing up, other than her sister (non-bio, KAD), she didn’t have many Korean adoptee influences around her, so exploring that part of her identity didn’t really begin until her late teens—when questions about adoption, identity, and belonging started to feel…
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Annie Wiltzer
Events Administrator
Annie was adopted from Korea as an infant and raised in Michigan, where she grew up with little connection to Korean culture or community. As a millennial who came of age alongside the rise of the internet, she often navigated identity in a time when access to diverse stories and cultural touchpoints wasn’t as immediate or widespread.
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Aryf Hussain
Board Member
Aryf was adopted to Sweden at 12½ months old, to an Indian father and Swedish mother. Around two years later, his sister arrived, also from Korea. The family lived in Vällingby (a suburb of Stockholm) till he was almost 10, and then moved to Canada (Toronto and Edmonton). He has since been in Los Angeles more than half his life.
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Cam Anderson
Board Member
Born in Busan, Cam was adopted at age four and grew up living in Washington state alongside a KAD (non-bio) sister. With extended family spread across both Washington and the Midwest, he found solace in the forests of the Pacific Northwest and lakes of Minnesota.
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Charlie M
Board Member
Charlie was adopted from Korea when he was a few months old and raised by his family in Hawaii before moving to rural Georgia, where he grew up with limited exposure to Korean culture outside of his Korean mother. Navigating his identity in that environment was challenging, particularly as a Korean mother and a white father raised him.
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