Wena Teng CC’25 is a senior studying history and race andethnicity studies. Born in Queens and raised in Asia for a few years, Teng works to imagine and design culturally responsive social institutions that enable radical social change and economic justice amidst accelerating technological change. Most recently, she founded a collective called Labor of Change, a youth-led movement radically innovating democracy for economic justice. Teng previously worked on labor policy at the Urban Justice Center's Street Vendor Project, the New York State Senate, the White House and the Asian-Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies. On campus, she serves as a University Senator, co-president of Asian American Alliance, and executive board member for Columbia Undergraduate Law Review. As an APIA Scholar, Truman Scholar (NY’24), and Laidlaw Scholar, Teng intends to pursue a J.D.-Ph.D. to reconcile the gaps in labor law and immigration policy to build institutions designed by social technology and democratic innovation.