In January, TAP-Atlanta was voted in by their peer TAPs and is now an official TAP Chapter. Congratulations and welcome to our newest family member! TACL conducted a short interview with Wellington Tzou, TAP-Atlanta’s Founding President to learn a little more about him and TAP-Atlanta. Here is what we found out:

TACL: Tell us about yourself! It can be about anything – where you grew up, your professional background, how long you’ve been involved in the TA community, your hobbies, etc.

WT: My parents moved here from Taiwan to go to school at Georgia State University and they ended up settling down in Atlanta area where I was born and raised. My parents were always very involved with the Taiwanese community and as a by-product, so was I. I would meet several of my long time friends through the picnics and events hosted by the local Taiwanese American Association. This feeling of community is what led me to found the Taiwanese American Student Association at Emory University and would eventually pave the way for TAP-Atlanta.

TACL: What is the history of TAP-Atlanta – when did it become a Provisional Chapter and why did you decide to start a provisional chapter in Atlanta?

WT: We began discussions of forming a TAP in Atlanta when then TACL president Bob Wu reached out to my sister Evelyn to ask about the TACL chapter in Atlanta and the possibilities of starting a TAP. My sister and I reached out to a few of our friends to see if there was any interest in forming a board and to explore interest. After we formed the board, we began to hold preliminary events in late 2013 to gauge the interest in our community. After seeing the turnouts, we felt that we could move forward with attempting to get provisional chapter status. TAP-ATL became a provisional chapter in January of 2014. We received our full chapter status in January of 2015.

One of the major reasons that I wanted to start a TAP-ATL was because I felt we were missing some of that community that I felt when I was growing up in Atlanta. Whenever I went to the TAA events, I felt slightly out of place because the people in attendance were the older, first generation. Based off of how many Taiwanese people were in TAA, I figured there should have been a lot more people my age. If we were able to gather all the local second generation and the transplants that come here for work, we could build a strong community in Atlanta and create a place for others like us to meet.

TACL: How has being a part of TAP-Atlanta, TACL, etc. affected or changed your life?

WT: Other than getting to meet super awesome and inspirational people at the conventions, it has made me more aware of just how many Taiwanese people are in our local area. It is always exciting to meet someone new and to let them know about TAP and what we are hoping to accomplish.

TACL: What has been your favorite TAP-Atlanta event so far?

WT: I should probably say all of our events are my favorite, but the one that I enjoyed the most so far was our Mandarin Dinner Series at Ah-ma’s. They gave us an exclusive preview of some new menu items to try out. Who doesn’t like events with good food?

TACL: What is one piece of advice you would give someone looking to start a provisional TAP chapter?

WT: I think one of the most important things when starting a chapter is having a board that gets along well and that trusts each other. The board does not necessarily have to hang out with each other all the time, but not being annoyed by each other’s presence helps out a lot. Starting something new is always tough, so having people that work well together makes things a lot smoother and is one less thing to worry about.

TACL: If you could sit down with one person (deceased or alive or fictional or not famous) for an hour and talk to them about anything, who would that be and what would you want to talk to him/her about?

WT: I think I would be interested in meeting Captain Malcolm Reynolds of the starship Serenity. I would be interested talking to him about what it’s like to run an intergalactic smuggling ring.