Kanley Souet-Pich

Project Manager for New Light Program, Outreach Worker, and Interpreter

Kanley Souet-Pich is a proud Cambodian American, daughter of refugees who survived the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia. She was raised in Oakland, California. During her childhood, her family faced many obstacles that resulted from poverty and an unsafe living environment. Kanley did not get the opportunity to graduate from high school and became a mother for the first time at the age of 19 years old. In 2019, her husband was incarcerated and detained by ICE. She then organized her community, with the support of loved ones and CERI, to help bring her husband home. Kanley took inspiration from the successful campaign for the release of her husband and is now our Project Manager of The New Light Program, which serves unjustly deported Cambodian Americans living in Cambodia and people at risk of deportation, those being released from incarceration, and those beginning re-entry. Kanley is also an Outreach Worker and Interpreter, and facilitator of our Punlu Setrei Khmer women’s group, and serving her community at CERI. She has recently gotten her GED and will further pursue her education to become a social worker. In her free time, you will find Kanley at home with her family, growing traditional Cambodian herbs, knitting hats for the elderly, sewing, or fishing. Through both her professional and home life, Kanley strives to embody the change that she wants to see in her community and provide an abundant future for her family.

Email: kanley.spich@cerieastbay.org