Sachi Watase
Sachi Watase's profile.
Sachi Watase is from Albuquerque, NM and has a background in community organizing, teaching, and serving survivors of sexual assault. Watase is a Fulbright Scholar, an alum of the NM Women of Color Leadership Initiative, and a 2025 Albuquerque Business First 40 Under 40 Honoree.
She currently serves as the Executive Director of the NM Asian Family Center, a community-based organization offering culturally and linguistically tailored programs and services to Asian, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian families in NM. As members of the groups they serve, Watase and her team understand, on a deeply personal level, the need for equitable access to critical social services, multigenerational programming, and platforms to uplift and empower community voices.
Outside of work, she likes to bake cakes, roller skate, play board games, and collect tiny things!
Q: Our theme is “Building Belonging in Albuquerque”. What does this mean to you, and what can people do to nurture this?
Watase: From a young age, I learned that New Mexico was made up of three cultures: Indigenous, Latino, and white. I repeated that story of New Mexico to others, not realizing that I had internalized an image of New Mexico that excluded me. I often saw my heritage reflected only as something to consume or exoticize, a result of this “tricultural” myth, which deeply shaped my own sense of belonging. After seeking belonging all over the world, an opportunity at the New Mexico Asian Family Center brought me back home after ten years away. I grappled with the decision to return but soon realized the meaning of working in the community that raised me, for an AAPINH organization offering the kind of programs I wish had existed when I was growing up. I’m now committed to challenging the myth that defines who “belongs” in New Mexico. For me, belonging means we stop asking people to prove they belong and instead recognize that they already do.
Q: What do you hope to see for our community’s growth in the next few years?
Watase: I hope to see a broader understanding of who makes up New Mexico and deeper investment in the communities that have long been overlooked. Our AAPINH population continues to grow, but recognition and resources haven’t kept pace. I want to see our stories woven more visibly into the narrative of this state, not just during heritage months, but in policy, education, and everyday life. At the same time, I hope our growth is rooted in humility and responsibility. As settlers, immigrants, and guests on the unceded land of the Tiwa, Tewa, and Diné peoples here in Albuquerque, we must remember that our belonging here is intertwined with their ongoing stewardship, resistance, and survival. Real growth means strengthening relationships across communities, deepening language access and mutual care, and reshaping systems so that everyone can thrive.
Q: Can you talk a bit about your heritage and why APINH visibility is important to you?
Watase: I am Japanese American and grew up in Albuquerque. Visibility to me means being trusted in our wisdom, not only recognized for our culture.
Q: How do cultural values or traditions shape the way your organization approaches support and empowerment?
Watase: Rather than forcing ourselves into prescribed “best practices,” we let our communities define what care and success look like for them. Those cultural values guide us to move at the pace of trust and to build systems that feel familiar to the people we serve.
Q: Who were your mentors, and how do you honor those who came before us? Do you have any advice for people looking to find their own mentors?
Watase: I’ve been shaped by many people who believed in me. One of them is Kei Tsuzuki, who encouraged me to return to Albuquerque and trust that I had something to offer my community. Her belief opened the path that led me to the New Mexico Asian Family Center. I also carry deep gratitude for Dr. Dely Alcantara, our founder, and for the generations of community builders, organizers, and visionaries who created the foundation I now get to walk on. Even though I never met some of them, I feel their impact and mentorship all the time—the ones here with us today, the ones who could not make it, the ones who have departed, the ones whose work was never seen or acknowledged, the ones who have challenged us and pushed us to be better, and the ones yet to come. My own path into leadership hasn’t been linear, and I’ve learned that mentorship doesn’t always come in expected ways. Sometimes it’s someone who quietly models care, or challenges the way you see the world, or trusts you with responsibility before you think you are ready. I think we find our mentors by staying open to those moments of generosity and learning to recognize them as guidance.
Q: The NM Asian Family Center has been a safe and healing space for many. What have you learned about community care through your leadership?
Watase: My work with NMAFC has taught me that community care begins with caring for the people doing the work. If we want to sustain healing work, we have to create conditions where those caregivers feel supported, trusted, and seen. I’ve learned of many ways that community care can be realized: through sharing food, integrating every generation, making each other laugh even when times are tough, or holding silence for someone’s grief.
How to Support Sachi Watase’s Work
Donate to New Mexico Asian Family Center at nmafc.org