Jackie Han Named Champion of Pride for Spirit of Stonewall Awards, Honored for Community-Driven Art and Care
By Cesar A Reyes
Jackie Han’s journey to being named Champion of Pride for this year’s Spirit of Stonewall Awards is rooted in a life shaped by art, community, and a steady commitment to showing up for others even when it hasn’t been easy. Born in New York City and raised in the creative intensity of its 90s art scene, she grew up learning how powerful it can be to simply pay attention to people, to space, to culture in motion. That early grounding eventually carried her across the world to pursue an MFA in Cultural Management at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, where she studied the intersection of policy, education, and cultural practice. Still, her path didn’t follow a straight line. After more than a decade working in the corporate world, she made a choice that required real uncertainty: she left stability behind to become a full-time photographer.
“As an inclusive and sensory aware photographer, I capture portraits, community, and family events,” she said. But what she describes as photography is really something closer to witnessing. Through her lens, she has built relationships across communities, documenting moments that are often tender, fleeting, and deeply human. That work eventually led her into San Diego Pride not just as a volunteer, but as someone helping shape how artists are seen and supported within it.
Since 2022, Han has volunteered with San Diego Pride, later stepping into leadership as co-chair of Art of Pride, a program focused on expanding artistic expression throughout the festival and beyond it. What she helped build is not just a showcase, but a living space for experimentation and connection. “These initiatives have created more ways for artists to engage directly with the public,” she said, “transforming the San Diego Festival space into interactive, community-driven experiences.” Under her leadership, Art of Pride introduced business workshops for artists and installation-based work that invites people not just to look, but to participate. Alongside co-chairs Ren Black and Betty Bangs, and the broader Pride staff, she has worked to make space for artists who are often creating without a roadmap.
Being named Champion of Pride was not something she expected. “This was an unexpected honor and I am grateful for this recognition,” she said. But what follows that gratitude is something more complicated and more honest. She speaks openly about a stretch of personal difficulty in recent years, moments when stepping back entirely felt like the only option. “There were moments where I came close to walking away from volunteering, from my photography business, from all of it,” she shared. The award, then, is not just recognition it is interruption. A reminder that the work, even when exhausting or invisible, has landed somewhere meaningful. “Being named Champion of Pride is a reminder that my work has had meaning and purpose. It affirms that showing up, even when it’s hard, matters.”
Her commitments extend beyond Pride. She serves on the San Diego City College Photography Advisory Board, where she supports student engagement and advocates for inclusive learning. She is also active in animal welfare, working with organizations like the San Diego Humane Society and Kind Heart Coalition, continuing her belief that care does not belong in one category of life it moves across all of them.
When she talks about Pride itself, there is less focus on spectacle and more on presence. “I am just excited to see everyone out, proud and loud, expressing ourselves in fullness and loving who we want to love,” she said. For her, those moments of visibility are not just celebration they are continuation.
At the center of it all is a simple idea she returns to again and again: “The WORD is COMMUNAL CARE.” For Han, it isn’t theory. It’s practice. “It can look like making a stranger’s day with a thoughtful compliment, teaching a skill for free, or calling a friend who might be struggling,” she said. “It doesn’t take too much effort but the impact is exponential.”