Tola Livesey

Board Member

Tola is a 1.5 generation Cambodian American who currently lives in the Los Angeles area by way of Chicago. She has her master’s in library and information science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and works as an elementary school librarian and volunteers her time as an archivist and oral historian concentrating on preserving Cambodian American histories and stories. She aspires to one day develop a post-custodial digital archives built for, and by, Cambodian Americans. 

Tola has worked at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago as the Internship and Volunteer Coordinator and prior to that volunteered at the National Cambodian Heritage Museum and the Cambodian Association of Illinois assisting with community projects and programs. In early 2023, she was one of three oral historians who conducted interviews for the “Cambodian Americans – Oral History of 1.5 Generation,” a project conducted by Pacific Asian Counseling Services and funded by the Los Angeles Department of Mental Health. One of the project goals was to explore the factors that contributed to their survival such as the coping skills used to handle emigration and how trauma impacted their well-being. The collection can be viewed via the Historical Society of Long Beach website. 

Tola is married with two children and loves all outdoor adventures including camping and hiking with her family. She is an avid reader, a life-long learner, and loves to craft when she finds the time.