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"Psychologist. Professor. Performance Artist. Comedian. Motivational Speaker.
Activist. Multicultural Competence Trainer. Community Leader. Pinoy. Queer." These words hang over Kevin Nadal's biography section of his personal Web site KevinNadal.com.
Born in California and having received bachelor's degrees in psychology and political science from the University of California at Irvine, Nadal currently resides in New York City after receiving his doctorate from Teachers College at Columbia University. He is currently an assistant professor in psychology at John Jay College for Criminal Justice (in addition to being named one of People magazine's hottest bachelors in 2006).
As his biography says, Nadal "has been involved in the Pilipino American, Asian Pacific American, and ethnic minority communities for as long as he can remember." His research, for example, focuses on the Filipino-American experience, especially in terms of their identity and community development. His most widely known research-related development, the Pilipino American Identity Development Model, has greatly influenced various groups since its beginnings in 2004. The model "paved the way for Pilipino American culturally competent services in education, psychology, and health," his biography explains.
In addition to his research, Nadal has delivered various keynote speeches, and held workshops and trainings around the country discussing the issues closest to him: Filipino-American identity and experience, mental health, and activism, as well as issues facing communities of color and GLBTQ.
Even before receiving his doctorate from Columbia University in 2008, Nadal worked professionally in higher education. From the start of his work in this field in 1998, Nadal began facilitating multicultural awareness training due to the limited number of these types of professionals in existence. He was trained extensively in group and individual therapy, enabling him to lead multicultural groups of this sort. His training methods have gained notoriety among organizations and individuals, and in 2008 he launched Kevin Nadal Consulting.
"Kevin Nadal Consulting is dedicated to the advancement of multicultural issues in psychology, education, social sciences, health, and business, through the promoting of multicultural awareness, communication, and competence," the company's mission statement reads; it also offers multicultural training, education, and consulting. The company's services are grouped into three categories: multicultural awareness and sensitivity training, facilitation training, and multicultural consultation for individuals and groups.
In addition to his educational and consulting careers, Nadal is a performer who travels the country displaying his talents in various forms at many venues. His first show Pinoy: A one-man show about growing up F/Pilipino in America toured the country from 2002 to 2005. This show included spoken word, comedy, drama, song, and dance as Nadal shared his story with audiences nation-wide. Topics included generational differences with his parents, his own experiences with racism and oppression, and the development of his own identity as a Filipino-American.
Later in 2005 he began touring his second show Single: A one-man show about Sex, Love, and Karaoke. The show dealt with Nadal's existence as a gay, single pinoy living in New York City. He again combined various entertainment methods, this time including storytelling or kuwento-kuwento, comedy, spoken word, and karaoke, as his so-called "never-ending Sex and the City episode" unfolded onstage.
As his biography explains, "The show was a personal look at the differences between Hetero World and Homo World, coming out of the closet, getting married to himself, the crazy boys in New York, and of course everything that his Filipina mom has to say about it."
About a year after the Single tour ended, Nadal premiered a cabaret show titled Psychotheraphy: A Cabaret Show with Danny Katz, where Nadal got to express himself musically in dealing with his feelings about relationships, marriage, and other problems typically discussed at a therapy session.
Nadal continuously tours the country with stand-up comedy and spoken-word performances. As the video on both YouTube and his self-titled Web site display, Nadal has spoken in our very own Devlin 008 and will be returning to campus again this year.
And as if this multi-dimensional Filipino-American hero didn't do enough, he loves to travel the world, experience new adventures, and visit family and friends. His hobbies include karaoke, walking down the streets of his hometown of New York City with his dog, and looking for new information to add to his ever-expanding knowledge of pop culture. As his biography says, "His mission in life is to 'save the world ... one pinoy/pinay at a time.'" He hopes to do so through education, entertainment, love, and soul connecting.
Look for more information about Kevin Nadal at Boston College later this month.
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