Meet Our Passionate Team
At Marshallese Youth of Orange County (MYOC), our dedicated staff members are the heart and soul of our mission. Committed to empowering and uplifting young people, our team brings together a diverse range of talents, experiences, and perspectives.

Executive Director
Neritha Kelani Silk
Co-Founder & Executive Director - Marshallese Youth of Orange County, Co-Founder & Executive Director – National Marshallese Community Coalition, Reliability Engineer, Certified Crisis Counselor, Entrepreneur
Kelani has worked with community-based organizations in Southern California for over 20 years, mostly focused on assisting with higher education, cultural education and preservation, health advocacy and data collection. She represented the Marshallese community at: The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans Policy Summit to shape and integrate Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) community voices and priorities, Washington DC; NHPI National Convening meeting with policymakers, Washington DC; The Stakeholder’s Convening, Mainlanders for Education, Las Vegas, NV; NHPI National Census 2020; National NHPI Civic Engagement; WHOPE & WHIAANHPI AA and NHPI Stakeholder Briefing, Washington DC; WHIAANPI Briefing – 2022 Hunga Tonga Eruption and Tsunami, Washington DC; Asian Pacific Islander Moving Forward Food distribution/Resourcing Programs; SoCal NHPI COVID Response Team; Evening Talk Speaker, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles; Tapa/Jaki Blessing, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles; UCLA Youth Health Fair; PIFA and HBPIF and co-author for Language Policy Brief – UCLA.
In addition, Kelani has taught traditional weaving and dance workshops at the Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum; is the current COVID-19 point of contact for RMI citizens residing in the Americas - US west coast; California Department of Human Services - COFA population, Medi-Cal and in language scribe; partnered in policy summit for language justice. Kelani is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Marshallese Youth of Orange County (MYOC), Co-Founder and Executive Director of National Marshallese Communities Coalition (NMCC), Board of Directors of Pacific Islanders Health Partnership (PIHP) and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Alliance (NHPIA) and a member of the California Language Task Force.
Kelani is an entrepreneur working to continue the Marshallese crafts through her business, Ja’Nei Island Goods and Services. Kelani was born in Chicago, Illinois and is the daughter of Deaconess Neibaj and Deacon Jack Silk. Ms. Silk was brought up with a traditional Marshallese upbringing, descends from Ribit Clan with islands of origin: Ebon, RMI; Namdrik, RMI and Tarawa, Kiribati.
