Abstract
Oral history interview with Stella Kalaoram conducted by Kristel Peralta and Cecilia Winchell on August 2, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project.
Stella Kalaoram discusses her childhood in Singapore, the occupations and ethnic diversity of her family, and the four languages she speaks: English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil. She shares her immigration journey to the United States with her husband, from Singapore to San Bernardino, California in 1990, and their move to Las Vegas in 2000. Stella also shares her employment experiences as a dental assistant, a housekeeper for the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino, and as a shop steward for the Culinary Workers Union. She also talks about contracting COVID-19 and her hospital experience, her family's differing religious faiths, and her translation work to empower the Asian-American community.
Subjects discussed include: insurance benefits; Volunteer Organizer (VO); mask mandates; vaccine hesitancy; food traditions; language barriers; Baba and Nyonya cultures.
Finding Aid PDF
Date
Extent
Related People/Corporations
Scope and Contents Note
Oral history interview with Stella Kalaoram conducted by Kristel Peralta and Cecilia Winchell on August 2, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project.
Stella Kalaoram discusses her childhood in Singapore, the occupations and ethnic diversity of her family, and the four languages she speaks: English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil. She shares her immigration journey to the United States with her husband, from Singapore to San Bernardino, California in 1990, and their move to Las Vegas in 2000. Stella also shares her employment experiences as a dental assistant, a housekeeper for the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino, and as a shop steward for the Culinary Workers Union. She also talks about contracting COVID-19 and her hospital experience, her family's differing religious faiths, and her translation work to empower the Asian-American community.
Subjects discussed include: insurance benefits; Volunteer Organizer (VO); mask mandates; vaccine hesitancy; food traditions; language barriers; Baba and Nyonya cultures.
Digital audio, video, photographs, and transcript available.
Access Note
Collection is open for research. Where use copies do not exist, production of use copies is required before access will be granted; this may delay research requests. Advanced notice is required.
Publication Rights
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish. Some transcripts do not exist in final form, therefore any editing marks in a transcript (deletions, additions, corrections) are to be quoted as marked.
Preferred Citation
Stella Kalaoram oral history interview, 2021 August 02. OH-03792. [Cite format consulted: Audio recording or Transcript.] Oral History Research Center, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
Permalink
Acquisition Note
This interview was conducted and transcribed by the Oral History Research Center (OHRC) which is part of the UNLV University Libraries Special Collections and Archives Division.
Processing Note
Interview materials were processed by UNLV Libraries Special Collections and Archives in 2021. Kelsey Mazmanyan wrote the collection description. Access copies were created for born-digital audio, video, photograph, and transcript files.
Additional Description
Existence and Location of Copies
A bound transcript is available for use in UNLV Libraries Special Collections and Archives. See call number: F850.A75 K35 2021