Kim Delevett

Kim Delevett spent 24 years with Southwest Airlines, from which she recently retired as a National Community Outreach Lead. In that role, she was charged with forging high-profile relationships with nonprofit, business, and civic organizations. Kim was also the company’s first corporate community affairs manager to be primarily responsible for supporting the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.
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Over her career, she focused on educational and economic development; promoted diversity and inclusion; led outreach efforts to support human trafficking awareness and disaster response; and worked to preserve culture, heritage, and historic communities. Kim was one of Southwest’s official blog writers and a contributor to the inflight magazine.
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She is especially passionate about making a difference in the lives of future leaders – from mentoring students to supporting efforts that help youth become civically engaged and take pride in their heritage and identity. Kim’s work won recognition within the nationwide AAPI community, and she’s been profiled frequently in ethnic and mainstream media. She has served on multiple nonprofit boards and advisory councils, including the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies; OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates; and the Asian Pacific American Leadership Institute, to name a few.
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Kim was born in Saigon, Vietnam and fled in April 1975 at age two. She and her older brother were raised by an adoptive family in Pensacola, Florida. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon, her life story was chronicled in a joint project with Story Corps and PBS called “First Days,” now part of the Library of Congress. She received a History Channel award for an oral history she created on her refugee experience and was one of a handful of immigrants profiled in a nationwide curriculum developed for schoolchildren.
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Kim graduated cum laude with a B.A. in communications and a minor in political science from Loyola University of New Orleans. She lives in San Jose, CA with her husband and son and is working full-time on her memoir.