Born in Taiwan and raised in California, Joshua Shen is a first generation Chinese American who grew up rooting for the Dodgers and skateboarding to the sounds of punk and rap from Southern California and the East Bay.  He joined the Foreign Service in 2008 and most recently served as the Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Surabaya, Indonesia. During his most recent tenure he focused on incorporating new technology tools to advance public diplomacy, including VR/AR software, artificial intelligence tools, and esports.  

From 2019-2021, Joshua created a position as the Strategic Designer for Interactive Media and Games for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), where he led a new portfolio to integrate video games with existing State Department policy needs, key audiences, and programs. Before that he was the Cultural Affairs Officer in ECA’s Sports Diplomacy division as the liaison with other U.S. government agencies, professional leagues, sports agents, and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee.  He has also worked in Public Affairs and Consular Sections in Malaysia, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka/Maldives, where his responsibilities included refugee assistance, educational outreach, and interagency collaboration with the Department of Defense.   

Joshua was elected four separate terms to the board of the Asian American Foreign Affairs Association, where he was the strategic lead on a team working to reform security clearance processes within the State Department, which led to his award as the State Department’s Edward J. Perkins Award for Diversity and Inclusion in 2022. His work included internal polling, analysis, and advocacy across two different administrations, as well as Congressional outreach with the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) and several media articles highlighting this issue. As a direct result of this multi-year team effort, in 2021 the Department lifted over 60 percent of active security clearance restrictions. This benefited nearly 1200 employees who had never been allowed to serve in specific assignments. In addition, HFAC included language directly from Joshua’s recommendations in the FY22 National Defense Authorization Act that requires full data transparency and an independent appeals process for those still affected.

Joshua studied at East Los Angeles Community College and holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University (BS in Journalism and English Literature) and a master’s degree in Foreign Policy from Georgetown University. He speaks fluent Mandarin, working level Indonesian, and basic Vietnamese and Tamil. Despite living outside of California for over 20 years, he still registers as a voter in Los Angeles County and keeps his 626 area code phone number from the San Gabriel Valley, where he currently resides with his wife and two children.