In the winter of 1998, co-founders Michelle Le and Eksupar Tongsri made efforts to establish an Asian-American interest sorority. They felt that the University of Virginia needed an organization to promote strong women, leadership, community service, and Asian awareness.

The first step was to establish and recruit members for the Young Asian Women's Alliance, or YAWA. As YAWA, the group of young women took all the necessary steps to bring the nationally recognized Asian-American interest sorority, alpha Kappa Delta Phi, to the University of Virginia.

In the fall of 1999, 12 women -- Amelia Chun, Hedi Kim, Michelle Le, Yuna Lee, Linda Lu, Jane Luu, Meverly Malixi, Jennifer Na, Hanna Tieu, Eksupar Tongsri, Betty Wang, and Stacy Weng -- took the final steps to establish a colony of alpha Kappa Delta Phi. These women established the foundation for the future by working together, learning about the sorority, and understanding the true definition of sisterhood. Recognized as the FIRST Asian-American interest sorority in ALL of Virginia, these 11 women came together to establish ONE purpose, ONE tradition, ONE love.