Ja Roi Aung was born in Myitkyina township in Kachin State. She spent her teenage years volunteering in her community and, after completing a social studies and leadership diploma at Kant Kaw Education Center, continued teaching at Naushawng Community School and the National YWCA of Myanmar prior to joining YFS in 2018. She has since worked on a string of YFS films in various capacities from sound recordist to sound designer and/or colourist (Burmese Rapper, Lost Boy, The Father I Knew) and was a member of the five-person crew on the short ‘true fictions’ film Easy Money. She has also joined participatory video facilitator teams in Sittwe in Rakhine, Bagan in central Myanmar and Mawlamyine in Mon State, helping local communities to make their own films about topics of importance to them such as pollution, desertification, street children and early marriage.