Asian Fortune, Past and Future

Next month, Asian Fortune is celebrating its 20th year of publication. It is a major milestone for my family, as well as the Asian Fortune family.

I want to take this occasion to thank all our friends, supporters and readers. I also want to say a special thanks to all our advertisers through the years. Without you, Asian Fortune would not be here today, providing the only English voice for Asian Americans in the Greater Metropolitan Washington Area—D.C., Virginia and Maryland.

As many of you know, Asian Fortune was founded in 1993 by my father, Jay Chen. He came from a newspaper background in China and felt like something was missing when he came to Virginia. He started the newspaper to serve the Asian American community he became part of here.

Two months after the birth of my son last year, my father passed away. In the beginning, I kept Asian Fortune running because I felt that was a part of my father that I could still hold on to since his passing was so sudden. I also welcomed the busy schedule to distract me from grieving. Juggling a full-time career in IT, running a paper and caring for a baby as a first-time mom was no easy task. Many times I seriously considered closing the paper or selling it.

However, as time passed and as I became more involved in the community, I realized that the paper is crucial for the Pan-Asian communities in the D.C. area. Asian Fortune is the only voice in the nation’s capital for us Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders—particularly during this time when there’s so much at stake. Every day there are policy issues before Congress that will impact on present and future generations and our communities have a right to know about them.

I was also beginning to see Asian Fortune from the eyes of former U.S. Commerce and Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, who said it “united the individuals, the organizations and the community into a cohesive whole.” I realized that continuing my father’s legacy and serving the community was much more fulfilling than sitting in front of a computer all day long.

Starting with this issue, I am now managing Asian Fortune full-time. I have decided to transition from my career in IT to bring Asian Fortune to the next level and to continue my father’s legacy.

I am very excited about this, and have set major goals for Asian Fortune to keep the newspaper up-to-date and relevant for all of you. Next month, Asian Fortune is launching a brand new website that will include videos of local personalities and events as well as blogs from intelligent writers. I invite anyone who would like to be part of this new blogging community to contact us.

We would like to be more interactive with our reader base (YOU) and hope you will chime in on discussions whether on our social media or through letters and emails. You will be seeing us more often at various AAPI events and functions. We will also be organizing a few of our own. We also plan to expand our delivery locations and add more drops at mainstream locations, so look for us wherever you are!

In all these efforts, I will need your support and your help. These past two decades have only been possible because of you and my father.

An Asian sage once said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Will you join this new journey with me, in the way you did all these past wonderful years with my father?

Sincerely,

Lily Chen Ma