So Ying Chan at Lin’s House in a short film directed by her grandson Jeff Man titled ‘A Family Day’. Copyright Jeff Man 2015 By Jenny Chen In 1976 So Ying Chan and her husband came to the United States to help take care of her grandchildren. Her son, Michael Man, worked as the accounting manager at the National Education …

New multimedia project follows a Chinese adoptee as she returns to her birthplace By Jenny Chen Between the years 1991 and 2005, China sent 22,061 children, most of them girls, into foreign adoption. According to the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University, U.S. citizens have adopted more than 70% of these children. Their journeys are a migration that …

  By Jenny Chen Earlier this year, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP)under the U.S. Department of Labor found that the data collection company Westat Inc. failed to comply with Equal Employment Opportunity Law. Westat Inc. has agreed to a settlement with the (OFCCP) which requires the company to pay a total of $1.5 million in back wages …

By Jenny Chen The humble photo ID. You show it at banks to deposit money. You show it at bars to get your drink. You show it before you board a plane. But in the last couple of years, the photo ID has been embroiled in a behind-the-scenes political tug of war. The tug of war goes all the way …

By Jenny Chen According to the 2014-2015 National APA Political Almanac, over 300 Asian Americans hold political positions at the state and local levels compared to the 13 Asian Americans who hold seats at the federal level. James Lai, an Associate Professor of the Political Science Department at Santa Clara University says that the increase in Asian Americans elected officials at the local …

By Jenny Chen Another report released by Nielsen’s second quarter 2014 Cross-Platform Report indicated that Asian viewers ages 18 to 34 spent 51 minutes a day consuming online and mobile content, which is up from 38 minutes during the same period last year. African Americans ages 18-34 are close behind with 48 minutes a day of content on computer and …

By Jenny Chen The race for the Virginia 10th Congressional district seat is shaping up to be an important one. Candidates DelegateBarbara J. Comstock (R), Fairfax County Supervisor John Foust (D), Bill Redpath (L), Dianne Blais (G), and Brad Eickholt (I) are all vying for a seat vacated by Senator Frank Wolf (R). An election filled with drama – dredging …

By Jenny Chen After a year hiatus due to the government shutdown, MEDweek – a procurement conference hosted by the Minority Business Development Agency, returned in full force. The Minority Business Development Agency operates under the US Chamber of Commerce and provides services and advice for mid-sized minority businesses in MBDA centers across the United States. They help with exporting …

By Jenny Chen Anna Akana’s sister died at 13 years old. Kristina Akana was a victim of bullying at her California school and eventually took her life. This event has influenced much of Anna Akana’s work as a writer, actress, and short film producer. The Youtube star, who’s makeup video spoof “How To Put On Your Face,” has garnered 1.7 …

By Jenny Chen The New York Times called it “raw and resolute”; the Hollywood Reporter said it was an “unadorned” look at life in Tibet. The film is “Old Dog,” a project by Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden and it is one of the films set to be screened at the Freer/Sackler Gallery on September 4th as part of the second …

By Jenny Chen In May 2014, the Newseum debuted a surprisingly different take on media with their “One Nation with News for All” exhibit. The exhibit, which takes a close look at ethnic media in the United States, is the first collaboration between the Smithsonian and the Newseum. According to Jim Deutsch, program curator with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife …

By Jenny Chen Asian Americans are often cast as the “good student.” In the 2002 documentary Spellbound about the Howard Scripps spelling bee, one of the teachers is shown as saying “I love have Indian students, every time I see an Indian student I get excited.” At first glance, this perception of Asian students seems warranted: 83% of Asian Americans …

  By Jenny Chen Local Author Sana Sood wrote the book Diwali: A Cultural Adventure in 2013 and it went on to get rave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.com. We talked to Sana about her process and what diversity means in children’s literature. Asian Fortune: How did you get the idea to write this book? Sana: I wrote this book …

By Jenny Chen Kishore Khandavalli, the founder and CEO of Seven Tablets, has been coming to the annual USPAACC conference, “CelebrAsian” for the last eight years. The Texan, whose company helps other companies develop mobile applications for their business, says that CelebrAsian is an opportunity to meet competitors in the market, build relationships with clients, and gain inspiration from the …

By Jenny Chen “The truth is funny. Honest discovery, observation, and reaction is better than contrived invention,” wrote Del Close and Charna Halpern in their book Truth in Comedy. On June 6, 2014, Dis/oriented Comedy presented an uproariously funny, honest, and thought-provoking show about being Asian American to a full house at The Burke Theater and the U.S. Navy Memorial. …

By Jenny Chen The summer before 9th grade, Celia Islam went back to visit her grandparents in Bangladesh, like she always did. Except that this time, the town she was visiting, Sirajgang, had just been ravaged by an awful flood: houses were destroyed, schools were demolished, and children were displaced. “It looked completely different,” Islam said. Islam, now a graduating …

By Jenny Chen ALL PHOTOS COURTESY of STEPHANIE WILLIAMS and LCMC It’s Saturday morning and Quince Orchard Library is bustling. Kids dressed in their karate uniforms are running around, stopping occasionally to look at the pictures in Flora and Ulysses or tapping out a game at the computer section. High school students are studying for SATs in between catching up …

By Jenny Chen 2 guys. 2 years. 125 shows. 250 hours of performances. La Ti Do founders Regie Cabico and Don Michael Mendoza are a force to be reckoned with. Since they started La Ti Do in 2012 – a weekly cabaret show in DC featuring spoken word, musical theater, and everything in between – the two have made good …

By Jenny Chen With over 4,517 members, the DC area 20s and 30’s Asian Going Out Group is one of the largest groups in the DC area. The man behind it is J.T. Yaung who started the group when he first moved to the area and, like all new implants to the DC area, was looking for some new friends. …

By Jenny Chen When both of Sharon Wong’s sons were diagnosed with severe nut allergies she thought they wouldn’t be able to Asian food forever. Asian food often contains peanuts in the form of peanut oil, peanut sauce, or just crushed peanuts. Wong’s youngest son couldn’t even be in the same room as peanuts without throwing up. But the author …

By Jenny Chen Asian American Artists Showcase Work at Community Foundation Fundraiser On March 17, the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region hosted a star studded celebration to honor 40 years of giving to nonprofits across the nation. They are one of the largest sources of grants in the national capital region and are able to play the roles …

By Jenny Chen Despite the recession recovery, luxury home buying is enjoying an increase in attention. Aside from international Asians who have been snapping up real estate across world (Asian Fortune reported on this April 2013), many Asian Americans also have acquired a taste for luxury goods. At the 2014 Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) summit, AREAA President …

By Jenny Chen Five years ago, Christian Oh and Elliot Lee launched Kollaboration DC as part of the larger Kollaboration that seeks to empower by showcasing young Asian American talent in the performing arts. In those last four years, the Kollaboration DC stage has seen talented performers such as spoken word poet George Yamazawa, all-girl group – BLUSH, and Dana …

Thanks to the ACE, Asian American businesses can learn from each other; present a united front By Jenny Chen Ethnic minorities such as Hispanics and Blacks have had national organizations advocating for them – the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the National Black Chamber of Commerce respectively. But until this past year, there were few such organizing bodies for …