By Jenny Chen In his earlier years, David Tian always felt like the odd one out. As he describes in his blog, DoctorAsianRake.com, Tian had gone through a couple of girlfriends, but they all eventually soured. He even went through a marriage – and a divorce. But years later, he is now the head of the successful Aura Dating Academy, …

By Jenny Chen Helen Sung didn’t plan on being a jazz musician when she started playing the piano at five years old. Sung began playing piano and as a self-described “Asian American perfectionist” she restricted her self practicing to classical pieces. “My teacher wouldn’t let me play anything else,” Sung said. That all changed in her final year as an …

By Jenny Chen It comes with the territory. As an Asian American female, I have constantly been reminded about my eyes. They’re too small, they’re too slanty, my eyelashes are nonexistent. In my Midwestern elementary school, classmates would ask me, “How can you see through those eyes?” I imagined my eyes to be akin to some kind of Voldermort-like slits. …

By Jenny Chen Photo Credit: Jenny Chen Five years ago Susan Wong was getting ready for retirement from her career in accounting when she saw an ad for Montgomery College about aging gracefully. “Something about that caught my eye,” Wong says. She took one class and one thing led to another until she got a bachelor’s degree in gerontology at …

By Jenny Chen Andrew Lam, editor-in-chief of New America Media, a nonprofit organization that advocates 3,000 ethnic news organizations in the United States, was awarded the PEN/Oakland Award for his fictional collection of short stories Birds of Paradise Lost. The book is based on the Vietnamese refugee experience. Maxine Hong Kingston wrote about Lam: “…bask in his love of language, …

By Jenny Chen Washington, DC – On November 14, the DC Office of Asian Pacific Islander Affairs (OAPIA) launched a new initiative called “Connect, Build, Engage”. This initiative connects Asian American businesses with government resources such as Project BUILD, the Department of Small and Local Business Development, and the Department of Housing and Community Development. Joining the Julie Koo, the …

By Jenny Chen November was diabetes awareness month and recent study by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) shows that Asian Americans may be more at risk for diabetes than is popularly believed. According to the Asian American Diabetes Initiative at the Joslin Diabetes Center, despite having a lower body weight, Asian Americans are more likely than Caucasians to have …

By Jenny Chen In a study by Bain and Company China comprises of one of the fastest growing online markets. On Nov. 19, 2013 Chinese e-payment company Alipay, International signed a partnership with Universal Air Travel Plan (UATP). Launched in 2004, Alipay is a subsidiary of the Alibaba group – which owns China’s largest B2B online marketplace Alibaba.com as well …

By Jenny Chen The construction dust has barely settled on the great hall of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir temple in Beltsville, but hundreds of parishioners are streaming into the door this Saturday morning for the Diwali ceremony. Inside, rows and rows of people are sitting cross legged, facing a stunningly lit display on stage at the front. There are …

Board 2020 vision allows more Asian Americans a chance at corporate boards By Jenny Chen In the year 2020, corporate and nonprofit boards will look very different from the ones today. At least, that’s the belief that panelists Virginia Gambale, director of JetBlue; Helene D. Gayle, director, The Coca-Cola Co. and Colgate-Palmolive Co.; Michael D. Rochelle, director, Military Officers Association …

By Jenny Chen Washington, DC – Forget Asian says professors and marketing expert Bobby Kumaki of the Ronin Group. Forget Asian and think Asian American. Asians in America are very different from Asians in Asia. In his presentation Understanding the Asian Market Segment during the Multicultural Health National Conference Kumaki noted that the best way to reach Asian Americans is …

By Jenny Chen Washington, DC – It’s 2pm. The Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University seems clenched with anticipation. Nervous energy rockets from wall to wall. Young people with badges that have “Staff” stamped across them are setting up tables, organizing tickets and VIP bracelets. In the back, sound checks and light checks. A man in a dress shirt and …

By Jenny Chen Stan Tsai, a member of the board of directors of the Chinese Culture and Community Service Center (CCACC), has been following the Affordable Care Act closely – and he’s concerned about how much the Asian American community knows about what is going to happen come October 1. “I went to the information meetings [for the Affordable Care …

By Jenny Chen By Jenny Chen When Bernadette Slowey’s son, Nick, was in 3rd grade, his teacher told Slowey that she might consider cognitive testing for her son. He was struggling with his reading but his teacher knew that Nick was an exceptionally bright child. As Nick progressed in school, he began getting frustrated with his differences in learning and …

By Jenny Chen Boys in tawny hair, starched white shirts, and make-up lounged along the walls of the Baltimore Convention Center. They were accompanied with various incarnations of Totoro, and girls carrying foam daggers. Welcome to Otakon 2013 – or at least, the outside of it. All the thinly veiled warnings from my friends when they heard that I was …

By Jenny Chen In 1921, an Atlantic City hotel man came up with the idea of a beauty contest to bring more tourists to the city. The “National Beauty Tournament” aimed to find “the most beautiful bathing beauty in America.” The first Miss America winner was Margaret Gorman, a Washington D.C. native, who was crowned for her “wholesome beauty.” In …

By Jenny Chen Karl Huie is a 2nd generation Chinese American and the owner of Pacific Heights Cleaners, a dry cleaning company in Marin County, California. His parents started the business in 1969. But Huie is bucking tradition – in 2007 he turned his parent’s dry cleaning business to a completely water-based system called Wet Clean. Traditional dry cleaning methods …

By Jenny Chen “Jay”* a first generation Indian American and single mom could not believe what she was hearing as she stood in her supervisor’s office. She was explaining to him how the changes in her schedule was impacting her ability to be there for her daughter. Her supervisor looked at her and said, “I am amazed that a person …

From July 18-21, OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates hosted their national convention at the Omni Shoreham hotel in Washington, D.C. The convention included a preliminary screening of the documentary film “Linsanity”, workshops on activism, a politics plenary session, and a star studded gala, which closed the event. — Were you at the OCA conference? Share your photos with us …

By Jenny Chen The year was 2737 BC and the Chinese Emperor Shenong was drinking his bowl of boiled water. Shenong, who developed Chinese traditional medicine and agricultural traditions in China, was so health conscious that he decreed to all his subjects must boil their water before drinking it. On that one particular day, as Shenong bent down to take …

On Sunday, June 23, Pacific Culture International hosted the 2013 Pacific Miss Asian America Beauty Pageant semi-finals. The following finalists will be competing at Strathmore on September 6, 2013:  Vania Cao, Catherine Ho, Amy Kao, Emily Duong, Kathy Shi, Doreen Yan, Haley Bui, Rosie Zhang, Emma Li, Esther Kim, Sherri Zhang, Stella Mach, Meng Wang, Ruby Park, Chelsea Li.   …

By Jenny Chen “The body must be credited with an immense fund of know-how,” said Deepak Chopra, one of the most famous contemporary Ayurvedic healers, and author of Perfect Health. Ayurveda is an ancient, 5,000 year old healing system originating from India, that extols intuitive and holistic health. Ayurveda has influenced many of the older traditional methods of healing including …

By Jenny Chen It’s a Wednesday morning in Reston, Va. The 30 plus networkers sitting in the conference room at Keller Williams Realty are laughing and clapping in unison as a young man in his 20s is dancing and making silly expressions at the front of the room. The laughter is infectious and pretty soon, everyone is smiling. “Are you …

As many of you may be aware, this year is another in the 15 year cycle when thousands of cicadas will descend upon the DC area. Our friends at The Family Handyman have some tips to make the season more bearable. Beat the Nuisances with The Family Handyman’s Simple, DIY Tips for a Peaceful Spring Don’t let spring nuisances like pests, …