Asian Speakers

Tess Gerritsen

Internationally best-selling author Tess Gerritsen took an unusual route to a writing career. A graduate of Stanford University, Gerritsen went on to attend medical school and become a physician. While on maternity leave, she began to write fiction. Eight suspense novels later, she has never looked back.

Leroy Chiao

Having flown in three space missions, once as the Commander of the International Space Station, he shares his personal experiences from the unique perspective of space. He explains his humble beginnings of his dream to be an astronaut and how he achieved that dream. Selecting poignant stories from his life as launching po ...

Angela E. Oh

Oh is a nationally-recognized attorney, public lecturer, and community leader. In 1992, Oh gained national prominence as a spokesperson and mediator for the Asian American community in connection with the Los Angeles riots. Thereafter, she was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as one of seven Advisory Board Mem ...

Eric Liu

Former White House speechwriter and advisor, Liu is the author of The Accidental Asian. As an influential young leader, his work has given voice to a new generation of Asian Americans, and his experience bridges politics, media, business, and activism.

Gish Jen

Refusing to follow tradition, Jen blazes her own trail. Named one of the premier novelists of the 21st century by John Updike, she writes on the experiences of diverse cultures and their joys and struggles adapting to America. She is the best-selling author of Typical American and The Love Wife.

Harry Wu

A former Chinese political prisoner, Wu was incarcerated for 19 years in China's Laogai Camps. He has since dedicated himself to documenting – and bringing to the public’s attention – such human rights violations in China as prison labor and the harvesting and selling of human body parts. Wu’s account of his impri ...

Soo Kim Abboud

Dr. Abboud is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and the Chief of the Division of ENT at Penn Presbyterian Hospital. She is the co-author of Top of the Class: How Asian Parents Raise High Achievers – and Ho ...

Beau Sia

An Asian American poet, Sia has fueled his life with his slam-winning writing and performances in Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, Slamnation, and Slam. Author of A Night Without Armor II: The Revenge, as well as the man behind the spoken word albums Attack! Attack! Go! and Dope an ...

Maxine Hong Kingston

Maxine Hong Kingston is a highly acclaimed writer of both fiction and nonfiction and one of the first Asian Americans to make it to the top of the literary world in America. Her first book, a memoir published in 1976 called The Women Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, won the National Book Critic's Circle ...

Frank Wu

In 2004, Frank H. Wu became the ninth Dean of Wayne State University Law School in his hometown of Detroit. The author of Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White, Wu was named among the Top 20 Scholars in the Nation by Black Issues in Higher Education.

SuChin Pak

SuChin Pak has been a correspondent for MTV News Team for seven years, interviewing everyone from P. Diddy, to Jane’s Addiction to Mary J. Blige, Justin Timberlake, Billy Idol, Britney Spears and Gwen Stefani. She has also served as co-host of the Video Music Awards, the Movie Awards and Grammy Pre-shows and has been on ...

Lisa See

The New York Times best-selling author of the extraordinary Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Peony in Love, See crafts highly praised works resplendent with fluid language, engrossing portrayals, and rich universal themes. Her newest book is Shanghai Girls, an unforgettable journey of two siste ...

Helen Zia

Author of the book Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People, Zia is a contributing editor to Ms. Magazine. She was named one of The Most Influential Asian Americans of the Decade" by A. Magazine.

Steve Hanamura

Steve Hanamura is president of Hanamura Consulting, Inc., a firm he founded in 1986. He brings over 30 years experience to he consulting, training and speaking profession. He is widely sought after in the areas of leadership development, managing and leading diversity initiatives, building effective teams and managing perso ...

Jane Kim

Kim is the co-author of Top of the Class: How Asian Parents Raise High Achievers – and How You Can Too. Top of the Class has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Newark Star-Ledger, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. She awyer and immigration specialist at the ...

Jagdish N. Bhagwati

Bhagwati, Professor of Economics and Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, has made contributions to development theory and policy, public finance, immigration and to the new theory of political economy. His books are acknowledged to have provided the intellectual case for the economic reforms now underway ...

Phoebe Eng

For over 20 years, Phoebe Eng has helped leading companies and organizations tap into the power of globalism and diversity to spur innovation. In her international lecture series, Fluency: The Art of Crossing Borders, Eng has helped several industries – from media and telecommunications, to healthcare and wellness, to co ...

David Mura

David Mura's creative work in the field of diversity and multiculturalism reflects depth and meaning. A third generation Japanese American, Mura authored Turning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei, which won a 1991 Josephine Miles Book Award and was listed as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

Ju Ju Chang

Juju Chang is a New York-based Emmy Award-winning correspondent for ABC News' 20/20, Good Morning America, and Nightline. She also occasionally anchors for Good Morning America Weekend.

Chin-Ning Chu

An international best-selling author, Chin-Ning Chu fuses timeless Eastern wisdom and strategies with Western practicality into dynamic tools that produce tangible results for solving life's ever-shifting challenges. Chu crisscrosses five continents delivering her custom-tailored speeches that raise sales dollars, and expan ...