Asian Speakers

Sheryl WuDunn

As a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author and professional speaker, Sheryl WuDunn offers a unique perspective on current economic, political and social issues such as women's rights. As co-author of the New York Times bestseller, Half the Sky, WuDunn calls attention to the trials and triumphs of women ...

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.

Carmen Wong Ulrich

Carmen Wong Ulrich is a uniquely talented debt management specialist known for her realistic and valuable credit crisis advice. With a diverse background in personal finance, she has established herself as one of today's leading authorities and commentators on the subject, appearing hourly on MSNBC's It's the Economy ...

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 ...

Kahi Lee

Kahi Lee has been called a "renaissance chick, interior design goddess and a leader of the new school." She has appeared on numerous television programs including Design on a Dime, Merge Renovate My Family, Ultimate Gamer, FreeStyle, and My Celebrity Home, numbering nearly 200 episodes in all.

Angela E. Oh

Angela E. Oh serves as the Executive Director of the Western Justice Center Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advances peaceful resolution of conflict. She has worked as an attorney, public lecturer, and teacher of Zen meditation. In addition to her job with the WJC, she remains Of Counsel to the Century City law ...

Eric Liu

Former White House speechwriter and advisor, Liu is the author of such acclaimed works as Guiding Lights, The Accidental Asian, and his latest, Imagination First. As an influential young leader, his work has given voice to a new generation of Asian Americans, and his experience bridges politics, ...

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.

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.

Somaly Mam

Sold into sexual slavery as young girl, Mam has dedicated her life to finding a way to stop this horrific practice. Her past has fueled her passion and all her efforts to help young children and women who have become victims of sex slavery and human trafficking. Her incredible life experiences, stalwart dedication, and ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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.

Marilyn Tam

Marilyn Tam has had an extraordinarily diverse life, from her beginnings in a traditional Chinese family in Hong Kong to her meteoric rise in the international business world to become an influential corporate leader, speaker, corporate consultant, author and respected humanitarian.

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.