Filipinos have been in the United States since the 16th century, yet many of their stories remain untold. For the past months, Positively Filipino has been running a series on notable Filipino Americans who have made their marks in this country. There are hundreds, or maybe even thousands more, that need to be added to this story, and we need your help. If you know of a Filipino American who deserves to be included in this line-up, please send us their names and any supporting documents you may have to pfpublisher@yahoo.com. For now, we are including only those who are currently active and visible in the media and the community, regardless of their religious, sexual or political orientation. Thank you.

Yobie Benjamin, Technology Maven

Benjamin grew up in Manila and studied at the University of the Philippines. He was part of the student movement during the martial law years, and he was arrested and detained. During his one-year stay in jail, he said he witnessed thousands who died or disappeared. His first job was being a teacher to refugees. When he landed in San Francisco, a fellow Filipino told him he could get a job at the San Francisco airport where many Filipinos worked handling luggage. He lasted only two hours on the job. Then he joined start-up Lotus Development Corporation where he learned to program and code and became an engineer. From Lotus, he moved to other corporations like Cambridge Technology (Chief Knowledge Officer), Ernst & Young (Partner and Chief of Global Strategy) and Citibank (Global Chief Technology Officer), learning new things along the way and cementing his influence in the technology industry. Benjamin is a successful Filipino venture investor and innovator in autonomous mobility, life sciences, IoT, fintech, sustainability and consumer products. He was named a 2015 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum for his technology achievements in virtual reality and is an active member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network. Two companies that he co-founded won a 2014 CNN Top 10 Technology Products awards - Avegant Glyph and Skully Systems AR1 Helmet. Benjamin serves as Innovation Fellow at 4iNNO, working on product innovation with multinational corporations. He is also the founder and CTO Emeritus of Token.io, providing software to banks that enables them to issue a new payment type designed specifically for use in the digital era. Additionally, he is a member of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank Faster Payments Task Force and senior advisor to several startups in the technology, blockchain and synthetic biology space. In 2019, he authored a book, Tribes of the Valley, where he chronicled the different power tribes and groups in Silicon Valley. He speaks English, Filipino, Thai, Lao and Spanish. He advises leaders on how to thrive in today’s digital era of disruptive technological change. He is also CEO and Founder of Blockchip, Philippines - a global pioneer in gaming and social gaming apps.

Alesandra Perez-Rubio and Louisa Rechter, Founders of Mestiza

Louisa Rechter (left) and Alesandra Perez-Rubio (Source: medium.com)

Alessandra Perez-Rubio and Louisa Rechter Takacs met in college. Alessandra, born and raised in Manila, Philippines comes from a long line of Filipinos of Spanish descent while Louisa was born and raised in St. Louis, but her family decided to move to Cebu, Philippines where her mother hails from. They immediately bonded over their shared familial parallels, especially to the Philippines. In 2014 the pair was living in New York when all of their friends started getting married. Finding the perfect dress for these functions proved to be a problem as it came with a hefty price tag, trendy but with no altruistic mission or customer service perks to warrant it. They wanted something that was timeless and special enough to pass on to their daughters and granddaughters. Thus, they created a label that leans into the glitz and glam of this vintage wanderlust: late afternoon martinis lounging by the pool in resplendent sheaths, painting a clear picture of a tropical Philippine paradise. Vintage photographs of the Philippines in the 1960's have been the recurrent source of inspiration that fuels every Mestiza collection. Mestiza means a woman of mixed ancestry, as the brand embraces and celebrates the co-founders’ shared Filipino American heritage.

Under the creative direction of Alessandra Perez-Rubio, the collection offers opulent architectural silhouettes, bejeweled encrusted embellishments, iridescent ivory tassels, ornate laces and layers of hand woven silk cocoon from the Philippines. Honoring their Filipiniana heritage, MESTIZA NEW YORK has partnered with the Habi Philippine Textile Council to support female textile weavers in the Philippines. Along with donating to the council annually, each season, Mestiza integrates Habi handwoven fabrics into the collection, selling the pieces exclusively on mestizanewyork.com. The women of Habi come from all different regions to weave in their traditional manner. Mestiza gives them limited creative direction and a flexible production schedule, as they want the textiles to have cultural authenticity. Not only are the fabrications beautiful, each piece helps to sustain the Philippine cotton farming industry, provides a steady paycheck, and keeps a centuries-old artisanal craft alive for everyone to admire. MESTIZA NEW YORK is now available at Moda Operandi and Neiman Marcus along with specialty boutiques across the country and internationally. The collection has also been spotted on the red carpet on chic fans including Chrissy Teigen, Ashley Graham, Madelaine Petsch, Maria Menounos, Iskra Lawrence, America Ferrera, Molly Sims, and Kate Walsh. The founders credit their fathers, Carlos Perez-Rubio and Joe Rechter for their invaluable support.

Leann Tamoria Bowen, Scriptwriter and Producer

Leann Tamoria Bowen (Source: UCB Comedy)

Bowen has written and produced the following shows: Ted Lasso (two episodes) which won awards in the recent Emmy, Dear White People (five episodes), I Love You, America (two episodes), UCB Comedy Originals (one episode), Second City This Week (pilot episode), Cuddle Hotline (video short), The Stranger (short) and Picture Perfect (short). Bowen honed her comedic skills through writing for and performing in sketch comedy and improv in Los Angeles. Her late father was war veteran and Black Panther Party member Bobby Lee Bowen. Her mother is Lilian Tamoria whose family is from Cavite province in the Philippines. "I was raised in the Valley and my mom was a single mom, so I was raised by my lola and lolo a lot. I spent a lot of time with them so I feel very connected to my Filipino background and I'm very proud," she said in an interview with ABS-CBN. Bowen credits her mother and grandparents for her work ethic. "They were just so hardworking and they made sure that I stayed focused. And I also really attribute my sense of humor to my grandfather. He was such an interesting character -- making funny comments at church and my mother would be like, 'don't say that'," she added. Her twitter bio even bears the word ‘makibaka’ -- meaning to fight, in Tagalog, which is a popular battle cry among Filipino activists. It is an action word so important to Bowen that she even had it tattooed on her arm. It was her family, starting with her Filipino grandfather, who instilled in her those values. "He came to the United States in the ‘50s. He always believed in racially treating people the same. He always advocated for the poor, and he always said fight for what you believe in. So, between my grandfather and my mom, they were very about fighting and standing up for social justice and being strong and those aspects."

Tina Pamintuan, CEO of St. Louis Public Radio

Tina Pamintuan (Source: St. Louis Public Radio)

University of Missouri-St. Louis Chancellor Kristin Sobolik announced the appointment of Tina Pamintuan as the new CEO of St. Louis Public Radio after a nationwide search, beginning December 1. Pamintuan was general manager at KALW (91.7 M) in San Francisco for three years where she directed the station’s operations, fundraising, programming, and editorial teams and served as the liaison for the station’s FCC license holder, the San Francisco Unified School District. Before KALW, she founded and directed the audio journalism program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York where she taught courses in radio news writing and reporting, news magazine production, podcasting, audio documentary and oral history. In 2004, she was a visiting fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. In 2019, the Philippine American Press Club awarded her its Ocampo-Henry Memorial Award in Radio. She is currently a Sulzberger Fellow at Columbia University and was recently elected to the NPR Board of Directors. She graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in philosophy and holds a master’s degree in social sciences from the University of Chicago. “My work in journalism and public media has always centered on people and their stories. As a leader, I want to create possibility and belonging in our industry so that staff are supported to do their best work and continue growing at every stage of their careers,” Pamintuan said.

Carlo Abad, Superior Court Judge, Hudson County, New Jersey

Judge Carlo Abad (Source: New Jersey Globe)

New Jersey Governor, Phil Murphy, nominated Carlo Abad the chief judge of the Jersey City Municipal Court. He is the only Filipino American on the state bench. (Carlia Brady who became the first Filipino American Superior court judge in 2013 was not re-nominated after an ethics complaint ended her judicial career.) Abad served as Acting Chief Municipal Court Judge since 2008. Prior to that, he served in the Newark Prosecutor’s Office, the Jersey City Prosecutor’s Office, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office as well as working in several private law firms. He completed a B.S. major in Administration of Justice from Rutgers University in New Brunswick and earned his law degree in 2000 from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York.

Lila Hart, Comedian

Lila Hart is a 4’6 Filipina American stand-up comedian who defies odds and stereotypes with her voice. Hart was born in Hawaii with a congenital birth defect, Spina Bifida which is when the spine and spinal cord don't form properly. After 12 surgeries, she is able to walk and hopes to inspire others to live life to the fullest. She grew up in Seattle and graduated from Washington State University with a bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism before moving to Los Angeles. After years of jobs in fields such as search engine optimization and selling knives door-to-door, she wanted to pursue her dreams as a comedian. In 2016, she began her journey into comedy and in less than five years, has already made a name for herself. She has performed from all along the West Coast to Tennessee not only at thousand-seat theaters, but also in unusual venues such as strip clubs, backyards, and AA meetings. She has thousands of followers on social media. Hart and her boyfriend, Eric Abbenante, founded Channel 310, a comedy network created by comedians. Abbenante directs, edits, and writes for Hart’s talk show, Small Talk Live with Lila Hart. They co-wrote a feature cartoon called “Commander in Chief Cupcake,” which will be released soon.

Francis Tanglao Aguas, Professor of Theater and Asian & Pacific Islander American Studies

Francis Tanglao Aguas (Source: Flat Hat News)

Francis Tanglao Aguas is the founding Director of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Studies Program at William & Mary and currently the Director of William & Mary Global Studies. He is a playwright, performer, director, producer, and teacher of theatre, film, and dance. He was born and raised in Pampanga, Philippines until his family left for Nigeria, West Africa, where he completed his primary education. “My parents were white-collar migrant workers,” Aguas said. “I come from a family that was pressured politically and economically by the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines. Because of that, my parents took on jobs abroad. My aunt and uncle were medical doctors in Nigeria, so we pursued the ‘African dream.’”

He graduated from the UCLA School of Theatre, Film & Television receiving both his B.A. in Theater, Magna Cum Laude, and his Master of Fine Arts in Dramatic Writing. He is the first faculty of color to be tenured (2009) and promoted to full Professor (2016) in the performing arts at William & Mary. Students have honored him with the William & Mary Image Award for Outstanding Professor (2007), the NAACP Perseverance Award (2009) and the Class of 2015 Distinguished Professorship.

The creative work of Professor Aguas explores the drama in American diversity and the beauty in world theatre traditions steeped in indigenous cultures and folklore. He has been awarded the Don Carlos Palanca Award in Literature, the Philippines most prestigious literary prize, for When the Purple Settles. He has done solo performances in the U.S., China, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines. His solo work includes The Sarimanok Travels and The Imelda Marcos of the Philippines International Dictator Training Lecture Series. In 2017, his latest solo piece Do Die Deter 30, dramatizing the on-going extrajudicial killings in the Philippines, premiered in Malaysia. In 2021, Professor Aguas collaborated with diverse and minority alumni and students in creating the multimedia piece, “The Untethered: Diverse W&M Alumni Tell Their Stories.” Routledge published his monologue on Filipino comfort women of World War II in both the male and female editions of Monologues for Actors of Color, edited by Roberta Uno. One of his primary motivators for cultivating diversity projects at the College was to ensure that internationalization and diversification could help students and professors of color thrive at a predominantly white institution. In 2020, he founded Aguas Arts Ink, an arts production company with a view to diversifying imaginations and creative landscapes. Amidst the pandemic, Aguas Arts produced over 15 virtual productions.

Emily Cruz Nishi, Human Resource Expert

Emily Cruz Nishi (Source: Business Insider)

Emily Cruz Nishi graduated with a Psychology degree from Ateneo de Manila University and an MBA from University of California, Berkeley. She started as a management consultant at Andersen Consulting (Accenture) and held various human resource roles at Agilent Technologies in Palo Alto. She then worked for Google for nine years where she led People Operations function for Google’s sales and operation teams. She also established Google’s global diversity and inclusion programs and created K-12 and community initiatives, scholarships, staffing, benefits and workplace programs. During her time in Google, the company grew from less than 4,000 employees to more than 100,000 around the globe. Nishi moved on to YouTube as head of People Operations where she led the organization development, talent strategy, human resource operations, and championed an inclusion and diversity agenda. In 2017 she joined Lyft as the Chief People Officer where she also handled the company’s Real Estate and Office Operations, Security and Internal Communications. Today, Nishi serves as an advisor to leaders on how to make their companies a great place to work and serves on a nonprofit board. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, traveling back often to Manila, which she still considers home.

Lorenzo Beronilla, Actor, Amateur Chef, and Author

Lorenzo Luarca Beronilla (Source: Bravo TV)

Lorenzo Luarca Beronilla’s parents, came to the United States in the 1960s when immigration laws opened up for professionals like his father who is a doctor. The family settled in Pennsylvania where his father’s residency was available. He studied microbiology and biochemistry at the University of Pittsburgh hoping to be a doctor, but ended up being a tennis pro, actor, and author. Beronila is a film, television, and voice actor. His debut film, Furlough, paired him with Melissa Leo. He is famous for his cooking shows that have gone viral. His cooking episodes on the Epicurious 4 Levels created a pilot, “Pro Chef vs Home cook,” which became number one on YouTube and garnered 45 million views. On July 8, he won BRAVO TV’s new show, Top Chef Amateurs, where in 45 minutes the contestants had to cook a dish using three varieties of eggs. Beronilla cooked a Spicy Seared Scallop Filled Omelet with two types of caviar on top. His bestseller, Let’s Do This, Folks! Home Cooking with Lorenzo: Delicious Meals Made E-Z, was published in 2021. He claims he wrote the book on his cell phone. The book is dedicated to his nephew Kai and his father whose “daily boost of encouragement, was always reminding me to pursue my creative side and to have a good time doing it.”

Kevin Gino, Tenor

Recognized for his “strong, utterly determined” singing, Filipino American tenor Kevin Gino performs widely in both solo and choral capacities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. He currently studies with Cesar Ulloa, and he holds degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Being an alumnus of both the Janiec Opera Company at Brevard Music Center as well as the Music Academy of the West, he has worked with some of the best, including Sir Thomas Allen, Marilyn Horne, Anthony Dean Griffey, Patrick Summers, Dean Anthony, and Jeffrey Buchman. Originally from Los Angeles, Gino has been privileged to sing with ensembles such as Cal Bach Society, American Back soloists, Pocket Opera, Ars Minerva, Volti, and the SF Opera Chorus since he moved to San Francisco. Recent performances include Peter Quint in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Don Jose in Bizet and Brook’s La Tragédie de Carmen, and tenor soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Peninsula Symphony. When Gino is not singing, he keeps busy designing and crafting new leather goods, learning a new recipe to enjoy, and window shopping on Amazon and eBay.

Rinabeth Apostol, Stage Actor

While predominantly a theater actor (Groundhog Day the Musical, King of the Yees, A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Chinese Lady), Apostol has also appeared in film (A Madness in Me, Quitters, LIT), television (Girltrash, Just for Kicks), new media and commercials (Xfinity, Toyota, Wells Fargo Facebook, etc.) and lends her voice to video games and children’s toys (Myrtle’s World, Hidden Gems, Lasers + Moonbeams). Apostol is also in the original cast recordings of musicals such as Imelda: The Musical and The Four Immigrants: An American Musical Manga. She has appeared in theaters across the U.S., including American Conservatory Theater, Actors Theater of Louisville, Seattle Rep, TheatreWorks, California Shakespeare Theatre, The Magic, Arizona Theater Company, East West Players, Berkeley Rep, and Skirball Center for the Arts, among others.

She is a proud queer Filipino American. She serves on the dance faculty of San Domenico High School and works as a teaching artist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her workshops include all aspects of theater education, including acting, elements of technical design, and theater professionalism. She is also a regular speaker for middle, high school and college students interested in a future in entertainment in Intro to the Industry. Off-stage, she focuses her energy in mentoring LGBTQ youth and students of color pursuing careers in the performing arts. In 2021, she joined William & Mary College as the Asian Centennial Distinguished Theater Fellow where she will be creating a solo show to premiere during Filipino American History Month in October 2021.

Henni Espinosa, Reporter

Born in Bacolod City, Philippines, Espinosa remembers, at eight years old, dragging her parents to a kiddie show so she could compete in the newscast reading segment. She finished her elementary and high school education at St. Scholastica’s in Bacolod and a B.A. in Broadcast Communication from the University of the Philippines. In 2000, she received a full scholarship from the Rotary Club of Georgia to take her master’s in Communication at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. Being so close to CNN’s headquarters, Espinosa was able to intern and have her stories aired on CNN and CNN International. In 2013, as a reporter and anchor working for ABS-CBN’s The Filipino Channel (TFC), she and her crew received an Emmy for “The Filipino Champions of SOMA, a full-length news documentary featuring three Filipinos in the South of Market area of San Francisco who do extraordinary things for the community. It was the first Emmy for Espinosa and for ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs. She has extensively covered many stories like the plight of the Filipino WWII veterans and their widows, the abuse of Filipino caregivers and hotel workers, the struggle of low-income Filipino families and seniors, the fear of undocumented Filipinos of being deported and Fil-Am activists’ campaign to end human rights abuses in the Philippines. She has received numerous awards from the community. “As a reporter, you have to have a sense of connection to your audience. When I report, I talk to the camera as if I’m talking to a friend or to someone, instead of just talking to a camera, so your audience receives it as that person is talking to me directly,“ she said in an interview with Inquirer.net.

Genevieve Clutario, Professor

Genevieve Clutario (Source: Wellesley College)

Genevieve Clutario is the Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Professor of American Studies at Wellesley College. She specializes in interdisciplinary and transnational feminist approaches to Filipinx and Asian American histories. Her work is especially focused on racial and gendered formations and U.S. empire building in the global south. She is currently completing her first book, Beauty Regimes (Duke University Press, forthcoming), which examines the cultural, political, and economic dimensions of fashion and beauty systems that lay at the heart of modern empire and Philippine nation-building projects. She published “Pageant Politics: Tensions of Power, Empire, and Nationalism in Manila Carnival Queen Contests” in the anthology, Gendering the Trans-Pacific World (Brill Press, 2017), and “World War II and the Promise of Normalcy: Filipina Lives Under Two Empires” in Beyond the Edge of the Nation: Transimperial Histories with a U.S. Angle (Duke University Press 2020). Before arriving at Wellesley, Clutario was an assistant professor in History and History and Literature at Harvard University. She continues to pursue research and teaching interests focused on Asian American narratives in global perspectives; Filipinx studies; comparative histories of culture and modern empire; transnational feminisms; and gender, race, and the politics of fashion and beauty.

Reagan John Rada, Jewelry Designer

Reagan John Rada and Elizabeth Taylor (Source: Inquirer.Net)

At 19 years old, Rada arrived in the U.S. with his mother with only $684 in his pocket. He worked as an undocumented caregiver in order to survive. He also did dishwashing and errand jobs on the side. At JRM Jewelry (owned by Jack Abramov), he was entrusted with delivering diamonds and gemstones around the Jewelry District, and there he learned the craft – from polishing, pulling wires and setting stones to sizing rings – until he got promoted to inventory and design. The company was receiving custom jewelry orders from the likes of Elton John and Celine Dion. Then in 2004, Elizabeth Taylor wanted to create her own jewelry brand and formed the House of Taylor Jewelry (HOTJ) and bought JRM Jewelry. Taylor helped Rada secure his green card under the visa for extraordinary people program (EB-1 visa). But the financial crisis in 2008 forced the company to shutter. He left the U.S. and went back to Bicol, his hometown. However, while on a trip to Thailand, he received a message from Piranesi for a job offer to be its lead designer. Rada is now Director of Sales and Grand Ambassador for Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus in the whole United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada and the Creative and Technical Jewelry Designer for Piranesi Fine Jewelry. He lives in New York with partner, Teddy Montee.

Roberto Jamora, Artist and Professor

Roberto Jamora (Source: Muscurelle Museum of Art)

Jamora is a Filipino American visual artist and educator based in Richmond, Virginia. He holds an MFA from Purchase College, State University of New York, and a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts (VCUarts). He is an adjunct professor at VCUarts and the Asian Centennial Distinguished Fine Arts Fellow and Adjunct Lecturer of Asian & Pacific Islander American Studies at William & Mary. He is working on a series of abstract paintings titled "An Inventory of Traces," which explores how color and shape trigger memory. He has participated in Artist-in-Residence programs at the Hambidge Center, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Joan Mitchell Center, Ragdale Foundation, and Sambalikhaan Foundation. His work has been included in exhibitions at the Frost Art Museum, Contemporary Art Center of New Orleans, Topaz Arts, Page Bond Gallery, ADA Gallery, JuiceBox Art Space, Norte Maar, Shockoe Artspace, Good Enough Projects, Quality Gallery, Scott Charmin Gallery, Fouladi Projects, The Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelly Foundation, Open Space, Outlet Fine Art, and ArtHelix.

Jasmine Villaflor Hernandez, Judge

Jasmine Villaflor Hernandez (Source: FALA Chicago/facebook)

Hernandez was recently appointed to the Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois, making her the first Filipino American to be appointed to the state bench in 16 years. She earned a B.A. from Boston University, a J.D. from the University of Illinois college of law and a master’s in Labor and Industrial Relations from the University of Illinois School of Labor and Employee Relations. Hernandez was a staff attorney in the Office of Chief Counsel – Midwest District of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. She previously served as an Assistant State’s Attorney in the Juvenile Justice Bureau of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and as an Administrative Supervisor & Compliance Officer at the Circuit Court of Cook County. Mark Calaguas, president of the Filipino American Lawyers Association of Chicago (FALA Chicago) said, “Our organization has supported Jasmine’s candidacy from day one, as we know firsthand her qualities of fair-minded, diligent, and resourceful leadership. I have no doubt that Jasmine will make a lasting impression on the judiciary and help make our justice system more representative of the people it serves.” Her selection, “is the latest milestone in a distinguished career dedicated to public service.”

Jonathan Javier, CEO/Founder of Wonsulting

Javier is the CEO/Founder of Wonsulting, a professional training and coaching organization whose mission is to “turn underdogs into winners,” helping hundreds of thousands of people land their dream job. He has also worked in Operations at Snap, Google, and Cisco, coming from a non-target school/non-traditional background. He works on many initiatives, providing advice and words of wisdom on LinkedIn and through speaking engagements. In total, he has led 210+ workshops in nine different countries including the Mena ICT Forum in Jordan, Resume/Personal Branding at Cisco, LinkedIn Strategy & Operations Offsite, Great Place To Work, Talks at Google, TEDx, and more. He's been featured in Forbes, Fox News, Business Insider, The Times, LinkedIn News, Yahoo! News, Jobscan, and Brainz Magazine as a top job search expert and amassed more than a million followers on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok as well as more than 30 million impressions monthly on his content. He started the company in 2020 when the pandemic hit and lots of people were getting laid off; the company provided insights and tips and taught applicants “how to take the extra step of not just simply just applying the roles but how do you make yourself an even better candidate, whether it’s through your resume, building a rapport with professionals and hiring managers, which allows you to get your foot in the door in your dream industry.” Javier says that applicants should try “unconventional methods and having a personal brand is going to be even greater.

John “Jody” Blanco, Professor

Blanco is a professor of comparative literature, Spanish, and cultural studies at University of California, San Diego where he has been a member of the faculty since 2001. His research interests concern the colonial roots of globalization between the 16th-19th centuries. His courses engage with these themes through the study of Philippine, Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. minority literatures and cultures (religious, political, and artistic). He is the author of Frontier Constitutions: Christianity and Colonial Empire in the Nineteenth Century Philippines. In addition to research and teaching, Blanco also served as the Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Division of Arts and Humanities (2016-2018). He is also on the editorial boards of the Journal of Early Modern Cultural Studies and the Philippine Journal, Unitas.

Allison “Hueman” Torneros, Graffiti Artist

Allison “Hueman” Torneros (Source: findingcain.blogspot.com)

Based in Oakland, California, Filipino American Hueman graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in Design & Media Arts and worked as a freelance graphic and web designer after graduating. Her best-known works include Bloom, a mural in the Los Angeles Arts District commemorating community advocate Joel Bloom and the cover artwork for Pink’s 2019 record, Hurts 2B Human. In 2014, she was named one of LA Weekly’s People of the Year and was featured on a limited-edition cover of the issue. In 2015, she and artist Daniela Rocha curated Wander and Wayfare, which featured murals painted around San Francisco by eight female street artists, as well as a gallery art show. In 2019, she was commissioned by filmmaker Ava Duvernay to paint the façade of her production company, Array. Other projects include a painting at Hickory Alley in San Francisco, the design of a Nike shoe for the Olympics, a collaboration with Forever 21, and a refurbished basketball court for the Golden State Warriors at Salesian Boys & Girls Club unveiled by Stephen Curry.

Her work has been described as “free association” with bright colors and elements of abstract portraiture. In a profile in Juxtapoz, she states, "I began painting murals after a dark period in my life when I felt like there was nothing left to lose, and when I painted big for the first time, it was like a light switch turned on. Once I got out of my studio and onto the street, I was using my entire body to paint, I was talking to people, I was collaborating, I was in the sun. I felt alive again. I literally felt human. That's where the name Hueman comes from."

Daniel Moen, Artist and Activist

Moen, who also goes by the stage name Dijuri, is a graphic designer, photographer, musician, community organizer, activist, and stage performer who resides in Metro Detroit, Michigan. Born in the Philippines he came to the United States as a baby through adoption in 1988. He grew up with a transracial and transnational identity. Once a year, his parents would celebrate Filipino Day where Moen and his sister, Rachel, would open their documents and talk about what it meant to be adopted and to understand that they were loved and supported. In 2017, he was reunited with his biological family through social media and traveled back to regain a sense of belonging with his newly reunited family. His experiences led him to pursue a passion for studying cultures, philosophy, sociology, and anthropology. Moen has become deeply involved in multiple non-profits and various multicultural communities. He is the Marketing and Communication’s Chair for the Council of Asian Pacific Americans (CAPA), a member of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS), and a volunteer graphic designer and instructor for the Philippine American Community Center in Southfield. With his passion for studying humanity as well as art & design, he went to Oakland University and graduated with a bachelor’s in Integrative Studies focusing on Advertising, Marketing, Sociology, and Communication. Moen, a self-taught musician, has produced two musical albums, which are available on Spotify, Amazon, iTunes, and other musical platforms. He composed his own music and runs two podcasts: 3rd Paradigm and Unfiltered Identi-Tea.

Randy Gonzales, Professor

Randy Gonzales is a 3rd and 4th generation Filipino American whose ancestors settled in New Orleans in the 1920s. He is a Filipino American Studies scholar who founded Filipino LA to tell the story of Filipino migration and settlement in the state of Louisiana. Members share their stories, knowledge, and photographs. The group advocates for wider recognition of the history of Filipinos in Louisiana and the current contributions Filipinos make to the social and cultural fabric of the state. He is the co-vice president of the Philippine Louisiana Historical Society (PLHS). Gonzales is also an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette where he teaches Professional Writing and Asian American Studies, and he was recently promoted as the Dr. James Wilson/BORSF Eminent Scholar Endowed Professorship in Southern Studies. He spent 14 years living and teaching in the United Arab Emirates, Korea, and Japan and now lives in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Source: Google and Wikipedia

The Magazine

Fil-Ams Among The Remarkable And Famous, Part 30