34th Annual Miss Asian Global & Miss Asian America Pageant 2019

A Note From THE HEAD MONSTER To the Asian American Community

Congratulations to the Asian America Foundation for producing the 34th Annual Miss Asian Global and Miss Asian America Pageant to provide young Asian American women the opportunity to be recognized for their excellence in beauty, elegance, culture and talent.

Since 1996, Monster Cable has proudly represented the Asian American business community at this pageant. At Monster, we encou rage education, in novation and entrepreneurship in anyway we can as it is the cornerstone of a strong community. We are delighted to show our support to the pageant and Imagine Talks whose mission of women’s empowerment and inspiring the community to make a difference in the world.

Monsterously,

Noel Lee, The Head Monster

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ASIAN AMERICA FOUNDATION Presents THE THIRTY-FOURTH ANNUAL MISS ASIAN GLOBAL & MISS ASIAN AMERICA PAGEANT A Tradition Of Excellence.

Dedication To Community Service.

A Legacy For Tomorrow.

MISS ASIAN GLOBAL &

Herbst Theatre, San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center 401 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco, CA 94102

MISS ASIAN AMERICA PA G E A N T

TABLE OF CONTENTS Editor-In-Chief: Alex Fong Art Director: Kevin Lu Senior Graphic Designer: Thomas Li Graphic Designers: Cindy Chiu, Crystal Lee, Ying Ma

Message from Head Monster | Noel Lee

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Message From President and Founder Vincent Ma & Rose Chung

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Greetings From The Honorable Mayor | London Breed

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Pageant Committee

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Editorial Director: Julunda Gean Mendoza

Our Emcees | Simmone Park & Gina Su Judges

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Proofreaders: Trisha Mao, Avery Melino

MAG Queen’s Farewell | Uchka Jimsee

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MAA Queens' Farewell | Sophia Ng & Darae Jun

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Treasured Memories

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Photo Credits: Mommy Penny, Jonathan Lee, David Yu

Delegates

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missasianglobal.com asianamericafoundation.org

Imagine Talks

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Court Activities

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Hall of Queens

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Cover Photo: Ed Jay

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Greetings from the Honorable Mayor | LO N D O N N . B R E E D

Our Pageant Committee

ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM General Advisor - Edwin Hom Advisors - Henry Chu, Henry Liu, Jin Weixin Vice-Chairperson, USA - Harry Mok

MAGineers - Crisly Cuento, Miko Fogarty, Alex Fong, Russell Fung, Ryan Fung, Kathy Huynh, Jennifer Kong, Carmen Lam, Jessica Lim, Bryant Ling, Leong Ming, Alexander Nguyen, Stephanie Zhang, Kathryn Sun

Vice-Chairperson, International - Feng Chen

MARKETING/OUTREACH TEAM

Founder/Chairperson - Rose Chung

Marketing - Thomas Li, Yvonne Liu

President - Vincent Ma

Advertising Manager - Ed Jesswani

Vice President of Marketing - Jessica Xie

Art Director - Kevin Lu

Honorary Advisors - Bobby Babbar, Karen Babbar, Harrison Lim, Bill Quan

Promotions Director - Betty Lem

Pageant Director - Janice Hom Administrative Director - Julunda Gean Mendoza Operations Director - Crystal Lee

Photographers - Paul Eng, Frank Jang, Ed Jay, Henry Kee, Jonathan Lee, James Lim, James Gioanni Pan, Alvin Tang, Henry Wong, David Yu, Andreas Zhou PAGEANT NIGHT TEAM

Leadership Director - Dr. Francis Kong Delegates Coordinator - Valerie Foo

Tabulators - Mah and Associates

PRODUCTION TEAM

Ushers - Danny Chao, Noah Lau, Anjelica Lowe, David Lowe, Sebastian Lowe, Clifford Pong

Judges Hostess - Alicia Contreras

Production Director - Brian Louie Assistant Production Director - Liezl Fernando Creative Director - Chanh Pham

Badges - Denise Liang, Ray Liang Flower Bearers - Collin Cheung, Jason Lee Flower Bouquets - Mariluz Design, Aidan Ragasa, Ava Ragasa, Norman Ragasa

Music Director - Jay Raymundo Coronation Director - Amanda Lee Production Assistants - Cezar Mendoza, Zachary Mendoza Backstage Assistants - Andrew Belleza, Byron Wong Social Media Managers - Steven Chan, Randie Lin, Ernestine Siu Makeup & Artists Hair Design Directors - Jamie Huang, Ethel MH Reddy Dressing Room Coordinators - Joyce Kwan, Linda Lam, Pauline Lee, Trisha Mao

FRONT OF HOUSE TEAM VIP Reception Planner - Monique Zhang VIP Reception Staff - Elaine Mak, Flora Hui, Margie Melino, Steve Melino, Connie Xie Front House Reception - Lisa Chan, Annie Dare, Kenneth Dare, Carol Fung, Beverly Lee, Karen Lew BACK OF HOUSE TEAM

Dressing Room Assistants - Elaine He, Amy Hsu, Kenya Lam, Sandy Lam, Ada Lowe, Sarah Shang, Theresa Zhao

Security - Wesley Dere

Etiquette Advisor - Syndi Seid

Food Service Supervisors - Jenny Kwan Yee, Chris Yee

DELEGATE HOSPITALITY TEAM Housemothers - Wendy Lee, Donna Tom, “Mommy” Penny Wong-Belleza

Muscle Crew Manager - Fernando Mendoza Muscle Crew - Andy Liu, Omar Mendoza, Yuhua Qiu Food Service Team - Janet Dong, Marcello Kuan, Mikaela Kuan, Alisa Yee, Lauren Yee, Melanie Zhao, Theresa Zhao

Special Thanks to

Lung Kong Youth Group and Cathay Post 384 for their many years of dedicated support as part of the Miss Asian Global & Miss Asian America Pageant Family.

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Our Emcees | S I M M O N E PA R K & G I N A S U

S I M M O N E PA R K is a Jill-of-all-trades and master of a few. Her global career spans ten countries and includes: international branding and advertising, real estate, management consulting, and tech. After what she calls her “awakening” (and what common folk call her “nervous breakdown”), she travelled the world seeking her joy and to find her truest self. She recently took the leap of faith into the arts - stand up comedy and acting and in two short years has performed in 6 countries, shared a stage with Jerry Seinfeld and Jim Gaffigan in NYC, headlined the iconic Cobb’s Comedy Club in San Francisco, and performed an entire comedy set in Costa Rica in Spanish, a language she has never learned! Obsessed with world travel and getting out of her comfort zone, Simmone has experienced over 50 countries and is just getting started! She loves giving back and has helped build homes, schools, and communities in Kenya, Guatemala, Trinidad & Tobago, El Salvador, and Panama.

GINA SU is an actress, certified life coach, and motivational speaker. She was crowned Miss Asian Global in 2016 and thrilled to be back. Outside of work, Gina is a avid traveler, shelter animal foster parent, and connoisseur of non-dairy dark chocolate. As a former contestant, Gina is graciously continuing her delegate platform of "Help millions of people live a fulfilled and purposeful life via self-development and storytelling." In short, she calls it "I.C.E." = Inspire. Create. Entertain.

Gina has established her own business based on self-development and positive psychology and has garnered over 470,000 views on Youtube. She has been featured in a music video for Alesso, and spoke about Asian Americans in entertainment on an ABC News roundtable. Later this year, she will be producing her own drama short film. You can catch her in her first television role on CBS.

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O U R J U D G E S 2019 Miss Asian Global Our Judges were selected for their record of outstanding achievements and integrity in diverse arenas of our community, including business, science, communications, civic leadership, and non-profits. As a judge, they are entrusted with the highest responsibility, and are intergral to the reputation of our pageant.

With many talented and highly qualified applicants, the Applications Committee took great care in selecting delegates with outstanding character, high academic achievements, and community involvement. The Committee is confident that all our delegates are qualified to be Miss Asian Global or Miss Asian America, having already passed our stringent application process.

The Asian America Foundation is proud and grateful to have the tabulation provided by Mah and Associates, CPA whose outstanding reputation for accuracy and reliability has made them trusted worldwide.

AMY CHANTHAPHAVONG

was crowned Miss Asian America in 2009 and is a former TEDx speaker, sharing her journey from “Fear to Fearlessness.” She is the Head of Marketing at Zammo, an AI driven voice platform based in San Francisco and she is also the Co-Founder of London Valor, an IoT fashion brand of luxury smart handbags that creates efficiency for enterprising women.

Amy is a professional marketer and visionary with over 10 years of experience in the areas of technology, IT, real estate, media, fashion and banking. Amy moved to Laos in 2014 and became a curator of the Vientiane Global Shaper Community, a network of city-based hubs initiated by the World Economic Forum. Her desire for social impact, love for stories, media and technology, also led her to create sharingamy.com, a space to share stories from her personal journey. As Miss Asian America traveled across the United States and abroad as a goodwill ambassador and a leader in the Asian American community. She actively utilized her title to bring awareness to issues that were dear to her heart such as Human Trafficking, Education, Preservation of the Family Unit and her parents’ native country – Laos.

CHENDA CHHI

In 1979, at age 18, Chenda escaped the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and came to the United States with her mother and sister as a refugee. Chenda earned a dual bachelor’s degree in computer science and mathematics from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. She also has a degree and certification in interior design and once owned her own interior design firm, Chenda Design LLC. In 2015, she founded Coral Tree Education Foundation, Inc., a US based nonprofit bringing education to poor children and women of rural Cambodian villages. Chenda was honored to receive a Gold Medal along with other awards from the government of Cambodia and was granted an audience with His Majesty King of Cambodia. Chenda now devotes her efforts to bring a workable and an effective model for better educational programs and practical skill development to the children of rural Cambodia. With her compassion, hopes and dreams for a better life for all children in Cambodia, Chenda wants nothing more than to see these children have a chance for a better life just as she did.

DAISY LI

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is an enthusiastic entrepreneur and a determined humanitarian. In 1991, Daisy followed her passion to establish one of the happiest and most reputable restaurants in the Bay Area, Moonstar Buffet. In 2015, she expanded on her dream by opening up MoonChef to provide affordable, healthy and nutritional meals for seniors across the Bay Area. A two-time breast cancer survivor, Daisy has mastered spreading her positive outlook and energy to those around her. She lives by the philosophy that when you succeed, it is necessary to give back to the community and help the less fortunate. Under her leadership, the entire Moonstar Family continues to devote time, money, and effort to take on rewarding roles in giving back and supporting organizations such as Chinatown Community Development Center, American Red Cross, St. Augustine Catholic Church, St. Lawrence Elementary and Middle School, and many more.

2019 Miss Asian Global

OUR JUDGES

KITTISIRIWAN (KITTY) SAICHAU

is a Bay Area trend setter and influencer who blends her fashion sense with Thai culinary hospitality. Kitty expressed her love of fashion and culture by designing unique charitable events. Kitty started her career in the restaurant industry in 2006 and now works as the general manager at the famed Lao Table, a bespoke new restaurant by the senior management group of Osha Thai. She has helped to open seven restaurants in San Francisco and three restaurants in Bangkok under the Osha Thai and Lao Table names. Kitty has earned three degrees to further her dreams in her career-- Economics from Bangkok University with a Bachelor's degree, an MBA in International Business from Lincoln University, and fashion merchandising at Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

LAWRENCE CHAU

From Toronto to Hong Kong to Singapore and now Los Angeles, Lawrence’s multi-faceted, award-winning showbiz career encompasses television hosting and producing, acting, writing and filmmaking. He was recently named “Best Male Host” for the FabTV 2019 Hosting Awards. In North America, he is most recognized as the host of the award-winning paranormal series Ghostly Encounters (Destination America, OWN Canada). In Asia, he was dubbed "The Ryan Seacrest of Singapore” thanks to hosting duties on multiple programs like Celebrity Squares (aka Hollywood Squares Singapore) and Miss Singapore Universe. As a news anchor/producer, Lawrence has traveled across four continents interviewing more than 200 celebrities along the way, including George Clooney, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Michelle Yeoh, Jackie Chan, Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, Mariah Carey and Celine Dion — an achievement he attributes to his academic roots in journalism. The TV host “as of late”, morphed into an award-winning actor and filmmaker. His debut short film Justice For Vincent, a dramatic adaptation based on the historic Vincent Chin case, has accumulated 16 accolades in 10 months, including a prestigious Telly Award for creative excellence.

RANA GUJRAL

is an entrepreneur, speaker, investor and the CEO of Behavioral Signals, an enterprise software company that delivers a robust emotion AI engine that introduces emotional intelligence into speech recognition technology. Rana has been awarded the ‘Entrepreneur of the Month’ by CIO Magazine, the ‘US-China Pioneer’ Award by IEIE and listed in "Top 10 Entrepreneurs to follow in 2017" by Huffington Post. Rana was also recently listed in Inc. Magazine as an “AI Entrepreneur to Watch”. He has spoken at conferences such as the World Government Summit and AI Everything in Dubai, the Silicon Valley Smart Future Summit, and IEIE in New York. You can find his writing in publications such as Inc., TechCrunch, and Forbes.

SAMANTHA COOPER

is the senior photo editor at WIRED. Previously, she was a photo and video curator at Instagram and a creative producer and photo editor at Airbnb. Samantha has developed a Webby Award-winning film for Airbnb and produced photography that was selected as an American Photography 35 winner for WIRED. She has exhibited work and curated photography exhibitions throughout San Francisco, and has taught photography at the Harvey Milk Photo Center in San Francisco, CA. Samantha holds a BA in Film and Video from the University of California at Santa Cruz and is certified in American Sign Language. She currently serves on the City College of San Francisco Industry Advisory Board for photography.

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D E L E G AT E S

Diana Chu

Emily Sun

Emmeline Ye

San Francisco, California Age: 28 · Chinese

San Francisco , California Age: 18 · Caucasian/Chinese

Sunnyvale, California Age: 27 · Chinese

Sponsor: Calvin Louie

Sponsors: Jerry Sun and Danny Sun

Sponsor: Guno Sutiono

Platform: Promote happy parenting with workshops focused on socialemotional skills and understanding brain development.

Platform: Raise awareness for adolescent mental health.

Personal Traits: Tenacious, Innovative, Authentic Life Motto: What challenges you, changes you.

Fun Fact: I love hanging out in my hammock with my husky.

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Personal Traits: Sociable, Good listener, Motivated Life Motto: Progress is not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.

Fun Fact: I tend to use a lot of dry humor, I'm flexible, enjoy watching criminal based documentaries and I have an obsession with astrology.

Platform: Reduce the rate of veterinarian suicide.

Personal Traits: Goofy, Progressive, Passionate Life Motto: Be the person your dog thinks you are.

Fun Fact: I love the corn chip smell of dog paws! It's actually yeast and bacteria, but I don't think about that too much. My baby talk skills are on another level (it's part of the job as a veterinarian).

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Hai Yen Nguyen Irina Qiu

Jamie Moy

San Francisco, California Age: 26 · Vietnamese

San Diego, California Age: 24 · Chinese

Chicago, Illinois Age: 26 · Chinese

Platform: Encourage and connect Asian woman and young girls in the video game industry.

Platform: Provoking introspection and the power to create social change.

Platform: Create a more diverse educational experience for students.

Personal Traits: Creative, Independent, Logical

Personal Traits: Resourceful, Disciplined, Witty

Life Motto: You only live once.

Motto: A single spark can create a blaze, so I am ready to start a wild fire.

Personal Traits: Spunky, Authentic, Humble Life Motto: We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.

Fun Fact: Whenever I make a wish, I try to shoot 10 of the 3-pointer in a row. If successful, I strongly believe my wish got approval by the Basketball God.

Fun Fact: I was a food magazine editor and once, I worked in the New York Fashion Week

Fun Fact: I have an extremely sensitive nose, so whenever I enter the infant and toddler classrooms, I know who has a poopy diaper.

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D E L E G AT E S

Josie Li

Marissa Fu

San Francisco, California Age: 28 · Taiwanese

Fremont, California Age: 19 · Chinese

Sponsor: SGDM LLC Platform: Entrepreneurship

Platform: Provide support to caregivers who work with mental health patients.

Platform: Mastering your inner voice to drown out external negativity.

Personal Traits: Compassionate, Intuitive, Risk Taker

Personal Traits: Kind, Bubbly, Spontaneous

Personal Traits: Ambitious, Outgoing, Goofy

Life Motto: The key is to find joy in what you do rather than to find what to do to bring you joy.

Life Motto: Live a life you are proud of.

Life Motto: Freedom and beauty begin the moment you learn to be yourself without hesitation.

Fun Fact: I geek out on beauty hacks.

I have to place my chopsticks neatly by folding a holder with the chopsticks wrapper every time we eat out. I need hot water with every meal.

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Fun Fact: I have a HUGE sweet tooth! If I had to choose between something salty and something sweet, I would choose sweets in a heartbeat especially ice cream.

Melanie Wardhana San Francisco, California Age: 25 · Indonesian/Chinese

Fun Fact: I can identify the breed of any dog I see. I drink so much green tea every day that my friends call me a Tea-Rex.

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Nichol Lou

Princes Juan

Rachel Xu

San Francisco, California Age: 26 · Chinese/Japanese/ Ukrainian/Russian

Oahu, Hawaii Age: 20 · Filipino

Fremont, California Age: 17 · Chinese

Sponsor: Savvy Racing

Platform: Bullying and self image.

Platform: Advocate for Asians in leadership.

Personal Traits: Loving, Friendly, Adventurous

Sponsor: Calvin Louie & Ken Ho

Personal Traits: Dedicated, Loving, Kind

Life Motto: "In order to carry a positive action, we must develop here a positive vision." - Dalai Lama

Life Motto: Work hard, love harder Fun Fact: I have a noodle obsession.

Fun Fact: Fluently to both native Filipino languages Ilocano and Tagalog.

Platform: Provide education, specifically STEM and civics, to underprivileged children.

Personal Traits: Ambitious, Persistent, Forward looking Life Motto: Onward and forward Fun Fact: Sometimes I can be a kid, and other times I behave like a mom.

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D E L E G AT E S

Sharon Cheung

Shivali Naik

Sidney Siu

Rowland Heights, California Age: 25 · Chinese

San Francisco, California Age: 25 · Indian

Hercules, California Age: 20 · Chinese

Platform: Promoting global awareness Platform: Break stereotypes of working for mental health that is culturally sensitive. women.

Personal Traits: Playful, Persistent, Positive

Personal Traits: Daring, Friendly, Disciplined

Life Motto: Look to brighter things and you'll be able to reflect the light

Life Motto: Like all, trust few, follow none, but learn from everyone!

Fun Fact: I find it very relaxing to arrange things by colour order.

Fun Fact: Talking to myself in front of the mirror and answering some questions about myself.

Sponsors: Sidney's Family & Friends Platform: Raise awareness of Asian American communities living on the fringes of society.

Personal Traits: Compassionate, Dynamic, Hardworking Life Motto: "A girl should be two things: who and what she wants." - Coco Chanel Fun Fact: I have been strutting high heels since I was 4 years old to help correct my hyper extended knees. I can eat a whole watermelon by myself in one sitting!

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Stephanie Kim

Zaya Batmunkh

San Francisco, California Age: 20 · Korean

San Francisco , California Age: 18 · Mongolian

Sponsor: National Legal Associates

Platform: Become a Hollywood actor.

Platform: Improve human rights for citizens of imperialist countries, specifically North Korea.

Personal Traits: Religious, Honest, Confident

Life Motto: Stay humble, always hustle.

Life Motto: Motion control emotion.

You have the right to feel any emotion, but never compare yourself with others.

You are the only one who can be the best of yourself.

Fun Fact: I sing at the top of my lungs when I am driving and I could drink my own body weight in iced tea.

Fun Fact: I love watching Naruto Shippuuten and Naruto Uzumaki tought me “never give up”.

Personal Traits: Resilient, Vivacious, Ambitious

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Hello, Summer!

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MISS ASIAN GLOBAL & MISS ASIAN AMERICA queens

Are you our next queen?

2020

Emma Marriott 2014-2015 Miss Asian Global

Louise Wu 2007-2008

Trisha Bantigue 2017-2018 Miss Asian Global

Jennifer Chung 2014-2015

Jennifer Field 2006-2007

Savannah Pham

Gina Su

2017-2018

2016-2017 Miss Asian Global

Susie Lee

Emily Tang

2012-2014 Miss Asian Global

2012-2014

Jessica Lim 2016-2017

Sarah Liu 2010-2012

Pamela Lagera 2015-2016 Miss Asian Global

Stephanie Lin 2015-2016

Amy Chanthaphavong

Louisa Liu 2008-2009

2009-2010

Kollyn Muangmaithong

Buachampoo “Sai” Varee

Charlene Wang

Fala Chen

Caroline Nguyen

2005-2006

2003-2004

2002-2003

2001-2002

2004-2005

Amy Truong

Quyen Tran

Erin Jung

Esther Hwang

Gwendoline Yeo

Jane Park

Ashley Yamada

Christie Hirota

Cindy Chung

Theresa Park

Stacy Yamashita

Delia Ma

Mona Lee Locke

Jeanette Chan

1999-2001

1991-1992

1998-1999

1990-1991

1997-1998

1989-1990

1996-1997

1988-1989

1995-1996

1987-1988

1994-1995

1986-1987

1992-1994

1985-1986

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