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2004 Woman Warriors
Loni Ding –
Media/Education
Loni is an Emmy award-winning filmmaker and
Ethnic Studies faculty member at the University
of California – Berkeley. In her 30 years of filmmaking,
Loni has produced more than 250 broadcast programs including
five series for Public Television – Bean Sprouts, Nisei
Soldiers, Color of Honor, and Ancestors in America which was
11 years in the making.
Loni has always recognized the influence education and,
specifically, teachers have on shaping lives and minds. Her
achievements in education are outstanding given there were
very few Asian Americans in the field when she started, and
still very few of her rank. She has been recognized by the
Wilbur Schramm Award (Highest award, national competition,
educational K-12); Best of the West for Instructional TV program,
Pacific Mountain Network; and Gold Apple, National Educational
Film & Video Festival, Social Sciences.
Loni’s achievements in media have been recognized
by more than 15 career awards including the Rockefeller Foundation,
a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Director’s Fellowship
from the American Film Institute. She also has a long history
of grassroots advocacy, public service and is the co-founder
of several local and national media arts organizations including
the San Francisco Neighborhood Arts Program and the National
Asian American Telecommunications Association.
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Christine
Hiroshima – Education
Christine has dedicated her life’s work to the education
of San Francisco’s children. Christine is one of only
three Assistant Superintendents for the San Francisco
Unified School District. Her career rise, even in this day
and age, is outstanding given that Asians could not even teach
in the public schools prior to World War II
and there are still few API women in higher positions in education.
San Francisco public schools are fortunate to have such diverse
administrators but this is the exception and not the rule
in the public school arena in most parts of the state and
country.
Christine has the responsibility of managing and supervising
76 elementary schools. Her responsibilities include recruiting,
supervising and coaching of principals, and participating
on central office committees and task forces to drive student
achievement.
She puts in 18 hours days to follow through on her vision
for quality education -- waging a continual battle of funding
for San Francisco’s schoolchildren. A monumental task
given the funding shortages and challenges of school districts
today. Prior to becoming Assistant Superintendent, Christine
was Principal at E. R. Taylor Elementary School, was program
consultant in the Department of Integration Staff Development
and a classroom teacher for 13 years.
Christine was born and raised in San Francisco’s Japantown
and is a product of the San Francisco public schools –
and earned her advanced degrees from San Francisco State University.
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Patricia
Lee – Law
Patricia Lee has been a Deputy Public Defender in
San Francisco since 1978 and has been practicing in the juvenile
courts for over 25 years. She is currently Managing Attorney
of the Public Defender’s juvenile office. Her office
represents 1,400 youth each year and her office is recognized
as one of the top juvenile defender offices in the country.
She has mentored well over a hundred young law students and
attorneys, most of them women, and has served as a role model
for thousands of young people she has represented over the
years. She single-handedly has worked to reduce the number
of young women of color in custody at the Youth Guidance Center,
implementing one of the country’s first placement programs
which focuses on exploited girls.
Her work has had significant impact in the area of community
advocacy, education, health and human services. She founded
several key policy organizations affecting youth, girls and
ethnic communities (including African-American, Latino and
Asian American communities). She also co-chairs the Juvenile
Justice Committee of the Services and Advocacy of Asian Youth
County Response Plan for Asian Youth in San Francisco. In
1997, Patricia was the recipient of the National Organization
for Women Community Activist of the Year Award on behalf of
her work with children and minority communities.
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Lydia
Tanji – Arts
Lydia Tanji is an Asian American pioneer in costume design.
She has worked in the theater and film world for over 25 years.
Her work is well known for its creativity and innovation.
While the actors, writers and directors are often the visible
faces of a production, the costume designer is an integral
player. Costume design must express the mood of the production
and characters and be historically correct and culturally
sensitive. Costume designers work directly with the directors,
must sometimes placate actors, manage seamstresses, and juggle
budgets and timelines.
Lydia’s work has been seen in theater productions such
as The Ballad of Yachio (Astor Place Theater, New York), Angels
in American (Mark Taper Forum), and The Wash (Manhattan Theater
Club). Her work is also known in the film world: Joy Luck
Club (Wayne Wang, Director), A Thousand Pieces of Gold (Nancy
Kelly, Director), The Player (Robert Altman, Director) and
Come See The Paradise (Alan Parker, Director).
She has supported many Asian Americans in their work and performances,
Wayne Wang, Emiko Omori, Michael Uno, Felicia Lowe, Philip
Kan Gotanda and Brenda Wong Aoki. She has been recognized
by her industry – Lydia received the Drama-Logue Award
in Costume Design in 1990 and 1995 and the Bay Area Theater
Critics, Best Costume Design award five times.
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Pearl Wong –
Business
Success as a businesswoman in the nontraditional world of
jazz is not what Pearl had initially set out to do. Born and
raised in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Pearl worked in
her parents’ Chinese restaurant while attending Galileo
High School. Years later, when her three daughters were old
enough, Pearl helped her father run the family business and
took over management of the Great Eastern Restaurant so her
father could retire.
The late 70’s was a tough time in Chinatown. Youth gang
activity made running a business treacherous especially for
a woman in business. Luring business back to Chinatown was
daunting. It was in the early 80’s over a restaurant
meal that Pearl and guitarist Eddie Duran bore the novel idea
of great jazz in Chinatown with late-night dining.
Through pure hard work and labor of love, Pearl learned this
new business of jazz music – late night hours, club
clientele, sometimes dealing with erratic musicians, covering
bartending, bussing and hosting. The hard work paid off. With
music director and business partner, Sonny Buxton, Pearl made
Jazz at Pearl’s a home base for the jazz community and
the Who’s Who of Jazz. In April 2003, when Pearl decided
it was time to move on, jazz notables and those who played
the club over the years, returned to perform and pay tribute
to the woman who supported their art and provided a Bay Area
home the community of jazz.
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Ginny Poon Yamate
– Media/Public Affairs
Ginny Poon Yamate has used her talents in the media and public
affairs to give voice to issues and causes that would not
otherwise be on the desks of policymakers or on the minds
of community service organizations.
Ginny spent 25 years at ABC7 KGO-TV, most recently as Director
of Public Affairs. She made her mark in television management
where few Asian Americans, let alone women, reach top positions.
More importantly, Ginny opened doors to other Asian Americans
in television and conducted workshops to educate community
organizations on access to media. During her time at ABC7
KGO-TV, she also served as Producer/Executive Producer on
“Profiles in Excellence” -- special shows that
highlighted the contributions of local African American, Asian
Pacific American, and Hispanic/Latino role models.
Ginny continues her mission of public service in the corporate
sector as manager of Diversity Outreach and Corporate Contributions
at the California State Automobile Association.
Ginny has been recognized by the International Film &
TV Festival of New York, the California Governor’s Committee
for Employment of the Handicapped, and the California School
Boards Association Media Awards among others. Ginny has also
given exceptional volunteer service including the St. Anthony
Foundation, United Way of the Bay Area, and the Angel Island
Immigration Foundation, raising necessary funds and community
wide support to restore this part of the Asian immigration
history.
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Mona
Lisa Yuchengo -- Communications
Mona Lisa is the founder and publisher of Filipinas Magazine,
the only nationally circulated glossy magazine for Filipinos
in North America. The world of publishing is extremely competitive.
A publisher oversees the vision of the magazine, which includes
editorial product, production, circulation and advertising
revenue. This is a formidable job that Mona Lisa has succeeded
at for 12 years while other major national publishing houses
have folded titles due to economic pressures.
Founded in 1992, Filipinas Magazine is a rich resource of
information on culture, history, business, travel, food and
entertainment that serves as a unifying voice for the Filipino
community. Mona Lisa has received numerous awards on behalf
of the magazine for her writing and community involvement.
Last December, she received a special Presidential Citation
in Manila for her work.
Mona Lisa is also the founder of Philippine International
Aid, a nonprofit corporation established in California in
1986 that provides educational assistance to 500 needy children
in Manila. She is also active in the American Cancer Society,
University of San Francisco, Asia Pacific Fund, Asian American
Advertising Federation, New California Media and Filipino
American Women’s Network.
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Helen Zia – Media/Civil
Rights
Helen is an award-winning journalist who first came
to national prominence in 1989 when she was named
Executive Editor and Managing Editor of Ms. Magazine. Today,
she is an award-winning journalist, author, women’s
rights advocate and civil rights activist. Her book, “Asian
American Dreams: the Emergence of an American People”
was published in 2000 and is now in its fifth printing. Her
most recent book “My Country Versus Me,” which
she co-authored with scientist Wen Ho Lee, was published in
2002.
Helen’s familiarity with the inner workings of the media
have helped to focus attention on anti-Asian American discrimination
and violence in the early 1990s, and the discrimination that
still exists in the cases of Wen Ho Lee and the campaign finance
hearings on Asian Americans where she testified before the
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Her work in the area of
anti-Asian discrimination was documented in the Academy-Award
winning film, Who Killed Vincent Chin?
Her involvement in Asian women’s issues is long-standing.
She has served as a trustee on the Asian Pacific American
Women’s Leadership Institute (APAWLI), was former board
a member for the Asian Women’s Shelter in San Francisco
and member of the organizing committee for the National Asian
Pacific American Women’s Network. In 1984 she received
the David Hwang Justice Award; and in 1999 A Magazine listed
Helen as one of the “100 Most Influential Asian Americans
of the Decade.”
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