In 1980, Agnes Chan graduated at the top of her Police Academy class and became the NYPD’s first Asian female officer. In this position, she sought to build bridges between the Asian community and the police department. Promoted to Detective rank in 1984, Chang served 20 years in the NYPD, including Chinatown’s 5th precinct. She retired in 2000. Chan initially went to John Jay College with the vision of going to law school but after an internship in Chinatown, she decided to join the police department, which at the time was looking to recruit more minority and Asian officers to work with the community. Despite numerous pressures to quit during training at the police academy, Chan persevered and became the first Asian female police officer at the New York City Police Department. Having grown up understanding traditional Chinese culture and values, she saw herself as uniquely equipped to work as an officer in the community. While other officers might interpret avoiding eye contact as a likely sign of deceit, Chan understood that in an Asian cultural context could simply signify fear or respect. While stationed in Spanish Harlem, Chan frequently perceived that people would look at her as a 5’2” Asian female officer and question what Chan could do for them. However, Chan responds that not all situations can be resolved by physical strength and the use of a weapon and require talking to people and having conversations. She asserts that most police officers are service-oriented and that the majority of them are there to help people and the community, often at their worst moment.

Emily Chang is a performer, writer, filmmaker, and musician based in New York City. She is a founding member of the renowned pan-Asian spoken word group, I Was Born With Two Tongues, and Mango Tribe, a Pan-Asian performance collective for women. Growing up, Chang had to learn to play the piano, take voice lessons, dance lessons, and play sports. At the same time, she was expected to excel in academics. When Chang started listening to Thelonious Monk, jazz, and Miles Davis, she realized that she could take the skills she learned from her upbringing and make her own music and write her own songs. Chang went on to graduate from the University of Chicago with a liberal arts education. Together with a diverse group of Asian American artists, she became a founding member of the Pan-Asian spoken word collective, I Was Born with Two Tongues. Chang decided to try out acting in a group called Mango Tribe, an all-women’s performing arts collective where she felt herself. Chang believes that Asian actresses are too often cast in stereotypical roles. Therefore, instead of waiting for the industry to offer her a role without stereotypes, she wants to create her own films and write characters she would want to portray.

Ti-Hua Chang is a prominent television journalist based in New York City. He has been awarded the Peabody, Edward R. Murrow, and numerous Emmy awards for his investigative journalism. Chang is especially proud of discovering the four witnesses to the 1963 murder of Medgar Evers, which led to the re-opening of that famous case. Chang’s father was a renowned journalist who covered various significant events, including the Hiroshima bombing. Chang decided to follow his father into the journalism profession, despite his father’s advice to become a doctor. However, it was difficult for Chang to land a job in television. His friend, Al Itilson, pointed out to him that his Asian identity was probably hindering his job opportunities. As a result, Chang decided to change his name to increase his chances of being hired. Chang eventually got his first job in Mississippi, where he was able to embrace his full name and identity. He understood the significant impact using his full name has on underrepresented communities. He believes that a journalist’s role is to hold to account the government and give a voice to the people. In January 2009, Chang reported a story on Asian poverty,which highlighted the economic struggles of Asian Americans, particularly immigrants. Chang concludes by emphasizing the importance of journalism for democracy and the need for diverse voices to accurately portray society. He believes that fewer journalists would be bad for democracy and Asian Americans because, to cover the Asian American story, you would need Asian Americans.

Jeff Gammage is a writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the author of China Ghosts: My Daughter Journey to America, My Passage to Fatherhood. He and his wife Christine are the adoptive parents of two Chinese girls, Jin Yu and Zhao Gu. “We wanted them to keep their names as a reminder of their heritage and their homeland,” he says. Jeff initially did not envision becoming a father, but his wife Christine wanted children. They decided on adoption from China because at the end of the process, you could be assured that you would bring home a child. Jeff provided the Chinese government with information and they selected the child for them based on this. They received letters about their daughters, Sho Jin Yu and Zhao Gu, with some health details. The adoption process was completed after 18 months. Meeting their daughters was challenging due to the long plane ride and their unfamiliarity with Chinese culture. Jeff felt guilty adopting Jin Yu when she was two years old because she knew her surroundings and it was not easy leaving everything behind. Jeff and Christine kept the girl names to honor their heritage. Jeff strives to expose their daughters to Chinese culture, from lion dancing to kung fu. They recognize that the children will eventually make their own choices about their cultural identity. Jeff acknowledges that being a good parent is determined by their daughters and expresses deep love and joy in his role as a father. Jeff ends with a cheerful interaction between him and his daughters.

A New York native and Metro reporter for The New York Times, Jennifer 8. Lee is also the author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, a book investigating the history of Chinese food in the U.S. and around the world. “The point of my research was to make people think twice about what it means to be American. There’s a part of being an outsider in America yet being an insider,” she says. Lee was fascinated with the number 8 during middle school because of its symmetry and its meaning of prosperity in Chinese. Despite excelling in mathematics and science, Lee became a writer after serving as co-editor in chief of her high school newspaper and participating in a summer program for minority high school students to encourage them to pursue journalism. Through this summer program, she came to understand that diversity was essential to ensuring different experiences. Growing up speaking Mandarin and studying it in college, Lee has a deeper understanding of the lengths people will go to sacrifice for their families. She recognized the role of being both an outsider and an insider in America, telling stories through established institutions with a unique perspective. Lee wrote a book titled, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, on Chinese American food and its history. She realized that fortune cookies weren’t Chinese, which inspired her to explore what it means to be American. Lee ends by showing her appreciation for journalism versatility and embracing her unique Asian American identity.

In 2001, John Liu became the first Asian American elected to legislative office in New York history, representing District 2 in northeast Queens as a New York City Councilman. John learned early in life that strong communities could only be built with hard work, vision and leadership. His story is similar to that of many immigrants – one full of determination and a desire to succeed. Liu begins by recalling his efforts as president of the Chinese American Student Union at Binghamton University to fill a need on campus by organizing quality programming in which students and faculty could learn more about Asian Americans. Liu recounts the work that went into bringing one such program to campus, including trekking to the offices of the New York Chinatown History Project to pick up a traveling exhibit and carrying it down three flights of stairs. Liu notes that being a leader requires stepping up when something needs doing but no one else is willing to take the lead. This applied to his efforts on campus and also later in life to his involvement in electoral politics. He highlights instances of racial insensitivity, including one in which his city council member made derogatory comments about Asians, and how these have driven him to step up and respond politically. He expresses a wish that he was not the first but rather ninth or tenth Asian American since Asian Americans had been running for his office for nearly twenty years; however, he is gratified to see increasing numbers of Asian American elected to all levels of government across the country.

Roger Brue McHayle bold, iconic tags cemented his street reputation as original and fearless in 1990s New York blossoming graffiti movement. Brooklyn born and bred, McHayle, upon graduation from The Cooper Union, founded the pioneering, urban clothing line, PNB Nation, with his multicultural street crew. Today, McHayle resides in Portland with his family and is an executive at Nike. McHayle, of mixed Chinese and Jamaican roots, grew up in Brooklyn, New York in a predominantly African American community. He lived in a single-family home with his mother, who played a crucial role in helping him embrace his heritage. His Chinese grandparents did not speak much English, but he would frequently celebrate Chinese New Year with them. McHayle soon developed an interest in graffiti art, which allowed him to creatively express himself. He attended the High School of Art and Design, where he connected with students from various backgrounds with a common desire for self-expression. With his peers, he created a graffiti crew called PNB Nation, inspired by the idea of being yourself. This idea extended to their clothing and business, which incorporated their diverse backgrounds and identities.

New York City-born musician Taiyo Na first started writing rhymes at age 13. He started performing, first as a poet and then as a musician, composer, and producer. His critically acclaimed debut album, Love is Growth (2008), showcases his multitudinous talents as an MC, singer, songwriter and producer. Taiyo recalls his interview with poet and activist Fay Chiang at age 17, and reflects on how the music of Asian American artists and activists of the 1970s impacted his life and work. He remembers that Chiang’s stories about her experiences traveling around the country with her friends, connecting with communities, performing, and sharing their work, was exactly what he needed to hear at that age. Taiyo had encountered Asian American music of the 1970s through friends but it was only later after Chris Iijima passed that Taiyo fully appreciated the meaningfulness and importance of the lyrics and melodies. In his own music, he thinks that there is always a line of storytelling which seeks to articulate what he is going through and he finds that others are able to connect and resonate with this. He shares how music was an escape for him and a lot of other kids growing up and how it was a way they constructed their identities. When he is creating music, he often thinks about how he could help save these kids’ lives. He points to his song, Lovely to Me, Immigrant Mother, which came from feeling ashamed of being associated with his parents because they were Asian and immigrant. He wrote the song because he did not want anyone else to feel that way. Taiyo ends by noting that there was a conscious effort in the 1970s to create music that organizes the masses but he does not consider himself an activist. He believes that care for one another is not an activist mission; rather, it is a human being’s responsibility to care about each other.

Father Raymond Nobiletti has served as Pastor of the Church of the Transfiguration in Manhattan’s Chinatown since 1991 and speaks Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese. Previously, he spent 15 years as a missionary priest in Hong Kong, where he had the opportunity to learn the language and be with the people on many levels through their problems and difficulties. Recently celebrating its 175th anniversary, Transfiguration, over the years, has welcomed waves of new immigrants. “We are known as The Church of Immigrants. Whoever comes through the door gets served,” he says. Father Nobiletti was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in the Bronx and Long Island. After high school, he decided to join the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America, Maryknoll, and was ordained a Maryknoll missionary priest in 1969. Nobiletti felt very fortunate to be assigned to Hong Kong, which was his first choice. Initially assigned to Transfiguration in Chinatown only temporarily, Nobiletti found the pastor work so meaningful and interesting that he decided to stay. He notes that the Transfiguration parishship has been able to adapt to different languages and waves of immigrants, from the Dutch speaking to English speaking to Italian speaking to the Chinese speaking of various dialects. In the early 1990s, the ship, the Golden Venture, ran aground carrying 110 undocumented Chinese, mainly from Fujian Province. The church received a call from the police department because they did not have anyone who understood Fujianese. Six of the young people who were too young to go to prison were brought to the church, where Nobiletti got to know them better. Over the years, increasing numbers of Mandarin-speaking Fujianese immigrants have come to Chinatown and have come to make up the majority of his parishioners. As a gua lo or foreign ghost who does not belong to any of the language speaking groups but knows something of Chinese language and culture, Nobelietti feels that he is able to welcome everyone.

Anna Sui is an internationally acclaimed fashion designer. Her hip, exuberant, original designs take you on a creative journey and mixes vintage styles with her current cultural obsessions. Whether inspired by Victorian cowboys, Warhol superstars or Finnish textile prints, her depth of cultural knowledge is always apparent. “When I am interested in something, I want to know everything about it,” she says. Sui shares the memory of her first trip to visit her grandparents in China, where she became interested in mixing beautiful Chinese textiles into her everyday fashion. Her parents came from Europe and settled in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, where grew up in a typical suburban environment. Her mother studied painting at the Sorbonne, and her father studied architecture. Through them, she was exposed to a very international influence of culture when she was growing up. Through natural inclination, Sui began collecting images that she liked of movie stars, dresses, interiors, and hairstyles and began organizing them into folders and envelopes. She feels that she was meant to become a fashion designer. Everything in her personality, her accumulation of thoughts and inspirations, allowed for that. Sui recalls the inspiration and thought behind two of her collections. The collection she did as a tribute to her Aunt Juliana drew what she remembered of her aunt’s tastes in textiles and her memories of her aunt and uncle’s wedding, in which her aunt wore dazzling qipaos with matching jewelry, shoes, and bags. Her Tibetan Surfer Collection was inspired observing the mix of styles of the audience backstage at the first Tibetan Freedom concert. Regarding fashion and appropriation, Sui believes that everything is influenced by something else and is always being reinterpreted.