The AAPI Experience: Recent Episodes
Taylor
Matthew Valenzuela talks to Teresa Huong, a Vietnamese lawyer in San Jose, California. She mainly practices family law but is also very knowledgable in estate law, immigration law, and bankruptcy. She is a wife and mother of two kids. She attended community college, transferred to a four-year, attended law school, and eventually passed the bar exam. Ms. Teresa Huong is an excellent example of the endless possibilities that can come from living in America.
Mr. Wongi Chong is an active corporate lawyer working at the Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati law firm. He graduated from UC Davis School of Law and has been a member of the California Bar for a little over a year now. He is an Asian American who immigrated to New Jersey and lived there ever since. Mr. Chong is now a U.S. citizen and lives in San Francisco for his job as a lawyer.
Dr. Wakako Nomura was born in Japan but grew up in San Jose, CA. She attended Tufts University in Massachusetts where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. Dr. Nomura continued her education at Tufts University School of Medicine, graduating in 1995. She went on to do her Obstetrics and Gynecology at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts. Dr. Nomura returned to the South Bay in 2001 and is currently a practicing OB/GYN and the Physician in Charge of the Mountain View Kaiser Permanente Clinic.
Ernest Lam immigrated to the U.S. from Hong Kong all alone to study in college. After graduating from Berkeley and earning his master’s degree in software engineering at Stanford. Ernest spent his early work years drifting between startup to startup, where he developed and honed his leadership skills. He is currently a software engineer manager working at Google.
Safia Babar is a kindergarten teacher and a mother of four. She immigrated from Pakistan to the US at the age of 24. She completed her Master’s in International Relations from Karachi university, and has experience teaching undergraduates in Karachi. She is one of the most dedicated teachers I have ever met. She has a unique perspective on the education system and working as an immigrant teacher in the US which she shares in her interview.
Greg Lin Tanaka was born in Los Angeles to a Japanese-American father and a Chinese-American mother. Raised in a single parent household, he went on to attend the California Institute of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley. Greg moved permanently to the Bay Area in 1993, settling down in Palo Alto’s College Terrace neighborhood in 2004. He is a father, an entrepreneur and devoted public servant, someone with the experience necessary for competent leadership and the outsider’s perspective central to innovative policy solutions. The pressing need for government and policies to catch up with technological advancements and a changing economy prompted Greg to run for Congress. His campaign is built on the belief that Silicon Valley and its residents deserve representation prepared for the challenges and opportunities of a new digital age.