Filipinos have been in the United States since the 16th century, yet many of their stories remain untold. For the past year, 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.

Lady Idos, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Officer, Department of Energy

Lady Idos

Lady Idos recently joined the Biden Administration as the Senior Advisor on Justice, Equity, Diversity, Belonging, and Inclusion at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Her role is to design a DOE-wide strategy to strengthen and integrate diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) within the DOE, in alignment with Presidential Directives and Executive Orders. Idos is also a member of the Design Steering Committee for The White House Gender Policy Council, collaborating with other Federal agencies on implementation guidance for President Biden’s first-ever National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality. She previously served as the Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). She serves as a co-chair for Bay Area Council's Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee, and advisor for UC Berkeley's startup accelerator, SkyDeck. Idos was born in Manila and immigrated to San Diego, CA at the age of seven. She holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of San Francisco; B.A. degree in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz; and a Diversity and Inclusion Certificate from Cornell University. She draws strength and inspiration from her parents, Salvador Idos (from Pangasinan) and Rosalina Idos (from Bicol). They became pioneers in the teaching of Filipino as a world language in the California public school system, with her mother being honored as California's Outstanding Teacher in 2007.

Joshua Ang Price, Former Election Commissioner

Price ran for Arkansas Secretary of State but lost on May 24, 2022. He told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that he was inspired to run for office after the past legislative session where he witnessed multiple attempts to restrict voting rights. “During the legislative session, my mother, who is from the Philippines and fled from the oppression there, told me ‘Josh, I saw this happen in the Philippines.’ I told her that I would make sure to protect the right to vote for all Arkansans,” he said. He previously served as Election Commissioner, the first Filipino American and Asian American elected in Pulaski County, the largest county with 400,000 residents in Arkansas. During his tenure, Price opened additional early voting locations, replaced voting machines that were up to 20 years old and trained workers during the pandemic. He is also an appointed member of the Metroplan Regional Advisory Committee on Economic Vitality and the Advisory Board for Pulaski Country Youth Services. He is actively involved with civic and nonprofit organizations including the UA-PTC Foundation and Designing Hope Foundation. He is vice president of the Arkansas Minority Film and Arts Association and an executive committee member of the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Central Arkansas Big Role Models Program. His father is from the small town of Antoine, Arkansas and his mother is a registered nurse from Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines who was recruited to work in rural America. Price was born in Nashville, Arkansas and he earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Central Arkansas. He is currently owner and CEO of Hybrid Strategies, a public relations consulting firm specializing in economic development projects, tourism, women and minority-owned small businesses, and government communications and policy. He serves on two board with missions in the Philippines -- the Basilia Women’s Foundation, which provides shelter to abused women and children, and the Meguko Foundation, which provides scholarships to underserved children.

Francis and Dian Ang, Abaca Restaurant Owners

Francis and Dian Ang (Source: Getty Images)

Born in San Francisco but raised in the Philippines, Francis enrolled in City College of San Francisco’s Culinary Arts and Hospitality Studies Program. After graduation, he got a job at Gary Danko, a Michelin-star restaurant, and moved on to Fifth Floor where he received Food & Wine’s “People’s Best Pastry Chef” and Zagat’s 30 under 30. In 2013 when typhoon Yolanda wiped out towns and displaced thousands, Francis and Dian were stranded in the Philippines and tried to help out by feeding the community there and, upon returning to San Francisco, they embarked on a fundraiser for the typhoon victims while introducing Filipino dishes at Fifth Floor. A return to the Philippines in 2016 had the couple studying the local cuisine for six months. They then launched Pinoy Heritage, a Filipino pop-up that won Eater SF’s “Pop-up of the Year” award as well as San Francisco Chronicle’s rising Star Chef in 2019. “The menu was designed with a ton of appetizers and small plates,” says Ang in an interview with SF Eater.com. “The idea was to have guests sharing and nibbling and tasting all different kinds of plates versus ordering one big entree at a time.” The pancit, lumpia, and sisig fried rice are some of the things Abaca is famous for, the latter being a creation of Dian for the fundraiser for typhoon victims. The dish is topped with poached egg, chicharon, onion sprouts, and pickled red onions. Francis says he learned to make sisig from his Filipino Chinese father who used to own a restaurant.

Ninez Ponce, MPP, Ph.D., Professor

Ponce is a professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and Director of its Center for Health Policy Research. She leads the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), the nation’s largest state health survey where she devised the rationale and implementation of Asian ethnic oversamples and the cultural and linguistic adaptation of the survey. She teaches applied research methods, health policy, and health economics. She has served on the Board of Scientific Counselors, National Center for Health Statistics, and on committees for the National Academy of Sciences and the National Quality Forum, where her expertise has focused on setting guidance for health systems in the measurement and use of race/ethnicity and social determination of health as tools to monitor health equity. Dr. Ponce has received support from the National Cancer Institute, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the California Endowment, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and other organizations. In 2008, she received the National Institute of Health merit award for her work in multicultural survey research, and in 2009, the UCLA Pilipino Alumni Association gave her the Royal Morales Community Service award. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Nutrition and Food Services from the University of California, Berkeley, her Master in Public Policy on International Development from Harvard University, and her Doctor of Philosophy in Health Services from University of California, Los Angeles.

Richard Yao, President of California State University, Channel Islands

Yao, a Chinese Filipino American, is the fourth president of California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI). He first joined CSUCI in 2018 as vice president for student affairs. He is a licensed clinical psychologist from Nevada State College and holds a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Eastern Illinois University, and a doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara. Early in his career, he worked with individuals with chronic and persistent mental illness, as well as youth aging out of the foster care system where he focused on forensic psychological assessments for the Juvenile Court, parental capacity evaluations for the Department of Family Services, and psychological disability evaluations for the Bureau of Disability Adjudication. He had also served as chair of the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) Student Affairs Council, a group comprised of vice presidents of student affairs and other high-level administrators from across the state. At CSUCI, Yao is focused on new program development, improving post-graduate outcome and meeting regional industry, workforce, and service needs through the school’s academic programs.

Celine Parrenas Shimizu, Filmmaker and Educator

Celine Parrenas Shimizu (Source: srrc.edu)

Shimizu is Dean of the Arts Division at the University of California at Santa Cruz. She was formerly professor and director of the School of Cinema at San Francisco State University for 15 years, and professor of Asian American, Feminist and Film and Media Studies at UC Santa Barbara where she was chair of the Senior Women’s Council. She received her Ph.D. in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University, her M.F.A. in Film Directing and Production from UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and her B.A. in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley. She is well-known for her work on popular culture, race, sexuality and representations, power and inequality, and has written several books on these subjects (The Proximity of Other Skins in 2020, Straitjacket Sexualities (2012), The Feminist Porn Book in 2013, etc.) Her first feature film, Birthright: Mothering Across Differences won the Best Feature Documentary at the Big Mini DV Festival in 2009. The Celine Archive (2020) won several festival awards. Shimizu is the daughter of political refugees from the Philippines. She is married to Daniel Shimizu and they have two sons.

Kiyomi, R&B singer

R&B singer-songwriter Kiyomi, 19, released her debut EP in February 2019, “Solara Sunsets,” whose lyrics revolve around loss, heartaches, and her surroundings. The former Union City, California resident writes songs from her personal experiences. She has attracted a following of 12,000 on Instagram and nearly a million plays across all digital streaming platforms. In 2021, she released “Trials and Tribulations,” a single she wrote during pandemic quarantine where she felt “nothing made sense in the world.” Confident, playful, and unrestricted, Kiyomi is quickly carving out her own lane in R&B. Her diverse racial mix (Filipino, Japanese, Black, and white) and her roots in the San Francisco Bay Area culture are strongly reflected in her distinct sound and songwriting. “I clicked on a beat and just started trying to make my own song, and eventually just got into it and fell in love with the whole process and what it did for me,” she said in an interview with caamedia.org. She now resides permanently in Los Angeles.

Ken Garcia Olaes, Artist and Bakery Owner

Ken Garcia Olaes (Source: The Virginian-Pilot)

Virginia Beach artist and owner of Angie’s Bakery, Ken Olaes is a creative baker as well as an established classical style portrait painter. He double majored in pre-med and medical illustration and minored in biology at VCU. His interest in art started while he was living in Germany where his father was stationed. He started studying two of his favorite painters, Caravaggio and Bouguereau, copied their work and took notes. He began his career as a copywriter before he was promoted to graphic designer at NEXCOM for 13 years. Then he bought his uncle’s bakery, Angie’s, and he had to learn the business. He had never baked before other than with his mother at home. He keeps a sketchbook of ideas for baked goods and a sketchbook for his art. By day, he is in the kitchen creating ensaymadas and pandesal. “I’m an artist even when I’m not sketching,” he says in a National Geographic article entitled The Surprising Story of How the Philippines came to Virginia. “And it’s not just what comes out of the oven. It’s about the entire sensory experience, from the aroma when you enter, to the way our products are displayed.” He tries to get two hours of painting in every night. The process of painting is what he is most interested in, more than the finished piece. His wife, Karina, is also an artist, and their easels are side by side in the studio. They have three children.

Anthony Barretto Ogilvie, Jr.

Even in his late seventies, Tony Ogilvie is not slowing down. This August 18-20, 2022, he is chairing the National Federation of Philippine American Chamber’s International Trade and Business Development Conference in Seattle, Washington. He has been involved with the trade conference since 2005 when he chaired the Filipino Chamber of Commerce of the Pacific Northwest and when he was elected several terms as president (2014-2021). He was vice president at Seattle community College and now does consulting and volunteer work with community organizations. Ogilvie’s father is of Filipino and Spanish descent while his mother is of Ilocano and German descent. His teaching career started at Seattle’s Blanchet High School and ended, as executive dean, at Seattle Central Community College. As an undergraduate at the University of Washington in 1969, he led the Asian Coalition for Equality, which successfully lobbied the university to establish a Filipino and Needy Asian Students Unit. From 20 students in 1969, Filipino students number in the hundreds today. Ogilvie holds a doctorate in educational Leadership from the University of Washington and has published articles on Filipino issues. He was elected President of the Washington Asian and Pacific American Education Association (1974-79). He was co-founder and first president-elect of the Filipino American National Historical Society (1982). He served as a board member of the National Association of Asian Pacific American Association (1978-1983). He also led the successful effort to raise $3 million for the renovation and expansion of Seattle’s Filipino Community Center (2000-2008). Ogilvie was also a musical impresario, organizing jazz concerts featuring Filipino musicians in 2001-2002.

Samantha Marasigan, Automotive Technologist

At 38 years old, Marasigan graduated this June with four automotive certificates and three welding certificates from San Diego College of Continuing Education (SDCCE). After immigrating to the United States in 1979 from the Philippines while her father was enlisted in the U.S. Navy, she was not sure what career path to take. After high school she had attended nursing school to please her parents but felt “stuck and unsatisfied.” In 2019, she discovered SDCCE’s free classes in skilled and technical trades to earn a high school diploma. “My grandpa did everything, he fixed cars, built things, cooked, gardened, and even sewed my clothes,” she said. “The one good thing that came out of this pandemic was realizing life is too short to feel unsatisfied. So, I continued with the automotive program and surprisingly did well.” Following the completion of four automotive certificates at SDCCE -- Quick Service Inspection Technician, Service Advisor, Auto Body and Paint Technician and Auto Technician -- Marasigan decided to give metal fabrication a try. She has completed three welding certificates including SMAW (Shielded Metal Arc welding), GMAW (gas metal arc welding), FCAW (flux cored arc welding), and will finish the TIGW (Tungsten Inert Gas Welding) program in the fall. Then Marasigan plans to earn an Associate of Science Degree in Automotive Technology at San Diego Miramar College.

Source: Google and Wikipedia

The Magazine

Fil-Ams Among The Remarkable And Famous, Part 34