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

Maria Ressa, Journalist and Author

Maria Ressa (Photo by Nora Tam, South China Morning Post) — Maria Ressa (Photo by Nora Tam, *South China Morning Post)*

Filipino American journalist Maria Ressa is best known for co-founding Rappler, an online investigative news portal. She is its chief executive officer. Ressa’s father died when she was only one. She took on her Italian American stepfather’s last name when he adopted her. The family lived in Toms River, New Jersey. She studied molecular biology and theater at Princeton University where she graduated cum laude. She was then awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to study political theater at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. Her first stint as a journalist was at a government station, PTV 4. From there she co-founded Probe, ran CNN’s Jakarta Bureau, and headed the news division of ABS-CBN. Because of its critical reporting on the Duterte administration, Rappler has been saddled with several lawsuits and investigations triggered by the government. Her arrest was criticized by the international community and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines called it “a shameless act of persecution by a bully government.” Ressa was included in Time’s Person of the Year 2018 and in 2019 among the 100 Most Influential People in the World. That same year, she won the Columbia University Journalism Award, the Canadian Journalism Foundation’s Tribute and BBC’s list of 100 Women. The committee to Protect Journalists awarded Ressa in 2018 for “her journalistic courage in the face of persistent official harassment.”

Luisa Igloria, Poet and Author

An award-winning poet and author, Luisa Igloria is the current Poet Laureate of Virginia. She is a graduate of the University of the Philippines, Baguio in Comparative Literature, cum laude, and from Ateneo de Manila for her M.A. in Literature as a Robert Southwell Fellow. She received her Ph.D. in English/Creative Writing at the University of Illinois where she was a Fulbright Fellow. She has published 13 books and 3 chapbooks to date. Igloria is highly recognized for her work. She is an 11-time recipient of the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature in three genres (poetry, nonfiction and short fiction). Recent awards include among others the 2015 Resurgence Prize for Ecopoetry (UK), the 2014 May Swenson Poetry Prize from Utah State University Press and the Ernest Sandeen Prize in Poetry from the University of Notre Dame Press. In 2019, she was the co-winner of the Crab Orchard Poetry Open competition for her manuscript Maps for Migrants and Ghosts.

Giovannie Espiritu, Actress and Filmmaker

Giovannie Espiritu is the founder of HollywoodActorsWorkshop.com, a school for kids and adults who are serious about working in film and television. She was nominated alongside Academy Award Nominees Alfre Woodward and Amy Irving for Best Supporting Actress at MethodFest for the Mynah Films feature film, Fiona’s Script. She has voiced characters in international video games and cartoons, directed several theater productions and produced several short films. Her primetime credits include a recurring role on ER, Bones, Gilmore Girls and Trauma. A native of Tondo, Manila, Espiritu became a performer at a young age and, by her early twenties, starred in a number of Philippine-made internationally produced films and TV programs. She recently won the Award of Merit from The Best Shorts Film Competition in three categories: social justice, women filmmakers, and script/writer for her satirical film, Ally 3000, which highlights micro-aggressions and bias in the contemporary office setting.

Mona Pasquil Rogers, Political Consultant

Simeona Fortunata “Mona” Pasquil served as the 47th and Acting Lieutenant Governor of California from November 2009 to April 2010. She became California’s first Asian lieutenant governor; its first Filipino lieutenant governor; its first female lieutenant governor; and the first California acting lieutenant governor not to succeed to the position from the President pro tempore of the California State Senate. She was the political director during John Kerry’s 2004 campaign for president, and served as a super delegate supporting Hillary Clinton in 2008. In 2011, Governor Jerry Brown named her appointments secretary. Early this year, Pasquil joined Facebook as head of California policy where she will be responsible for managing relationships with policymakers throughout the state.

Mark Pulido, Former Mayor of Cerritos, California

Mark Pulido is the former mayor of Cerritos, California, a position he held from 2018-2019. He was elected to the Cerritos City Council in 2011 and worked his way up to Mayor Pro Tem and Mayor. He graduated with honors from Whitney High School and received his bachelor’s degree in History and Asian American Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he served as UCLA Student Body President. He also received his Master of Public Policy degree from The University of Chicago as a Woodrow Wilson National Fellow. After 19 years as an elected official, Pulido paid tribute and gave thanks to his family in his final remarks “as a proud son and grandson of immigrants from the Philippines.” He will continue to work as U.S. Congressman Alan Lowenthal’s deputy chief of staff and looks forward to spending time with his family. He and his wife, Gloria, have two children.

Robert “Bobby” Scott, Democratic Congressman from Virginia

Congressman Robert Scott (D-West Virginia)

Scott was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Newport News, Virginia. His father, Dr. Charles Waldo Scott, was an African American surgeon while his mother, Mae Hamlin, was an educator whose father was of Filipino descent. He is the first American of Filipino descent to serve as a voting member of Congress. He received his A.B. in government from Harvard College and his Juris Doctor from Boston College of Law. He started his political career at he Virginia House of Delegates in 1977, then the Senate of Virginia in 1982. He ran for Congress in 1986 but lost; ran again in 1992 and every two years thereafter and won each time. He has supported increases in minimum wage, elimination of anti-gay bias in the workplace, and voted against the Patriot Act and the Iraq war resolution under the Bush Administration.

Anthony Ocampo, Ph.D, Sociologist, Author and Educator

Anthony Ocampo, Ph.D (Source: remezcla.com)

Anthony Ocampo’s writings focus on race, immigration, and LGBTQ issues. He is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Cal Poly Pomona and a Ford Foundation Fellow. He is a graduate of Stanford University and UCLA. He authored The Latinos of Asia: How Filipino Americans Break the Rules of Race, and is currently working on To Be Brown and Gay in LA, which chronicles the lives of gay men of color from immigrant families. Dr. Ocampo is part of SpeakOut – The Institute for Democratic Education and Culture, a network of speakers and artists dedicated to the advancement of education, racial and social justice, cultural literacy, leadership development, and activism. He is also the director of Campus Workshops for the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity to help faculty members increase their research and writing productivity while achieving work-life balance. Ocampo lives in Pomona with his partner, Joseph, and their chocolate colored rescue dog, Schmidt.

Jennifer Cabalquinto, Golden State Warriors CFO

Jennifer Cabalquinto (Source: bizjournals.com)

Jennier Cabalquinto is the Chief Financial Officer of the Golden State Warriors. She oversees all day-to-day and long-term strategic and financial planning, accounting and treasury operations for the organization. She is also responsible for the planning and leadership of the IT and Procurement departments. She has over 25 years of experience in finance leadership. Cabalquinto earned her Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from SUNY, Binghamton’s School of Management. Born in the Philippines, Cabalquinto has four brothers whom she has been “competing with my whole life.” She is extraordinary for breaking down barriers and inspiring other women to become leaders, and for her tremendous advocacy of gender equality, diversity, and inclusion, in the workplace and beyond. She and her husband, Howard Joyce, reside in Oakland with their son, Jack.

Evelyn Rodriguez, Ph.D, Professor and Author

Evelyn Rodriguez is the Department Chair and Associate Professor, Sociology at University of San Francisco, the only tenured Filipina at the University. She is also a faculty member in the Critical Diversity Studies, Asian American Studies and the Maria Elena Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program. She graduated magna cum laude from UC San Diego and received her MA and Ph.D from UC Berkeley’s Sociology program. She is a second-generation Pinay who was born in Honolulu but grew up in San Diego. Her first book, Celebrating Debutantes and Quinceaneras: Coming of Age in American Ethnic Communities used female coming-of-age rituals as windows into the lives of second-generation daughters and their immigrant Mexican and Filipino families.

Gabbi Pascua, Celebrity Make-Up Artist

Gabbi Pascua is an Emmy Award Winning makeup artist and founder of SUIT Beauty, an indie beauty brand that made its Los Angeles debut in 2018. Going beyond makeup, she has been using beauty to give back to the community by working with non-profits that benefit LGBTQ and foster youth in the greater Los Angeles area through beauty, wellness and career. She was a personal artist to Sara Gilbert, host of The Talk. She takes pride in using eco-friendly makeup and beauty products. “As a makeup artist, we’re so used to being behind the scenes and we are not really recognized. A good makeup artist is not seen from what I’ve been told so to be recognized and celebrated is so humbling.”

Michael Gonzalez, Ed.D, Professor and Anthropologist

Dr. Michael Gonzalez recently conducted research on indigenous weaving in the Philippines as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar in 2019. His research investigated the impact of globalization on the life cycle/value chain of handwoven textiles. Dr. Gonzalez is a founding member and the Research/Education Director for the San Francisco-based The Hinabi Project, which promotes public awareness in the San Francisco Bay Area about Philippine indigenous textile arts and weaving communities. An adjunct faculty of City College San Francisco Philippine Studies Department, the only department of its kind in the U.S., he teaches the Philippine Society and Culture Thru Film, The Filipino Family and Philippine Anthropology. He also taught Filipino/Tagalog at CSUEB, Stanford, and UC Berkeley. A product of an international education, Dr. Gonzalez graduated from University of the Philippines History Department, holds a master’s degree in Social Anthropology from Sydney, Australia, and a U.S. doctorate in Education. He is the founder of the NVM Gonzalez Writers’ Workshop that since 2005 has conducted writers' workshops in campuses in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and in the Philippines with the goal of fostering literary exchanges among global Filipinos. He is an aficionado of the classic guitar and has performed in Bay Area venues and in Manila.

Enrique Iglesias, Singer and Songwriter

“The King of Latin Pop” as Enrique Iglesias is often called, is the youngest child of Spanish singer Julio Iglesias and Filipina socialite Isabel Preysler. He was born with a rare congenital condition known as situs inversus where some of the body’s major organs, such as the heart, are situated opposite the normal side of the body. In 1981, his grandfather, Dr. Julio Iglesias Puga, was kidnapped by the armed Basque group ETA. For their safety, Enrique and his siblings were sent to live with their father in Miami. There, they were brought up by the nanny, Elvira Olivares, to whom Enrique dedicated his first album. Enrique did not want his father to know about his plans for a musical career and did not want his famous surname to advance it, so he borrowed money from his nanny and recorded a demo tape under the name of Enrique Martinez, a singer from Guatemala. He signed with a record company and the rest is history, with many hit singles and albums. He is one of the best-selling Latin music artists with sales estimates of over 70 million records. He has three children with tennis player Anna Kournikova. He is active in many causes including urging fans to help victims of the deadly Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013.

David Henry Hwang, playwright

David Henry Hwang’s parents were both Chinese-born, though his mother was raised in the Philippines. They migrated separately to the United States, where they met, married and raised their family. David Henry, was the only son and oldest of three siblings. When he was a teenager, his grandmother, the family historian, fell ill. Afraid that his family’s stories would be lost, he convinced his parents to send him to the Philippines for the summer to record their family’s oral histories on cassette tapes. He turned them into a 90-page nonfiction work that he distributed to relatives. Hwang attended Stanford University where his first play, F.O.B. (Fresh Off the Boat) was first produced and won an Obie Award for Best New American Play. He penned other short plays and operas after that, and screenplays as well. He is best known for the drama, M. Butterfly, a huge success that earned him a Tony Award and a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize. In 2011, Chinglish appeared on Broadway, examining the subject of cultural and linguistic misunderstandings. In 2018 Yellow Face was named one of the best American plays of the past 25 years by the New York Times. He has received numerous theater and community awards. In 2018, he was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame.

**Joshua Dela Cruz, Blue’s Clues Host**

Joshua Dela Cruz’s sidekick has gone from being a genie to a bright blue puppy, and he couldn`t be happier. The actor is the host of a new reboot of the pre-school TV show Blue`s Clues and hopes people who grew up on the original would check it out with their kids. Dela Cruz comes to Nickelodeon’s “Blue’s Clues & You!” after a long stint in the Broadway musical Alladin. He is the first Asian American actor to become Blue’s companion. He grew up in New Milford, New Jersey with two sisters. In a recent interview with NBC Asian America, Dela Cruz says he is worried about how his viewers and other children may internalize or process the racism they see unfolding in the news and in front of them. He adds that the first step is to talk to kids, open a conversation, and take what they say seriously; but parents need to “explicitly condemn the racism their children are seeing or hearing” and exercise compassion. “Kids are going to be thinking about this and they’re going to be forming opinions. And I think it’s our responsibility as adults to continue to have that open line of communication, as they figure it out.”

TJ Cox, U.S. Representative

Congressman Terrence John Cox (D-California)

Terrence John Cox is the U.S. Representative for California’s 21st congressional district. Born in Walnut Creek, California, Cox’s father is an immigrant from China and his mother is from the Philippines. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Nevada, Reno and a Master’s in Business Administration from Southern Methodist University. Cox was one of seven Democrats who flipped Republican-held California congressional districts in November 2018, unseating former Republican Rep. David Valadao. He is running for reelection in 2020 and Valadao is again challenging Cox for the seat. He encountered financial controversies with the IRS for unpaid income in 2016 and 2017 wherein he received tax liens. Cox is married to Kathleen Murphy and they have four children.

Melissa de la Cruz, Author

Melissa de la Cruz is the #1 New York Times, #1 Publisher’s Weekly and #1 IndieBound bestselling author of many critically acclaimed and award-winning novels for readers of all ages. Her more than 30 books have also topped the USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times bestseller lists and have been published in over 20 countries. Her recent books include Something in Between, a Young Adult contemporary novel inspired by her own immigrant experience coming from the Philippines which launched the Seventeen imprint at Harlequin Teen, as well as Alex and Eliza, a historical novel about the romance between Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler. She grew up in Manila and moved to San Francisco with her family, where she graduated high school as a salutatorian from The Convent of the Sacred Heart. At Columbia University, she majored in art history and English. Melissa de la Cruz lives in West Hollywood, California with her husband and daughter.

Drama Del Rosario, Documentary Filmmaker

Del Rosario is an award-winning Filipinx documentary filmmaker based in Los Angeles. With over a decade of experience in video production, he is the winner of the inaugural BAFTA-GSA Commissioning Grant for his documentary, I’m Okay (And Neither Are You). He is also the Juried Prize Winner of the PBS Short Film Festival 2020 and the winner of the Loni Ding Award in Social Issue Documentary at CAAMFest 2019 for his documentary In This Family, which follows his coming out story as a gay teenager in the Philippines. He graduated cum laude from Ateneo de Manila University in 2016 with a BA in Communication and later moved to the U.S. and graduated summa cum laude from the New York Film Academy (Los Angeles campus) in 2019 with an MFA in Documentary. His films challenge the conservative Catholic background that he grew up with. He says he loves donuts and sausages.

Brother Andrew Corriente, Capuchin Friar and Baker

Brother Andrew Corriente is the winner of “The Great American Baking Show”2020 and he is also studying to be a priest at Catholic University in Washington. He says, “My baking is always a conversation with God,” and his faith was on full display as he appeared on the show wearing a habit, the plain, brown, hooded robe associated with the Capuchin friars. “I don’t have to wear this,” he says, but he wanted to show that “my faith and my baking are so intimately connected, I can’t do one without the other.” Corriente, son of Catholic Filipino immigrants, did not delve much into his faith until he went to Nashville to watch a friend take her first vows as a nun and met a friar. After several visits with the friars, he took the leap. Corriente’s parents were also great cooks who would host feast day meals at their home in the Philippines. He bakes all the time, especially for the 30 men he lives with.

Bryan Benitez McClelland, Bamboo Bike Promoter

Bryan Benitez McClelland (Source: NBC News)

Exploiting bamboo’s abundant and natural resource and turning it into a booming business is the brainchild of Filipino American Bryan Benitez McClelland. With only $20,000 in seed money, McClelland, 32, from Connecticut, introduced his line of bamboo bicycles called Bambike, six years ago. In 2007 when the U.S. economy was sputtering, he extended his trip to the Philippines. He was already familiar with a bamboo bike building project in Africa, and had hoped he could do the same in the Philippines. After trials and errors, he finally perfected the building of a bike frame and employed members of Gawad Kalinga. Today he has about 15 employees, and they make 30 frames a month. A complete bike including wheels can cost $1,700. In 2011, his company got a huge boost when the Philippine Ambassador presented President Barack Obama with a Bambike as a gift. He sells his bikes in Intramuros, where riders not only get a lesson in Philippine history, but also a chance to see the bikes in action. McClelland’s time spent in his adopted country brought him closer to his roots and he has become a dual U.S.-Philippine citizen. “For the immediate future,” he says, “the Philippines is my home.”

Sheila Coronel, Investigative Journalist and Professor

Winner of the 2003 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and the Creative Communication Arts, Sheila Coronel is also one of the founders of the Philippine center for Investigative Journalism, inaugural director of The Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in 2006, and Academic Dean at Columbia Journalism School in 2014. She received her BA in political science from the University of the Philippines and her master’s degree in political sociology from the London School of Economics. In 2011, she received one of Columbia University’s highest honors, the Presidential Teaching Award. She began reporting in the Philippines during the Marcos dictatorship, when she wrote for an underground newspaper. Coronel sits on the boards of the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Media Development Investment Fund, Columbia Journalism Review, ProPublica, the National Security Archive, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and the International Crisis Group. She is also a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and co-founder of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance and the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists.

Evelyn Dilsaver, Corporate and Non-Profit Leader

Evelyn Dilsaver of San Francisco handled the marketing, business development, strategy, M&A and product development in her role as EVP at Charles Schwab. She received the San Francisco Times "100 Most Influential Woman" award 2003-2009 and the "Outstanding Director" award in 2014. She received her Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Cal State University East Bay. She currently serves on several public and private boards such as Tempur Sealy, Health Equity, Blue Shield of CA, the global consulting firm Protiviti, a private REIT, and she is chair of the Commonwealth Club. Dilsaver says that being a Filipino at the top ranks of business does not make her feel like a pioneer. “Instead I look at what my job has enabled me to do. I am in the business of helping people achieve their dreams financially. She was also chair of the Women’s Initiative, a non-profit that helps lower income women become economically independent.

Rain Valdez, Transgender Actress

Rain Valdez just received her first Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for her lead role in Razor Tongue, which she created, crowdfunded, and produced. She is also the founder of ActNOW, the first and only acting class in Los Angeles prioritizing a safe space for GBBTQIA actors and teaches beyond the binary. Born in the Philippines but raised in Guam, Rain says she knew she was a girl at only five years old. In 2014, Rain chose to break free from the secrecy of her “lifestyle” and began connecting with other trans people and acting again. Her films have won awards from several film festivals. She said, “I will use my platform and the privilege I earn to speak on my purpose, to change the narrative to be more equity-centered. I built my own table and proved what my community and I are capable of. I am grateful to the TV Academy for inviting me to have a seat at the party.”

Siena Agudong, Child Actress

Siena Agudong was born and raised in Kauai, Hawaii. Her father is half-Filipino. She started acting when she was seven in local productions, and at eight, she had a recurring role as Lulu Parker in Killer Women. Her work has earned her several Young Artist Awards and Young Entertainer Award nominations since 2015 and a win for Best Guest Starring Young Actress – 12 and Under in 2017. She is known for her roles in Star Falls, No Good Nick, Alex & Me and the Disney Channel Original Movie Upsisde-Down Magic, which recently premiered and where she is the co-star.

Channing Centeno, Food and Beverage Consultant

Living in Williamsburg, New York, Centeno has been camping out at McCarren Park, walking through crowds of protesters, carrying aluminum trays filled with Latin and Filipino meals. He makes and gives away anywhere from 80 to 150 servings of food each day. It began when Centeno attended a Black Lives Matter vigil in McCarren Park and saw someone passing out egg rolls to people. The next day he was back in the park with 80 homemade chicken adobo sandwiches. He has also distributed batches of pork and shrimp lumpia, chicken adobo tacos, arepas and empanadas. He takes donations over Venmo (@channing-centeno) to support the free meal program. Feeding others doesn’t come from his experience in hospitality, he says. It comes from his heritage as a Black Filipino. “Filipinos love to feed and host people. It’s just what we do.”

The Magazine

Fil-Ams Among the Remarkable and Famous, Part 8