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.

Susie Ibarra, Composer

Filipino American Ibarra is a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, percussionist and sound artist. Her interdisciplinary practice includes composition, performance, mobile sound-mapping applications, multichannel audio installations, recording and documentary. She is one of SPIN’s 100 Greatest Drummers of Alternative Music. Sky Islands 2024 for which she won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 2025 premiered in June at the Ojai Music Festival. It takes inspiration from the musical traditions of Luzon’s sky islands and represents the Montane Forest Ecosystem through a performative sonic installation. The piece explores Ibarra’s percussion sound language in extended techniques for all players, featuring Philippine Northern style interlocking rhythms and melodies found in bamboo and gong and flute music of the Kalinga and Cordilleras Region in Luzon. Sky Islands, a musical call to action, highlighting Luzon’s rainforests—an endangered region with 31 endemic species, including the Philippine Eagle, and a region that has both volcanic and non-volcanic mountains amidst diverse fauna—aims to connect people to fragile and beautiful ecosystems and changing climate and global community practices. Ibarra incorporates diverse styles and the influences of Philippine Kulintang, jazz, classical, poetry, musical theater, opera, and electronic music. She supports indigenous and traditional music cultures, like musika katutubo from the Philippines, advocates for the stewardship of glaciers and freshwaters, and helps initiatives that address water and desert climate, and women and girls’ education with Joudour Sahara, Morocco.

The youngest of five children, Ibarra was born in Anaheim, California, and raised in Houston, Texas to parents Bartolome and Herminia Ibarra, both physicians who immigrated from the Philippines. She began playing piano at the age of four. In grade school she sang in church and school choirs and played in a punk rock band in high school. While at Sarah Lawrence College in the late 1980s, Ibarra attended a Sun Ra performance that she has credited with kindling her interest in jazz. She also attended the Mannes School of Music and Goddard College, where she received her B.A. in music. Ibarra has lived in New York since 1989.

J.J. Spaun, Professional Golfer

J.J. Spaun (Photo by Andrew Redington|Getty Images)

Los Angeles-born Spaun, who just won the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont, Pennsylvania, is of Filipino heritage from his mother’s side whose family hails from Victoria, Tarlac, while his father is of European descent. Spaun’s original dream was to be a skater until he got hit by a car. Dollie, his mother, was an avid golfer and even played golf while pregnant with Spaun.

Per ESPN, “Spaun's career has been defined by exceeding expectations. He was never a highly touted prospect or a star in the making. As he said Sunday, he was never ‘groomed’ to be a professional golfer, nor was he expected to win a major. He won his first PGA Tour event at 31 and, until this year, he was one of many journeymen whose primary goal is to keep their PGA Tour card.” In 2019, he married his wife, Melody, and they have two children. She implemented a five-hour rule for Spaun’s golf practice not realizing how much time the sport demanded. His success on the PGA Tour could open doors for others as the organization continues to aim to diversity in the sport.

Fr. Leo Patalinghug, Catholic priest, Chef and Best-selling Author

Fr. Leo Patalinghug (Source: National Catholic Register)

Born in Cataingan, Masbate in the Philippines and raised in Baltimore, Fr. Leo developed his love for cooking while attending the seminary at the North American College in Rome. When he was growing up, his mother, an economics teacher, used cooking to keep her son busy. Ordained in 1999, he was a parish priest for five years at St. John’s church in Westminster, Maryland. He is the driving force behind Grace Before Meals, a movement founded on the belief that shared meals strengthen relationships. He is also the star of the Grace Before Meals webisodes, a popular online video series. He often cooks dinners for friends, students, and local parishioners, using these opportunities to build friendships and engage in relaxed conversations in the kitchen. In addition to his work with Grace Before Meals, Patalinghug also serves on the faculty at Mount Saint Mary's Seminary and travels widely as a Catholic conference speaker. He is a priest member of a community of consecrated life, Voluntas Dei (The Will of God). He hosts a weekly international TV show, Savoring our Faith, on EWTN. His unique background as a two-time black belt martial arts instructor, award-winning break dancer and choreographer, and an award-winning cook has caught the attention of many media and entertainment outlets, from ABC, PBS, NBC, FOX, the Cooking Channel, and also the Food Network where he defeated the world-famous chef in a competition called, Throw Down with Bobby Flay! From there, he went on to start his food truck initiative called Plating Grace and Grub, and recently opened a new restaurant in downtown Baltimore called Gastro Social. Patalinghug employs previously imprisoned persons needing a second chance, as well as those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. When asked what he wants people to get from the Grace Before Meals movement, he says that while there is a buffet of things he hopes they get, “Ultimately, it is an awareness of the theology of food. If there can be a theology of the body, I’m going to start a theology of food, which is truly eucharistic at its core.”

Michael Purugganan, Dean

Michael Purugganan *(Source: NYU Arts and Sciences)*

On July 1, 2025, Purugganan will assume the post of Interim Dean of New York University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. He is a biologist and expert in plant evolutionary genomics. He has led breakthrough research with profound implications for agriculture, biodiversity, and climate resilience. His work extends far beyond the lab. From 2012 to 2019, he served as Dean of Science at NYU, shaping the next generation of scholars while directing the NYU Center for Genomics and Systems Biology. His vision is expansive: he helped found the NYU Abu Dhabi Center for Genomics and Systems Biology and currently serves as Academic Director at 19 Washington Square North, a hub for global academic exchange. Outside NYU, his influence is equally far-reaching. Purugganan sits on the board of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, advises the National Science Foundation, and represents the United States on the Council of Scientists for the Human Frontiers Science Program, an international initiative championing frontier research.

Raiza Martin, Product Manager

Martin is the former Head of Product for Google’s NotebookLM, a GenAI-powered research assistant and note-taker tool that includes a podcast-on-demand feature called “Audio Overviews,” one of Google Lab’s most popular products. Users upload sources—YouTube videos, websites, PDFs, etc.—to NotebookLM and it will help them organize and synthesize their information. The product went viral at the end of 2024 for its ability to generate human-sounding podcast audio. After more than five years at Google, she founded Huxe, a stealth-startup. Although no details on the start-up have been divulged, Martin says “As the frontier models and their capabilities continue to grow, thoughtful products are required to make the benefits of this technology accessible, useful, and obvious to everyday people — so our team is going to be focused on building a user-first AI product.” Martin was a scholar at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University before immigrating to the U.S. with her family in 2006. There, she was awarded by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund and the Asian Institute of Journalism as Outstanding Youth Writer. She earned a degree in Economics minor in Government at Harvard University graduating cum laude.

Ronnette Ramos, Lawyer

Ronnette Ramos *(Source: Asian Americans Advancing Justice)*

Ramos is the new Vice President of Programs at Asian Americans Advancing Justice SOCAL who will guide the strategic vision and impact of AJSOCAL’s direct services, impact litigation, policy advocacy, community engagement, and demographic research, to ensure services meet the moment and reach communities most in need. As a first-generation Filipino American woman, Ramos brings nearly three decades of unwavering commitment to uplifting marginalized communities and amplifying underrepresented voices through legal services. Previously, Ramos served as Deputy Director at LA County’s Justice, Care, and Opportunities Department, the first of its kind in the nation, where she helped coordinate services for individuals impacted by the justice system. She also held leadership roles at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, managing the county’s first Right to Counsel pilot and overseeing award-winning Medical-Legal Partnerships, including initiatives focused on API communities and Black women’s health. Earlier in her career, she launched LA County’s first AAPI-focused legal self-help center at the Pasadena Courthouse. Her experiences deeply inform her work, grounding her leadership in cultural humility, fierce advocacy, and transformative justice.

Januel Mercado, Filmmaker

Jenuel Mercado *(Source: Screendollars.com)*

DreamWorks Animation recently announced a new original animated film, Forgotten Island, set for release on Sept. 25, 2026. The film, described as a “broad party comedy adventure,” will explore a magical, long-lost island rooted in Philippine mythology. It will be co-directed by Joel Crawford and Filipino American filmmaker Januel Mercado, who is receiving full directing credit for the first time. While Mercado previously served as co-director on Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, the new film marks his first time being officially credited as one of the main directors of a DreamWorks feature. He will share directing duties equally with Crawford, a studio veteran. “My love and care and my Filipino culture is very universal as well,” Mercado shared in a previous interview. “I'm very proud to say that the way I live is tied to the emotion of the film and the character dynamics.” The project offers a rare spotlight on Philippine folklore, drawing on mythical beings like the diwata and aswang, and bringing them to life for a global audience.

Denise Cruz, Professor

Denise Cruz *(Source: Department of English and Comparative Literature)*

Cruz writes and teaches about gender and sexuality in national and transnational cultures at Columbia University. She uses spatial and geographic frameworks to examine previously unstudied archives. She contends that this combined analytical and archival approach extends understanding of the importance of national, regional, transnational, and global dynamics in North America, the Philippines, and Asia. A Ford Foundation predoctoral, dissertation, and postdoctoral fellow, she is the editor of Yay Panlilio’s The Crucible: The Autobiography of Colonel Yay, Filipina American Guerrilla and has published essays in American Literature, American Quarterly, American Literary History, PMLA, the Journal of Asian American Studies, Modern Fiction Studies, and several edited collections. She is the author of Transpacific Femininities: the Making of the Modern Filipina, a book that uses Philippine print culture to argue that the early to mid-twentieth century period was dominated by a fascination with transpacific Asian women, figures who were connected to both nationalist movements in Asia and the global women’s suffrage movement. She was the 2021 recipient of Columbia’s Presidential Teaching Award and the Mark Van Doren Teaching Award.

Dr. Salvacion “Sally” Francisco, Nurse Executive

Dr. Salvacion “Sally” Francisco *(Source: Penn Nursing)*

Francisco began her nursing career 35 years ago. She graduated from St. Paul University, College of Nursing in Manila, and immigrated to the United States from the Philippines. An avid believer in professional growth and development, Dr. Francisco obtained her master’s in science degree from Lehman College and doctorate in Education and Organizational Leadership from Argosy University. Clinically, her experience spans acute, critical, emergency, sub-acute, clinical education, as well as adult and pediatric nursing practice. She has served as a board member for the Greater New York of the New York State Organization of Nurse Executives and Leaders (NYONEL). Francisco is currently the Deputy Chief Nurse/Director of Nursing Operations at James J. Peters VA Medical Center in Bronx, New York. She has presented nationally on topics related to cultural competency, nursing leadership, pressure injury, and HIV disclosure to pediatric patients. “I accepted the Deputy Chief Nurse Executive Role to honor my grandfather, who was a veteran himself. This inspires and propels me forward,” she shares. “The most fulfilling part of my job is my daily interaction with veterans who have heroic and inspiring stories to tell.”

Leandro Lachica, Lawyer and Former Diplomat

Leandro “Lindy” Lachica (Source Asian Journal)

Leandro “Lindy” Lachica, an accomplished lawyer and former diplomat, is running for election to the Hudson County Board of County Commissioners to represent District 1 in New Jersey. Lachica, known for his advocacy for the rule of law in immigrant communities is challenging Democrat incumbent Ken Kopacz. Lachica earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of the Philippines. He earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. He later joined the Philippine foreign service and became a career diplomat with the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs. Lachica’s career as a diplomat eventually brought him to Australia, where he served as Vice Consul and Third Secretary of the Philippine Consulate General. In both of postings, Lachica was a senior legal officer responsible for representing the Philippine Government and providing employment and immigration legal assistance to Philippine citizens abroad. In the Filipino community, he serves as a pro bono legal adviser of UPMASA – UP Medical Alumni Society in America and UPAA NJ – UP Alumni Association of NJ.

Source: Google and Wikipedia

The Magazine

FilAms Among The Remarkable And Famous, Part 68