Celebrating Heritage With Inspiring Icons

Every culture has its heroes, icons and pioneers. As the celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month continues during May, we were curious about who the members of the InnovASIAN ENG put on their lists of the Asians and Pacific Islanders they admired most.

Here is a sampling of their answers:

My parents. Coming to America in 1962 and making a name for themselves and then raising and educating children who are Americans, but who have maintained our culture.  

Sarita Dogra, Senior Sourcing Manager

Lucy Liu and Michelle Yeoh. They both do groundbreaking work in acting and were some of the first women that other Asian American women and girls ever saw on screen.

Melody Vo, Global Go to Market Campaign Manager

Aung La Nsang (MMA FIghter)

Zaw Naw, Staff Supplier Quality Engineer

Sandra Oh and Kenau Reeves

Dhwani Khatter, Systems Engineer

Ang Lee

Ning Tsai,Technical Program Manager

IM Pei

Wai Woolsey, Senior Manager, InfoSec Governance Risk and Compliance

My dad

Leo Liang, Professional Services Tool Administrator

Lek Chailert of Cambodia (look her up and spread her word!), Hayao Miyazaki and M. S. Subbulakshmi (musician extraordinaire and more!) 

Chitra Tatachar, Senior Software Engineer

Ang Lee and Tony Hsieh

Ino Chang, Principal Product Manager

Alice Wu, director of “Saving Face” (2005) and “The Half of It” (2020). I am also a fan of this list.  

Alison Wellsfry, Engineering Escalation Manager

Niki (Indonesian singer that is well known globally!)

Natasha Kuo, Executive Assistant

Richard Konda, Sam Ho, Raj Jayadev, Mike Honda. Also, at the moment, all the leaders across the U.S. standing up and fighting to stop Asian hate are iconic to me. I am also inspired by Larry Itliong, Rowena M. Tomaneng and Marlo Custodio.

Jesse Villarreal, Order Fulfillment Specialist

Lisa Ling, Jason Mamoa

Janet Uyenco, Senior HRIS Analyst