I strongly believe #AAJA leadership is about humility and service. We should promote our fellow members’ work, and we need to continue supporting UNITY. I invite you to revisit my Ideas 4-6 for Keeping the Asian American Journalists Association Extraordinary:

I will eschew the trappings of the presidency unless there’s a clear and convincing necessity for AAJA business. How can I justify staying in a palatial suite on the penthouse level of the convention hotel, knowing that several floors below me, students and out-of-work journalists are bunking four to a room to stretch their pennies?

How could I drive around in a luxury car provided by a convention sponsor when I regularly tell my sources that as a business journalist, I don’t accept anything of value? I think this sends exactly the wrong message in an industry where people are scared of losing their jobs. Read more

I’d like to see AAJA use its website and social media platforms to promote the impressive work of our talented members, particularly their stories about the Asian American community. When ABC7’s David Ono lands an exclusive, on-site interview with Kim Phuc, the subject of Nick Ut’s “Napalm Girl” photo, LA Chapter President Jocelyn “Joz” Wang shouldn’t be the only one tweeting and blogging about it. Everyone in #AAJANation should be tuning in and talking about it. Read more

I believe that the goals of AAJA and the UNITY Journalists alliance are not mutually exclusive. When AAJA was invited to join the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists and the Native American Journalists Association for the historic UNITY94 alliance, we did so knowing that together we were more powerful, more influential and harder to ignore. Read more