The Sacramento Bee presents the Top 25 Asian American Pacific Islander Change Makers as a part of a series to honor individuals who are enriching lives in the Sacramento region.
Change makers are people who are committed to leading positive transformations in their communities. They are shifting the landscape in medicine, science, policy, economy, education, art and advocacy with their authenticity, problem-solving and vision for a better Sacramento.
This project, in partnership with the Nehemiah Emerging Leaders Program, aims to recognize these leaders and their contributions. The Bee’s Equity Lab introduced this effort with the inaugural Top 25 Black Change Makers in 2021-2022.
Earlier this year, we called out for nominations for local leaders in the AAPI community. To review and select the nominees, a panel was created.It consisted of Scott Syphax, the founder of NELP; Scot Siden, chief operating officer of NELP; Mary Yin, national president of Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs; Khydeeja Alam Javid, director of external and legislative affairs at California Volunteers; Franceska Gamez, artist and co-owner of Sacramento’s 1810 Gallery; Adam Ashton, assistant managing editor for The Sacramento Bee; Yousef Baig, former assistant opinion editor for The Bee; and Hanh Truong, engagement reporter for The Bee.
The list includes individuals who have done exceptional work to promote equity, strengthen community ties and amplify the voices of the region.
Here are The Sacramento Bee Equity Lab’s 2022 Top 25 AAPI Change Makers.
Tani Cantil-Sakauye
California chief justice
Tani Cantil-Sakauye is the 28th chief justice of California, leading the state’s judicial branch since 2011 as the first Asian American and second woman to do so. Cantil-Sakauye also chairs the Judicial Council of California and the Commission on Judicial Appointments.
During her tenure, she focused on improving public accessibility to justice, forming partnerships to lead the judicial branch out of a budget crisis caused by the Great Recession and improving the branch’s accountability and efficiency. Cantil-Sakauye also launched Power of Democracy, an initiative to promote civic literacy and engagement in California schools.
Cantil-Sakauye, born and raised in Sacramento, said her work is inspired by the Filipino community. Growing up, she said, she witnessed and heard stories of her mother — a farmworker — and other family members experiencing discrimination.
“I really felt a sense of justice needed to be served,” she said.
Cantil-Sakauye is retiring as chief justice in 2023 and will then serve as the next president and CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonpartisan think tank.
Timothy P. Fong
Professor, Sacramento State
Timothy P. Fong discovered that graduation rates among AAPI students at Sacramento State lagged behind the university’s overall performance a little more than a decade ago, and he committed himself to closing the gap.
His finding contradicted a stereotype of Asian Americans as a “model minority” in education, he said, and it led him to launch a program on campus that promotes retention and graduation of underrepresented, low-income and first-generation AAPI students.
“The motto of Full Circle Project is dream, achieve, inspire,” said the professor of ethnic studies at Sacramento State, adding that the purpose of the project is to help students achieve their goal of getting a college degree and beginning their professional careers.
Fong is the project director and principal investigator for the program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Fong also does community work in the region, including serving on the leadership committee for the nonprofit APIs Rise and participating in a group that provides scholarships and mentoring to AAPI students.
Annie V. Lam
Organizational change leader
Annie V. Lam wants to develop the next generation of change makers.
Lam is the executive director and founder of the nonprofit APIs Mobilize and the executive director of the California API Legislative Caucus Institute, organizations with a mission to promote AAPI participation in public service and government via mentorship and programs. She is also the principal and founder of Lam Consulting group.
“I grew up in public housing. I went to under-resourced schools,” said Lam, a daughter of Chinese refugees from Vietnam.
“I know the struggle because I have gone through it. So I want to help change lives by bringing back resources to our community,” she said.
Raised in south Sacramento, Lam worked in the farm fields with her family when she was young before eventually starting her career in the California State Legislature for former Assemblywoman Judy Chu.
“It’s important to have diverse representation, diverse people serving as role models,” she said. “Not just diversity, but also having people who have the lived experiences to serve as role models because that will allow young people to see themselves in those roles.”
Basim Elkarra
Executive Director of CAIR
Basim Elkarra says his parents instilled in him his drive for justice and his love for people. Those two qualities shape his approach as a civil rights leader in the Sacramento region.
“Every human being deserves dignity. So for me, it’s a spiritual fight. What kind of keeps me going is that spiritual foundation to want to fight for equity, justice and dignity for all,” Elkarra said.
He is the director of the Sacramento chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and an elected trustee at the Twin Rivers Unified School District. He’s a former board member of the Sacramento chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and a former member of the Executive Board of the California Democratic Party.
CAIR is a nonprofit organization that focuses its grassroots efforts on civil rights and advocacy. CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties organization. It strives to promote positive representation of Islam and Muslims in America through media relations, lobbying, education and advocacy.
Mai Vang
City councilwoman
Sacramento City Councilwoman Mai Vang represents the neighborhood where she grew up, south Sacramento.
Her 2020 election made her the first Asian American woman to win a seat on the council. She wants to ensure her diverse district receives support and resources to help residents reach their full potential.
“It’s so important to make sure that you have elected leaders that understand the struggle of our diverse community,” said Vang, the daughter of Hmong refugees from Laos and the oldest of 16 children. “It’s important that we have policies and programs in place that actually meet the diversity of our community.”
Vang, a former trustee for the Sacramento City Unified School District, wants to pave the way for more AAPI leaders and grassroots organizers to become engaged in the political process. She said building a pipeline of organizers on issues such as housing, education, homelessness and health care will lead to a better future for Sacramento.
Doris Matsui
Congresswoman
For much of her career in Congress, Rep. Doris Matsui has had a reputation for focusing on practical accomplishments for the Sacramento region, such as improving flood control, preserving water rights and expanding public transportation.
She embraced a different role during the Trump administration and the coronavirus pandemic when the former president used phrases like “kung flu,” and reports of violent incidents targeting Asian Americans increased.
Born in an internment camp, Matsui saw a parallel between prejudicial language she observed during the Trump administration and the sentiment that led the U.S. government to relocate Japanese Americans during World War II.
“It was sort of like, wait a minute now. Here we go again. We can’t let these things go on. That’s the lesson,” Matsui told The Sacramento Bee last year.
Matsui pushed to toughen laws addressing Asian American hate crimes and to educate Americans about Japanese American internment camps.
Matsui has served in Congress since 2005, succeeding her late husband, Bob Matsui, as Sacramento’s representative in the House.
For young people who want to be leaders and make a difference in their communities, Matsui shared words of advice: “It’s important to know who you are and understand we’re just not one thing. I’m a woman. I happen to be Asian American. I’m an elected official. I’m a mother. I’m a grandmother.”
Yen Marshall
Executive director, My Sister’s House
In a broad and diverse career, Yen Marshall has led change in business at AT&T, in advocacy for Asian American civil rights and in the individual lives of women seeking safety from domestic violence.
She retired as AT&T’s director of external affairs in Sacramento and moved into a position as national executive director of Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs. She led the group as reports of prejudice against Asian Americans surged during the coronavirus pandemic, and she spoke up for legislation aimed at curbing hate crimes.
Now Marshall is the executive director of My Sister’s House, a nonprofit organization in Sacramento that helps underserved women and children affected by domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking.
My Sister’s House is a safe haven of resources that provides culturally appropriate and responsive community services such as support groups, job training and education on domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking, including a 24-hour help line.
Marshall comes from a Chinese family, but she was born and raised in Vietnam. Her family fled Vietnam after the communist government took hold, leading hundreds of refugees to Hong Kong.
This changed her perspective on life as she started her journey in America
“Instead of walking away from a problem or feeling frustrated and losing patience, you become the change maker,” Marshall said. “Whatever I do, I remember to give back.”
Bobby Dalton G. Roy
Investment adviser and education consultant
Bobby Dalton G. Roy’s passion is economic justice, educating families about financial literacy and helping people understand how to build generational wealth. And it all stems from a personal experience dealing with his family’s finances.
During his third year in college, Roy’s mother died, leaving him to settle his single mother’s estate and financial accounts. Fortunately, Roy had taken a personal finance class and was able to apply what he learned.
“There’s no better reinforcement of that classroom learning than actually having to go through it,” he said. “I don’t wish it on anyone else. ... So it became very personal to me that I didn’t want anyone else that I knew to go through that struggle.”
Roy began helping his community with financial literacy and eventually became a licensed investment adviser in 2010. He hosts workshops for nonprofit organizations for college students on how to budget and for California employees on how to properly fill out tax forms.
He’s also the education programs consultant for the California Department of Education, a position where he works to protect students’ rights to a free, effective and equitable education.
Jennifer Camota-Luebke
Inclusion officer at PRIDE Industries
As the mother of a child with an intellectual disability, Jennifer Camota-Luebke sees firsthand how people with disabilities are sometimes treated differently than others.
Her son inspires her work at PRIDE Industries, a Roseville-based company that helps people with disabilities find and retain jobs.
She wants to see people with disabilities working in society and contributing in their own way.
“People with disabilities don’t need to be changed, fixed or restored. They are perfect the way that they are, and I want to normalize disability in our society,” Camota-Luebke said. “I want the next generation to see disability, not as a deficit, but as a difference, a part of diversity.”
May O. Lee
Community leader
May O. Lee moved to Sacramento from Seattle in 1975, putting down roots that would strengthen communities across the region. Lee is known for her social justice advocacy and for empowering immigrant, refugee and underserved communities of color.
She was the founding director of Asian Resources Inc., a social service organization that works to help limited-English-speaking and low-income communities with job training, English classes and career counseling.
Lee said her drive to be an advocate is in her blood. She’s following the pathway that her grandmother, an immigrant in the 1920s, laid to help others. Her list of community accomplishments spans from fighting to rename Sacramento Boulevard to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in 1988 to creating My Sister’s House in 2000, a domestic violence service center and safe haven for AAPI and underserved women and children.
“I always saw my role as bringing people together,” Lee said, adding that she’s worked with other community groups, such as the NAACP, to address social issues and policies.
Now retired, Lee is still volunteering in the community.
Chao Danny Vang
Equity strategist at Sacramento State
As a first-generation college graduate and son of refugees, Chao Danny Vang can relate to the students he works with as Sacramento State’s director of educational equity access and equity strategist.
He grew up in south Stockton as one of nine siblings, raised by parents who did not speak English. At Sacramento State, Vang works to promote students’ academic success and sense of belonging on campus, creating programs such as Project Hmong and Asian Pacific Islander Desi American College Day.
“I have a very deep understanding of the needs of this community,” Vang said.
He said his involvement in AAPI nonprofit organizations in the region — which includes OCA Sacramento and Asian Resources Inc. — adds another layer to his understanding of what benefits and hinders the success of underserved students.
“I find inspiration now, knowing that I have access to information. I have a position to influence,” Vang said. “So I am now a bridge to the AAPI community to show up and speak up.”
Beatriz Aurelio-Saguin
Tuk Tuk Box co-founder
Travel to Southeast Asia and, chances are, you’ll see motorized rickshaws called tuk tuks ferrying passengers on crowded streets and along rural roads. They’re an iconic symbol of the region, from Indonesia to Cambodia.
Beatriz Aurelio-Saguin took inspiration from the three-wheeled taxis when she co-founded her company, Tuk Tuk Box. It delivers Southeast Asian snacks and recipes to customers while sharing some profits with charities.
Together, Aurelio-Saguin and her business partner provide representation of Southeast Asian food, stories and culture in Sacramento. She called the business her own vehicle for social change.
“I want to see specifically my community highlighted in a more positive way,” Aurelio-Saguin said. “I hope people will start embracing Southeast Asian culture.”
Quirina Orozco
West Sacramento city councilwoman
Quirina Orozco chose law over politics when she left a position in Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante’s office about 20 years ago to earn a law degree at UC Berkeley.
Now, she works in both worlds.
Orozco, a mother of four children, is entering her 18th year as a prosecutor within the Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Unit at the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office. She’s passionate about helping victims of crime, especially young people in marginalized communities who have been brutalized by others.
Orozco also serves on the West Sacramento City Council, an elected position she has held since 2016.
Outside of the DA’s office and the City Council, Orozco founded the community service program West Sac Kids Give Back and has served on the executive board of the Yolo County Children’s Alliance.
She’s especially proud that all five members of the West Sacramento City Council are people of color, reflecting the community’s diversity.
“For my city and for the larger region, I would love to see more representation in our leadership,” Orozco said. “I would love to see more women of color. Specifically, those who have not been traditionally represented like the Southeast Asian, South Asian, Filipino, Pacific Islander folks.”
Jodi Hicks
Planned Parenthood leader
Jodi Hicks is at the center of California’s response to the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe vs. Wade and ending the right to abortion across the United States.
She’s the CEO and president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, the organization that works to protect and expand reproductive rights here.
During her time at the organization, Hicks has helped secure funding in the state budget for sexual and reproductive health care and has led legislative strategies to boost security for health centers that offer abortion services.
Hicks is also a co-founder and steering committee member on the California Future of Abortion Council, a collaborative effort with policymakers, providers and reproductive health and freedom advocates to secure funding and pass laws to offer and expand health care access.
Hicks said the work she is doing right now with Planned Parenthood is the most critical and challenging of her career. She said she’s motivated by those who fought for rights and equity before her.
“There are a lot of women of color that have really paved the way for a broader conversation,” Hicks said, “and that inspires me as we continue to do our work in a thoughtful way.”
Oanh Meyer
Associate professor, UC Davis Health
Oanh Meyer last year secured funding from the National Institute on Aging to carry out a five-year study analyzing trauma and memory loss among Vietnamese Americans.
The first-of-its-kind study builds on her career investigating the ways trauma can affect underserved communities.
Meyer, an associate professor at the Alzheimer’s Disease Center at UC Davis Medical Center, is the daughter of Vietnamese refugees. Her research focus has been geared toward studying Asian Americans, primarily those who have been exposed to early life trauma or adverse situations, such as war, violence or poverty, and how those experiences affect their health and memory.
She said Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are diverse, and many health gaps exist within those communities.
“They’re often seen as a group that’s doing super great and like this model minority, and that’s just not the case,” Meyer said. “I want to highlight the disparities that exist for them, (and determine) what we can do as researchers, in partnership with communities to better their health.”
Hendry Ton
Associate vice chancellor, UC Davis Health
Growing up as a Vietnamese refugee, Dr. Hendry Ton said he struggled to access health care for himself and his family. He encountered cultural and financial barriers, bias and discrimination.
His family couldn’t navigate the system to get health insurance. That led Ton to go to the library to look for information as a young kid whenever his relatives fell ill, an experience that he said helped motivate him to become a doctor.
Today, Ton works as the associate vice chancellor for health equity, diversity and inclusion at UC Davis Health to ensure that diverse patients receive culturally and linguistically appropriate health care.
Serving as the director of education at the school’s Center for Reducing Health Disparities, Ton created a training program for health care leaders on how to implement inclusive approaches in health centers.
“As health care providers, we have to understand that people from diverse cultures may have diverse ways of making important decisions in their lives,” said Ton, who is also a practicing psychiatrist.
Thien Ho
Sacramento County District Attorney-elect
Thien Ho took on some of the region’s most high-profile criminal cases during nearly 20 years in the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.
At the top of the list: Ho prosecuted the largest criminal case in California history, the proceedings against Golden State Killer/East Area Rapist Joseph James DeAngelo — and secured a sentence of 12 life terms.
His reputation as a tough prosecutor helped him win election in June to become Sacramento County’s next district attorney. When he takes office in January, Ho, a refugee from Vietnam, will become the first Asian American to serve as the county’s top prosecutor.
“What inspires me is that I get the opportunity to speak to those who don’t have a voice and oftentimes are powerless and do not have that representation in our criminal justice system,” Ho said.
He said public safety is his top priority as he prepares to take office.
“I want to make sure that people feel safe,” Ho said. “Safe where they raise their families, safe where they go to work, safe where they own businesses, and safe when they walk to and from the park.”
Maheen Ahmed
Executive in Attorney General’s Office
Maheen Ahmed felt drawn to policy as a Muslim of Pakistani descent growing up in post-9/11 America.
“There was a lot going on that created a level of political consciousness in me, and I wanted to be part of it,” Ahmed said. “I wanted to support the community (especially) when it came to supporting victims of hate crimes.”
In 2019, she became the first Muslim legislative director in the California Assembly, a position she held for Democrat Rob Bonta. She joined Bonta in the Attorney General’s Office last year and helped to create an office charged with building relationships with historically marginalized communities. She now is the deputy director of the Office of Community Awareness, Response, and Engagement (CARE).
Outside of work at the Attorney General’s Office, Ahmed works to promote equity and justice as a board member of Sacramento Area Congregations Together.
Jackie Thu-Huong Wong
Executive director of First 5 California
Jackie Thu-Huong Wong has a big voice in education, both on her local school board and at an agency setting statewide policies. She’s the president of the Washington Unified School District Board in West Sacramento and the executive director of First 5 California, an agency that promotes early childhood education and positive parenting.
She strives to ensure justice and equity are top priorities in the organizations she leads.
As a leader and educator, Wong wants the next generation to be comfortable in their own skin and continue to question the status quo. She envisions a world where the next generation won’t have to fight for a seat at the table because they own the table.
She said her work isn’t done alone. There’s an entire community behind her.
“I’m paying it forward because someone poured into me,” said Wong, a Vietnamese refugee. “I’m pouring into others because my ancestors knew that I would be here.”
Jason Jong
Community organizer
Jason Jong is the executive director of the Sacramento Asian Pacific Cultural Village, the organization behind the Sacramento Asian Pacific Film Festival and other local events that highlight AAPI history, culture and experiences.
Jong, born and raised in Sacramento, spent several years in the Bay Area working with cultural centers and programs in Oakland, and also playing percussion for groups such as Hei Gu Chinese Percussion Ensemble. These experiences, he said, set the stage for what he was missing in Sacramento.
“Music can inform our struggles,” Jong said. “They can help us come to an understanding and appreciation for our own family histories. And being in a diverse place like Sacramento, like California — the proximity to other Asian and Pacific Islanders — is an opportunity to support each other, to learn from each other, to appreciate each other’s histories, journeys, cultural traditions.”
Jong has also organized street festivals for the My Sister’s House Treasures storefront and has served on the event planning committee for the Sacramento Tree Foundation’s Hanami Line project, an initiative to plant 100 blossoming cherry trees in Matsui Park.
David Yee
Doctor
David Yee’s family has deep roots in Sacramento and in medicine. He is the great-great-great-grandson of Dr. Yee Fung Cheung, an herbalist who’s known for curing California First Lady Jane Stanford of a severe pulmonary illness in 1862. Following the lead of his pioneer family, Yee is a sixth-generation physician.
“They really inspired me through their service to others,” he said. “It’s a really wonderful feeling, knowing that I’ve made a difference in that person’s life, as well as the reverberations amongst that person’s family.”
Yee runs his own practice as a urologist and serves as the director of Urology and Genitourinary Oncology Services at Sutter Roseville Medical Center.
He also sits on the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs, a group charged with advising the governor and Legislature. As a commissioner, Yee said he acts as an AAPI ambassador for California, addressing political, economic and social issues the community faces.
He holds other leadership positions, including as a board member of the Sacramento Yee Family Association, a member of the Sun-Yat Sen Memorial Association and associate dean of clinical medicine at the California Northstate University College of Medicine.
Donna Trumbo
Equity consultant
Donna Trumbo is the founder and partner of ABC Equity, a nonprofit organization that provides consultations on how to have conversations about diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. She focuses on teaching people how to be unified in a community and how to ensure fairness in businesses and schools.
“There’s always been a part of me that was really passionate about social justice and serving those who are oppressed,” said Trumbo, who is also a retired pastor. “I think retiring out didn’t mean I was sitting at home. It actually activated more (of) my activism.”
Trumbo is one of the founding members of the AAPI Leadership Council of Placer County, a group that formed following the surge of Asian hate crimes across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. The council’s mission, Trumbo said, is to bring more awareness of Asian Pacific Islander Desi Americans in Placer County.
On the council, Trumbo is working with the Rocklin Historical Society on putting together an annual cultural and historical event in Rocklin to commemorate the contributions that people of color have made in the city. This includes honoring the former Chinatown in Rocklin.
Shama Hakim Mesiwala
Superior Court judge
Shama Hakim Mesiwala connects her family’s commitment to service to the spirit that inspired her parents to leave India for California some 50 years ago. They believed they’d find opportunity regardless of where they came from, the color of their skin or their religion. Her father studied electrical engineering at Stanford. Her uncle went to Harvard on a scholarship.
Mesiwala went into law; her brother and her cousins became doctors. She began her career as a federal public defender representing indigent criminal defendants before representing defendants at a nonprofit law firm.
Mesiwala, one of California’s few Muslim judicial officials, was sworn in as a Sacramento Superior Court judge in 2017. She previously served as a court commissioner and as a senior judicial attorney for California’s 3rd District Court of Appeal. Mesiwala is the co-founder of the South Asian Bar Association of Sacramento.
“The driving force for all of that service was this idea that my family had been given so much,” said Mesiwala. “The country that we come from is full of people who did not have those opportunities. We were given these gifts not to squander, but they were ours to share for the betterment of society.”
Moon Chen Jr.
Professor and cancer researcher
Moon Chen Jr. champions Asian American cancer prevention by addressing disparities in health care and advocating for representation in his research at UC Davis. He also incorporates culture and bilingual care and education into his health campaigns.
“If I don’t do it, who will?” said Chen, who’s been in the medical field for more than 30 years. “Who else has the opportunity to apply what I learned in school and to utilize my upbringing to address and improve the health of Asian Americans?”
His focus includes partnering with the National Institutes of Health to increase funding for cancer research specific to the AAPI community. Chen has received several awards for his work, including an NIH Organizational Health Disparities Leadership Award for leading the National Cancer Institute-funded Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training.
Jinky Dolar
President, OCA Sacramento Chapter
Jinky Dolar came to the United States from the Philippines more than 25 years ago looking for her “American dream.” Today, she is the president of the OCA Sacramento Chapter, an organization that works to lift up Asian Pacific Islander Americans socially, economically and politically.
The organization hosts programs and events throughout the year focused on youth development, women empowerment, leadership, mental health, domestic violence and more.
Dolar is also the director of advertising sales and marketing for a soon-to-be-launched cable network, ChimeTV, an entertainment channel that will offer programming that informs and empowers AAPI communities.
“I sleep, breathe and think of AAPI. I always fight for AAPI communities,” Dolar said. “We have to speak louder. We have to be at the front.”
This story was originally published October 26, 2022 5:00 AM.
Hanh Truong
The Sacramento Bee
