NBC Asian America
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NBC Asian America is the country’s first and largest English-language national news resource dedicated to covering the United States’ Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Started in June 2014, NBC Asian America works with more than 40 freelancers around the world to cover news and features ranging from politics to pop culture. In 2016, along with publishing daily articles online, NBC Asian America launched a video channel that features documentaries exclusively focused on issues and voices found in AAPI communities.
Beyond serving as a news website for the AAPI community, NBC Asian America is a multimedia platform that is for the community, about the community, and, most importantly, by the community. For more, visit http://nbcasianamerica.com or on social media platforms @NBCAsianAmerica. |
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Traci G. Lee
Digital Editorial Manager NBC Asian America 
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Traci G. Lee is the Digital Editorial Manager for NBC Asian America at NBCNews.com, where she oversees the country’s largest English-language Asian-American news source. Under her direction, NBC Asian America has grown into a multimedia platform with a focus on news and features on AAPI communities in the U.S., developed a robust social media presence, and recruited more than 40 contributors around the world. In spring 2016, she oversaw the launch of “NBC Asian America Presents…,” a video channel containing episodic documentary series focused on AAPI issues, themes, and voices.Previously, Lee was a digital and multimedia producer and journalist for MSNBC and MSNBC.com, with a focus on bridging the gap between television and the digital space. Her experience includes television production, developing social media strategies for anchors and reporters, and reporting and editing content for NBCNews.com and MSNBC.com, from covering the White House’s first-ever summit on Asian American and Pacific Islanders to documenting the fight for marriage equality within the Mormon Church to profiling rap artists MC Jin and Awkwafina.
Along with frequently covering the Asian-American community, Lee has been a vocal advocate for increasing diversity and representation in the media and behind the scenes, and is committed to education, recruitment, and mentorship in an effort to increase diversity within newsrooms. She has organized events at NBC News to promote diversity featuring guests from actress Mindy Kaling to “Angry Asian Man” blogger Phil Yu. Lee is an active member of the Asian American Journalists Association, and co-curates a weekly newsletter featuring AAPI news/content from around the web. She is currently based in New York City and holds degrees in literary journalism and global cultures from the University of California, Irvine. |
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Congresswoman
Grace Meng U.S. House of Representatives New York, 6th District 
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U.S. Congresswoman Grace Meng is serving her second term in the United States House of Representatives. Grace represents the Sixth Congressional District of New York encompassing the New York City borough of Queens, including west, central and northeast Queens. Grace is the first Asian-American Member of Congress from New York State, and the only Congressmember of Asian descent in the entire Northeast. She is also the first female Member of Congress from Queens since former Vice Presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro.
Grace is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and its Subcommittees on the Middle East and North Africa, and Asia and the Pacific. The Foreign Affairs Committee oversees United States foreign policy towards all nations around the world, and has jurisdiction over foreign aid, the State Department and key international organizations such as the United Nations. Grace also serves on the House Small Business Committee where she is the Ranking Member of the Agriculture, Energy and Trade Subcommittee. The Small Business Committee, which was established to protect and assist small-business owners, has oversight of financial aid, regulatory matters and the Small Business Administration (SBA), issues critical to Queens and New York City since small businesses are the economic engine of the region. Grace is also an Assistant Whip in the House and a founder and Co-Chair of the Kids’ Safety Caucus, the first bipartisan coalition in the House that promotes child-safety issues. She helped create and serves as Co-Chair of the Quiet Skies Caucus which works to mitigate excessive aircraft noise that adversely affects communities. During her first term in the House, Grace scored several legislative victories, a significant accomplishment for a new Member of Congress. In fact, she was one of just 12 Democrats – out of all 207 – who passed three or more bills, placing her in the top six percent. Her bill to make the desecration of cemeteries a violation of religious freedom was signed into law by President Obama, as was her legislation to study the viability of making Queens historic sites part of the National Parks Service. Also signed into law were her measures that aim to enhance the safety of school buses, improve the performance of child car seats and protect the privacy of motorists in driverless vehicles. Her first major legislative effort, to allow federal disaster funds to be used for rebuilding houses of worship damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, passed the House just six weeks after she was sworn in as a Member of Congress. She also secured House passage of several other important measures she authored including a bill to reduce the massive backlog of veterans’ disability claims; legislation, in the wake of the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, that seeks to better protect American diplomats serving overseas; a measure that aims to create college financial-aid applications in languages spoken by Queens residents; legislation to hold accountable those countries that facilitate Hezbollah and legislation to crack down on con artists and devious telemarketers who use phone scams to rip off millions of Americans, particularly seniors and those from immigrant communities. In addition, Grace helped obtain increased funding for Israel’s missile defense systems; acquired additional small-business resources for Queens; and persuaded the State Department to acknowledge and remedy the widespread denial of tourist visas to young Israelis. Further, she helped convince the Small Business Administration (SBA) to improve entrepreneurs’ access to capital and her efforts led to New York City’s new school holiday for Lunar New Year. She was also instrumental in securing noise monitors and establishing a community roundtable to address increased airplane noise over Queens. Born in Elmhurst, Queens, and raised in the Bayside section of the borough, Grace graduated from Stuyvesant High School and the University of Michigan. She then earned a law degree from Yeshiva University’s Benjamin Cardozo School of Law. Prior to serving in Congress, Grace was a member of the New York State Assembly. Before entering public service, she worked as a public-interest lawyer. Grace resides in Queens with her husband, Wayne, two sons – Tyler and Brandon – and her dog, Bounce. |
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Dr. Russell Jeung
Professor & Author San Francisco State University Dr. Joan Jeung Pediatrician Asian Health Services (AHS) 
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Dr. Russell Jeung is Professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. Author of Faithful Generations: Race and New Asian American Churches (2005) and Sustaining Faith Traditions: Race, Ethnicity, and Religion Among the Latino and Asian American New Second Generation (2010)¸ he has written extensively on race, religion, and community change. One such project is Prophetic Voices: Asian Pacific Islander Christian Perspectives for Church and Society, produced by KCCD.
For the past 25 years, Russell has lived in a low-income neighborhood of East Oakland, California. With fellow Christians, he organized 200 Latino and Cambodian neighbors to win a landmark housing lawsuit. He also helped to establish a community preschool and a multiethnic, multiclass church plant. Most recently, he and his wife, Dr. Joan Jeung, have worked with the refugee communities from Burma and Bhutan for greater access to health and employment services. He recounts these experiences in his spiritual memoir, At Home In Exile: Meeting Jesus Among My Ancestors and Refugee Neighbors (2016). Dr. Joan Jeung is a Commonwealth Fund Mongan Fellow in Minority Health Policy at Harvard Medical School and a pediatrician at Asian Health Services (AHS), a community health center serving medically underserved communities in Oakland, California. At AHS, she has created programs expanding health care access and health education for underserved immigrant and refugee groups. She was also the founding director for the Empowering Mothers Initiative, which provides parent education and peer support groups families. Dr. Jeung serves on the Project Advisory Committee for the National Center on Medical Home Implementation. Prior to entering medical school, Joan helped to start Little Lights Urban Ministries in Washington DC under the leadership of Steve Park. She later moved to California, where she has lived for the past 17 years, assisting in tutoring and discipling ministries with immigrant and refugee young adults. Russell & Joan Jeung continue to live in East Oakland with their foster daughters from Burma, Bethsy and Bonny, and their son Matthew. Both have served on the board of New Hope Covenant Church. |
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Rev. Won Sang Lee
Senior Pastor Emeritus / President The Korean Central Prebyterian Church / SEED International 
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Reverend Won Sang Lee served the Korean Central Presbyterian Church in Centreville, Virginia as Senior Pastor from 1977 to 2003. During this time, he oversaw the church's growth from 14 families with 30 people to 2208 families with more than 3000 in average attendance during Sunday services. He also served in various community service capacities including the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board Access For All (Committee Member 2000-2003), Falls Church-Fairfax United Way Board of Council (Member 2000-2003), Association of the Korean Churches in the Greater Washington DC (President), and the House of Representatives of United States (Guest Chaplain, 107th Congress meeting on October 10, 2002). He was the Founding Chairman of the Central Senior Center (1994-2003), an organization that provides care and education to seniors, for which the Center received the Virginia Governor’s Award for community Service as an “Outstanding Religious Institution” in 2001.
Reverend Lee also served in various mission organizations such as the Korean World Mission Council for Christ (Co-Chairman 2001-2004), Milal Mission of America for handicapped people (President 2005-2008), Korean American Food For the Hungry (Founding Chairman of the Board 2001-2012), PRASSION International (Prayer is Mission) (Founder/President 2014-present), and SEED International (Founder/President 2000-present), a world mission agency that has 141 missionary families serving in 36 countries. Reverend Lee received his Th. M. from Dallas Theological Seminary (1972), M. A. from University of Pennsylvania (1981), Ph. D. from University of Wales, United Kingdom (2010), and an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia (2015). Reverend Lee has been married for 50 years to his wife Mrs. Young Ja Lee, a pharmacist who works at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland for more than 30 years. They have two children, a son and a daughter. |
