3rd TUF Salon series: 「Becoming American」

「What does it mean to become American? What is lost or gained, both personally and culturally, when one sheds part of one's heritage to make way for a new identity?」

Following our successful TUF Salon series events: 「Publishers & Writers Dialogue」 and 「Visual Arts & Film」, we are pleased to invite you to our 3rd TUF Salon series event: 「Becoming American: The Taiwanese Experience」.  The event showcases a panel of one 1st generation and four 2nd generation Taiwanese Americans who will share their professional and personal experiences through wide-ranging chosen career paths, from politics to finance, and discuss their insights on the above question.  We also have a very special guest speaker, Mr. Gil Tam, who will be speaking on 「Asian Americans in Corporate America.」  This exciting event will also feature live music, a social mixer and light refreshments.

Our panelists for this event include:

Mr. Jay Chen - B.A. from Harvard University, Social Studies and Certificate in Latin American Studies; Harvard-Yenching Fellow at Peking University
Mr. Chen serves on the Hacienda La Puente school board and Democratic State Central Committee, and was a delegate for Obama to the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Ms. Sibyl Chen - B.A. from UC Berkeley, Political Science and English, Oxford University year abroad, M.A. in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University, specializing in American Foreign Policy
Ms. Chen is the author of 「Our Treasury, The Shaping of First-Generation Taiwanese Americans」 and also wrote and directed the short film "Harvest" in 2008. She works with the Film Finance Group at Creative Artists Agency, one of the top talent agencies in Hollywood.

Mr. Charles Hsieh -  Airborne School Fort Benning US Army, Combat life Saver Fort Sam Huston US Army, Le Cordon Blue Culinary School Pasadena, UC Davis Design
Mr. Hsieh is founder and operator for Pulley's Food cart, supervisor and chef for Cafe Nine , and founder and instructor for Comandante school surfing.

Dr. Chiu-Sen Wang - B.S. in Chemical Engineering from National Taiwan University & PhD from Caltech
Dr. Wang taught at Syracuse University from 1969 - 1982, founded the monthly Taiwanese New Society in 1985, and returned to Taiwan in 1991 to teach at National Taiwan University. He is currently emeritus professor of National Taiwan University and chairman of Fengtay Cultural and Educational Foundation.

Ms. Erica Tsai Wheeler - B.A. from University of Pennsylvania, Double Major in Economics and International Relations, Minor in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Ms. Tsai Wheeler was formerly a Vice President in Ares Management's private equity group.  She has also worked in private equity and investment banking at the Blackstone Group and Castle Harlan in NYC.

Special Guest Speaker, Mr. Gil Tam - B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Cal State Long Beach and California Professional Engineering License
Mr. Tam is a retired executive from SoCal Edison and is currently a Principal Consultant for Electric Power Group in Pasadena.  He is a volunteer mentor and Director for the Asian American Professional Association (AAPA), a non-profit mentoring organization that strives to inspire, develop and promote Asian Americans to maximize and achieve their career and leadership potential in corporate America.  Mr. Tam has been providing career mentoring and coaching to young Asian American professionals as well as high school and college students for over ten years.

Produced by ABT&T productions, a TUF ad hoc committee
TUF Salon is sponsored by Taiwanese United Fund aiming at networking Taiwanese Americans as well as friends of Taiwan in the Los Angeles vicinity through Arts & Culture
Last TUF Salon: Visual Arts and Film