Annual Gala 2021
11th Annual Gala Highlights
Celebrating our 11th Annual Gala in-person at Tribeca 360, NYC!
It’s been two years since our last in-person gala and want to give a special thank you to all who came to support us and celebrate our community. We thank our honorees, TOKiMONSTA, Eugene Lee Yang, and Juju Chang for being so vulnerable and sharing their Korean American story with us.
We also want to thank our EMCEE, Vivian Lee, Auctioneer, Paul Song, and musical guest, Heesun Lee.
View All Photos: Portraits // Event
Creative Team:
Photographer – Janice Chung
Photo Assistant – Joy Kim
Roaming Photographer – Marion Aguas
Videographer + Editor – AJ Valente
Videographer – Kimberly Young Sun
Graphic Designer – Yuliya Kim
Playlist
Juju Chang
Trailblazer Honoree
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Juju Chang is an Emmy Award-winning co-anchor of ABC News’ “Nightline.” She also reports regularly for “Good Morning America” and “20/20.” Chang’s decades of reporting converged in two hour-long specials about the rise of hate crimes toward the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community in 2021. She co-anchored an ABC News Live special “Stop The Hate: The Rise In Violence Against Asian Americans.” And after the mass shooting at three spas in Atlanta, Chang co-anchored and reported from the scene for an “ABC News 20/20” breaking news special “Murder In Atlanta.” A former news anchor for “Good Morning America,” Chang joined ABC News just after college as an entry-level desk assistant in 1987 and rose to become a producer for “World News Tonight.” After reporting for KGO-TV in San Francisco and the ABC News affiliate service News One in Washington, she co-anchored the overnight show “World News Now.” Chang’s work has been recognized with numerous awards, including multiple Emmys, Gracies, a DuPont, a Murrow and Peabody Awards. Born in Seoul, South Korea, and raised in Northern California, Chang graduated with honors from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and communication. She is married to WNET president and CEO Neal Shapiro and, together, they have three sons. Chang is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a founding board member of the Korean American Community Foundation.
Eugene Lee Yang
Trailblazer Honoree
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Eugene Lee Yang is a producer, actor, director, writer, and one of today’s most recognizable queer Asian-American performers. His digital work over the past seven years as a viral video producer has been viewed billions of times and he has been distinguished as one of the world’s most culturally influential YouTube creators. In early 2018 he and the comedy quartet The Try Guys launched their own independent production company, amassing millions of followers with projects such as a New York Times bestselling book, an international live tour, and an upcoming Food Network series. Yang’s official coming out video, “I’m Gay,” in June 2019 went viral and raised nearly $150,000 for The Trevor Project. Yang recently released his fulllength documentary, “We Need To Talk About Anti-Asian Hate” which raised over $600K to GoFundMe’s Stop Asian Hate campaign. Yang is currently in development for his own television, film, and writing projects.
TOKiMONSTA
Trailblazer Honoree
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As TOKiMONSTA, California producer Jennifer Lee has charted a fascinating career over the past decade. At the end of 2015, Lee’s career temporarily came to a halt after being diagnosed with an extremely rare and potentially fatal brain disease known as Moyamoya. After undergoing two brain surgeries to treat the rare brain disease, Lee was left unable to speak, create, or even listen to music. Through perseverance and faith, Lee’s memory returned, and shortly after taking a break from making music, was finally able to regain her music making abilities. In 2019, TOKiMONSTA released her first album post-surgery, Lune Rouge, consisting of 11 mesmerizing songs that perfectly showcased TOKiMONSTA’s signature sound. After an astonishing recovery and monumental year, TOKiMONSTA was recognized for the critically-acclaimed release, which was officially nominated by the Recording Academy for a Grammy Award as 2019’s Electronic Album of the Year. The nomination was not just an accolade but an astounding achievement for TOKiMONSTA, since she’s not only the first Asian American producer to ever get nominated in the Grammy Electronic category bu t the first woman to do so.
11th Annual Gala Highlights
Highlight video of our 11th Annual Gala
Photos
