>> thank you all so much. as much as i wanted hyphen to win i was hoping this would mean lisa would get our speech out of the way and i wouldn't have to be up here to talk. but i do want to say thank you so much again to the same people, to the asian pacific american heritage celebration committee, to the award judges, and i also want to honor our co-nominees as well, q -- kqed and new american. our culture is so diverse and complex and naturally that means we need more than one voice to give bigger voice to our community and so we really feel like kqed and new american media are essential partners in the work that we do as hyphen. i also would like to thank our volunteer staff and our board as well as our followers, our readers, our web visitors, and especially to our families and friends who have been so supportive as we put in the grueling hours in the evenings, weekends and all nighters to do the work that we do. we would also like to thank

chinese, affirmative action for nominating us and being a community partner, both in terms of providing us space. but also providing us a lot of support and advice. and friendship as we've done our work. i also want to thank you as a larger asian pacific american community as we feel like hyphen is just a part of the community. and we feel like there's such incredible diverse scompit complexity within our community -- diversity and complerksity within our community and hope to express as much as of that as possible and hope hyphen captures the wealth of stories, wisdom, in our heritage and also struggles and hardships that have brought us to this point. and that are still part of our community that we need to be aware of and attend to as well. we believe very much in the work we do and we're very passionate about it because we feel like hyphen is just part of this community that needs to celebrate as well as document

what our community is about. both in terms of our heritage, especially during this month. but also in terms of relevance and our part today and as well as looking at our future impact. so again, with all that said, we would like to thank you so much. we feel very honored by this. and we hope to continue to do this work with your support. and with your feedback. and with your engagement. thank you. [applause] >> congratulations to irene and hyphen. and now to present the lifetime achievement award, please welcome back mayor ed lee. mayor? [applause] >> well, it's my personal pleasure tonight to present to you two people whose lives,

professional careers, contributions to the community have been so wonderful. and i must say that i am very honored to actually present these two finalists to you. and i know you have their stories in your booklet tonight. but i just want to say if you look -- if you understand what they've done over the years, and certainly for myself, i understand it because i've been here in the bay area for just about that long. almost 40 years. watching as all of us have done, television grow in front of us, watching whether or not asian americans would succeed in anchor positions and in journalism positions in front of our very eyes. and you have two individuals tonight who are recognizing as our finalists in the lifetime achievement awards that if you -- if you looked at everything they've accomplished over the last 35 to 40 years, you'll

know that they serve up as the best examples of our asian-american community. not only in what they've done in journal. but what they've done with their professional lives, how many doors they've opened for other people. and you take a look at david louie who's been at abc news for over 40 years covering all different kinds of beats. and just last week as i, along with mayor kwan and mayor chuck reed were being interviewed at the silicon valley leadership c.e.o. forum about technology, and about what our cities are doing in the region, there was david louie covering that information, that news, trying to highlight for the peninsula and the east bay and other communities in the bay area what our three mayors were doing. what we were doing with business, how technology was part of that. he's been the first minority

elected chairman of the board of national academy of television arts and sciences in 1984. he's an emmy award winner of course. but more importantly, i think, is that he's used his position all these years and also as a member. asian-american journalists to promote others. that's really to me the key to success. when you get to a position of dignified contribution, you then open the doors for others. that's what i continue to aspire to in this position. so i want to thank the judges for putting forth david louie as a finalist. for janana hero. we've grown up with jan. evening magazine from the mid 1970's to the 1990's, all. great wonderful shows that she's sponsored, pacific fusion and others. and you know jan is all around the bay area. all around the san francisco communities.

she's helped us on engagement with our public and helping us dialogue with a difficult -- with difficult topics and being moderator or immediate -- mediator and hosted so many nonprofits and being there for every important fundraiser like the ones we've had with kristi yamaguchi and always dreaming foundation and being part of the osaka sister city association, founder member of course, and asian-american journalist association, again, others following her. for david and for jan, if you look at television today, no matter what channel you turn to, there are asian americans on the journalism positions. and i believe and i know it's because of both david and jan's work behind the scenes, in front, bringing just that whole professional care to what they do every day. and i remember a very unique story. as i was a first-year law

student at berkeley, jan was covering this whole issue about affirm active action and whether or not asian americans were still going to be part of affirmative action in the law school admissions. after i had been successful in passing my first semester of my required law school, i was out with the asian law caucus and other asian lawyers and asian law students protesting the admissions criteria, the elimination of agents from the admissions criteria. and there was janana here r invitingly and other attorneys to go on her show to talk about that. i remember that very first interview. the microphone was stuck in my face. "as a first-year law school student, what do you think of this?" and i went, "community."

that was all i could say. but i remember jan, and i have watched you for so many years progress over so many different topics. both david and janana in my opinion are the media heroes i grew of with, and they continue even today to the marvelous job of continuing to inspire everybody, bring the news, the stories, the culture forward, so it is my privilege tonight, in light of their accomplishments, to announce that for the very first time, in these awards that we are announcing tonight, that we will be announcing both of them as our winners for the lifetime achievement award finalists. [applause] congratulations. and please come on up here.

[applause] [applause] >> i think that ed lee certainly

knows what to do with a microphone these days. we taught him well back in the days. i do remember the asian law caucus, by the way. 39 years, the celebration was friday. you were there. is truly an honor, and thank you for coming to celebrate this month. all of you and your presence means so much to those of us on stage and those of us especially being recognized with an award. it takes a community after all to move our voices forward, to move our issues forward, and you are all part of that community. whether you are the part of the community at the forefront making laws, whether you are the part of the community in the corporate forefront, and thank you to target and everyone in the corporate community. we certainly need you. and whether you are in a public service community. we certainly need you. those of us in the broadcast community -- i think david and i have truly said so many years

that we need to have a voice, and we would encourage anyone to have that voice. and it has been an honor for me to be part of the voice to move the issue that we think is so important forward in terms of television. and those of us inside the broadcasting world have that extra responsibility, i believe, to move that voice forward, to speak up about the issues that we think are important to our communities. i think that david and i have certainly tried to do that in so many levels, but this award means so much. i will tell you that i was born and raised in hawaii. my father was a taxi cab driver. he never got a high-school degree. my mother worked in a bakery. to think that you are honoring me today is so special to myself and to my family because no one ever said back then, "you want to go into television, be a

broadcaster, interview the future mayor of san francisco?" but the fact that this poor kid from hawaii can be in front of you today and share the stage with so many fabulous people is really valuable. have a dream and go for it. i will continue to try to be your voice in broadcasting. i thank you for this honor. i want to bring up my colleague. david and i have been colleagues and friends -- the best part is we have been friends -- for 39 years. please help me welcome david. [applause] >> wow. what a surprise. i could not be happier this evening that he shared the stage with jan. we came into this market years ago at a time when there were no asian-pacific americans on television. we are celebrating something very special this evening and

this month. yes, we are celebrating our history and rich culture, our culinary and fine arts, but as you look around this theater, you realize there are so many other examples of the ascendancy of ascendancyapa -- ascendancy of the apa community. there are so many issues and so many positive stories to report, and i feel so fortunate through the years to have had the opportunity to cover these stories that serve the needs of the community at large as well as our own apa community. the community should be proud and acknowledged for its role in paving the way for jan and for me and hundreds of others to be working in newsrooms across the city. it took activism by chinese for affirmative action and other organizations in the early 1970's to get apa's hired into radio and television stations. ever since it turned out to be

more than just the right thing to you. it has improved the quality of journalism and the quality of coverage for the audiences we serve. today, we have apa's in all aspects of this production and decision making, and it all started because of you. on behalf of all of us who get to tell these great stories day in and day out, thank you for recognizing the importance of what we do, and we are all very grateful for your recognition tonight. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. each of the winners of this evening in addition to the trophies and many proclamations from officials and each receiving two round-trip tickets contributed by southwest airlines. we want to thank southwest and hope you all have a good trip. [applause]

and somehow, this guy never got introduced. i want to thank the members of the committee for doing excellent work, making sure the nomination opportunities are out in the community. i want to thank the chair of our awards committee, and the co- chair of our words committee, and all the volunteers helping out this year. thank you very much. [applause] for many of you that have been with us for a one-year, two years, three years, up to seven years, you know that there is always a celebration -- there's somebody always at these celebrations. we are really fortunate that every year, former mayor brown has always taken time out of his schedule to be with us. he has been such a part of our asian pacific american community, and thank you.

[applause] >> let me simply congratulate the committee and the people who sponsored this. started seven years ago, as indicated by claudine. for me, it is one of the most events every year. in pencil it out just as it is my birthday. i am here to celebrate with you, and i congratulate all of the honorees and awardees on this very special occasion. happy asia-pacific american week. thank you. [applause] >> and i heard the supervisor kim has joined us.

thank you for being here. >> i look at david and jan and i would not be here if it were not for them. you have heard the professional side of it. 20 years ago, i was a very young reporter in montgomery, alabama, and our -- they decided, they had come out to san francisco and decided that they needed someone that looked just like her, and i was the only one in the newsroom in montgomery, alabama that look like her. do you know they forced me to do this show, and that started me on my road to coming out to san francisco and the bay area to live and work here and become part of the community. i thank jan for that.

i had no idea who she was, but that is how i got my start in the coming out to california. on a quick personal note, 10 years ago, she says she works out, but she really just kind of talk to people on the machine at certification, asked a fellow should in london, and she said she had a single friend she got really needed a date. i was really busy. i had a new job. we end up going out, and we have been married 10 years now. never say never. some george died. [applause] -- some george guy. she does not work out. she just talked to people. >> it is all true.

is she doing a great job? she is just lovely. and one quick personal notes, do you know he is a million-mile flyer on united airlines? i did not say mile high club. i said million mile fire. he is going for his second million miles. he is quite the traveler. 1.4 million miles. just a little interesting tidbits. again, they are community. that is why it is so wonderful to be part of this community. congratulations to them and congratulations to all of tonight's award recipients. let's give them a big round of applause. [applause] very important to work in contributions on behalf of the community. and for inspiring us to be better citizens and activists. and a special thanks and recognition to tobin for

overseeing the awards committee and to all the committee members for their time and hard work. out come the best part of all. we have been waiting for this fabulous reception in the greenroom, being catered by chefs and their restaurants to offer the best asian-pacific cuisine in the bay area. without this support, this event would not be such a success. at this time, please welcome them. great restaurants, although you are going to see for yourself. >> how is it going, everybody? who is hungry now? better yet, who wants free food? anyway, i just want to say, i'm from the san francisco street grid, and i'm speaking here representing all the chefs tonight. peter makes delicious dim sum.

and thomas, with great singapore food. we just want to thank you so much for letting us be part of this awards show. and we are so proud to be here. after the show, please come upstairs, do the green room, and had a taste of all the delicious foods that are up here. i don't have a restaurant, but in a street food vendor. come visit me, and i will definitely took you up with a discount. anyway, thank you so much, and we look forward to seeing you guys. and i thank you.

we also want to give a special thanks to the coordinator of tonight's events. and at the conclusion of tonight's program, everybody is invited to the reception. make sure you get a ticket from the ashes at the door because you will need the ticket to get in to get that great food and the reception in the greenroom. you will notice on the ticket, there are eight great -- plant boxes on the back, and they will mark each station. you need to visit all of the food stations, and once your ticket is mark, you can take it to a raffle, drop it in the bowl to with a gift certificate from one of the participating restaurants, and the winner of the raffle will be notified by phone or e-mail. remember, doors to the green room not going to open. we still have a little bit more of our ceremony here, so stay and enjoy the grand finale. now, i would like to turn the program over to rose, who has overseen the finale of this

event since 2008. she also coordinates the decision america pageant coordinates all of tonight's multi-cultural performances as well. [applause] >> thank you very much. each year, it is our pleasure to invite friends of the community to showcase their heritage. everyone, please, for this year, joined in the segment with your party applauds, sing along, or just get up and dance, okay? we want to have a lot of enthusiasm because we have so much to celebrate. ladies and gentlemen, the 2011 cultural procession. [applause]

♪

[applause] >> hello.