Keynote
Helen Zia
Helen Zia is an award-winning journalist, a Fulbright Scholar, and former Executive Editor of Ms. Magazine. Her articles, essays and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, books and anthologies. She was named one of the most influential Asian Americans of the decade by A. Magazine. She is the author of Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People, a finalist for the prestigious Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize. President Bill Clinton quoted from Asian American Dreams at two separate speeches in the Rose Garden. She is also coauthor, with Wen Ho Lee, of My Country Versus Me, which reveals what happened to the Los Alamos scientist who was falsely accused of being a spy for China in the "worst case since the Rosenbergs."
A second generation Chinese American, Helen Zia has been outspoken on issues ranging from civil rights and peace to women's rights and countering hate violence and homophobia. In 1997 she coauthored a complaint to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and testified at commission hearings on the impact of bias in the campaign finance investigations. Ms. Zia has appeared in numerous news programs and films; her work on the landmark civil rights case of anti-Asian violence which is documented in the Academy Award nominated film, "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" She was profiled in Bill Moyers' PBS documentary, "Becoming American: The Chinese Experience." An out-lesbian, Helen and her spouse were married during the gay weddings that took place in San Francisco in 2004 and again in 2008. Helen's affidavit on behalf of marriage equality was part of the successful appeal to the California Supreme Court; in 2010, Helen testified as a witness in the landmark federal lawsuit by Olsen/Boies, Perry v. Schwarzenegger. After schooling, she went to work as a construction laborer, an autoworker, and a community organizer, after which she discovered her life's work as a writer.
Phil Yu
Phil Yu is the founder and editor of Angry Asian Man, a popular Asian American news/culture blog. Building a steady, loyal readership since 2001, the Washington Post calls Angry Asian Man "a daily must-read for the media-savvy, socially conscious, pop-cultured Asian American." Mixing humor with criticism, Phil's commentary has been featured and quoted in stories for the Post, New York Times, National Public Radio, CNN, Los Angeles Times and more. He also appeared on the November 2010 cover of KoreAm Journal. He worked previously at the Center for Asian American Media in San Francisco, and currently serves on the Board of Visual Communications and Projekt Newspeak, both in Los Angeles.