Filipinos have been in the United States since the 16th century, yet many of their stories remain untold. For the past months, Positively Filipino has been running a series on notable Filipino Americans who have made their marks in this country. There are hundreds, or maybe even thousands more, that need to be added to this story, and we need your help. If you know of a Filipino American who deserves to be included in this line-up, please send us their names and any supporting documents you may have to pfpublisher@yahoo.com. For now, we are including only those who are currently active and visible in the media and the community, regardless of their religious, sexual or political orientation. Thank you.

Vivian Faustino-Pulliam, Professor

Vivian Faustino Pulliam (Source: usfca.edu)

Faustino-Pulliam is one of the winners of the 2020 Canvas Educator of the Year Awards, which recognize outstanding educators in the United States working to “embrace remote learning, prepare students for the workforce, and support student success and achievement in an evolving education landscape.” She is praised by the students at City College of San Francisco (CCSF) where she teaches, for incorporating real-world examples, outside of the textbooks, in her accounting courses. She also headed the establishment of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. She uses Canvas for her volunteer work of teaching students in refugee camps in Kenya, Malawi, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Syria. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco where she teaches international business, entrepreneurship, and international marketing. She finished her MBA at Ateneo de Manila University and is also a Doctoral candidate in Adult Learning and Leadership from Columbia University.

Jacob Batalon, Actor

Jacob Batalon after his recent weight loss (Source: twitter)

Batalon was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Filipino parents. He attended Kapi’olani Community College to study music theory but later dropped out. He then took a two-year program to study acting at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. His acting debut was in 2016 when he appeared in the film, North Woods. In 2017, he landed his first major role in Spider-Man: Homecoming, as Peter Parker’s friend, Ned. He reprised the role in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and the 2019 sequel, Spider-Man: Far from Home. Batalon has seven half-siblings: a brother and sister from his mother, and three brothers, and two sisters from his father.

Amy Chua, Law Professor and Writer

Chua was born in Champaign, Illinois to ethnic Chinese parents who emigrated from the Philippines. When she was eight years old, the family moved to Berkeley, California. Chua described herself as an “ugly kid” during her school days, was bullied in school for her foreign accent, and was the target of racial slurs. She graduated valedictorian at El Camino High School, and obtained an A.B. in Economics magna cum laude from Harvard College, and a J.S. degree cum laude from Harvard Law School. She was the first Asian American executive editor of the Harvard Law Review. She joined the Yale faculty in 2001 after teaching at Duke Law School for seven years and practicing law at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. Her expertise is in international business transactions, law and development, ethnic conflict, and globalization and the law. Chua is known for her parenting memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. The book was an international best-seller in the United States, South Korea, Poland, Israel, Germany, United Kingdom, and China and has been translated into 30 languages. The book ignited global debate about different parenting techniques and cultural attitudes, but it also provoked uproar in which Chua received death threats, racial slurs, and calls for her arrest on child-abuse charges. In 2011, she was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, one of The Atlantic’s Brave Thinkers, and one of Foreign Policy’s Global Thinkers. She has recommended a large number of candidates to clerk for Justice Brett Kavanaugh, including her own daughter. Controversy arose from allegations that she “groomed” potential clerks for the job by advising them to dress and act a certain way to secure employment with Kavanaugh.

Jessica Noelle Calalang, Pair Skater

Jessica Noelle Calalang and ice skating partner Brian Johnson (Source: jessicabrian.com)

Born in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, Calalang moved to Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, California after graduating in 2013 from Glenbrook South High School in Glenview, Illinois. With her current partner, Brian Johnson, she is the 2020 U.S. national silver medalist and a three-time Challenger Series medalist, including gold at the 2019 CS Warsaw Cup. Earlier in her career, she skated with Zack Sidhu, winning three medals on the ISU Challenger Series. Calalang and Johnson were assigned to compete at the 2020 Skate America where they placed second in the short program despite both making errors on their jumps.

Conrad Ricamora, Actor

Ricamora was born in Santa Maria, California to a U.S. Air Force Filipino father and a social worker mother with German and Irish descent. He grew up primarily in Niceville, Florida. He is an avid tennis player and received the Human Rights Campaign’s Visibility Award for championing gay rights. He performed the role of Ninoy Aquino in the Off-Broadway musical Here Lies Love where he won a Theatre World Award and was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical. In 2014, he was cast in the recurring role of Oliver Hampton on the ABC legal drama series How to Get Away with Murder. In 2018, he starred in the premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Soft Power as Xue Xing in Los Angeles.

Jessica Valenzuela, Entrepreneur

Valenzuela is an entrepreneur and the founder of the angel-backed startup GoGoGuest. She was born and raised in the Philippines and is a first generation naturalized American citizen. She has lived in Chicago, New York City, and San Francisco. Prior to pursuing a career in entrepreneurship, Jessica held leadership roles in product marketing and digital marketing at Kaplan Inc., Young & Rubicam, Tribal DDB, and Ogilvy. She also led and delivered projects at Square and Logitech. Jessica is a natural adventurer who loves discovering and exploring cities and nature. She brings Mister Beckham, her Jack Russell along with her whenever possible. She said, “There is clearly a smaller pool of opportunity for Filipino American women in the technology space. This means, a smaller flywheel effect, if any. I hope to be an active participant in changing this ratio.”

Rozette Rago, Photographer

In 2011, Rago attended the New York Film Academy and found work by offering to photograph bands and artists for free. Now she regularly contributes to The New York Times where she has shot celebrities like Natalie Portman, Annie Leibovitz, and Angela Basset. Her work has also appeared in The Washington Post and Bloomberg Businessweek. Since March 2019, Rago has been working as photo editor in Wirecutter, The New York Times’ product recommendation site. Jolie Ruben, Culture Photo Editor at The New York Times said, “Rozette is one of those photographers who elevates the ordinary. She can photograph Kanye West performing at Coachella, and despite the mayhem of it all, be in exactly the right spots at the right moments, making the most striking images. But she can also be assigned to shoot a blank wall and somehow make a great photo.” Her advice to aspiring photographers: “Focus on your own work and what you’re trying to say, and don’t compare yourself with others too much. That’s toxic and it won’t help you. Don’t give your rights away when signing contracts. Have confidence, but also try to be a pleasant person to work with.”

Ron Falconi, Former Mayor of Brunswick, Ohio

Falconi began his term as Mayor of Brunswick in 2014, becoming the first Filipino American mayor in the state of Ohio. He was picked as one of ten Asian American leaders across the country to travel to Japan as a guest of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss politics, culture, business, and international relations. Falconi was born and raised in northeastern Ohio. He received his diploma from Padua Franciscan High School. He went on to receive his Bachelor of Arts degree from John Carroll University, where he majored in political science with a concentration in international studies. Subsequently, he received his law degree from the University of Akron, and he has a license to practice law in this state. He was one of five Filipino Americans picked to be on the Asian Pacific American Advisory Committee by President Trump in an effort to reach the growing Asian American community. In the 2020 elections, he failed to capture a seat for the State Senate.

Jhett Tolentino, Producer

Jhett Tolentino (Source: Philippine Canadian Inquirer)

Tolentino was born and raised in Barangay Calumpang, Molo, Iloilo City. He obtained his accounting degree from the University of Iloilo. When he moved to San Francisco in 2002, he held a marketing job while moonlighting as a waiter and babysitter. In 2005, he moved to New York and pursued his certificate in Nursing Assistance from the American Medical Career Training Center. He worked at a mortgage and finance job where he learned about the theater industry and started writing reviews of theater shows in his blog. He has won three Tony Awards for co-producing the 2014 Best Musical, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, the 2014 Best Revival of a Play, A Raisin in the Sun, and the 2013 Best Play, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. In 2017, Tolentino won a Grammy as a co-producer for the album The Color Purple. He later produced and directed Park Lane, Lingua Franca (2019) and Confession (2018).

Jose Llana, Broadway Actor and Singer

A native of Manila, Philippines, Llana moved to the U.S when he was three years old and grew up in Springfield, Virginia. He attended the Manhattan School of Music to study classical voice. As a freshman, he was discovered in an audition to play Lun Tha opposite Lou Diamond Phillips in The King and I. From then on, he appeared in many On and Off Broadway shows like Rent, Flower Drum Song with Lea Salonga, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, among others. On the screen, he appeared in Sex and the City, Hitch and Unconscious. He portrayed Ferdinand Marcos in Here Lies Love on 2014 and in 2015, Llana made his Lincoln Center American Songbook Concert debut at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse in New York.

Sean Reyes, Utah Attorney General

Reyes’ father is an immigrant from the Philippines with Filipino and Spanish ancestry while his mother if of Native Hawaiian and Japanese descent. He was raised in Southern California, and he is a cousin of former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay. He earned his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Brigham Young University and his law degree from University of California, Berkeley School of Law. He worked for 14 years at the law firm of Parsons, Behle & Latimer where he became the first person of color to become a partner. He served as a state small claims court judge, and partner and co-founder of the venture capital firm, Accelerate Ventures. He ran for Attorney General of Utah against John Swallow in 2012 and lost. But a scandal forced Swallow to resign and Reyes was chosen to replace him. He won the election in 2014 to finish out Swallow’s term. Immediately after taking office, Reyes appealed a ruling that struck down the state’s same-sex marriage ban. He is a longtime supporter of President Trump. In 2020, Reyes won another term as Utah’s attorney general.

Tina Lacdao Pamintuan, KALW General Manager

KALW’s general manager, Tina Lacdao Pamintuan, is the first Filipina American to be appointed to the NPR Board. KALW is the Bay Area’s community radio station 91.7 FM with 11,000 listeners and known for its independent spirit and free media training programs focused on bringing new voices to the airwaves. She joins a board consisting of 12 managers of NPR member stations, 9 members of the public, the NPR Foundation Chair, and the NPR President and CEO, John Lansing. Pamintuan’s family left the Philippines after President Marcos shut down the country’s broadcast news in 1972. She came to San Francisco after leading the audio journalism program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York where she was a founding faculty member. She has witnessed and experienced challenges faced by journalists of color and spoken about “the need for new and better ways to address white privilege, racism and implicit bias, and the importance of meeting calls for equity and belonging with courage, humility, and self-reflection.

The Magazine

Fil-Ams Among The Remarkable And Famous, Part 14