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.

Kiwi Camara, Lawyer and Technology Entrepreneur

Born in the Philippines, Kiwi Alejandro Danao Camara and his physician parents moved initially to Cleveland, Ohio, but settled in Hawaii where Kiwi attended the Punahou School. At age 11, Camara wrote a medical paper on alternative treatments for rheumatoid arthritis, which was published in the Hawaii Journal of Medicine. After skipping high school, he earned a Bachelor of Science in computer science, graduating summa cum laude from Hawaii Pacific University, completing the program in two years. He then enrolled in Harvard Law School at the age of 16, graduating magna cum laude, and received a John M. Olin fellowship in Law and Economics. He took a position as a law clerk for Judge Harris Hartz of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth circuit. He was also a visiting scholar at the Northwestern University School of Law and he holds an economics doctorate from Stanford University. However, an incident in his first year at Harvard where he posted notes online from his law class referring to African Americans as “nigs” as a shorthand for Blacks prevented him from getting a law firm or teaching job, so he co-founded his own law firm, Camara & Sibley in 2009 specializing in commercial law. Camara founded DISCO in 2013 to “help legal professionals deliver the highest quality of services more efficiently through technology that enables lawyers to focus on the practice of law.” He raised $235 million for this venture as of December 2020 and he has given up his legal practice and pursues DISCO full time now. DISCO was recognized as one of the 2019 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 and the 2020 Forbes Cloud 100. Camara was also recognized by The Software Report as one of the Top 50 SaaS CEOs of 2020.

Angela Affinita, Disney Creative Director

Last Christmas, Filipinos all over the world were greeted with a video from Disney entitled, “From Our Family to Yours.” Developed by Filipino American Angela Affinita, the director of Brand Marketing and Creative at Disney UK in partnership with New Zealand-based Flux Animation Studios, the video ran in 27 countries and was viewed by millions of people. One of the inspirations for this video is the relationship of Affinita with her grandmother with whom she made parols (star lanterns) every year. It tells the touching story of Lola and her granddaughter with Mickey Mouse playing a key role, and “demonstrates how families from all over the world are brought together through shared experiences that cross generations.” Though the video showed distinctly Filipino customs, audiences worldwide appreciated the role of traditions in keeping close ties.

Peggy Peralta, Cinematographer

Peralta was awarded Best Emerging Filmmaker by SF International Women's Film Festival in 2005. Since then, she has continued to be a trusted collaborator of many directors, shooting projects funded by organizations like San Francisco Film Society, Danish Arts Council, and French National Center of Fine Arts. Her works have screened in film festivals around the globe including the Rotterdam International Film Festival & Busan International Film Festival. In 2013, she received a Cinematography Special Jury Award from the LA Asian Pacific Film Fest for lensing the documentary Harana. Her second feature, A New Color, a documentary, premiered at the 2015 Mill Valley Film Festival. Both feature documentaries won Audience Awards in various film festivals and have aired on PBS. Born and raised in the Philippines, she emigrated to San Francisco at age 23 and earned an MFA in Motion Pictures from the Academy of Art University. She is also a certified Steadcam Operator, one of the very few women practitioners worldwide.

Malaka Gharib, Journalist and Artist

Growing up as a first generation Filipino Egyptian American, Gharib wrote and illustrated this experience in I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir. She is the deputy editor and digital strategist on NPR’s global health and development team. She covers topics such as the refugee crisis, gender equality, and women’s health. She won two Gracie Awards: in 2019 for How to Raise a Human, a series on global parenting, and in 2015 for #15Girls, a series on teen girls around the world. Based in Washington, D.C., she co-founded The Runcible Spoon, a food zine, and the D.C. Art Book Fair.

Kevin Acebo, Public Policy Consultant

Acebo is a Southern California-based consultant providing strategic public policy advice and representation for corporate and public clients on matters before local, state, and federal governments, and also provides strategic political campaign advice to state and local candidates as well as local ballot initiatives. He was deputy mayor of Los Angeles and Statewide Political Director of the California Democratic Party. Acebo was a senior advisor to Filipino Americans for Biden-Harris. He is currently a member of the Los Angeles Commission on Mental Health. He began his public service career as a youth counselor for Search to Involve Pilipino Americans, Inc. (SIPA) and at the Asian Mental Health Training Center. He graduated cum laude from the University of Southern California’s School of Public Affairs.

Alec Mapa, Broadway Actor

Born in San Francisco, Mapa got his first professional break when he replaced B.D. Wong for the role of Song Liling in the Broadway production of M. Butterfly. He later gained recognition for other roles such as Adam Benet in Half & Half, Suzuki St. Pierre in Ugly Betty and Vern in Desperate Housewives. He co-hosted the Logo network reality dating game show, Transamerican Love Story in 2008, and debuted his own one-man show, Alec Mapa: Baby Daddy, which was made into a concert film on Showtime in 2015. He continues to appear in films and television, the latest in 2020 being Chick Fight, now in post-production, and Danger Force. In 2008, Mapa married Jamison Hebert whom he had been dating since 2002, and they adopted a five-year old boy.

Ruben Nepales, Celebrity Journalist

Born in Calasiao, Pangasinan in the Philippines, Nepales immigrated to the U.S. in the 1980’s as Los Angeles correspondent and columnist for the Philippine Daily Inquirer where he wrote his popular column, Only IN Hollywood. This column has moved to Rappler this year. He is the first Filipino to be elected member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which votes on and presents the Golden Globe Awards. In 2012, he became the first and only Filipino to be elected as chairman of the board of HFPA. He has received honors from the National Entertainment Journalism Awards and the Southern California Journalism Awards, presented by the Los Angeles Press Club. In 2018, his feature on Angelina Jolie won first place in the Entertainment News or Feature category. He is married to journalist Janet Susan Rodriguez and they have two daughters.

Irene Bueno, Government Consultant

Irene Bueno

Bueno is a government relations policy and political consultant at the Nueva Vista Group, LLC, which she co-founded in Washington, D.C. She was a former top official in the Clinton Administration, Special Assistant to the President, and worked in both the White House Chief of Staff’s Office and Domestic Policy Council. She was the Deputy Assistant for Legislation/Congressional Liaison at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She is a graduate of University of California Berkeley and Hastings College of Law. Born in California, Bueno was chosen to participate in the Coro Foundation Fellows Program in Public Affairs. NVG offers policy expertise in health care, intellectual property, immigration, education, finance, food systems, labor and employee benefits issues, civil and constitutional rights, and appropriations. She is active in the Asian American political community and competes in ballroom dancing.

The Magazine

FilAms Among The Remarkable And Famous, Part 15