Filipinos have been in the United States since the 16th century, yet many of their stories remain untold. To celebrate Asian Pacific Heritage Month, we would like to give you weekly short biographies of famous Filipino American role models and achievers, some of whom you may not even know are Filipino.

There are hundreds of names, but this month, we are only focusing on those who are still active, visible, in the limelight and who have a high “audience following” – those who continue to make us proud to be Filipino, regardless of their religious and sexual orientation and political flavor.

Tom Cunanan, Chef and Owner, Bad Saint

Chef Tom Cunanan (Source: James Beard Awards)

Born in the Philippines, Cunanan belonged to a family of seven, and moved to the United States at the age of three. He worked as a busboy and dishwasher before enrolling in a culinary school, The Art Institute of Washington. With co-owners, Genevieve Villamora and Nick Pimentel, he opened the restaurant through crowd funding. While working as executive sous chef at New American bistro, Ardeo+Bardeo, his mother became ill. He worked with her to document all her original recipes before she died. In 2015, he opened Tarsier Catering that morphed into Bad Saint in Washington, D.C. The restaurant was named No. 2 Best New Restaurant in the United States in 2016 by Bon Appetit, and earned a three-star review from Pete Wells in The New York Times. Wells writes that “the food that Tom Cunanan and his cooks prepare under columns of wok smoke is richly compelling no matter how many prior run-ins you’ve had with Filipino food.” Eater named the restaurant one of the 38 essential restaurants in America in 2017. In 2019 Tom Cunanan and Bad Saint won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic.

Ruby Ibarra, Rapper

Ruby Ibarra raps in Tagalog, Waray and English about her cultural heritage and experiences as an immigrant to the United States from the Philippines. She was born in the Philippines, grew up in Tacloban and moved to San Lorenzo, California. She attended the University of California, Davis. She signed on with Beatrock Music, an independent record label and released her first album, “Circa 1991” in 2017 where she talks about social justice issues like immigration and trauma. Ruby has a combined presence of over three million views on YouTube. Her last documentary, Nothing on US: Pinays Rising, was featured in several countries as well as in the U.S. She describes her style as reminiscent of 1990s hip hop and cites Lupe Fiasco and Raekwon as her influences.

Ramona S. Diaz, Documentary Filmmaker

Diaz’s films are “character-driven” documentaries. They include Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey featuring Arnel Pineda and the band Journey, which won the Audience Award for the 2013-2014 Season of PBS’s Independent Lens, and the 2003 film Imelda, on the former First Lady of the Philippines. Three of her films have screened at The Sundance Film Festival – Imelda, Motherland (received a Special Jury Award at Sundance) and recently, A Thousand Cuts in 2020. Before pursuing a career as an independent filmmaker, Diaz was an associate producer for Cadillac Desert, a major PBS documentary series about the quest for water in the American West. She is a graduate of Emerson College, Boston and holds an MA in Communication from Stanford University.

Cora Tellez, Corporate Leader and Entrepreneur

Before Cora started Sterling HSA, she was Vice President and Regional Manager of Kaiser Permanente of Hawaii, CEO of Blue Shield of California, President and CEO of Prudential Health Care Plan of California and of Health Net. Sterling HSA helps people use personal funds to make thoughtful decisions about health care services. She received her B.A. from Mills College and her M.S. in Public Administration from California State University, Hayward. She recently founded Amazing CARE for people “who are passionate about staying in control of our lives as we age. It is about keeping our connections with our circle of friends and family alive and vital.” She has three pieces of advice for her success: 1) If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. 2) Attitude is a key determinant of success. 3) Never allow anyone to define who you are. And finally, she says, “Be the best you can be at whatever inspires you.”

Cheryl Diaz Meyer, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographer

Cheryl Diaz Meyer (Photo by Conchitina Miguel)

Born in Quezon City, Philippines, Meyer moved to the United States at the age of 13. She graduated cum laude from the University of Minnesota-Duluth with a Bachelor of Arts in German, and later at Western Kentucky University where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Photojournalism. She has worked for The Washington Post, The Minneapolis Star, The Dallas Morning News and the McClatchy Washington Bureau until 2017. Since then, she has been an independent photographer based in Washington, D.C. In 2004, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography with David Leeson for their photographs on the war in Iraq. Additional awards include: the Visa d’Or Daily Press Award in 2003, the John Faber Award from the Overseas Press Club for her portfolio on the war in Afghanistan after 9/11, Awards of Excellence in the International News Category of the Eyes of History: Still Contest from the White House News Photographers Association for her work documenting the struggles of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Her photographs are exhibited worldwide including the Newseum’s Pulitzer Prize Exhibit in Washington, D.C. She says her main claim to fame is “sharing a broken and lurching parade float in the rain with famed Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao.”

Cristeta Pasia Comerford, White House Executive Chef

Chef Cristeta Pasia Comerford (Source: Food Network)

Comerford moved to the United States when she was 23 years old. She grew up in Sampaloc, Manila, attended Manila Science High School and the University of the Philippines, majoring in food technology. Before joining the White House during the Clinton administration, she worked at Sheraton Hotel and Hyatt Regency in Chicago, and at two restaurants in Washington, D.C. She is one of the longest-serving White House executive chefs in history (she has served four presidents) and the first woman and the first person of color ever to hold the post since the Kennedys created it in 1961. In 2019, the University of the Philippines conferred on Comerford the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa. Comerford credits her mother: “Nanay’s language of love was cooking, and I had the blessing of growing up around the most talented and most efficient chef….My mom was indeed the best cook I knew.”

Raquel C. Bono, Retired Vice Admiral and Doctor

Vice Admiral Raquel C. Bono (Ret.) (Source: Office of Gov. Jay Inslee)

Retired vice admiral in the United States Navy and former director of the Defense Health Agency, Bono attended the University of Texas at Austin and received her medical degree from the School of Medicine at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Shortly thereafter, she saw duty in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm as head of Casualty Receiving, Fleet Hospital Five in Saudi Arabia from 1990-1991. She has worked in many hospitals in varying positions: the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth; the Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Her awards include a Defense Superior Service Medal, three Legion of Merit Medals, two Meritorious Service Medals, and two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals. On March 22, 2020, Bono was named by Washington State Governor Jay Inslee to lead the state health system’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Astrid S. Tuminez, University President

Astrid S. Tuminez (Source: Utah Valley University)

Tuminez is the seventh president of Utah Valley University and its first female president. Born in poverty as the sixth of seven children in a village in Iloilo province, Philippines, she and her siblings received free education at a private school run by Catholic nuns. “From being an illiterate child, ignorant, malnourished and insecure, I became someone who learned to read, discovered numbers and devoured everything.” She believes that education is the great equalizer. “I believe that education today has to be non-prejudicial in who we give the opportunity to. We have to make it affordable and I think the silos of knowledge have to be broken down.” She came to the United States on a student visa at age 18 in 1982 to study at Brigham Young University, and earned a bachelor’s degree in Russian and international relations, then a master’s degree in Soviet Studies from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in political science and government from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She assisted in peace negotiations between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Philippine government from 2003 to 2007 as a senior research consultant to the U.S. Institute of Peace. She was Microsoft’s Regional director for Corporate, External and Legal Affairs for Southeast Asia, leading a team supporting 15 markets and more than $1 billion in revenues. Tuminez enjoys running and had 11 years of martial arts training while living in New York. She is married to Jeffrey Tolk and they have three children.

Apl.de.ap, Rapper

Born Allan Pineda Lindo in Angeles City, Pampanga, Philippines to an African American father, an airman stationed at Clark Air Base, and to Cristina Pineda, a Filipino, Apl.de.ap would make the hour-long trek to and from school and helped his family subsist by farming sweet potatoes, corn, sugar cane and rice. His father left the family shortly after Pineda was born and his mother raised him and six other siblings. The Pearl S. Buck Foundation, an organization that finds healthier living environments for young abandoned or orphaned American children, matched him with a sponsor named Joe Ben Hudgens, a lawyer. Pineda came to the United States at age 14 for treatment for nystagmus, an involuntary movement of the eyes, a condition that made him legally blind. It would take another three years for Hudgens to adopt him. While attending John Marshall High School in Los Angeles, he befriended William Adams (will.i.am) and they began rapping and performing as the Black Eyed Peas in 1988. In 2013, he was one of the coaches for The Voice of the Philippines. He collaborated with Ryan Cayabyab for his performance in the opening ceremony of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines. Apl.de.ap was honored by This Time Foundation for his charity works. His own Apl Foundation helps various communities and children in the Philippines and throughout Asia in the areas of arts and technology.

Jia Tolentino, Writer

Canadian-born Jia Tolentino is a staff writer at The New Yorker. Other writing jobs include deputy editor at Jezebel and contributing editor at the Hairpin. The family moved to Houston, Texas, and she graduated as class salutatorian in high school. She attended the University of Virginia and served in the Peace Corps in Kyrgyzstan. She received an M.F.A. in fiction from the University of Michigan. Tolentino’s works have won accolades: her first short story won the 2012 Raymond Carver Short Fiction Contest and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her essays include controversial topics like race in publishing, marriage, abortion, notions of female empowerment and no-holds-barred music criticism. She has also reported extensively on the #MeToo movement. In 2019, she published a collection of essays entitled, Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion, where a critic wrote: “Tolentino’s earnest ambivalence, expressed often throughout the book, is characteristic of millennial life-writing, and it can be contrasted with boomer self-satisfaction and Gen X disaffection in the same genre.” Tolentino recently took to social media to debunk the rumor that her parents were involved in illegal recruitment, to tell the real story behind their arrests in 2004. She lives with her boyfriend and their dog in Brooklyn.

Stella Abrera, Ballerina

The youngest of five children, Abrera was born in the Philippines but moved to the United States shortly after her birth. She joined American Ballet Theater (ABT) when she was only 17 and became the first Filipina ballerina promoted to rank of principal dancer in ABT’s history. After 24 years with the American Ballet Theater, Abrera is retiring on June 13, 2020. For her farewell performance, she will dance the lead in Giselle, a role she played four years ago. In 2014, she founded Steps Forward for the Philippines to benefit victims of Hurricane Haiyan, and since 2018 has directed an annual benefit gala in Manila to raise money for the Stella Abrera Dance and Music Hall at CENTEX in Batangas. She was also part of ABT’s first Crossover into Business class at Harvard Business School. Early this year, she became the new artistic director of Kaatsbaan, the Tivoli, NY-based cultural park for dance. She is married to former ABT soloist, Sascha Radetsky.

Cecile Licad, Classical Pianist

Cecile Licad began her piano studies at the age of three. At seven she made her debut as soloist with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Philippines. She was the youngest musician to receive the prestigious Leventritt Gold Medal. When she was 11, Cecile and her mother flew to the U.S. for an audition at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Upon acceptance, she was mentored by three of the greatest performers – Rudolf Serkin, Seymour Lipkin and Mieczyslaw Horszowski. Licad lived in a tiny studio supported by a small stipend from Imelda Marcos. The New Yorker calls her “a pianist’s pianist” and said that her “artistry is a blend of daring musical instinct and super training.” She has performed in numerous concerts, recitals and with ensembles such as the New York Chamber Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Guarneri Quartet, Takacs Quartet, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Music from Marlboro. Her marriage to Brazilian cellist Antonio Meneses ended after 10 years. Her son, Otavio, says, “She’s never, never boring, ever. And I think it comes from the fact that she approaches music in a way that most musicians with the same amount of experience lose somewhere along their careers….My mom never knows what she’s doing, if that makes any sense. A piece she’s played 10,000 times is still a battle for her every time she prepares, and that’s never going to change.” Cecile says that her art and her music are her wealth.

Erik Spoelstra, Head Coach for Miami Heat

Coach Erik Spoelstra (Source: USAToday.com)

Spoelstra’s mother, Elisa Celino, hails from San Pablo, Laguna, Philippines. He is the first Asian American head coach in the history of the four major North American sports league, and also the first Asian American head coach to win an NBA championship. Born in Evanston, Illinois, he attended the University of Portland where he was hired as a player/assistant coach for TuS Herten, a German professional basketball club. After two years, he was hired as the Heat’s video coordinator, then as assistant coach/advance scout, and later as assistant coach. He won his first NBA championship when the Miami Heat defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the 2006 NBA Finals. He became the head coach in 2008. Between 2009 and 2014, he traveled to the Philippines to conduct basketball clinics and events that reached more than 375 youths from underserved areas. From Yahoo Sports: “Spoelstra has grown into one of the NBA’s finest coaches. He adapts to different styles. He connects with players of all statures. He develops young players. He communicates clearly. He makes sound adjustments in the playoffs.”

Sources: Google and Wikipedia

The Magazine

Fil-Ams Among The Remarkable And Famous Part 4