Filipinos have been in the United States since the 16th century, yet many of their stories remain untold. For the past year, 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.

Susie Quesada, Filipino Food Businesswoman

Quesada is the president of a 50-year-old company, Ramar Foods International, the leading manufacturer of premium Filipino and Asian frozen foods in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Middle East, and Australia. Ramar, located in Pittsburg, California includes such brands as Magnolia, Orientex, and Kusina. She was already helping out in the business at age eight, putting labels on the ice cream and getting paid one cent for every label. After a stint as a middle school teacher, Quesada joined the family business in 2005 and assumed the role of president in 2013. The company now employs 250 workers. In an interview with The Mercury News, Quesada says she went through every department and learned different parts of the business and realized that “when my dad didn’t make it to my soccer games … he was busy building this business.” A graduate of UC Berkeley with a degree in Multicultural Literature and Education, Quesada continues to add new products like boba drinks and low-fat, low-sugar ice cream. She also established the Ramar Scholarship Foundation, which provides financial assistance to hard-working students.

Luis De Santos, Master Sommelier

Luis De Santos (Source: *Metro Style/*Manila Uncorked 2019)

De Santos was only 12 years old when his family moved to the U.S. Since his father was a slot technician in the gaming business, they settled in Las Vegas. Working as a busboy, De Santos tasted his first wine at the age of 18. As the former wine director for Southern Wine & Spirits of Nevada, he has held the prestigious title of Master Sommelier since 2002. De Santos was the first Master Sommelier of Filipino descent. Previously, as Wine Director of the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, De Santos created and developed the unique wine lists for many of Wolfgang Puck’s restaurants and provided their staff with a thorough working knowledge of wine. Before joining Wolfgang Puck at his restaurants in December 2001, De Santos was a Wine Director and Sommelier for Charlie Palmer Steak in Las Vegas and at Hotel Healdsburg’s Dry Creek Kitchen in Sonoma, California. Prior to that, he was the Beverage Manager and Sommelier for Pinot Brasserie in Las Vegas and the hotel sommelier for Gatsby’s Restaurant and seven outlets at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. After leaving Puck, De Santos opened his own place, Mordeo Boutique Wine Bar with Kai Vu, a well-known chef, offering Latino dishes, wines, and sakes. When asked what his philosophy on wine and food was, he replied, “It’s one thing to become an MS. It’s another to teach. It’s all about passion. The more we know about wine, the less we know. Food and wine are fun. Wine is just a bridge between two forms of food – solid and liquid.”

Lieza Danan, Serial Biotech Entrepreneur

Lieza Danan (Source: *San Francisco Business Times)*

Danan is a San Francisco Bay Area-based serial biotech entrepreneur who has had Zero to One (Intervenn) and Unicorn (Stemcentrx) biotech startup experience. As Co-Founder & CEO/COO/CSO at Intervenn, she raised $9.4 million for Seed to Series A. Subsequently, Genoa Ventures recruited Danan to reposition its portfolio company, Intabio, for a Series B raise of $18 million. Additionally, Danan has in-house operations expertise as Head of Mass Spectrometry at Stemcentrx. She received her BS in Chemistry Honors Program at the Ateneo De Manila University, Philippines (2001), and her Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry at the University of California Davis (2009). She has spent 20+ years honing her skills in the field of mass spectrometry. Danan founded LiVeritas Biosciences in 2021 with fellow Filipino American Nina Cortina so biopharmaceutical companies can meet accelerated biologics drug development timelines via rapid and strategic “phase appropriate” implementation of mass spectrometry analysis. In 2022, she launched the LiVeritas Manila software subsidiary. But as her company was helping companies to pick safe, effective drugs, she now needed one to beat her own health crisis: cancer. In addition to the six cycles totaling 12 treatments, she underwent four surgeries. LiVeritas investors knew Danan was sick, but they didn’t know the extent of her illness, and she tried to balance responsibility to investors with not wanting them to worry about operations. She never skipped a meeting with her team. In March, 80 percent of the tumors were gone, and LiVertas’ revenues doubled.

Amanda Sichon, Organic Skincare Specialist

Together with Seda Bilginer, Sichon founded Esas Beauty, a new organic and sustainable farm-to-beauty company that creates anti-inflammatory lifestyle products rooted in global traditions and rituals from around the world. Both women were born in New York, both are children of immigrants (Sichon from the Philippines and Bilginer from Turkey), both have a degree in chemistry, and both worked together at the fragrance company, Givaudan. With a thirst for understanding her own skin health, Sichon earned an undergraduate degree in Chemistry with a minor in Public Health & Policy, and a Master of Science in Cosmetic Chemistry. Having worked for 10 years at a global fine fragrance and flavor company, she excelled in her roles which evolved from being a lab chemist to managing a team for one of the fastest growing categories in the company. In addition to her technical experience, she was able to coordinate and manage the construction of a lab in the heart of Midtown Manhattan. While growing up in a loving Filipino family, she also struggled daily with acutely sensitive skin. It wasn’t until she adapted an organic skincare and overall health routine that Amanda honestly started to heal her severe eczema in three days and, for the first time, steroidal free.

Keith Ismael, Professional Football Player

On September 13, 2022, Ismael signed with the practice squad of the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at San Diego State and was drafted by the Washington Football Team in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Ismael was released from Washington with an injury settlement in September 2022. Born in Oakland, California, Ismael appreciates his Samoan, Filipino, and Chinese backgrounds and says these cultures shaped hm with a deep sense of pride and gratitude and helped him move through life and achieve football success. These identities have also found a home on his body – tattoos of the Filipino flag and a Samoan image of ribbons of patterned spearheads and feathers. In an article in Commanders.com, Israel says, "Football is all about discipline, and discipline is one of the biggest things in Filipino, Samoan, and Chinese culture. From the simplest things, like the chores in the house, to the big things of ceremonies, like weddings, and funerals. Those are multiday events where there are detailed steps you have to follow, that require process where 'it's tradition to do this on this day,'" Ismael explained. "We're a very detailed people, and I feel like that helps on the football field."

Ben Scharlin, Musician/Producer/Director

Ben Scharlin (Photo courtesy of Ben Scharlin)

Ben Scharlin’s mother, Lilia, hails from the island of Negros while his father, Craig, is an American. He grew up in Berkeley California and trained as an actor with the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco for 10 years. He spent a decade in both New York City and Los Angeles working both in front of and behind the camera in film, and as a DJ. He moved from Los Angeles to the Philippines in 2017 in order to help with family projects, to connect with his roots, and to grow personally, professionally and creatively. Last February, he signed a five-year exclusive distribution contract with Warner Music Philippines. He writes his own music and arrangements, and sings the vocals on all his tracks. His original music can be listened to on Spotify and Apple Music under his name. The music video for his debut track "Lines", plus several live performances, can be found on Youtube. He is also the producer, writer, director and host of the youtube travel series Tales of Sugarlandia, presented by Don Papa Rum, a series that highlights the beauty and history of his home island of Negros, the sugarcane capital of the Philippines. Ben's new creative agency Aim High Creatives is currently developing adventure tours, Youtube series, films and advertising for clients all over the world.

Melissa Miranda, Chef

Chef Melissa Miranda (Source: melissamiranda.com/Photo by Andrew Imanaka)

Miranda started Musang as a pop-up, cooking over 150 orders of Filipino brunches while working as a sous chef at Bar del Corso. She and her team would sell out every month. To open a brick and mortar location, she turned to the same community to raise $92,000 via Kickstarter in 2019. Musang has lines out the door today. Miranda says, “The biggest thing about Musang is that it is for us, by us.” Miranda feels like an act of fate as the restaurant’s location at 2524 Beacon Avenue in Seattle, Washington once served as a community center and temporary housing center for Asian immigrants, many of whom were Filipino elders. Beacon Hill was one of the few Filipino enclaves in Seattle and the neighborhood where her father first settled when he immigrated from the Philippines. Miranda has since joined Bon Appetit as a contributor where she promotes Filipino food and ingredients. She hates the word “chef” as it denotes toxic masculinity and white male culture. In the kitchen, Miranda is called Ate (bigger sister) Mel and Mother.

Camryn Bynum, Professional Football Player

Bynum is of Filipino descent through his mother; his great grandmother traces her roots to Leyte. He grew up in Corona, California and was considered undersized as a football player and did not play on the varsity team until his junior year. As a senior, he recorded 70 tackles and nine passes defended. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Business. Bynum now plays for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected 125th overall in the 2021 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings, who envisioned him transitioning to safety. When he played in San Francisco last November 2021 against the San Francisco 49ers, approximately 200 combined friends and family, some from as far as Hawaii, New York, and Detroit, came to support Bynum, according to his mother, Jennifer, who is a third-generation Filipino American. “Just to hold that (Philippines) flag up high has meant a lot to our family,” Jennifer said in an interview with KRON 4. Bynum was on the roster but did not play due to an injury. His family nevertheless was proud he was on an NFL field. In December 2022 after a win over the New York Jets, Bynum did interviews and answered questions with the Philippine flag prominently draped over his shoulders. He traveled to the Philippines with his mother and other family members to help typhoon victims in Leyte last June.

Lope Lim, Ballet Dancer

Lope Lim (Source: the Washington Ballet/facebook, Photo by XMPhotography)

Lope Lim of Manila is in his second season with The Washington Ballet. He was a member of the Studio Company before being promoted to Apprentice in 2019. He began his dance training at the age of 12 at Steps Dance Studio Philippines, under Sofia Elizalde and Jeffrey Espejo. In 2015 he won the silver medal at the Asian Grand prix, and a scholarship to the Kirov Academy in Washington, DC at the age of 14 where he trained for the next two years. In 2017 he received a scholarship to The Washington School of Ballet at the YAGP finals. He spent his summers dancing at San Francisco Ballet, Ellison Ballet, and Alvin Ailey. During his time with The Washington Ballet, Lim has performed in ballets including John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, Septime Webre’s The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, Frederick Ashton’s Birthday Offering, Jessica Lang’s Reverence, and John Heginbotham’s RACECAR. “Dance was the one thing that was familiar in all of this unfamiliarity,” says Lim at komunidadmag.com. “[It] kept me going. That’s why you go through all of that: to chase your dream, to do this thing that is so hard and no one, especially from our country, gets the chance to do. It’s the thing that gave me direction in times of uncertainty. It became my pillar and compass”

Krystal Banzon, Writer

Krytal Banzon (Source; Point Foundation)

Banzon is a writer at Disney Television Animation. She received a BA from Smith College in Women’s Studies, a master’s in New Media from NYU Tisch, and a Fulbright fellowship to study theater in the Philippines, where she spent a year figuring out her hybrid cultural identity. She was the Manager of Diversity Programming at NBC where she supported the network pipeline programs and is an alumnus of the CBS Writers Mentoring Program. Her work includes TV series Firebuds (2022) and I Feel Bad (2018), and shorts Anita’s Last Cha-Cha (2013) and Ang Paghihintay sa Bulong (2012). Firebuds features Fil-Am Bo Bayani and his best friend, firetruck Flash, as they team up to help others in their community and learn the importance of teamwork, volunteerism, and what it means to be a hero. It touches on Filipino culture and the intergenerational connection within families as well as respect for one’s elders. Fil-Am actor Lou Diamond Phillips voices Bo’s father while fellow Fil-Am Julius Aguimatang is one of the show’s directors. ”We are proud to represent multiple Filipino folks behind the scenes,” says Banzon in an interview with Inquirer.net. A queer, first-generation Filipino American, Banzon is now a wife and mother (three kids) who writes between the hours of 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. while her family is asleep.

Dino-Ray Ramos, Reporter and Editor

A Texas native and first generation Filipino American whose parents immigrated from Ilocos Norte, Ramos has worked as film and TV reporter and editor for nearly 20 years, having worked for the Oakland Tribune and San Francisco Chronicle. He has also contributed to Vogue, Entertainment Tonight, Bustle, Paste, among other publications. He is a member of The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics and is a member of Gold House’s #Gold Open advisory council and was named as part of the A100 List in 2020 which recognizes the most impactful Asians in the country. In 2021 Ramos left his post as Associate Editor at Deadline where he created, produced, and co-hosted the New Hollywood Podcast that won a GLAAD Media Award and launched his own online publication, Diaspora (the disaporatimes.com) to be the voice for marginalized communities in film TV and media and to become the leader and primary destination for news covering multicultural entertainment. Ramos has long been an advocate for underrepresented voices and uses his platform to lift up diversity in the entertainment industry.

Sources: Google and Wikipedia

The Magazine

Fil-Ams Among The Remarkable And Famous, Part 42