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.

Kayla Abuda Galang, Filmmaker

Kayla Abuda Galang (Source: Rappler)

Galang’s short film, When You Left Me on That Boulevard, won the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival in Utah, qualifying the film to compete in the 2024 Oscars race. Galang was born in Olongapo City and raised in San Diego, California and Houston, Texas. Galang’s film is about a teenager who gets high with her cousins before joining a Filipino American Thanksgiving party, complete with gossiping titas, food and karaoke. A second-generation Filipino American, Galang explores themes of home, family and belonging. Learning Tagalog with Kayla (2021) won the Audience Award at SXSW. She is currently working on two feature films: ’06-’07, a coming-of-age comedy, and On Earth as It Is in Heaven, a comedy about familial grief set in Houston. She works as a producer and editor at the University of Texas’ College of Liberal Arts and now lives in Austin, Texas.

Jaime Ayala, Social Entrepreneur

Former Ernst & Young 2012 “Entrepreneur of the Year” and former McKinsey & Co. Partner, Ayala started Hybrid Social Solutions, Inc. (HSSI) to bring clean energy light to remote villages across the Philippines by providing solar hubs that distribute clean energy via sustainable last-mile value chains. As of 2022, HSSI provided solar power to more than 715,000 Filipinos in off-grid communities, produced more than 200 million hours of additional lighting/charging, created energy savings of more than P1.2 billion, and saved more than 156,000 tons of carbon emissions. Born in the Philippines, Ayala’s father died when he was only 14. He studied at Ateneo de Manila University, graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. At McKinsey, Ayala helped open nine offices in China and Southeast Asia and was the head of the firm’s Asian Energy Practice. He is the only Filipino to have been elected to McKinsey’s global partnership. In 2004, he became the President and CEO of Ayala Land; he is not related to the Zobel de Ayala family that controls the development. After working in the corporate world for several decades he began to question why he was not spending his energy helping people who need the most help. Ayala realized that most businesses neglect the poorest one-third of humanity. He was quoted in Business World Magazine as saying, "We have to work with the citizens of this country to empower them; they need access to basic things. They need access to food, electricity, health care, clean water." In an effort to empower poor, remote communities throughout the Philippines, Ayala left the corporate world in 2010 to set up the Hybrid Network, a cluster of social businesses focused on working together to engage market and philanthropic forces in "hybrid value chains.”

Kyle Lohse, Professional Baseball Pitcher

Raised in Ord Bend, California, Lohse followed in the footsteps of his parents, Larry and Leslie, who were both star athletes in the 1970s. Lohse’s mother has Native American and Filipino ancestry while his father has German ancestry. Lohse played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins (2001-2006), Cincinnati Reds (2006-2007), Philadelphia Phillies (2007), St. Louis Cardinals (2008-2012), Milwaukee Brewers (2013-2015) and Texas Rangers (2016). During his career in Minnesota, he dedicated himself to working with Cars for Courage, an organization that serves disabled children through sports programs and activities.

Eleuterio Timbol, Teacher

Eleuterio Timbol (Source: facebook/Saint Michael’s College of Laguna)

Math teacher Timbol, received the Empire State Excellence in Teaching Award in June 2022 and dedicated it to his deceased mother and brother, who both passed away in the past two years. Born in Romblon and raised in Laguna province, he graduated from Saint Michael’s College as salutatorian and received a BS degree in education and the Gold Medal Excellence award. He has been a teacher for 24 years; five years in Laguna, Philippines and 19 years in New York City District 28 where he is the Math Lead teacher at the High School for Law Enforcement and Public Safety, in Jamaica, Queens. “My family way back home in the Philippines is full of excitement upon hearing this recognition,” he told The FilAm. “I have two sisters and seven brothers, and I could hear the sounds of loud excitement when they heard the news.” He received a prize of $5,000.

Kenneth Albolote, Impact Investor

Kenneth Albolote (Source: Archangel Impact Capital)

A BA Economics graduate from Columbia University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, Albolote worked in Japan for almost 20 years in private equity firms. A Venture Partner at Foxmont Capital Partners, he is also a Partner at Archangel Impact Capital, the first faith-driven, high impact investment fund in the Philippines that focuses on small and medium-sized companies with Christian leadership and/or management who have intentional and measurable social, spiritual and growth impact (ex. poverty reduction, job creation, education, etc.) in underserved markets and customers. Albolote was a managing director/partner with Baring Private Equity Asia focused on private equity/buyouts in the Japan and Asian markets. He currently resides in Virginia with his family.

Joyce King, Lawyer

Joyce Roldan King (Source: Frederick County State Attorney’s Office)

Born and raised in New Jersey, King resides in Maryland. She is an alumna of George Washington University, American University: Women & Politics Institute, and the David A. Clarke School of Law. She is the Chief Counsel at the Frederick County State’s Attorney’s Office where she leads the Cybercrimes Task Force, serves on the Maryland Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and is cross-designated as a Special Assistant United States Attorney through the Department of Justice. She also manages the operations and communications for the State Attorney’s Office, provides legal counsel for multi-agency criminal justice policy initiatives and projects and serves on the Legislative Committee for the Maryland State Attorney’s Association.

Annalisa Burgos, Television Anchor/Reporter

Annalisa Burgos (Source: annlisaburgos.com)

Burgos worked for ABS-CBN in the Philippines from 2016-2019, but she is currently working in Hawaii as the weekend anchor for KGMB and KHNL (CBS and NBC affiliates). Born in Los Angeles, she was active in Filipino organizations in the area. She graduated from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. In 2019, she was a Jefferson Fellow of the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii and studied immigration policy in Hawaii, Korea, Philippines and Australia. Burgos started as a local newspaper reporter covering Anaheim for The Orange County Register. In 2004, she became one of the first digital video anchor/reporters in the industry, booking and interviewing celebrities, executives and newsmakers for Forbes and CNBC. She advocates for the Filipino community as a board member of Filipino Young Leaders Program and supports youth and women empowerment.

Art Dela Cruz, Navy’s TOPGUN Instructor

Born and raised in Minnesota to parents who immigrated from the Philippines, Art Dela Cruz spent 22 years in the U.S. Navy, including serving as a Commanding Officer of a U.S. Navy Strike Fighter Squadron, naval aviator and TOPGUN instructor. He joined the non-profit disaster response Team Rubicon in 2016 as Chief Operating Officer, then as President and COO; in July 2021, he took over as the organization’s CEO. Team Rubicon is made up of volunteer military veterans, first responders and everyday people who want to serve, providing urgent relief to those affected by disaster and humanitarian crisis. When asked what was the most meaningful part of serving with Team Rubicon, Dela Cruz said, “When you get out into the field, that’s a reminder that if you deliver hope, deliver dignity, you deliver services at a critical time—that is more important than trying to generate wealth. That is a richness that fulfills people, and me in particular, more than some other things I could be doing with my life. I think the other piece that’s so important about what I’m doing is, in this act, you begin to create the ability to also have that happen for other individuals across the country….I know that I am, by example, delivering that type of value to my kids. They are learning that giving of oneself is just as important as receiving.”

Averie Bishop, Beauty Queen

Bishop represented Texas in the Miss America 2023 competition, the first Asian American woman crowned Miss Texas. Her social platform “Y’all Means All” was an effort to expand diversity and inclusion across the country while focusing on three things: her non-profit, serving on the City of Dallas’ Anti-Hate Advisory Council (she is the youngest serving member), and through her social media presence. She has garnered 800,000 followers on Tik Tok and more than 70,000 on Instagram. Bishop started The Tulong Foundation with her mother, Marevi, to help her hometown of Banga in Mindanao. The foundation currently sponsors 45 children and taught locals sustainable farming skills and how to find and filter clean drinking water. Although Bishop did not win the beauty pageant, she finished her law degree and even started a small creative consulting business, which creates content for companies through paid advertising, and reviews social media accounts.

Miguel De Leon, Wine Writer

Miguel De Leon (Source: Miguel-deleon.com/Photo by Clay Williams)

Philippine-born and New York-based writer De Leon won the 2022 James Beard Foundation Award for his essay on his experience as a wine writer and contextualizing the appreciation of wine heritage beyond the prevailing “white supremacy.” His essay, “It’s Time to Decolorize Wine,” was published in the online magazine Punch. The year before, De Leon, who works at Pinch Chinese restaurant in New York, was named the inaugural recipient of the Michelin Guide Sommelier Award for his work with natural wine and for hospitality advocacy. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, De Leon has worked in Casa Mono, Momofuku and Per Se. In his winning essay, De Leon states, “The status quo that white people were so comfortable with has been exposed for its racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and myriad other biases and transgressions wrapped up in the package of white supremacy. I’m looking for a better future, and I know what my role is and should be. I do not need to accommodate those who seek to protect the status quo………I consider how much more I can do, as an immigrant, as a Filipino, as an American, as a gay man, as an ally, as an advocate, as a sommelier, as a friend and as a son. I don’t want to perpetuate the systems that dehumanized and demeaned me and my BIPOC colleagues. I want to dismantle white supremacy in wine. I want to spark change, to remove the barriers of entry, to call in and call out peers and industry leaders about the results of their actions and the consequences of their inactions. I want to get loud, get angry, do better. I will ask my colleagues to do the same. I will not stop.”

Source: Google and Wikipedia

The Magazine

Fil-Ams Among The Remarkable And Famous, Part 44