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.

Bianca Bustamante, Racecar Driver

Only 18 years old, Bustamante is the first Filipino to win an F1 Academy race with PREMA Racing. F1 Academy is a new all-female racing series founded by Formula 1. She resides between Laguna, Philippines and San Jose, California. She won the China Grand Prix Kart scholarship four times and the famed Macao International Kart Grand Prix three times before competing at the F1 Academy. Her ambition is to one day show the world that Asian drivers can compete on the global stage and also disrupt motorsport by demonstrating women can win at the top levels of a male dominated sport. She is an advocate for non-fungible tokens, and will be launching a series entitled “The Dark Horse” with her manager, as a way of financing her career.

Margarita Lorenzana-Manzke, Pastry Chef

Margarita Lorenzana-Manzke (Source: Philstar.com/Walter Bollozos)

Born and raised in the Philippines, Lorenzana-Manzke of the Los Angeles-based restaurant Republique was recently named Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker at the 2023 James Beard Awards after eight previous nominations. She is one of the co-owners of Wildflour, a popular all-day brunch spot in Manila with 16 branches. Other restaurants she and her husband, Walter Manzke, are involved in include Sari-Sari Store and Petty Cash Taqueria, based in Los Angeles. Her rise to culinary fame reached another milestone with the opening of Bicyclette Bistro in Beverly Hills in 2022. At République, Margarita consistently pushed the boundaries of traditional pastry making, infusing her creations with distinct techniques and flavors. Her relentless innovation has kept the restaurant in the limelight, frequently appearing on the Los Angeles Times ‘101 Best’ list and being recommended by Bill Addison, the well-known restaurant critic, per goodnewspilipinas.com.

Erwan Heussaff, Restaurateur and Vlogger

Filipino French content creator Heussaff bagged the James Beard Award in the Social Media Account category. His Instagram account features Filipino food under the handle Fat Kid Inside. In 2021, he rebranded his YouTube account to FEATR to cater to more content creators. The James Beard Awards honors chefs, restauranteurs, authors and journalists in the United States. The Social Media category “recognizes excellence in a single food-related post, or compilation of up to three posts, that clearly represents the intention of the Facebook page, Twitter account, TikTok account, Instagram feed, or other social media format.” Heussaff said, “This, for me, means absolutely everything because it just motivates me further to keep shining the light on our beautiful country, our beautiful people, and the food that is made in our kitchen.”

Anne del Castillo, New York City Commissioner on Media and Entertainment

Appointed in 2019, Del Castillo focused on bolstering NYS’s world-class arts, entertainment and nightlife sectors and advancing an economy that works for all New Yorkers. Under her leadership, television and film production made a strong return by fall 2020 and Broadway safely reopened in 2021. In addition, she has worked closely with other city agencies to create Music for the Soul and Music Heals, which provide paid gigs for local musicians while also supporting frontline workers at hospitals and vaccine centers; Open Culture to allow arts and entertainment groups to organize ticketed performances in public spaces; the Broadway Vaccination Center to support entertainment and nightlife workers in a safe return to work; and Curtains Up NYC and Fair Share Restaurants to assist NYC live venues and bars and restaurants with applying for federal grants. Her efforts during the pandemic earned del Castillo recognition in Variety's "New York Women's Impact Report," City & State's "Power of Diversity," and Deadline's "Disruptors," as well as the New York State Senate Woman of Distinction Award. She holds a BA in English Literature and BS in Mass Communications from Boston University, and a JD from Brooklyn Law School.

Johnny C. Hong, M.D., Transplant Director

Johnny C. Hong, M.D. (Source: Penn State Health)

Hong is Chief, Division of Transplantation, Director of Liver Transplant Program and Professor at the Department of Surgery at PennState Health. He received his medical degree with the University of the East College of Medicine, Philippines. He completed his residency training in general surgery and fellowship in immunology and organ transplantation at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, followed by a fellowship in multi-organ transplantation and hepatobiliary surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles. Hong has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to teaching and advancing the field of transplantation and surgery, training transplant surgeons throughout the world. He has nearly 20 years of leadership experience in organ transplantation and hepatobiliary surgery at academic medical centers. As a researcher, Hong served as principal investigator and co-investigator in National Institutes of Health-funded research studies and other peer-reviewed studies related to liver diseases and transplantation. His clinical research led to patient treatment guidelines for cholangiocarcinoma, immunosuppression, transplantation critical care and transplantation of partial hepatic grafts from live and deceased donors. His basic science research focuses on organ resuscitation to mitigate the adverse effects of liver ischemia and reperfusion injury. Hong received a patent for a novel liver resuscitation therapy that converts marginal quality deceased donor livers into organs suitable for transplantation, reducing the number of patient deaths on the transplant waitlist. He is a recipient of multiple awards and honors, including Fellowships in the American College of Surgeons and American Surgical Association.

Allisen Corpuz, Golfer

A native of Hawaii, Corpuz attended the Punahou School in Honolulu. A golf prodigy, she was a three-time AJGA All-American. In 2008, she surpassed Michelle Wie as the youngest qualifier in U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links history at 10 years, 3 months and 9 days, and was featured in The New York Times under the headline “Golf’s Next Wave.” Corpuz played college golf at the University of Southern California from 2016 to 2021 where she led the USC Trojans women's golf team with a 71.57 stroke average and was named a first-team All-American. She played in the 2020 and 2021 Arnold Palmer Cup and also represented the United States at the 2021 Curtis Cup. The 2020 U.S. Women's Open was her third U.S. Open and her 16th USGA championship. She was the runner-up to Rachel Kuehn in the 2020 North and South Women's Amateur at Pinehurst Resort, losing in 19 holes. She rose to a career high of 7th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. Corpuz turned professional in 2021 and finished T16 at Q-School to earn LPGA Tour membership for 2022. In her rookie season, she made 17 cuts in 21 events and finished 41st in the rankings. She recorded three top-10 finishes including a runner-up finish at the ISPS Handa World Invitational and a third-place finish at Pelican Women's Championship.

Bobby Pontillas, Director and Artist

Pontillas has worked in the animation and games industries as an animator, character designer, art director and director for such studios as Disney, Taiko, Blue Sky, ArenaNet and more; he is currently developing animated projects for the Disney Channel and Disney Plus. He is an Oscar-nominee director for the animated short film, “One Small Step,” in 2019. He has been drawing since he was a child and became obsessed with animation in art school. Pontillas co-founded Rise Up Animation at the beginning of quarantine in 2020 with Trent Correy, Frank Abney and Monica-Lago-Kaytis to provide resources, education and community to BIPOC around the world aspiring to be part of the animation industry and to rise up and share their authentic stories. Recently, Pontillas created and introduced T.J., the first Filipino character on the long-running Sesame Street show in time for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Pontillas said he based the new character on his lifelong friend’s two children, Max and Matteo.

Jen Soriano, Writer, Scholar and Performer

Soriano is an award-winning Filipinx-American writer, performer, scholar, and movement builder originally from the Chicago area. She is the author of Making the Tongue Dry and co-editor of Closer to Liberation: A Pina/xy Activism Anthology. She has won the Fugue Prose Prize and the Penelope Niven Prize for Creative Nonfiction, as well as fellowships from Vermont Studio Center, Hugo House, and Jack Jones Literary Arts. She received a BA in History and Science from Harvard and an MFA in nonfiction and fiction from the Rainier Writing Workshop and has served as poet-in-residence for the Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility. Soriano is also a narrative strategist and a leader in movements for racial, economic, gender and climate justice. She has strengthened the impact of organizations from a local to international scale, and has helped build social justice institutions including MediaJustice and ReFrame. She brings this experience together with her literary work and training as a musician to generate moving art both on stage and on the page. She lives in Seattle with her family and a growing community of dreamers, between Lake Washington and the Salish Sea.

Philip Marcelo, Reporter

Philip Marcelo (Source: *Providence Journal)*

Marcelo is a reporter for Associated Press’ (AP) News Verification team, debunking misinformation on social media. Before joining this team, he reported on immigration and race issues for the publication. Before AP, he was State House Reporter for The Providence Journal where he covered the Rhode Island governor’s office, state legislature, congressional delegation and state politics. He received his B.A. degree in History from Georgetown University and his master’s in Public Affairs from Brown University. Marcelo’s uncle, Emmanuel “Manny” Yap disappeared during martial law in the Philippines; he used this harrowing experience as the hook for a deeply reported first-person essay in AP, examining how the Filipino diaspora is reacting to the election of the late dictator’s son as president of the Philippines.

Adrei Iosivas, Football Player

Iosivas is a football wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Princeton and was selected by the Bengals in the sixth round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Also a heptathlete at Princeton’s track and field team, he set the school record with 5,715 points in 2022 and was named an All-American. “He’s big and very fast, and there’s always a role for those wideouts in the NFL today…Iosivas tracks It beautifully down the field and, if utilized correctly, he can be a fun, sizable gadget type early in their career for the Bengals,” says Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports. Born in Japan to a Filipino mother and Romanian father, Iosivas moved to Hawaii when he was three years old and attended Punahou school.

Source: Google and Wikipedia

The Magazine

Fil-Ams Among The Remarkable And Famous, Part 48