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.

Marissa Toledo Peterson, Corporate Board Member and Leader

Marissa Toledo Peterson (Source: Ansell.com)

Marissa Toledo Peterson, born in the Philippines, is the only Filipino to sit as a Board Member in Humana, a Fortune 500 company. Peterson started her career at Sun Microsystems in 1988 and worked her way to Executive President of Network Services Operations and Chief Customer Advocate. She graduated valedictorian from Manila Science High School, was magna cum laude at Kettering University in Michigan with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and earned a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Harvard University. Peterson received numerous accolades including the Sun Microsystems President’s Excellence Award, the Silicon Valley Tribute to Women and Industry, the Kettering University Management Achievement Award, San Francisco Business Times Top 100 Women in Business, Filipinas Magazine Corporate Leader of the Year, National Association of Corporate Directors Leadership Fellow, National Co-op Hall of Fame, and the Excellence in Science and Engineering Award from the Philippine Development Forum.. After 17 years with the company, she retired in 2005 and started to run an executive coaching practice, Mission Peak Executive Consulting, focused on helping grow and develop leaders in the high-technology space.

Nicole Scherzinger, Singer, Dancer and Television Personality

She was born Nicole Prescovia Elikolani Valiente in Honolulu, Hawaii. Nicole’s father, Alfonso Valiente, is of Filipino descent, while her mother, Rosemary Elikolani, is of Native Hawaiian and Ukrainian ancestry. Her parents separated when Nicole was just a baby, and her maternal family moved to Louisville, Kentucky six years later with her stepfather, Gary Scherzinger. She took her stepfather’s name after he adopted her. She struggled with bulimia in her early years. Nicole rose to fame as the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls. They released the albums PCD (2005) and Doll Domination (2008), becoming one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. The group broke up in 2010, and Nicole ventured into television as a dancer (winning the tenth season of Dancing with the Stars) and judge in The Sing-off, The X Factor and The Masked Singer. Her solo albums have sold 16 million copies. She also has clothing lines and a fragrance. Inspired by her aunt who has Down Syndrome, she is an ambassador for the Special Olympics.

Cheryl Burke, Dancer

Cheryl’s mother, Sherri, is Filipino who says she and Cheryl have “a common love for dance.” Burke is a professional dancer on Dancing with the Stars, where she was the first female to win the show and the first to win twice and consecutively (with partners Drew Lachey and Emmitt Smith). She has participated in 21 seasons so far. Aside from awards related to dancing, she also won the Role Model Award at the 7th Annual Filipino American Library Gala and the Viewer’s Choice Award for Favorite TV Personality from Asian Excellence Awards. In her autobiography, Dancing Lessons, she wrote about being molested by a handyman at age five. She testified against the molester when she was six years old, and it led to his conviction to 24 years in prison. In 2019, she married Matthew Lawrence in San Diego, California.

The Filharmonic, A Cappella Singing Group

The Filharmonic is an LA-based a cappella group of Filipino American youngsters composed of the following members: Jules Cruz (vocal bass), Joe Caigoy (tenor), Trace Gaynor (tenor), Niko Del Rey (beat boxer) and VJ Rosales (tenor). They made it to the semi-finals at The Sing-Off and joined the national tour. They were featured in the hit movie Pitch Perfect 2 and perform regularly on the Late Late Show with James Corden. Their unique blend of hip hop, pop and ‘90s nostalgia have made them a popular group with all ages.

Elaine Quijano, Television Anchor and Reporter

Born to a mother from Batangas and a father from Davao City, Quijano grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. She received a bachelor’s degree in Journalism in 1995 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She started her career as an intern at WCIA-TV in Champaign, Illinois and later became a reporter/producer/anchor for the station. She became a correspondent for CNN Newsource and traveled to Kuwait after 9/11 and stayed for a month. In 2006, she was named a White House correspondent for CNN, covering major stories of the George W. Bush administration. She joined CBS in 2010 as a general assignment reporter. She is an anchor for CBSN, the digital streaming network for CBS and on CBS Weekend News, Sunday Edition. In 2016, Quijano was named by the Commission on Presidential Debates as the moderator for the vice presidential debate, thereby being the first Asian American and the youngest journalist to moderate the debate.

Michelle Malkin, Conservative Blogger and Political Commentator

Malkin was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Filipino parents, Rafaela Perez, a homemaker and teacher, and to Apolo de Castro Maglalang, a doctor. She dreamed of becoming a concert pianist but instead majored in English. She began her journalism career as a columnist at the Los Angeles Daily News, then moved to Competitive Enterprise Institute as a journalism fellow and The Seattle Times. She became a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate in 1999. She is a frequent commentator for Fox News. She has written seven books. Although herself the child of immigrants, Malkin opposes birthright citizenship to U.S.-born children of foreign tourists, temporary foreign workers and undocumented immigrants, a direct conflict with her own experience as her parents were here on an employer-sponsored visa. She is affiliated with the dissident Right. A 2007 memo from the National Republican Senatorial Committee described Malkin as one of the five “best-read national conservative bloggers.” In 2006, she gave a lecture at her alma mater, Oberlin College and spoke about racism. She narrated a story that when in kindergarten, she went home in tears one day because her classmates had called her a racist name. Her mother comforted her by telling her that “everyone has prejudices.” In 2020, she spoke at a conference hosted by far-Right political commentator Nick Fuentes and Patrick Casey, head of the white supremacist organization known as the American Identity Movement where she said, “It is not anti-Semitic to question whatever the precise number of people who perished in WWII.” She was dropped by the conservative YAF organization for her support of Fuentes. Her husband, Jesse Malkin, left a health-care consulting job to be a stay-at-home dad and he helps run his wife’s business. They have two children and live in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Vanessa Hudgens, Actor and Singer

Vanessa grew up in Salinas, California. Her mother, Gina Guangco, is Filipino. Hudgens started in television commercials, and at age 15 stated acting on stage and in television. In 2006, she played Gabriella Montez, in the Disney hit, High School Musical, High School Musical 2 and High School Musical 3: Senior Year, the most watched Disney Channel original movies of all time. For the films, she recorded numerous songs which had commercial success. She has starred in several films after that, such as Netflix’s The Princess Switch, Second Act with Jennifer Lopez, The Knight Before Christmas and Bad Boys for Life. In 2008, Hudgens was ranked No. 20 on the list of Forbes High Earners Under 30. People magazine included her in the annual 100 Most Beautiful People in 2008 and 2009 lists. She volunteers for charitable activities and is part of “Stand Up to Cancer.” In March 2020, Hudgens caused a controversy when she said, “It is inevitable that people will die from coronavirus.” She has subsequently apologized for her “insensitive remarks.”

Jordan Clarkson, Professional Basketball Player

Jordan Clarkson (Photo by Chris Graythen, Getty Images)

Clarkson has dual citizenship with the Philippines and the United States; his father, Mike Clarkson, is African American while his mother, Annete Davis is half Filipino. Both his parents served in the United States Air Force and divorced when Clarkson was young. He is currently with the Utah Jazz after starting with the Washington Wizards. He was then traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, and then to the Cavaliers. In 2011, Clarkson was asked to play for the Philippine men’s national basketball team, but he did not meet the FIBA eligibility requirements to be considered a Filipino citizen. In 2018, the NBA cleared Clarkson to play for the Philippine team in the 2018 Asian Games. The Philippines finished fifth-place, its best in 16 years.

Irene Natividad, Feminist and Women’s Rights Activist

Irene Natividad (Source: Diplomat World)

The eldest of four children, Irene was born in Manila, Philippines. She graduated valedictorian at Long Island University and obtained a Master’s degree in American literature and philosophy from Columbia University in New York. She taught early American literature at Lehman College of City University of New York and at Columbia University. At 26 years old, she married Andrea Cortese, a satellite communications executive. They have a son. She was elected chair of the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1985, making her the first Asian American woman to lead a national political organization in the United States. To promote women candidates for appointed high government positions, she served as Chair of the Coalition for Women’s Appointments for three Presidential administrations – George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. To promote women’s economic opportunities and advancement, Natividad convened the Global Summit of Women, a forum for women in business and government globally. She advocated for countries to take proactive measures to accelerate gender diversity on corporate boards. In 2019, she was appointed by French President Emmanuel Macron to the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council to advance women’s equality during the year of France’s Presidency of the G7. Natividad has received numerous awards and served on many corporate and advisory boards.

Nate Nevado, Hip Hop Educator

Nevado currently works at Skyline College as a counselor and head of the Rock the School Bells conference, a hip hop educational program now on its 13th year. He is also finishing his doctoral program at San Francisco State University, writing about the intersection of counseling and Hip Hop education. He is the founder of the CIPHER Hip Hop Learning Community which provides Hip Hop education through transferable college courses and relevant community programming. Students speak about their experiences in school and at home whether through rap, art, spoken word or beat production. His three pieces of advice for the young: 1) Redefine the box. Destroy the box. You get to define what your parameters are. 2) Take more risks. You won’t really know until you try. 3) Surround yourself with your dream team.

Sources: Google and Wikipedia

The Magazine

Fil-Ams Among The Remarkable And Famous, Part 5