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North American Asian Technology Speaker Roster (an ongoing list) a Resources for Conference Organizers

Categories: Asia, Industry Index, Web IndustryPosted on March 20th, 2007

A well known technology conference organizer encouraged me to create this list, so here goes.

The internet and the web industry is global by nature, so it’s natural we celebrate of cultures and the lowering of walls and boundaries, this is the dream of the internet!

As an American Chinese who is fifth generation (family came to SF in 1880s) I have both strong American and Chinese roots. I’ve noticed that the conference industry is under scrutiny to include include women in panels and speaking. I know there’s also some interest to include a reflective sample of individuals that represents the technology community beyond gender.

In business school, I saw a report that showed that 50% of all Silicon Valley startups are founded by Asians, in fact there’s a wide demographic of Asians in the bay area (over 35% in SF), many of which work in the tech industry.

Speakers list:
In the spirit of celebrating all cultures, the following is a list of Asian Tech speakers, this is intended as a resource to conference planners. This list is listed in alpha order by first name

  • Ali Diab | Entrepreneur
  • Amit Gupta | Entrepreneur, Blogger
  • Andrew Lih | Student, Author, focus on Wiki Collaboration
  • Avinash Kaushik | Speaker, Web Analytics Expert, Blogger
  • Anil Dash, Bio on Wikipedia | Entrepreneur, Blogging Pioneer
  • Bryan Veloso | Technologist & Blogger
  • Chalene Li, Forrester Bio | Researcher, Analyst, Blogger
  • Chan Kim | Business Author, Blue Ocean
  • Christine “Happy Slip” Gambito | VideoBlogger
  • Cindi Li | Web Designer, Blogger
  • Clement Mok | Design and business consultant
  • Emily Chang, bio on personal website | Designer, Blogger
  • Ernie Hsiung | Blogger & Technologist
  • Greg Narain | Entrepreneur, Blogger
  • Guy Kawasaki, Bio on Wikipedia | Entrepreneur, Investor, Blogger
  • Ginsu “Gene” Yoon | VP Linden Labs
  • Glenda Bautista | Writer, Technologist, Activist
  • Hiten Shaw Crazy Egg Founder
  • Irene Au | User Experience
  • James Hong | Web Entrepreneur
  • Jane Pinckard | Gaming Journalist & Blogger, see Character Sheet
  • Jen Chung | Editor
  • Jeremy Liew | Lightspeed Venture Partner Partner
  • Jeremiah Owyang | Self-titled Web Strategist
  • Jerry Yang | Yahoo Founder, Entrepreneur, and CEO
  • Jia Shen | CTO and Co Founder of RockYou
  • Joi Ito, bio on site | Investor, Entrepreneur, Activist, Blogger
  • John Chow| Blogger “Making Money online”
  • Justin Kan | Life Video Streamer “Life Caster”
  • Kelly Goto | Web Designer
  • Kevin Cheng | Web Professional, Artist, Blogger
  • Khoi Vinh | Designer, Blogger
  • Lea Alcantara | Web & graphic design studio
  • Leonard Lin | Technologist & Blogger
  • Mario Sundar | Evangelist and Bloggerr
  • Min Jung Kim | Web Professional, Blogger, Community Sweetheart!
  • Munjal Shaw | CEO, Blogger
  • Om Malik, Bio on Wikipedia | Editor, Entrepreneur, Blogger
  • Nicole Lee | Technology Journalist & Blogger (now at CNET)
  • Peter Kim | Sr. Forrester Analyst: Marketing Media, Blogger
  • Peter Pham | Sr. Director Business Development, Photobucket
  • Rashmi Sinha | Technology Consultant
  • Raymond Padilla | Gaming Journalist & Blogger
  • Salim Ismail | Entrepreneur, Investor, now at Yahoo
  • Susan Wu | Technologist and Associate at Charles River
  • Tantek Çelik | Blogger, Technologist, CTO
  • Tila Tequila | MySpace entertainer (Oh come on, I can’t help it)
  • Tony Hung | Blogger, Technologist
  • TJ Kang | Technologist, CEO
  • Vinod Khosla | Venture Capitilist
  • Wagner James Au | Second Life Reporter

    • Please submit other speakers in the comments, this will be an ongoing list, It’s expected they have speaking experience.

    Bonus Web Usage Data:
    The majority of planet earth is Asian, and majority of internet usage and growth is in Asia, there are more internet users in China than all of North and South America combined.

    Update March 27th
    A couple of people have mentioned this list could easily extend to all of Asia, where there are thousands of technology speakers. I’ve updated the title from and added “North America” to it to define some parameters. If anything, this has raised greater awareness and that’s part of the intention. I’ve also started to see some folks on this list who were glad (and annoyed at the industry), that was expected.

    For the record, I’m trying to be a helpful resource to conference organizers that want diversity, rather than a ’stick it to the man’ type of guy. If you read my hundreds of other posts, you’ll be able to tell from tone.

    Update: Also check out China’s business speakers

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    This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 20th, 2007 at 10:41 am and is filed under Asia, Industry Index, Web Industry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

    Comments
    • Oh, and for those that don't know, Indians from India are indeed Asian.

      In fact, some Russians consider themselves as Asian decent as well.
    • jz
      What about Irene Au at Google? And Qi Lu at Yahoo? Oh, and Ali Diab at Ripple. Ali is Iranian, I think, which may or may not be "Asian" to you (pointing out one problem in a conference organized around ethnic subjectivities, but you knew that already...)
    • Kevin Cheng, James Hong, Nicole Lee; this should be pretty easy, SF-wise, as you say. Vinod Khosla. Khoi Vinh.
    • Jz Thanks

      Irene is speaking at Adaptive Path's event, cool, added.

      I don't see any online reference to Qi speaking recently.

      I found some speaking events of Ali Diab, added him as well. Too bad he doesn't have a dedicated website.
    • Brian

      Awesome, yup, many of these are speakers, (I checked) and added them. You're an honorary Asian today
      :)
    • JZ also submitted these to me via email, he's on the super power list as well

      Jen Chung of Gothamist, Clement Mok, and Susan Wu of Charles River Ventures & reality.org
    • Oh, I met Susan Wu at SXSW, she was speaking at a gaming panel, very cool.
    • I just added Andrew Lih, as I heard him on the CalacanisCast, he's a speaker too.
    • JKO: I eat enough pho to be an honorary Asian.
    • You do the spicy srirachi sauce? yum.
    • added Tila Tequila

      Brian triggered that, when he talked about Pho, Vietnamese soup. Tila's Vietnamese, so it kind of came together.

      ...Don't ask.
    • And the fabulous Rashmi Sinha!
      http://www.rashmisinha.com/
    • What is the criteria for being considered for Asian Technology Speaker roster?

      Guy Kawasaki, Asian? may be from looks. Didn't he grew up in Hawaii? Hey, should 5th gen American Chinese be considered Asian? ;-)

      One method to find Asian Technology speakers are to look at past speakers and organizers at Asian business, entrepreneurship, technology and cultural organizations.
    • Gregarious Narain
      Hey Jeremiah,

      Thanks for the inclusion. I suppose I am Asian in much the way you've mentioned.

      I also get to double as a West Indian :)
    • Anil

      I have a DNA testing kit that I send out to all speakers to cataloged their heritage. ;)

      BTW Have you been speaking?
    • Greg thanks

      I realize there will be some areas that are neither black or white, so submissions going forward will help.
    • Kit, thanks, I just met Rashmi recently, she's very charming and extremely intelligent.
    • I think some are seeing a difference between being born in Asia and being born American-Asian. In the eyes of conference organizers, there may not be a difference.

      When tech organizers are asked for diversity in their panels, they’re not going to check birth certificates for nation of birth. This could lead to a much larger discussion, that could be an entire different blog.

      For the purpose this list, I’ll be putting both Asian born and American born Asians on the list.
    • "Oh, and for those that don’t know, Indians from India are indeed Asian."

      I think many folks from India actually don't like the designation & it was actually a topic of discussion in my Intercultural Communication courses.

      Are you limiting the list to folks in the USA only? I think there's a few outside of the US that could probably be included.
    • How about..

      Akash Garg (Hi5)
      Amit Gupta (photojojo)

      I believe both of those guys spoke at Community Next..
    • Damon thanks

      I don't see a website for Akash

      I added Amit!
    • Damon,

      Anyone can be added to the list, this list is sort of for folks who are running tech conferences, likely (but not exclusive to) US. Because, the person who asked for it does a US based tech conference.
    • Hi Jeremiah,

      I don't know if Akash has his own webpage/blog. But he is one of the founders of Hi5.com, a social network that is notably well-known in Asia.

      Thanks for the clarification on the criteria...my guess is that some of the overseas folks I am thinking of don't attend or speak at many conferences here.
    • MJ
      I love being billed as "Community Sweetheart!"

      Glenda Bautista is another, Peter Pham @ Photobucket has also spoken at some events.
    • MJ

      I've cruised Google for Glenda Bautista's tech speaking experience and didn't see anything. Got any URLs or descriptions so conference organizers can know what to expect?

      I usually type in someone's name and add "speaker"

      example: "first+last+speaker" into google to find out more.

      Added Peter Pham
    • Hi Jeremiah,

      MJ alerted me to this thread. Sorry you weren't able to find me; the closest thing you'll probably find more recently is here:
      http://2007.sxsw.com/interactive/programming/pa...
      http://2006.sxsw.com/interactive/programming/pa...
      http://locusarts.org/artistbios.html?artist_bio...

      I'm a writer, technologist, & activist.

      A couple of folks that were missed that have speaking experience as well:
      - Leonard Lin, Technologist & Blogger
      - Ernie Hsiung, Blogger & Technologist
      - Raymond Padilla, Gaming Journalist & Blogger
      - Bryan Veloso, Technologist & Blogger

      And of course, my colleague, technologist Tantek Çelik -- self-defined as Eurasian in heritage, and of Turkish descent.

      I'm sure I'm forgetting many people, but I have had an ongoing list in my head of this nature for a while now.

      I'm glad this list is getting done, I have very strong ties to issues of race and gender, particularly in the technology sector where I am employed. I already do the same for the arts here in the Bay Area, and recently I've been disappointed in the lack of Asian representation in technology conferences. Truly, this is an ongoing issue for our "silent minority."

      I'd like to change that. Let me know how I can help.

      Regards,

      Glenda
    • MJ
      Remembered a few more:

      W. James Au - Linden Labs
      Miyuki Jane Pinckard
    • Glenda, Cool. I'll add this stuff on, great resource thanks.
    • MJ

      I have James Au on the list, under "W".

      I don't see any reference of Miyuki Jane Pinckard being a speaker at any technology events. Can you please provide a link?
    • Glenda, will add.

      The links help conference organizers see what others have done in the past, which helps them to understand exactly what's expected, thanks it helps.
    • I added my new buddy Christine “Happy Slip” Gambito, who's probably going to be mad at me for not adding her sooner, whooops. She makes me laugh.
    • where's chris "c-sizzle" on the list???
    • Dude,

      I think it's Vinod Khosla (w/ an o) - Venture Capitalist.

      ...and Tila Tequila...LOL C'mon man...
    • Julio = ROFL
    • So how many speaking engagements do I need to get on this list Jerimiah? :)

      I'm aiming to at least get one this year. Which reminds me, I need to get a speaking proposal together for this weekend.

      - Daniel
    • Daniel,

      I don't have any criteria, so I guess one is appropriate. This is really for conference organizers to help them find qualified speakers, if one speech makes you a great speaker, then all the power to you!

      Of course, speaker organizers look for history of speaking, and speaker ratings.
    • No worries Jeremiah, I was semi-joking.

      Another person you should place on your list is Cindy Li, who I had the fortune of meeting during brunch yesterday. She has spoken at SXSW for the "Tags to Riches" panel:
      http://www.cindyli.com/index.php/site/comments/...

      She's currently relocating to San Francisco from DC.
    • Oh cool, I added her, I hope she reaches out to me, I'm in the area.
    • Jeremiah, this is an interesting list and I hope that there may be more Asian speakers at conferences in the future, but I'm not sure that there's enough perspective here- it's a list of a lot of people who regularly speak at or attend Internet/technology conferences. The one thing that these people have in common is that they speak English and live in the US (I realize not all of these people are American citizens but I'd wager that the majority of them are.)

      It's an obvious statement, but just about everyone in the Internet/technology industry in Asia is Asian. Many of those people would be interesting speakers at Internet or technology conferences, but often they don't speak English or they don't have the resources to attend these conferences.
    • Gen,

      Awesome, this is the response that I wanted, larger awareness of the issue, you get it. Awareness is going up fast because of this post.

      I may update this post title to read:

      "Speakers who have spoken at United States Technology Events who are Asian"

      Or, we could create a wiki and let folks go at it and start adding their names.

      your thoughts?
    • I've updated the title, it now reads:

      "North American Asian Technology Speaker Roster (an ongoing list) a Resources for Conference Organizers"
    • Jeremiah, thanks for the update- I think it is more accurate now.

      I think a wiki won't hurt, but that will only go so far.

      This is neither here nor there but a list of Asian speakers (from Asia) would be pretty interesting as well.
    • Gen

      Thanks for providing this insight, it helped.
    • Thanks so much for including me! Not to be picky, but would you mind listing me as "video producer/host, game journalist, & blogger"?
    • Raymond, thanks for sharing. Which technology conferences have you spoken at? Can you provide a link please? I checked out your blog, is this a tech related blog? Thanks Raymond!
    • Wow. I'm super late in replying to this. Ha! My blog is http://rpad.tv, which covers videogames and tech. I've moderated numerous videogame panels, including sessions at Comic Con, GDC, and other events.
    • Lea
      Hi there. I've spoken at Future of Web Design and I'll be talking at SXSW this year. :) (me = Filipina)
    • krv
      Isn't Derek Punsalan of Filipino heritage? Not sure about his speaking engagements but he sure has contributed many WP themes that are sensible and popular.
      His site: http://5thirtyone.com/
    • Ra
      How about John Chow, the Making Money Mogul + A-list blogger?
    • Yes, will add. this date hasn't been updated, I'll do it, now.
    • KRV

      Any info about Derek's heritage, it wasn't apparent from his website on a quick glance.
    • Jeremiah, please add me to your list as a technology manager and standup comedian. My speaker profile is here:

      http://geekspeakr.com/user/brainwane
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