By Lily Lin As we approached the island of Amantani, I could see my new family waiting for me at the docks. For the next two days, I would be living with a host family, and getting to know a new 14-year old sister and two brothers, ages 11 and 8. As a continuation of my previous article on the …

By Jane Chun At many of the largest companies today, Google, Facebook, Zappos, a suit and tie is so yesterday. But they also make people wonder – what is the best outfit to wear to an interview? How much do first impressions matter? The study, The Effect of Appearance on First Impressions by Karen Pine, the University of Hertfordshire, and …

By Chris Peden According to the 2010 US Census, Asian Americans combined owned 1.5 million businesses – a figure that is up 40.4% from 2002. Many of these small businesses are also family businesses, and parents have often considered employing their children for a summer or part-time after school to teach them the ropes of running a business. Before you …

By Jennie L. Ilustre “We need to have all our kids succeed in getting college education,” keynote speaker Tina Tchen stressed at the Higher Education Summit, held on June 25 in the nation’s capital. “What you all are doing is so important to making sure that all will reach that goal,”  she told leaders of the Asian & Pacific Islander …

by: Lisa Xia “Things are so expensive now….” My friends’ voices trail off. And, unfortunately, they are not wholly wrong. Gone are the days where you could pay $280 for a round-trip flight to Costa Rica (I did in 2009) or fly anything other than Spirit to Colombia for less than $500.” Yes, if you were smart from 2008-2011, you …

By Yi Chen I was spending ten hours a day going through over a hundred hours of footage in the fall of 2012.  Like many independent documentary filmmakers, I was working on a project I felt so passionate about that I was determined to share it with the world. But there was one more thing left for me to figure …

Corazon Foley, Founding Chairman of the Fairfax County Asian American History Project (FCAAHP), has commended the partnership between the Asian Pacific America community and national and local corporations. This is a view shared by other organizations like OCA and the South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), which point out that without the partnership–some of which are on a sustained, yearly …

By Devika Koppikar After Sudha Patil and Pandit Patil retired from their jobs, (endodontist and mechanical engineer respectively) they started a new career – as vineyard owners. Originally from Maharashtra in India, the Patils opened the Narmada Winery in 2009 and named it after Pandit’s mother. “Pandit’s mother had to sacrifice so much and sold her jewelry for Pandit to …

By Jenny Chen In 1921, an Atlantic City hotel man came up with the idea of a beauty contest to bring more tourists to the city. The “National Beauty Tournament” aimed to find “the most beautiful bathing beauty in America.” The first Miss America winner was Margaret Gorman, a Washington D.C. native, who was crowned for her “wholesome beauty.” In …

By Jennie L. Ilustre “Folks,” emcee Jon Melegrito quipped when storm suddenly broke out, barely an hour after the annual Philippine Community Picnic and Sports Competition kicked off, “mud wrestling has just been added to our sports competition — any takers?” There were no takers, of course, at the Tucker Road Recreation Park in Fort Washington, Maryland. But a new …

By Lily Qi I have meant to write about my last year’s trip to Turkey for a while. The recent turmoil in Turkey and its neighbor Egypt brought back memories that prompted me to revisit that unique experience of last spring. What a difference a year makes. About this time last year, I was having dinner at an Egyptian friend’s …

By Jennie L. Ilustre Virginia Assistant Secretary of Commerce Jimmy Rhee describes Kim Maloney, president and CEO of Williamsburg Pottery Factory as a “a natural leader who has the ability to be laser-focused on her vision – one who clearly knows what she wants and follows her plan to the teeth.” He added in an email interview: “She’s consistent with …

By Mary Tablante Every day, people use Yelp to decide where to eat, where to go shopping or where to go to the doctor. The company, which provides reviews and ratings for businesses, passed 100 million unique visitors this year. Although the company helps consumers make decisions and allows users to share their experiences, the website has also garnered criticism, …

By Mary Tablante No business is perfect, but the following ways can help to increase online presence and deal with critiques of your business. 1. Respond to criticism “The best thing to do with a bad review is to respond to it, “ said Jennifer Garcia, a brand marketing specialist and social media strategist who is the owner of Logicreative, …

By Mary Tablante Health care reform is intended to provide everyone with affordable access to health insurance. But for small businesses, providing health care can be a challenge because of numerous factors, including the increasing cost of health insurance premiums. To help ease worries for small businesses the Obama Administration delayed an employer mandate until 2015. The mandate will require …

By Jenny Chen Karl Huie is a 2nd generation Chinese American and the owner of Pacific Heights Cleaners, a dry cleaning company in Marin County, California. His parents started the business in 1969. But Huie is bucking tradition – in 2007 he turned his parent’s dry cleaning business to a completely water-based system called Wet Clean. Traditional dry cleaning methods …

By Amanda Andrei This blog post is a follow up to our article about gluten allergies which you can read here: http://www.asianfortunenews.com/2013/07/hidden-intolerance-and-allergies-gluten-sensitivity-in-the-asian-pacific-american-community/ Lately when walking through grocery aisles, I’ve noticed that more and more packaging highlights the ingredients a product doesn’t have (gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, rice-free). Reacting to the health concerns of their consumers, producers are giving them more choices—ones without …

By Daniel Tsoy Climbing the corporate ranks in America surely requires a lot of old fashioned hard work—meeting deadlines, crunching numbers, and coming into work even when you’ve got the sniffles. But is there more to it? 50 % of Asian Americans are college educated, well above the 28% average for the nation, yet somehow they remain largely absent from …

By Jenny Chen “Jay”* a first generation Indian American and single mom could not believe what she was hearing as she stood in her supervisor’s office. She was explaining to him how the changes in her schedule was impacting her ability to be there for her daughter. Her supervisor looked at her and said, “I am amazed that a person …

By Michelle Phipps-Evans A warm Saturday in June attracted several people to the annual Lotus & Water Lily Festival at the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens in Northeast Washington, D.C. Visitors enjoyed a display of lotus and water lilies in full bloom, gardening workshops, traditional Asian and African dancing performances, face painting, lotus tea tasting, art creations and more. Co-sponsored …

By Jewel Edwards Q’s face morphs into a glare as she points her finger at the audience. Affecting a thick Indian accent, she scolds us. Her mother’s words, replete with her mother’s cadence, and her mothers stance, ring out into the theater.  A second ago, she was a sassy teenage version of herself wearing gold hoops, and before that, a …

On July 13 the Federal Asian Pacific American Council (FAPAC) held its Annual Picnic at the Wheaton Regional Park for members and friends. Several local officials, including Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett, Council Member-at-Large George Leventhal and Lily Qi, stopped by to participate in the happy occasion. FAPAC has been having a great year with the National Training Program held …

        Send us your photos from APA events throughout the month and we may publish them in our next issue! Photos can be sent to editor@asianfortune.com Asian Fortune is an English language newspaper for Asian American professionals in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Visit fb.com/asianfortune to stay up to date with our news and what’s going on in the …

With the launch of the N20 engine introduced in the Z4, 528i, the all new 328i, the new TwinPower Turbo 4–cylinder engine is now making its first appearance in the BMW X3 xDrive28i. In keeping with the dynamic overall theme of BMW Sports Activity Vehicles, this new-generation turbocharged engine offers plenty of power, responsive acceleration, torque and low weight for …