Brad Lomenick is a foremost authority on leadership for the present future generation, most recently authoring a definitive book, H3 LEADERSHIP: Be Humble. Stay Hungry. Always Hustle. Brad was also a leader of the organization that ran the Catalyst leadership conferences for like a decade, from which he wrote down top lessons learned in The Catalyst Leader: 8 Essentials for Becoming a Change Maker book.
One of the lists he’s curated for years (since 2008) is the Young Influencers List that is among the most trafficked blog posts at bradlomenick.com. And he’s done a great job of being multiethnically diverse in his curation, even though much of the world does not show the same level of diversity on the big stage (I’m told, because of the necessity of having to maximize attendance due to free-market forces.)
First, a word of genuine and sincere thanks to Brad for doing the heavy lifting and the hard work of curating those lists.
Now, to bring some additional encouragement to Asian Americans that are looking for role models that look like themselves, I’ve filtered through Brad’s lists to come up with this list of Asian American Young Influencers:
Angel Ramos– NYC based creative director and designer of Angel | Bespoke, a global custom menswear brand.
Allen and Ayaka Lu– San Francisco based founders of social enterprise Lev Made, and also most recently Allen produced the well known documentary Linsanity featuring NBA player Jeremy Lin.
Eden Chen– LA based business, finance and investment guru, founder of Fishermen Labs, working on innovative tech and augmented reality futuristic stuff.
Victor Ho– co-founder and CEO of Five Stars, a San Francisco based digital commerce company.
Dana Tanamachi– Brooklyn based designer, letterer, and custom chalk artist, working on everything from Target to TIME, and NIKE to O Magazine covers.
Jonathan Huang– Northern California sculptor, performance artist, and activist, creating art installations to raise awareness and support in the fight again human trafficking, and helped create My Refuge House in Cebu, Philippines.
Clara Shih– CEO of Hearsay Social, author of The Facebook Era, and member of Starbucks board.
Jerry Shen– co-founder of ELEO Conference, entrepreneur, creator of Fantasy Monster, and director of Engineering for Yahoo Fantasy Sports.
Lou Yeoh– director of FrogAsia.working to improve education in Malaysia.
Gideon Tsang– serving pastor at Vox Veniae Church in Austin, TX and one of the directors of Space 12.
Taka Iguchi– spiritual development pastor at Rockford First outside of Chicago, and Executive Director of Focus One.
Jenny Yang– VP of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief, and c0-author of Welcoming the Stranger.
Jessica Kim – CEO/founder of BabbaCo, a start up specializing in content, activities, and innovative products for kids and busy mothers.
Darren Lau– graphic designer, videographer, web designer, and overall creative specialist. Currently working on JohnnySwim video and freelance graphic designer for Jesus Culture.
Grace Kim– director of partnerships and strategy for Good Magazine, founding member of Good/Corps.
Lusi Fang Chien– Harvard grad, Stanford business school, entrepreneur, and founder and CEO of 4Soils.
Leighton Ching– design and creative artist guru at Passion Conferences, Passion City Church and sixstepsrecords.
Christian Huang– executive director of San Francisco City Impact, a rescue mission intervening in the heart of inner city San Francisco.
Rachael Chong– founder and CEO of Catchafire, where talent meets purpose.
Josh Kwan– co founder of Praxis, and director of International giving for David Weekley Family Foundation.
Nikole Lim– storyteller through photo and film, and founder of Freely in Hope.
Glenn Packiam– worship leader, exec pastor of spiritual formation, New Life Church in Colorado Springs, and author of Lucky.
Tara Teng– Miss Canada 2011, human rights activist and modern day abolitionist.
Jeremy Lin– recent phenom and point guard for the New York Knicks. Linsanity!!
Peter Ahn– founder of Metro Community Church and Zimele, a ministry in South Africa that won the Courageous Leadership Award in 2009 at the Leadership Summit.
Iris Liang– founder of Videre, an organization fighting global poverty through business development and entrepreneurship.
James Lee– part of the Hello Somebody team. Dreamer and visionary.
James Choung– national director for Intervarsity’s Asian American Ministry.
Tony Sheng– father, database engineer, lay pastor and student ministry and missions guru.
Jaeson Ma– musician, artist, pastor, and connector in the LA area.
Anna Leung– founder and president, RIJI Green. Is currently tackling 27 rock climbing routes to bring awareness to 27 million slaves around the world.
Hannah Song– Exec. Director of Link Global, which aims to raise awareness regarding humanitarian issues in North Korea.
Nikki Toyama– program director for Intervarsity and the Urbana Conference, and author of More than Serving Tea.
Rani Hong- founder of the Tronie Foundation, committed to fighting slavery and human trafficking through education and policy. Rani herself was a victim of human trafficking as a child.
Tony Kim– executive pastor at Newsong Church in Orange County, CA. Creative visionary with a great blog.
Jeannie Mai– host of Character Fantasy on USA Network, and a rising star in Hollywood for hosting award shows and events. Was the backstage host for Catalyst West.
Charles Lee – Charles is the cultural catalyst and pastor at New Hope South Bay in CA, a founding member of Just One (addressing poverty and slavery), and a professor on the side.
Bethany Hoang– director of the International Justice Mission Institute. Bethany is very involved in a number of projects around the world, is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, and a frequent speaker.
Eugene Cho– pastor in Seattle of Quest Church. Also soon to launch a new organization focused on global poverty. You can watch a video introducing the idea here.
Jon Chu – producer, director and LA based filmmaker, best known for movie Step Up 2.
Paul Sohn – award winning blogger, speaker and author of upcoming book on 20 somethings.
Eugene Lee– San Mateo campus pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church.
Ryan Kwon – lead pastor of Resonate Church in Fremont, CA, and founder of the Resonate Movement.
Daniel Im – director of Church Multiplication and NewChurches.com, and part of the LifeWay Leadership core team in Nashville.
Kevin Kim– San Francisco based executive director of Crazy Love (Francis Chan org) and also pastor of We are Church.
Jimmy Lin– medical doctor, PhD, TED Fellow, and founder and president of Rare Genomics Institute.
Dan Lin – LA based film producer and CEO of Lin Pictures, with such notable films as The Lego Movie and Sherlock Holmes to his credit.
Mariam Varghese – Ft Lauderdale based VP for OneHope.
Daniel Sih – Australian based business entrepreneur co founder of Spacemakersand co creator of Email Ninja.
Taro Arai– executive head chef of Mikuni, a Japanese Restaurant and Sushi bar in Sacramento, one of best sushi places on the west coast (*exceeds the age average but wanted to include!)
Alice Rhee – Emmy award winning journalist, TV producer, advisor for Tribeca Film Institute, and director of media for the HE Butt Foundation out of Texas.
Diana Mao – NYC-based co-founder of Nomi Network, globally creating employment opportunities for at risk women.
Paul Park – executive director of First Fruit Foundation in LA.
Eddie Lee – former White House staffer, now entrepreneur, filmmaker, storyteller, seminary student and digital strategist.
Ash Huang – San Francisco designer, artist, author and innovation curator.
Angie Hong – Chicago based writer, blogger, [formerly worship leader and creative director for the Chicago campus of Willow Creek Community Church]
Larry Luk – Atlanta based designer, and director of brand and partnerships for Localeur.
Larissa Lam – LA based producer, singer, songwriter, talk show host, and TEDX speaker.
Daniel Yang – Chicago based writer, speaker and director of the Send Institute at the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College.
Vera Leung – creative director for International Justice Mission.
Ruth Chou Simons – best selling author, artist, speaker and entrepreneur, and founder of the lifestyle brand GraceLaced.
Will Chung – Orange County, CA based entrepreneur, associate with Leadership Network and helping lead The Meeting Place TMP.
Hosanna Wong – San Diego based author, spoken word artist, and Bible teacher.
Jay Kim – teaching and leadership pastor at Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, author of Analog Church, along with co-hosting the ReGeneration Podcast.
Annie Moon – NYC based VP of Global marketing for The Estee Lauder Companies.
Vineet Rajan – DC based advisor, executive coach, and founding and managing partner of OmniFidelis.
Ryan Kwon – lead pastor of Resonate Church in Fremont, CA.
Jason Nettles – pastor, marketer, connector and founder of Asia Rising.
Anthony Tan – Singapore based CEO and co-founder of Grab, a leading tech company focused on providing transportation freedom.
Eric Kim – San Francisco based co-founder of Goodwater Capital, an early stage tech and mobile investment firm.
Michelle Ami Reyes – speaker, author, activist, and [formerly VP of the Asian American Christian Collaborative]
Renji Bijoy – Forbes 30 under 30, TechStars alum, and founder and CEO of Immersed, partnering with Facebook to build virtual reality offices.
Sara Kim – CA based violinist, mom, and founder of Handmade by Sara Kim, a DIY and paper flowers company.
David Kim – San Jose based discipleship pastor at Westgate Church, and author of A Kids Book About Change.
Andrea Wong – San Francisco based PGA professional golfer and lifestyle blogger.
Teo Hayashi – founder of the Dunamis Movement, senior leader at Zion Church Sau Paulo in Brazil.
Rich Woo – Irvine, CA based founder of Catalyst Planning Partners, financial advisor, speaker, author and connector.
Sally Chan – speaker, justice advocate and social impact and community engagement executive at Warner Brothers.
James Tieng – NYC based managing partner and co-founder of Lumos Capital Group, and education growth investor.
Erin Fujimoto – co-founder of Tommy John
Faith Eury Cho – speaker, pastor, church planter and founder of The Honor Summit
Simi John – author, speaker, and pastor of New Life Bible Church in Norman, OK.
Ben Chung – former member of Jabbawockeez, and co-founder of Kinjaz
Note: I compiled this list by filtering through Brad’s lists looking for names that obviously appear to be Asian American, and I confess that I have not fact-checked to verify the Asian-ness of their ethnic identification nor have I tried to find the Asian Americans listed who don’t have Asian-sounding names.
[update 12/2016] NexGen Pastors’ Young Influencers List had highlighted Asian American pastors and leaders making an impact. Only 2 lists could be salvaged from archive.org:
ASIAN AMERICAN PASTORS AND LEADERS ARE MAKING AN IMPACT. WE WANT TO HIGHLIGHT SOME YOUNG INFLUENCERS EVERY MONTH.
Will is young and passionate pastor, blogger and speaker. He gets invited to speak around the world to youth groups. He has a powerful life story and a passion for mission.
Eddie Park is the teaching pastor at EV Free Fullerton. He started as an intern and after a couple of months became the assistant to the Executive Pastor, David Fletcher. Eddie has a passion and gift to teach and preach.
Hannah is the President of LiNK (Liberty in North Korea), which is an organization that helps bring freedom and liberty to people in North Korea. She joined the organization in 2006 as a Deputy Director until she became the President in 2008.
Eddie Byun is the lead pastor at Crossway Mission Church, a church plant in Seoul, Korea. He’s also an award winning author and professor.
Jason Lee is one of the founders of Jubilee Project, a non profit organization that creates videos to inspire change. They have created over 100 videos that have been viewed over 8 million times.
Christian Lee is the founding pastor of New Philly in Korea. They have multiple church plants in Korea and Australia. He has a big heart to reach people in major cities.
Kevin Kim is the executive director of Crazy Love (Francis Chan) and a pastor at We Are Church in San Francisco. He was also a pastor at Menlo Park. He was also helping work on the project Read Scripture.
Hyo Kim is a pastor at Young Nak Celebration Church in Los Angeles. He is the co-founder of Nexgen Ministry. He’s also has played a role in starting many initiatives and projects throughout Southern California.
Seong Hwang is the personal chef to Clippers star Chris Paul. He has a passion for food and serving others.
Andy Kim is on staff at InterVarsity’s Multiethnic Ministries. He’s also a worship pastor and has lead at Urbana Conference. He’s also performed at Moth Grandslam Story.
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[List] “Asian-American Young Influencers” – How they are impacting our world today. https://t.co/aDFN1E4HPe
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