About
ASIAN AMERICA: THE KEN FONG PODCAST is a distinctive program that shines a spotlight on the manifold faces and facets of the diverse Asian American community. From the moment Ken launches each week’s episode with his current musings, you’ll feel like you’re sharing a booth with him at a local coffee shop. And when his guest joins him, you’ll get to listen in as he deftly invites them to talk about their pathways, their passions, and their latest pursuits.
Our Mission
Our goal is to use our national and global platform to support a vast array of projects by Asian American culture-makers and culture-shapers–whether famous or not–who are utilizing various avenues and approaches to give substance and shape to the still-emerging and evolving Asian American culture.
We aspire to enlarge the base of informed and enthralled Asian Americans throughout this country and around the world. Your listening to these conversations is a vital part of accomplishing this goal. Your subscribing will ensure that you’ll never miss an episode. Most of all, if you value what we’re doing, we need you to recommend our podcast to anyone and everyone you think would also benefit. Send the link to a specific episode that you think they’d appreciate. And if they’re technically intimidated, take a few minutes to guide them to our webpage or to set them up on iTunes or another podcast platform.
In 2020 UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center shared that they so treasure what we do that they asked if they could archive each of our episodes in their AASC Library in the near future. Of course, we gave them permission!
Awards
These awards were given to the Podcast starting from left to right: “2019 KCET Local Heroes” top ten finalists, Asian Podcasters Network 2020 Silver Medal “Best Episode”, Amsterdam-based Xenolearn organization’s “Twenty-Five Podcasts That Talk About Culture, Diversity, and Race, 2020”, Asian American Podcasters Association’s “2020 Advancement & Achievement Golden Crane”, Asian Hustle Network’s Top 50 Unsung Heroes Award 2021.
Credits
Dr. Ken Fong | Director, Host & Producer
Ken is a third-generation Chinese American from Sacramento, CA. Graduating in 1976 from Cal Berkeley with a degree in biology, he moved to LA in 1978, graduating from Fuller Theological Seminary with an M.Div. and a D.Min. He helped lead Evergreen Baptist Church of LA to become one of the first English-only multiethnic, majority pan-Asian churches in America. He also was the first Executive Director of Fuller’s Asian American Center and was an affiliate associate professor of Asian American church studies. Over the years he has served as a trustee for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Westmont College, IWA, and the Asian American Drug Abuse Program. He is a noted speaker, author, and social influencer. In 2017 he was given Congressional Recognition by Rep. Judy Chu in 2017 as the Community Leader of the Year in the West San Gabriel Valley. He retired from pastoring in 2017 and from teaching in 2019. He is an avid cyclist and a dedicated photographer. He and his wife ‘Snoopy’ have a daughter and reside in the shadows of the San Gabriel Mountains in Sierra Madre, CA.
Ken also enjoys photography as seen in the banners he provided. More of his work can be viewed on his Ken Fong Photography Facebook page.
Alison Chang | Former Co-Producer
Alison is a Taiwanese-American filmmaker and storyteller originally from Texas, discovering at a young age that editing videos to tell stories sparked a passion deep inside of her, but it took a few years (and some divine intervention) before she really set on the path to becoming an editor. In 2019, she met Ken at a Crushing The Myth event in Los Angeles, and months later began working as an editor and co-producer on the podcast from 2019-2020. During this time, she moved to Los Angeles to achieve her filmmaking ambitions, and is now a working assistant editor in the motion picture industry.
Although filmmaking is her craft of choice, Alison loves all creative mediums – including photography, fashion, and design – and in a pre-pandemic world could be found frequently traveling and enjoying new experiences. She also loves connecting deeply with others and is passionate about seeing Asian-American representation in media – both in front and behind the camera. You can hear more of Alison’s story on her episode of the podcast.
Christopher Wong | Creator, original Director/Co-producer
In 2015, Christopher Wong created and co-founded “Asian America: The Ken Fong Podcast”. Wong’s primary career is as a producer and director of documentary films, with a special focus on the Asian American experience. His feature-length documentary WHATEVER IT TAKES won multiple “Best of Fest” awards from film festivals across the country, and garnered national broadcasts on PBS’ Independent Lens from 2010-13. Wong also produced and directed the documentary BE ABOUT IT, a film about two families fighting against a deadly virus. BE ABOUT IT screened at numerous film festivals and community centers around the country, winning PR Week’s 2017 Award for “Best in Multicultural Marketing”. Wong has received large grants from The Sundance Documentary Film Program and the Center for Asian American Media, and has also been a Fellow of Sundance’s Story/Composer Lab and Producer’s Lab. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.
Blake Dayman | Web Developer
Blake is an Asian American from Pasadena, CA. He graduated from Westmont College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Science in 2021 and is an alumnus of Pasadena High School’s four-year APP Academy program. Blake specializes in Full Stack Web Development as well as Software Development. While at Westmont, he was a member of the college’s Multi-Ethnic Student Association (MESA) which provided community for diverse individuals. He enjoyed contributing to the podcast and supporting its mission.
