An Update From Chloe Dao

Chloe Dao, Winner of Project Runway Season 2 and internationally-recognized designer, now has a blog! In her first post, she shared her thoughts about her visit to San Francisco as a featured guest panelist at the RAMS 35th Anniversary Gala Event "Changing Reality: Voices of Asian Pacific American TV Stars". Thanks, Chloe!

Click HERE to see her blog!

Slideshow from Soleil Portraits

Yana Rudakov of Soleil Portraits put together a slideshow of the RAMS Changing Reality event on May 12.

Click HERE to view her slideshow.

Click HERE to view her blog entry about the event.

Thank you, Yana!

When Reality Looks Like Me - Hyphen Magazine

Hyphen Magazine blogger Joy Tang wrote a recap of the RAMS Changing Reality event for the online magazine.

"And as I was sitting in the back of the room, stirring the ice in my water, something started happening. I started feeling stuff. And I think it was hope? I think it was something like hope."

Click HERE to read "When Reality Looks Like Me: RAMS 35th Anniversary Gala Review".

Changing Reality

Left to right: Senator Leland Yee, Victor Jih & Tammy Jih, Hung Huynh, Chloe Dao, Pamela Ling

The night was a success! We are grateful to the Hotel Kabuki for hosting the event, and to our event contributors DJ Pauly Paul, Echoes of the Dragon Chinese Drum Ensemble, Frank Jang Photography, Gobba Gobba Hey, Mariluz Design, and Soleil Portraits, for donating their time and services, and especially to our featured guests and all of our donors & supporters who made this event a night to remember.

One week... and counting!

Less than one week until The Big Event!Register now if you haven't already! Go to www.ramsinc.org/events for more details!

Thanks, Hyphen!

Big shout out to Hyphen Magazine for featuring our upcoming fundraiser gala event on their website!

What it means to be a Vietnamese American Chef

Top Chef Hung Huynh, a featured guest at RAMS upcoming anniversary event, on the role and responsibility of being an Asian American & Vietnamese American Chef:



Video from The Asia Society (see other interviews and clips on their YouTube page here)

Roundup - May 2010 Upcoming Events

May 7: Senator Leland Yee, RAMS Chief Executive Officer Kavoos G. Bassiri, and representatives of RAMS and other API & mental health organizations shall hold a press conference regarding the proposed statewide Asian Pacific American Mental Health Day on May 10. This annual day of recognition was spearheaded by RAMS, and made possible with the widespread community and political support, including the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
(For more details on the citywide day, see May 10 below).

May 8: The 6th Annual Richmond District Health Festival shall be held from 10am – 2pm at the Richmond Recreation Center, 251 18th Avenue. This festival was sponsored by RAMS, along with Compassionate Community Care, Kaiser Permanente, and Self-Help for the Elderly as well as Senator Leland Y. Yee and Supervisor Eric Mar.

This festival will feature live performances from Chinese Lion Dancers, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and speeches by Senator Yee and Supervisor Mar. There will be over 40 community health organizations, children’s activities and free clinical services including bone density testing, dental check ups, Hepatitis B screening, spinal screening, medication review and much more. This event is completely free of charge to the public. Come enjoy a day of fun and valuable knowledge on your health and well-being. For more information, contact Susan Chan at 557-7857 or susan.chan@sen.ca.gov
Click HERE for a write-up from the Richmond Blog.

May 10: Today is Asian Pacific American Mental Health Day in San Francisco! This proposal of RAMS and Supervisor Eric Mar was introduced, and the resolution approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, on April 20, 2010.

May 12: RAMS 35th Anniversary Fundraiser Gala, aka "Changing Reality: The Voices of Asian American TV Stars". This will be held at the Hotel Kabuki on Wednesday May 12, reception at 5:30pm and program at 7:00pm.

May 22: Join RAMS at the 6th annual NAMIWalk SF Bay Area! NAMIWalk is a fundraising and awareness-raising 5K walk that will take place in 80 communities across the country in 2010. The San Francisco walk will take place from 9:00am-11:00am at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park. Check out their site at www.namiwalksfbay.org for more details.

Five Stars!

We are thrilled to announce that Tammy Jih has just been added to the roster of celebrity guest panelists to our fundraiser gala "Changing Reality: The Voices of Asian American TV Stars". Tammy shall be joining her big brother Victor Jih - who together with Tammy had won the most recent season of Amazing Race - as well as MTV's The Real World San Francisco alumni Dr. Pamela Ling, Project Runway winner Chloe Dao, and Top Chef winner Hung Huynh, on our stage on May 12.

Here is a look at their reflections on their experience with the China leg of their race.

One month... and counting down!

We are excitedly preparing for our upcoming Fundraiser Gala and Celebrity Forum, which is exactly one month away on May 12!

This event will feature a talk with four Asian-American Reality TV stars: Chloe Dao, Hung Huynh, and Victor Jih, whose triumphs on their respective shows Project Runway, Top Chef, and Amazing Race were considered a winning representation of Asian America, and Dr. Pamela Ling, who broke ground as one of the first Asian American faces on mainstream television when she appeared on the 3rd season of MTV's The Real World. We will be speaking with our guests about their reasons for being on their shows, how their ethnic and cultural identities may have shaped their experiences, and their thoughts on API representation in the media and society, as well as the impact that their participation and subsequent accomplishments have had on the way mainstream media perceives and portrays Asian Americans today.

This event will be the first of its kind, and we are thrilled to be presenting this to you.  California State Senator Leland Yee shall be participating as our Moderator for the celebrity forum.

Meanwhile, our staff are have been diligently meeting and talking with various members of the San Francisco community, in hopes of securing donations and sponsorships, as well as ticket sales for our much-anticipated event. This event is a fundraiser, and financial contributions from our supporters will help RAMS continue providing much-needed mental health services to the Asian American community, and the San Francisco Bay Area as a whole.

For more information about our event, and to buy tickets, please visit our events page at http://ramsinc.org/events/