Our Blog
Supporting Local: Wolfies Hot Chicken
Owned by Chef Richard Chang, his wife Janelle Hu, and their friend Jason Eisner, Wolfies is a vegan fried chicken shop in Highland Park. Richard grew up with three sisters, though he was the only kid in the kitchen helping his mother, who was proud of her eager rice maker and seaweed toaster. After stints in teaching and business, Richard’s true fulfillment comes from becoming a father and enjoying how his sons devour the delicious meals he prepares for them. Their happiness encourages his journey to share his culinary passion with others, which has veered toward the vegan end of the spectrum after experiencing a life-threatening heart attack in 2017.
By day, Janelle serves as a Development Director for Asian Americans Advancing Justice, LA, one of the nation's largest civil rights and legal services community-based nonprofits. By night, she brings her 20 years of campaign, project management, policy-making, and fundraising skills to oversee the administration and operations of Wolfies, which is committed to partnerships with organizations like Support + Feed to positively impact the climate crisis and combat food insecurity by providing plant-based meals to underserved communities throughout Southern California.
Meet Robin Toma
In a safe, socially-distanced Q&A fashion, we will introduce you to a County leader whose work and words of wisdom may inspire you in your career development in the County. In this issue, we introduce you to Robin Toma, Executive Director of the Human Relations Commission.
Distinguished Speaker Series with Dr. D’Artagnan Scorza and Hyepin Im
On April 27 2021, LACAAEA invited Dr. D’Artagnan Scorza, of Executive LA County’s Anti-Racism, Diversity, and Inclusion (ARDI) and Hyepin Im, President./CEO and Founder of Faith and Community Empowerment (FACE) to discuss issues of discrimination and racism around minority communities.
Board Motions to Stop Asian Hate
As anti-Asian hate crimes are on the rise, It is now more important than ever for us to unite in solidarity and fight back against the issues endangering our communities. Actions from our leaders will bring awareness to the discriminations that AAPIs are suffering and educate the public on preventing hate crimes from happening. LACAAEA has written letters supporting all of the board motions put forth by the LA County Board of Supervisors.
President’s Message
When I became president of this association over three years ago, our goals were to develop programs focused on networking and cultural appreciation. We were known to host wonderful banquets, Meet and Greets, annual Heritage Day and Fish Fry. Over the last two years LACAAEA (pronounced La-Say-Ah) has been on a journey to determine what benefits we needed to provide to add value to a LACAAEA membership.
Distinguished Speaker: Bill Fujioka
On March 30, 2021, former Chief Executive Officer of LA County, Bill Fujioka shared his life experiences growing up in LA County, how he became involved in local government and management, memorable stories from his time as the Chief Executive Officer, his tips and insights for employees seeking promotions in government, and his thoughts and insights on how to address the rise of anti-Asian sentiments, attacks and hate crimes in this country. Click here to watch the recorded event.
Op-Ed: We’ve Had Enough!
We – Asian Americans (yes, that includes ALL Americans of South/East Asian and Pacific Islander descent) have had enough of this ugly hatred against us. We’ve had enough of all the vitriol, diminishing us and erasing us into nothingness like we don’t matter. WE ALL MATTER!
#Stop Asian Hate
On March 9th, Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to identify funding to expand the County’s Anti-Hate program in an effort to combat hate against AAPIs. LACAAEA’s letter writing campaign led the charge in encouraging other Asian employee associations to also show their support for this historic Board Motion.
Meet Michael Owh
In a safe, socially-distanced Q&A fashion, we will introduce you to a County leader whose work and words of wisdom may inspire you in your career development in the County. In this issue, we introduce you to Michael Owh, the recently appointed Chief Deputy Director of the Internal Services Department.