AWE Announces 2015 Lotus and Scholarship Awardees

Each year Asian Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) celebrates the exemplary successes that Asian American business enterprises have achieved in Southern California. AWE’s 11th Annual awards luncheon, “Rise of the Lotus 2015,” will present an award to one businesswoman, a legacy award to another and honor seven students with scholarships on Friday, October 2, at 11:30 a.m. at the Anaheim White House Restaurant, 887 South Anaheim Ave.

Talk show host Marissa Pei, who received the business person of the year award last year, will serve as the master of ceremonies. With a doctorate in organizational psychology and known as the Asian Oprah, Dr. Pei has been speaking, coaching and facilitating to hundreds of organizations, including Fortune 100 companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Wells Fargo, AT&T, Mattel, UPS and Bank of America for the past 21 years. She will interview the student scholarship winners and present the awards with Andrew Do, Orange County Supervisor, First District.

The recipient of the AWE Lotus Award is Gloria C. Rull, who has more than 20 years of experience in financial management. A current shareholder of Healthcare Management Partners, LLC, she also provides retirement planning and risk management for New York Life.Gloria was the president of the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Orange County, the president of the Asian Business Association Orange County, a board member on the Small Business Financial Development Corporation of Orange County, the recipient of the National Association of Women Business Owners, Orange County Chapter (NAWBO-OC)’s Remarkable Women Award, the Los Angeles Maharlika Lions Club Outstanding Community Leader and Businesswoman, the ABAOC Lifetime Achievement Award, FACCOC’s Past President Lifetime Achievement Award, the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2015 Women Business Champion of the Year Award and the 2015 Small Business Community Impact Award from Wells Fargo.

Jeannie Trinh Luong, the winner of the Lotus Legendary Award, was a senior personnel specialist with the U. S. State Department, Foreign Service — American Embassy to South Vietnam from 1961 to 1975 and then worked for the Department of Social Services which spearheaded the Indochinese Refugees Resettlement Program assisting the fast arrivals of thousands of Vietnamese refugees at Camp Pendleton Marine Corp Air Station. She has been in the real estate profession for 38 years. A strong advocate for volunteerism in our community, she is a member of Soroptimist International – Irvine Chapter and has served on the following boards: Irvine Valley College Board of Governors; Medical, Dental, Ladies of Laws Society (MEDELLAS); OC Asian American Bar Association/OC Bar Foundation; OC Women Lawyers Association; Chinese American Citizen Alliance; Executive Women International – Orange County Chapter; and Chairperson of the City of Irvine Community Services Commission Panel. Her awards include Soroptimst International – SI Member of the year; OC Women Lawyers Association – Margie Dickerson Community Service Award; OC Asian American Bar Association – Honorary Life Member; Congresswomen Loretta Sanchez Realtor of The Year Award; NAWBO Remarkable Businesswoman of the Year Award; and ABAOC Community Services Leadership Award.

There are seven scholarship winners this year. They are Maryjane Do, Kimmai Hoang, Rachael Roester (Edison Scholar), Tiffany Tsai, ThuyTien Huynh, Thuy Thu Le and Phoebe Weaver (Edison Scholar).

Tiffany Tsai is a rising senior majoring in business administration at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Upon graduating Tiffany hopes to work in a public accounting firm, attain her CPA license, and later, branch out into management consulting. Through her leadership roles and professional experience, Tiffany has developed sincere relationships with colleagues, professionals, and faculty who have inspired her to challenge the status quo and find ways to streamline and improve the way businesses operate in today’s competitive markets.

Thuy Thu Le, a native of Saigon, Vietnam, is a full-time college student at Coastline Community College and a working mother. She does volunteer work for Dieu Ngu Temple in Westminster, CA, and Friends With Lepers Non-Profit Organization in Irvine. After obtaining an associate’s degree in human services, she plans to transfer to a CSU Fullerton or UC Irvine to obtain a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and then work in a specialty care facility for rehabilitating patients or in college counseling. She wants to use her education to contribute to the community.

Rachael Roesler (Edison Scholar) is a Southern California native, born in Newport Beach, California. Since she was young she has wanted to be the first of her family to attend college and earn a bachelor’s degree. At Concordia University Irvine, Rachael is majoring in chemistry with an emphasis on chemical research while also double minoring in math and graphic design. Rachael has been a general chemistry tutor for over a year. She hopes to be able to apply her skills to help others and to benefit her community.

ThuyTien Huynh, a native of Can Tho, Vietnam, taught kindergarten at a Vietnamese school. After marrying and moving to California, she attended Golden West College and received her certificate of computer office application. She worked as a data entry clerk at Northrop Grumman and then received her AA degree in human services at Coastline Community College and. She is currently studying at California State University, Long Beach, and expecting to receive her bachelor’s degree in 2017. She volunteers at the Vietnamese Alliance of Midway City and the OC Food Bank.

Kimmai Hoang, who came to the United States from Vietnam 6 years ago, lives in Westminster, California. Wanting to go back to school, she had to learn English for several years. Currently, she is attending Newport Beach and Garden Grove Community College and majoring in arts and humanities. She is expecting to graduate in fall 2017 with an AA degree.

Maryjane Do is a fourth year student at California State University, Long Beach, majoring in communicative disorders. She is involved with the National Student Speech Hearing Language Association, as well as a competitor on the Cal State Long Beach Forensics speech and debate team. Maryjane plans to obtain her master’s degree in speech-language pathology and one day hopes to open her own speech-language therapy clinic.

Phoebe Weaver (Edison Scholar) is currently a junior at Concordia University Irvine. A native of Scottsdale, Arizona, she is a chemistry major, with a minor in both mathematics and biology. Loving science and animals, she is studying to become a veterinarian. Phoebe is involved in many organizations on her school’s campus, as a freshman orientation leader, a member of both the band and orchestra, the vice president of the chemistry club, and a member of her school’s chemistry research team. She has been doing research on singlet oxygen since her freshman year of college.

2014 Awards Luncheon AWE Press Release
2015 Awards Luncheon AWE Press Release

Contact: Alice Lei
Asian Women Entrepreneurs
Phone: (714) 963-2294
E-mail: Nitech@gte.net

ASIAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
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