Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month

Marvin Abrinica, A&S ’98, Bus ’02, is CEO of Wunderfund, which supports small businesses and startups looking to raise capital; and co-founder of Esoteric Brewing Co., one of Cincinnati’s first minority-owned breweries.

Thiyagarajan Upaassana, PhD, CEAS ’22, is the founder and director of Perceive Now, Inc., a nationally recognized, AI-driven startup that helps businesses’ decision-making on mergers and acquisitions, academic research and development, funding trends, and thriving in a competitive landscape.

Tony DelaRosa, A&S ’12, is CEO and founder of Tony Rosa Speaks LLC, and author of the book, “Teaching the Invisible Race: Embodying a Pro-Asian American Lens in Schools.” He recently won the, "Community Trailblazer Award for AAPI Unsung Heroes," from The Asian American Foundation and will be featured on the Hulu Series: TAAF Heritage Heroes (May 2023).

Yogini (Kanthi) Biswas, CEAS ’02, is VP of Marketing and Chief Brand Officer for Brighthouse Financial, one of the largest providers annuities and life insurance in the U.S.

Nine years after being named UC’s Homecoming Queen in 2002, Cindy Chiang-Halvorsen, CEAS ’04, and her future husband won Season 19 of The Amazing Race, using the $1 million top prize to start an education-based charity.

A member of the UC Foundation’s Board of Trustees, Lourdes Harshe, BUS ’92, is a Tax Managing Director with Deloitte Tax’s Global Employer Services where she helps lead the firm’s workforce transformation efforts.

UC assistant professor of nursing, transcultural nurse implementation scientist and curator of Asian American storytelling Minjin Kim, PhD seeks to lift Asian voices to help defeat discrimination.

Bhavik Modi, BUS ’15, is co-founder and CEO of Chicago’s Azadi Brewing Company, an innovative Indian-centric brewery that affiliates its products with Indian cuisine.

Elected mayor of Cincinnati in 2021, Aftab Pureval, LAW ’08, is the first Asian American mayor of a major Midwestern U.S. city. (Photo credit: John Minchillo/AP)

Hamilton County coroner, certified neuroradiologist and entrepreneur Dr. Lakshmi Kode Sammarco, MD, MED ’88, helped create one of the country’s most technologically advanced crime labs.

The only person to have performed standup comedy on all seven continents, Rajiv Satyal, CEAS ’00, has built a multifaceted career as a comedian, podcast host, blogger and speaker.

The work of renowned sculptor Norikazu “Tom” Tsuchiya, A&S ’95, has immortalized a wide variety of figures, notably athletes, in displays ranging from universities and churches to ballparks and the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The youngest-ever prizewinner in the Tchaikovsky International Competition, world-renowned violinist Alyssa Park, CCM ’96, is Concertmaster of the New West Symphony and member of the Lyris Quartet.

A widely recognized IT visionary and expert in mobile telelphony and wireless broadband access, Leo Chan, BUS ’01, is Executive Director of the Midwest USA Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

Vinod Dham, CEAS ’77, developed the original Pentium processor at Intel, unleashing a revolution in the computing field and the way the world operates. He became known in his industry as the “Father of the Pentium.”