Aftab Pureval is the 70th Mayor of Cincinnati. He was raised in Southwest, Ohio, the son of first-generation Americans. He is making history as Cincinnati’s first Asian-American Mayor. He has made equitable economic growth a top priority of his administration, as well as a comprehensive reform and improvement of public safety, affordable housing, and environmental action.

Since taking office, Mayor Aftab has guided Cincinnati through a significant economic recovery, while advancing the City’s key strategic priorities for equitable growth. Significant accomplishments include establishing the City’s first-ever annual commitment to an affordable housing trust fund, leading on a comprehensive zoning reform to bring more housing options to neighborhoods, and implementing a new policy to send unarmed mental health professionals to some nonviolent 911 calls. Under his leadership, the City’s budget was balanced after multiple years of structural deficits, and the City committed for the first time to carbon neutrality by 2050.

Mayor Aftab previously served as Hamilton County Clerk of Courts from 2016 to 2021, where he was the first Democrat to hold this office in over 100 years. Prior to this, he served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney and worked as an attorney at Procter & Gamble.

Mayor Aftab graduated from The Ohio State University and the University of Cincinnati College of Law, where he represented victims of domestic violence who could not afford an attorney. He resides near the University of Cincinnati with his wife, Whitney, and their sons, Bodhi and Rami.

Alex Norström’s first job was working in his mother’s Chinese restaurant, in Stockholm, Sweden. After university and a stint as an analyst at JP Morgan in London, he went on to found three start-ups. Learning from their successes and failures, he then helped scale social games at King.com, and joined Spotify in 2011 as VP Growth. Today, Alex is Co-CEO of Spotify, the world’s most popular audio-subscription service. Operating in 184 markets, Spotify users can discover and enjoy over 100 million tracks, nearly 7 million podcast titles and 350,000 audiobooks, including the Gold Beats playlist in collaboration with Gold House. Alex is the Co-Executive Sponsor of SPACE, Spotify’s Asian & Pacific Islander Belonging Group.

Alexandr Wang joined Meta in June 2025 as the company’s first-ever chief AI officer, where he leads Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). As chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang plays an integral role in shaping Meta’s AI vision and driving its strategic initiatives from concept to execution.

Prior to Meta, Wang founded Scale AI in 2016 as a 19-year-old MIT student with the vision of providing the critical data and infrastructure needed for complex AI projects. Under his leadership, Scale AI grew to nearly a $USD 29 billion valuation and was involved in the development of most every leading model across the industry.

Alysa Liu is an American figure skater and Olympian who made history as one of her generation’s youngest and most accomplished skaters. Born in Clovis, California, she began skating at age five and, at age 12, became the youngest woman ever to land a triple Axel. A year later, she won the 2019 U.S. National Championship, becoming the youngest skater to do so at 13 years old.

Liu competed at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, finishing sixth in the women’s singles event, the highest among the U.S. competitors. A month later, she won a bronze medal at the 2022 ISU World Figure Skating Championships, becoming the first U.S. woman to reach the world podium since 2016. She finished the 2022 season and then retired from competitive skating at age 16.

During a skiing trip, a friend inspired Liu to return to figure skating. She decided to make her return, carefully selecting her own costumes, music, and program aesthetic. After finishing second at the U.S. Championships in her first season back on the ice, Liu became the first U.S. figure skater to win the women’s singles world title in 19 years at the 2025 World Championships held in Boston.

Outside of the rink, she’s interested in photography. During her two-year hiatus from skating, Liu climbed to the top of Mount Everest base camp (17,000+ ft above sea level) with friends.

Aman Sanger and Sualeh Asif are co-founders of Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, the AI-native code editor that has redefined the software development landscape. Both met while studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and are recognized as key architects of the “vibe coding” movement—a shift where developers use natural language to guide AI in generating and debugging entire codebases.

AMAN SANGER
Aman Sanger serves as the Chief Operating Officer of Anysphere. An Indian-origin entrepreneur born in New York, Sanger began coding at age 14 and pursued Computer Science at MIT. Before founding Cursor, he built a diverse technical background with internships at Google, Bridgewater Associates, and You.com, and he also operated an AI consultancy. At Anysphere, Sanger has been instrumental in the company’s explosive growth, overseeing product strategy, distribution, and community building. His work focuses on removing the “bottlenecks” of software engineering bandwidth to accelerate general AI progress.

SUALEH ASIF
Sualeh Asif is the Chief Product Officer of Anysphere. Originally from Karachi, Pakistan, Asif was a mathematics prodigy who represented his country at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) for three consecutive years (2016–2018), winning a bronze medal. He attended MIT on a scholarship, where his algorithmic expertise and background in competitive programming became central to Cursor’s technical foundation. Asif leads the product vision and user experience for Cursor, transforming it from an early MIT research interest into a platform used by millions of developers at enterprises like Nvidia and Uber.By early 2026, both Sanger and Asif became some of the youngest self-made billionaires in the AI sector following Anysphere’s rapid ascent to a multi-billion dollar valuation and reports of significant acquisition interest from companies like SpaceX and xAI.

ANIL CHAKRAVARTHY
As President, Anil Chakravarthy drives the vision and operations for Adobe’s Customer Experience Orchestration business, one of the world’s largest SaaS businesses. He is also responsible for the company’s worldwide field operations—including enterprise sales, professional services and customer success—supporting brands as they navigate digital business in the era of AI.

Anil brings decades of industry expertise and product innovation to his role leading strategy, engineering, product management and product marketing for the Customer Experience Orchestration business. The company’s brand visibility, content supply chain and customer engagement solutions provide everything businesses need to design and deliver personalized customer experiences at scale.

Anil joined Adobe from Informatica, a global leader in enterprise cloud data management, where he served as chief executive officer from 2015 to 2020. At Informatica, Anil led the successful transformation of the company to cloud and subscription services. He joined Informatica in 2013 as executive vice president and chief product officer, responsible for product development, product management and product marketing.

Earlier, Anil held several leadership roles at Symantec Corporation. As Executive Vice President of Information Security, he was responsible for overseeing engineering, product management and operations for an extensive product portfolio, including Data Loss Prevention, E-Mail and Web Security, Managed Services, Trust Services and Authentication. Additionally, Anil led multiple product groups, including Endpoint Protection, Mobile Security and Management, Encryption, Storage and High-Availability and India Product Operations, as well as Enterprise Global Consulting.

Prior to Symantec, Anil led product management for Enterprise Security Services at VeriSign. He began his career at McKinsey & Company, where he rose to become co-leader of the E-Business Practice in the Silicon Valley Business Technology Office.

Anil holds a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering from the Institute of Technology, Varanasi, India, and a Master of Science and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He serves on the board of FIS and previously served on the boards of Ansys, Inc. and USAA Bank.

DAVID WADHWANI
David Wadhwani is responsible for the success of Adobe’s global Creativity & Productivity business, including all product management, product marketing, engineering, strategic partnerships, customer support and to go-to-market across geographies. This includes iconic software brands such as Adobe Photoshop, Acrobat, Express, Firefly, Illustrator, Lightroom and Premiere.

David was most recently a Venture Partner at Greylock Partners. Prior to joining Greylock, he was president and CEO of AppDynamics, leading the company as it transformed to a SaaS-first business and became one of the fastest-growing enterprise software companies at the time.

This is David’s second tour of duty at Adobe. He joined Adobe in 2005 through the company’s acquisition of Macromedia, Inc., where he had been vice president of developer products. As senior vice president and general manager of Adobe’s Digital Media business, David played an instrumental role in advancing the company’s category leadership, expanding into new markets and contributing to its successful transformation to a cloud-based subscription business.

David holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Brown University and serves on the Brown computer science department advisory board. He is also on the digital advisory board of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and on the board of trustees for StoryCorps and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Arthur Sze is the twenty-fifth Poet Laureate of the United States and the author of Transient Worlds—a collection of global poetry in translation—published by Copper Canyon Press in association with the Library of Congress. As Poet Laureate, he foregrounds the power of translation to deepen our engagement with poetry and with each other’s shared humanity.

A recipient of the 2025 Bollingen Prize for American Poetry for Lifetime Achievement, 2024 Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry, a Lila Wallace–Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award, and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize among other honors, Sze has authored twelve books of poetry, including Into the Hush (2025); The Glass Constellation: New and Collected Poems (2021), selected for a 2024 National Book Foundation Science + Literature Prize; Sight Lines (2019), the recipient of the National Book Award; Compass Rose (2014), a Pulitzer Prize finalist; and Archipelago (1995), selected for an American Book Award. A celebrated translator and editor, Sze is also the author The Silk Dragon II: Translations of Chinese Poetry (2024) and the editor of Chinese Writers on Writing (2010). Most recently, he published The White Orchard: Selected Interviews, Essays, and Poems with the Museum of New Mexico Press. His own poetry has been translated into fifteen languages, including Chinese, Dutch, German, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Sze was the first poet laureate of Santa Fe, where he currently resides with his wife, the poet Carol Moldaw.

As Chief Marketing and Brand Officer, Asad Ayaz brings together creativity, innovation, and an instinct for what moves culture, to bring Disney’s characters and stories to fans around the world. He oversees Disney’s full global marketing and brand organization, uniting film, television, streaming, parks, experiences, and sports under a single integrated vision — ensuring that everything Disney touches feels unmistakably, unforgettably Disney.

A Disney veteran of more than 20 years, Asad has spent his career turning beloved stories into global phenomena, most recently serving as Disney’s first Chief Brand Officer and President of Marketing for Disney Entertainment. In those roles, he spearheaded campaigns for some of the most iconic titles in entertainment history — including Moana, Frozen, and Black Panther, as well as franchise favorites across Avatar, Star Wars, Toy Story, and Avengers — a body of work that spans 28 films surpassing $1 billion at the global box office and 13 of the top 15 box office openings of all time.

His forward-thinking approach has extended to the streaming era, where he has led Emmy-nominated marketing campaigns for Disney+ that have shaped how audiences discover and connect with stories. Beyond film and streaming, he has helmed some of the company’s most significant brand moments — from Disney’s 100th anniversary celebration and the international expansion of D23: The Official Disney Fan Club, to the Disneyland Resort’s 70th anniversary.

Named one of Forbes’ Most Influential CMOs and Fast Company’s CMOs of the Year, and Most Creative People in Business, Asad is recognized across the industry as a creative leader who is always evolving to meet fans where they are, across every moment that matters.

Asha Sharma is the CEO of Xbox, serving more than 500 million players worldwide across nearly 40 studios, including iconic franchises such as Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Diablo, Halo, Minecraft, and World of Warcraft. Asha was previously President of Product for Microsoft CoreAI,  COO at Instacart, and VP of Product at Meta. She serves on the boards of The Home Depot and Coupang.

CHARLES MELTON
Award winning and critically acclaimed actor Charles Melton has captivated audiences with his performances in film and television. Melton most recently starred opposite Oscar-winning actresses Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore in Todd Haynes’ film May December. His breakthrough performance earned him a Gotham Award, New York Film Critics Circle Award, and many other national and international film critics awards. Both the film and Melton’s performance were nominated for a Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice, and Film Independent Spirit Award. Associated Press named him one of the top Breakthrough Performers of 2023, and Variety included him as 10 Actors to Watch.

Melton most recently wrapped production on Nicolas Winding Refn’s My Own Private Hell for Neon. Up next, he will star in the second season of the highly anticipated Netflix Emmy winning series Beef opposite Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac, and Cailee Spaeny. His past feature credits include the Alex Garland’s Warfare for A24, the Warner Bros.’ feature, The Sun Is Also a Star and Sony’s Bad Boys for Life. On television, he starred in the Emmy nominated mystery-drama series Poker Face opposite Natasha Lyonne, Mel Brooks’ History of the World, Part II for Hulu, and The CW hit series Riverdale.

As a Global Ambassador with the Special Olympics organization, Melton advocates for the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities through education and sports.

LEE SUNG JIN
Three-time Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner, Lee Sung Jin is the creator, executive producer, writer and director of the highly acclaimed, multi-award winning Netflix series, BEEF, starring Steven Yeun and Ali Wong in Emmy-winning performances. He again returns as creator, executive producer, writer and director for BEEF’s upcoming second season, featuring a stellar new cast including Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Cailee Spaeny, Charles Melton, Youn Yuh-Jung, and Song Kang Ho. Past credits include SILICON VALLEY, DAVE and Marvel’s THUNDERBOLTS*.

Bindu Shah is a transformative marketing and digital leader who builds culturally resonant brands to drive measurable growth. As Chief Marketing Officer & Chief Digital Officer of Equinox, she unites creative, brand strategy, growth marketing, and omnichannel member experience to deepen cultural relevance while accelerating acquisition and retention for a category-defining luxury performance brand.

Previously, she served as Global Chief Marketing Officer & Chief Digital Officer at Tory Burch, where she led global marketing and e-commerce. She delivered step-change digital growth by modernizing and expanding the brand’s global e-commerce business, and helped fuel the momentum of the “Toryssaince” through breakthrough marketing campaigns.

Earlier, at Sephora, Bindu led Digital Marketing & Media, overseeing all marketing channels and media investment while launching signature platforms including Sephora’s YouTube channel and Beauty Insider Community — deepening loyalty and redefining how beauty brands build community in the digital era.

Across her career, Bindu has consistently connected creativity with commercial rigor — strengthening brand equity, modernizing consumer engagement, and accelerating revenue growth at scale. She began her career in investment banking at Morgan Stanley and has held leadership roles at Gilt Groupe, McGraw-Hill, and Edison Schools.

She holds a BA from Barnard College, Columbia University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

As Global Creative Director for Disney Consumer Products, Bobby Kim leads the global creative vision for design, storytelling and retail experiences across licensed products and collaborations worldwide. Kim oversees the creative team responsible for developing high-impact collaborations, breakthrough product concepts and culturally relevant activations that extend across the global retail ecosystem.

Prior to joining The Walt Disney Company, Kim, widely known as Bobby Hundreds, founded The Hundreds in 2003. The brand helps define modern streetwear by blending fashion, storytelling and community, and today stands as a global brand with an international following.

Beyond fashion, Kim is a bestselling author of This Is Not a T-Shirt: A Brand, a Culture, a Community—A Life in Streetwear, which chronicles the rise of streetwear and the cultural movement behind it. He is also a screenwriter and producer, and the founder of Family Style, the festival celebrating the intersection of food and street culture.

The Seattle Seahawks solidified their status as a modern NFL dynasty by capturing their second championship title with a 29–13 victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX on February 8, 2026. This historic win capped a dominant 14–3 regular season, characterized by a stifling defense and a versatile offense. The game was largely defined by a ferocious defensive performance and a Super Bowl record-setting five field goals, proving that the Seahawks remain a powerhouse in the post-realignment era of the league.

Integral to this championship run is a roster that features prominent AAPI talent including Brandon Pili, George Holani, Leonard Williams, Jason Myers, Ty Okada & Zach Charbonnet, reflecting the deep cultural ties between the Pacific Northwest and Asia Pacific.

Bruno Mars is a multi-Grammy-winning American singer, songwriter, and performer known for his versatile musicality and high-energy stage presence. Born Peter Gene Hernandez on October 8, 1985, in Honolulu, Hawaii, he was raised in a family of musicians and began his career as a child Elvis impersonator. After moving to Los Angeles in 2003, he initially found success as a songwriter and producer before skyrocketing to solo stardom with his 2010 debut album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans.

Over the next decade, Mars solidified his status as a global pop icon through a string of massive hits like “Uptown Funk,” “Just the Way You Are,” and “That’s What I Like.” His career is marked by a deep appreciation for retro genres, blending funk, soul, R&B, and rock with modern pop sensibilities. In 2021, he further expanded his artistic legacy by forming the soul duo Silk Sonic with Anderson .Paak, winning multiple Grammys for their hit single “Leave the Door Open.”

By 2026, Mars has entered a new chapter of his career with the release of his fourth solo studio album, “The Romantic.” The project debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, supported by the chart-topping lead single “I Just Might.” This era has also been defined by major collaborations, including the global viral hit “APT.” with Rosé of Blackpink and the Grammy-winning duet “Die With a Smile” with Lady Gaga. Currently, he is headlining The Romantic Tour, which features a record-breaking residency at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium and continues to showcase his reputation as one of the finest live entertainers of his generation.

Byunghoon Kim is the founder and CEO of APR Corporation, the South Korea–based company behind global beauty and lifestyle brands including Medicube, Aprilskin, and Forment. Since founding APR in 2014 at age 26, Kim has focused on building consumer-first brands powered by technology, operational execution, and data-driven marketing.

Kim studied Business Administration at Yonsei University and began his entrepreneurial career early, forming his first startup team at 22. Under his leadership, APR has achieved 11 consecutive years of year-over-year quarterly growth, expanding from a domestic startup into a global beauty-tech company with strong performance across e-commerce, retail, and content-driven commerce channels.

APR reached unicorn status in 2023 and successfully listed on Korea’s KOSPI in 2024, becoming one of the youngest Korean companies to join the country’s main stock exchange within a decade of founding. In 2025, APR became the No. 1 beauty company by market capitalization in the KOSPI beauty sector.

Kim is recognized as a next-generation business leader helping drive the global expansion of K-beauty and advancing the integration of skincare, technology, and digital commerce.

Chief of War has profoundly shifted the global media landscape by centering Native Hawaiian stories and perspectives on a scale rarely seen in prestige television. By retelling the unification of the Hawaiian Islands from a Native perspective, the series dismantles traditional Western-centric tropes of the Pacific. Its most significant cultural contribution is the mainstreaming of ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language); by featuring entire episodes and dialogue in the native tongue, the show provides a massive international platform for a language that was once suppressed, fostering a sense of pride and linguistic reclamation across the islands.

The series has also redefined Polynesian representation by showcasing a visceral, authentic history that contrasts sharply with the “tourist-friendly” imagery of the resorts. For local communities, the show serves as a declaration of resilience, proving that Indigenous history can command blockbuster budgets without compromising historical or cultural integrity. Ultimately, Chief of War has set a new industry benchmark, demonstrating that global audiences are hungry for authentic, Native-led epics that challenge colonial narratives while preserving the sanctity of ancestral history.

Chitose Abe is the founder and creative director of Sacai, a brand that has redefined modern luxury through its signature “hybrid” aesthetic. Before launching her own label in 1999, Abe spent eight years at Comme des Garçons, where she worked as a pattern maker under Rei Kawakubo and later joined Junya Watanabe’s design team. This rigorous background in avant-garde construction provided the foundation for her unique ability to deconstruct classic garments—such as trench coats, MA-1 bomber jackets, and knitwear—and splice them together into entirely new, multidimensional silhouettes.

Based in Tokyo, Abe initially started Sacai as a small project out of her home while on maternity leave, knitting just five pieces. Since then, she has scaled the brand into a global fashion powerhouse without ever taking on outside investors, maintaining total creative and financial independence. Her design philosophy centers on the idea that clothing should be wearable and functional but also unexpected from every angle. This “Sacai-ism” has made her one of the most respected figures in the industry, leading to her selection as the first guest designer for Jean Paul Gaultier’s haute couture collection in 2021.

In recent years, Abe’s influence has permeated mainstream culture through her long-standing partnership with Nike, where her “LDWaffle” and “VaporWaffle” collaborations became some of the most sought-after sneakers of the decade. By 2026, she continues to lead Sacai with a focus on “timeless innovation,” recently expanding the brand’s reach through a high-profile collaboration with Cartier and further refining her modular approach to fashion. Despite her global fame, Abe remains deeply involved in the technical aspects of her collections, personally overseeing the intricate pattern-making and fabric developments that ensure each hybrid piece retains its structural integrity.

Chloé Zhao is a Beijing-born writer, director, editor, and producer. Previous films include SONGS MY BROTHERS TAUGHT ME, THE RIDER, ETERNALS, and NOMADLAND, which won three Oscars. Most recently, she directed, co-wrote, and co-edited HAMNET. She launched the production company Book of Shadows in 2023 and Kodansha Studios in 2025.

CHRIS DOWN
Chris Down has spent over three decades creating play across multiple industries. He has designed board games for Parker Brothers, produced award-winning video games for Hasbro Interactive, co-founded Atari’s innovation practice, Atari Labs, and currently leads global design and innovation for toymaker, Mattel. As the company’s EVP and Chief Design Officer, Chris is responsible for product design, consumer insights, and innovation across Mattel’s broad range of multi-generational, brands including Barbie, American Girl, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price, UNO, Masters of the Universe, and dozens more. With a professional background in physical play, digital gaming, industrial design, and business management, Chris intimately understands the dynamics between the power of brand, the value of play, and how getting it right translates into consumer love and sustainable business value.
Chris graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in Industrial Design and completed the Executive Program in Business Administration at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. Outside of work, play continues, whether dealing a round of Phase-10 with the family or suffering on the bike trails. In both his professional and personal life, Chris champions the transformative power of play!

KEN WEE
Ken Wee is Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Mattel. He joined Mattel in 2024. In his role, Mr. Wee leads Mattel’s Corporate Strategy and Corporate Development functions, and is focused on identifying opportunities to accelerate growth and deliver shareholder value across Mattel’s brands. Before joining Mattel, Mr. Wee served as Chief Strategy Officer at Activision Blizzard, one of the leading interactive entertainment companies. In this capacity, he was responsible for Activision Blizzard’s corporate strategy and drove organic M&A initiatives to grow the reach, engagement, and commercial success of Activision Blizzard’s portfolio of franchises with over 400 million active players, culminating in Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Prior to joining Activision Blizzard in 2019, Mr. Wee was a Partner at the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. There he led McKinsey’s Interactive Entertainment Practice and served clients in media, technology, and private equity globally. He previously worked at New Mountain Capital, a leading investment fund. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Behaviour Interactive, a leading Canadian video game publisher known for the award-winning Dead by Daylight franchise.

Dao-Yi Chow is an American fashion designer based in New York City. As a native New Yorker, Chow spent the early part of his career heading up visionary fashion label Sean John as its youngest Creative Director for over a decade. He went on to open his own select shop, Arrive, included in the Best 50 stores list by GQ in 2006 and was a harbinger of fashion’s love affair with sneaker culture and streetwear in the years to follow. In 2008, along with his partner Maxwell Osborne, he founded the award-winning brand Public School New York. Chow and Osborne created a new genre of tailored streetwear that helped usher in the high-street era of founder-led, community focused brands with their own take on minimalism and sophisticated ease. The duo earned top honors in the 2013 CFDA VOGUE FASHION FUND, amongst other notable awards including CFDA 2013 Emerging Designer of the Year, 2014 Men’s Designer of the Year, as well the first American designers to win the global Woolmark Prize in 2015. Dao-Yi along with Maxwell were appointed co-creative directors by LVMH to Donna Karan’s legendary label DKNY in 2015 marking the first time in the brand’s history that it had changed creative direction. After a seven year hiatus beginning in 2019, Dao-Yi, alongside Maxwell have relaunched Public School New York as the next big American luxury menswear brand.

David Ko is the CEO and serves on the Board of Directors of Calm, the #1 app for sleep, meditation and mindfulness. Before founding his own company, which was acquired by Calm, David spent over a decade as a leading healthcare executive. He is the #1 Amazon bestselling author of Recharge: Boosting Your Mental Battery One Conversation at a Time, and has been featured in TIME’s Leadership Brief, named a LinkedIn “Top Voice” and one of RockHealth’s “Top 50 Leaders in Digital Health.”

David was also the COO at Zynga, which he helped take public in December 2011. Prior to his work at Zynga, he spent 10 years at Yahoo! and currently serves on various boards at his alma mater, New York University Stern School of Business.

Deepak Bhargava is President of the Freedom Together Foundation, leading its mission to support people who have been denied power to build it, so they can change unjust systems and create a more democratic, inclusive, and sustainable society.

Deepak brings over 30 years of expertise in social justice movements. He previously led the grassroots organization Community Change for 16 years, strengthening the community organizing field and advancing public policies on economic and social justice. He also served as a distinguished lecturer at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies and as a Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute.

Deepak is the co-author, with Stephanie Luce, of Practical Radicals: Seven Strategies to Change the World (New Press, 2023) and co-editor, with Ruth Milkman and Penny Lewis, of Immigration Matters: Movements, Visions, and Strategies for a Progressive Future (New Press, 2021).

Sir Demis Hassabis is a preeminent British AI researcher, neuroscientist, and entrepreneur who serves as the co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs. His career began with a remarkable start as a child chess prodigy and video game designer, notably co-creating the classic simulation game *Theme Park* at the age of seventeen. After earning a PhD in cognitive neuroscience from University College London, Hassabis leveraged his research on memory and imagination to pioneer a “neuroscience-inspired” approach to artificial intelligence, aiming to bridge the gap between biological and machine learning.

In 2010, he co-founded DeepMind with the ambitious goal of “solving intelligence” to address some of the world’s most complex challenges. Following Google’s acquisition of the company in 2014, Hassabis led his team to several of the most significant breakthroughs in the field, including AlphaGo’s historic victory over a world champion Go player and the development of AlphaFold. The latter achievement solved a fifty-year-old grand challenge in biology by accurately predicting protein structures, a feat that earned Hassabis the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry alongside John Jumper and David Baker.

Currently, Hassabis oversees the consolidated Google DeepMind unit, directing the evolution of the Gemini model series and integrating advanced AI into the global digital infrastructure. His contributions were further recognized in 2024 with a knighthood for services to artificial intelligence, cementing his status as a primary architect of the current technological era. Beyond technical development, he remains a key voice in the global conversation on AI ethics and safety, advocating for the responsible use of technology to amplify human ingenuity and accelerate scientific discovery.

Destin Daniel Cretton is an acclaimed filmmaker known for blending deeply emotional, human-centric storytelling with large-scale cinematic spectacles. Born and raised in Haiku, Maui, he often explores themes of family, identity, and resilience throughout his work. He first gained significant critical attention with his 2013 breakout feature, Short Term 12, which won the Grand Jury Prize at SXSW. Based on his own experiences working in a group home for at-risk teenagers, the film was praised for its raw honesty and is often credited with helping launch the careers of several major stars.

Following the success of Short Term 12, Cretton continued to tackle complex narratives with The Glass Castle, an adaptation of Jeannette Walls’ best-selling memoir, and Just Mercy, a powerful legal drama focusing on the work of civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson. In 2021, he made a massive leap into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the director and co-writer of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The film was a global success, lauded for its intricate action choreography and its groundbreaking representation of Asian heritage.

Over the last year, Cretton’s influence on major franchises has reached new heights. He recently completed principal photography on Spider-Man: Brand New Day, slated for a July 2026 release, which he has described as a grounded exploration of Peter Parker relearning how to connect with people. Additionally, he is also a co-creator and director for the Disney+ series Wonder Man. His career continues to be defined by a unique sensitivity that bridges the gap between intimate indie dramas and massive global blockbusters.

Dhar Mann, Forbes’ #2 Top Creator of 2025 and an honoree of TIME100’s inaugural Creator list, is one of the most influential storytellers in the world, reaching more than 163 million followers. He is the founder of Dhar Mann Studios, an audience-first global entertainment company dedicated to uplifting the world through stories and experiences that help people feel seen and connected. Headquartered in a 125,000-square-foot, three-stage production studio in Burbank, CA, the company is pioneering a new model of entertainment built around direct relationships with global audiences. Dhar Mann Studios produces positive, uplifting original programming across both long-form narrative series and short-form content, with stories rooted in universal human experiences, reaching nearly 300 million views each week across platforms, with three out of four viewers reporting it changes how they feel, think, and treat others after watching.The studio also builds large-scale, custom brand partnerships with companies including Adobe, the NFL, and Gap. It produces original programming for distribution partners such as Samsung TV Plus, where Dhar launched a FAST channel and the platform’s first creator-led original content deal and FOX Entertainment through a landmark global vertical video slate. In 2026, the NFL named Dhar Mann Creator of the Week and Chief Kindness Officer for Super Bowl LX. His commitment to kindness and positive impact stems from lived experience, having overcome significant setbacks early in life. He found purpose in creating stories centered on resilience, empathy, and personal growth. A mission-driven entrepreneur, father, and husband, his work is guided by the belief that storytelling can change lives. Dhar has been nominated for Favorite Male Creator at the 2024 and 2025 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards and has won multiple Telly and Shorty Awards, including “Studio of the Year” at the 2025 Shorty Awards.

DR. MORRIS CHANG
Dr. Morris Chang is a legendary figure in technology, celebrated as the “father of the semiconductor industry” in Taiwan. His journey is a remarkable story of vision and persistence, leading him from a childhood in wartime China to becoming a pivotal architect of the modern digital age. Educated at MIT and Stanford, he brought decades of leadership experience from Texas Instruments to help a nascent industry find its footing.

In 1987, Chang founded the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and introduced the revolutionary “foundry” model. This brilliant shift allowed engineers worldwide to focus on creative design while TSMC handled the complex manufacturing, essentially democratizing technology and sparking the global tech boom.

He transformed TSMC into a cornerstone of the global economy, with a market capitalization reaching over $1.7 trillion by 2026. Even in retirement, his legacy shines as a testament to how one person’s ingenuity can empower the entire world to connect, innovate, and thrive.

DR. C. C. WEI
Dr. C. C. Wei is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC). Prior to this appointment, Dr. Wei was TSMC’s Chief Executive Officer from June 2018 to June 2024, and TSMC’s Board of Directors elected Dr. Wei as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in June of 2024. Dr. Wei was President and Co-CEO from November 2013 to June 2018, and Co-Chief Operating Officer from March 2012 to November 2013. From 2009 to 2012, he was TSMC’s Senior Vice President of Business Development. Before that, Dr. Wei was Senior Vice President of Mainstream Technology Business.

Before joining TSMC in 1998, Dr. Wei had served as Senior Vice President of Technology at Chartered Semiconductor and Senior Manager, Logic and SRAM technology development at ST Microelectronics. Prior to that, he was a Member of Technical Staff at Texas Instruments R&D organization. C. C. Wei received his B.S. degree in electrical engineering from National Chiao Tung University and Ph.D. from Yale University.

Eileen Gu made history at the 2022 Winter Olympics, securing two golds and a silver medal, becoming the youngest ever freeski gold medalist at age 18. She followed that up with another record breaking performance at the 2026 Winter Olympics, where she took home one gold and two silver medals, becoming the most decorated Olympic Freeskier in history. She is the only action sports athlete to ever win three medals at one Olympics, a feat she has now accomplished twice. She is the first snowsport athlete to claim three medals at both the 2021 XGames and FIS World Championships and the inaugural female freeskier to execute a double cork 1440 and unnatural double cork 1620 in competition. Eileen also currently holds the win record for any freeski athlete, male or female, with 20 FIS World Cup victories.

In recognition of her exceptional accomplishments, Eileen was honored with the “Action Sportsperson of the Year” at the 2023 Laureus World Sports Award. In 2022, she made the TIME100 Most Influential People List and won two ESPYs: Best Breakthrough Athlete and Best Action Sports Athlete.

Eileen is not just a champion on the slopes but also a voice for young people, particularly girls. Her advocacy for female empowerment earned her the Vogue Aurora Award in 2019. Her role as a cultural conduit through sport was evident when she was named an ambassador for the 2022 Beijing Olympics, 2024 Gangwon Youth Olympics, 2024 Paris Olympics, and Salt Lake City 2030 Olympic Bid, as well as Laureus and Asia Society.

Eileen has made her mark on the fashion world since age 15, including walking the runway for Louis Vuitton, closing the Brunello Cucinelli 2025 show, and opening and closing the Bosideng 2024 show at Milan Fashion Week. She was one of the Founding Collective members of Victoria’s Secret, and has had brand ambassadorships with brands like Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, IWC, and Porsche. She has been featured on covers of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, V Magazine, L’Officiel, Marie Claire and many more.

Eileen is an outstanding full-time student at Stanford University. Most recently, she was admitted to Stanford’s selective study abroad program at Oxford University, where she spent fall of 2024.

Eileen represents a unique intersection of sports, fashion, and education to empowered youth and families across the globe.

Emily Chang is an Emmy Award–winning journalist, author, and one of Bloomberg’s leading voices on technology, business, and culture. As host and executive producer of The Circuit with Emily Chang on Bloomberg Originals and Bloomberg Television, she travels the world to meet the founders, innovators, and cultural icons shaping our future. Over the course of her career, Chang has interviewed some of the world’s most influential leaders, from Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos to leading voices in entertainment and sports including Reese Witherspoon and Stephen Curry. She also sat down with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for the third season of The Circuit and was granted exclusive access to “Stargate,” OpenAI’s next-generation AI infrastructure project. In addition, Chang is the host and executive producer of Posthuman, a Bloomberg Originals series that explores what it means to be human in an age of extraordinary technological change. For more than a decade, Chang anchored Bloomberg Technology, the network’s flagship daily program covering innovation and the global tech industry. Her 2018 bestselling book, Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys’ Club of Silicon Valley, exposed gender inequality in the tech world and became a rallying cry for greater inclusion in one of the most powerful sectors on earth.

Eric Chan is the Chief Business and Strategy Officer for Gap Inc., leading the company’s Strategy, Corporate Planning, Partnership, International Geographies, Card and Loyalty, and Real Estate teams.

Prior to joining Gap Inc., Eric served as CFO for the LA Clippers and Kia Forum, where he led the organization’s administrative operations, long-range planning and project management for the creation of Intuit Dome. Previously, Eric served as COO for The Bouqs Company and, prior to that, CFO for Loot Crate, where he helped scale the company from an early stage startup to $165 million in revenue. During that time, the company was named the Fastest Growing Company in the Unites States by Inc Magazine. Before that, he served as in senior leadership roles at Mattel and Cisco Systems.

In 2016 and 2020, Eric won the LA Business Journal’s CFO of the Year Award. In 2020, Gold House named him to its A100 List. Eric also recently accepted to be part of the Committee of 100 organization, focusing on Chinese American advancement.

He earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley.

Lee Sang-hyeok, known globally as Faker, is widely regarded as the greatest League of Legends player of all time. As the mid-laner for T1 since his professional debut in 2013, he has earned the moniker “The Unkillable Demon King” for his exceptional mechanical skill, strategic depth, and unprecedented longevity in the esports industry. His career reached a historic peak in late 2025 when he led T1 to a third consecutive World Championship, bringing his personal total to a record-breaking six World titles. This “three-peat” with the same core roster solidified his status as a national treasure in South Korea and the definitive icon of competitive gaming.

Having been the inaugural inductee into the Hall of Legends in 2024, his influence now extends beyond the screen; he was recently awarded the Cheongnyong Medal, South Korea’s highest honor for sports merit. Currently competing in the 2026 LCK season, he continues to set new benchmarks, recently becoming the first player in history to surpass 3,500 career kills. His commitment to the game was further cemented by a contract extension through 2029, ensuring that the “GOAT” of esports will continue to shape the industry for years to come.

Gina Chon is Executive Editor of News and Live Journalism at Semafor, a media startup. She leads editorial programming for all of Semafor’s events and is also an editor for the newsroom’s tech, business, and CEO coverage. She has also worked at Reuters, the Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal, covering economic policy, white collar crime, M&A, the auto industry, and the Iraq war. Her reporting has taken her all over the world, from Baghdad to Phnom Penh to Seoul. She also co-wrote a book, Behind the Killing Fields, based on exclusive interviews with the top surviving Khmer Rouge leader at the time.

The award-winning team behind “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters made history by securing the first major Grammy win for a K-pop production. Written by EJAE and Mark Sonnenblick, and produced by Teddy Park and 24 alongside the Ido collective, the track features the powerful vocals of EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami. In early 2026, the anthem swept the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and Grammys, cementing its status as a definitive cultural bridge between the K-pop industry and global cinematic success.

Hideo Kojima is a world-renowned game creator and auteur known for pushing the boundaries of the video game medium. Widely considered the father of the stealth genre, he is also credited with innovating both storytelling and cinematic presentation in video games at large.

On December 16th, 2015, Hideo Kojima established his own studio called KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS, under the banner of "From Sapiens to Ludens.” On November 8th, 2019, the studio released its first title, DEATH STRANDING, starring Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, Léa Seydoux, and Lindsay Wagner for PlayStation®4 and PC. DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR’S CUT was later released for the PlayStation®5, PC, Phone, iPad, and Mac. Since its release, DEATH STRANDING has received numerous game awards and achieved worldwide acclaim. The sequel, DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH, was released on June 26th, 2025. The PC version of DS2 was released on March 19th, 2026. Other exciting projects include the title OD, in partnership with Xbox Game Studios, as well as a film adaptation of DEATH STRANDING with independent entertainment company A24, and a completely new and original action-espionage IP, PHYSINT (working title).

In 2020, he received the BAFTA Fellowship, the highest accolade bestowed by BAFTA upon an individual in recognition of exceptional contribution to film, games, or television.  In 2022, the Agency for Cultural Affairs of the Japanese government honored him with the 72nd Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award for Fine Arts in the media arts category, given to those who have made outstanding achievements and advancements in the arts. Other notable honors include the Hall of Fame award from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (D.I.C.E. Awards), the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Game Developers Choice Awards, and the Industry Icon award from The Game Awards.

DANIEL CHONG
Daniel Chong is an American animator, director, and screenwriter best known as the creator of the Annie Award-winning Cartoon Network series We Bare Bears. Before achieving solo success, he built an extensive pedigree in the animation industry, serving as a storyboard artist for major studios including Blue Sky, Illumination, Walt Disney Animation, and Pixar. During this tenure, he contributed to several blockbuster films such as Cars 2, Inside Out, and The Lorax, honing a storytelling style characterized by emotional sincerity and quirky humor.

In 2026, Chong made his feature directorial debut with Pixar’s Hoppers, an original sci-fi comedy that follows a young girl who “”hops”” her consciousness into a robotic beaver to infiltrate the animal kingdom. Throughout his career, Chong has been a prominent voice for Asian American representation in the animation industry. He often weaves themes of belonging and the search for community into his narratives, drawing on his personal experiences to create stories that resonate across cultures.

PIPER CURDA
Piper Curda stars as the voice of “Mabel” in Disney-Pixar’s HOPPERS, the 30th film from the iconic animation studio. Most recently, Curda was seen recurring on CBS’s MATLOCK and AppleTV+’s THE MORNING SHOW. On the feature side, she played the daughter of Julianne Moore and Charles Melton in Todd Haynes’ MAY DECEMBER, which premiered at Cannes and was quicky purchased by Netflix. Other feature credits include key roles in BACK ON THE STRIP opposite Wesley Snipes and Tiffany Haddish, SHOWDOWN AT THE ODESSA opposite Terrence Howard, a lead in AMERICAN PIE PRESENTS GIRLS’ RULES for Netflix and THE WRETCHED, which set box office records in the midst of the pandemic. She also just wrapped filming THE DREGS alongside Nava Mau, Charlie Gillespie, and Maddie Phillips. As for TV, she had a major recurring role on CW’s LEGACIES and has guest starred on shows including WATSON, NCIS: LOS ANGELES, THE FLASH, THE ROOKIE, and LAW & ORDER: SVU. Earlier in her career, Piper was a regular on Disney Channel’s I DIDN’T DO IT, the Emmy-nominated YouTube Red series YOUTH & CONSEQUENCES and played a key role in Disney Channel’s TEEN BEACH MOVIE 2.

Ichiro Suzuki is a legendary Japanese outfielder whose career redefined the landscape for international position players in Major League Baseball. After nine dominant seasons with the Orix Blue Wave in Japan, where he won seven consecutive batting titles, he debuted for the Seattle Mariners in 2001 and immediately transformed the league. He became just the second player in history to win both the Rookie of the Year and American League MVP awards in the same season while leading the Mariners to a record-tying 116 wins. He retired in 2019 with 3,089 MLB hits, which, combined with his 1,278 hits in Japan, gives him a professional total of 4,367—the most of any player in top-tier professional baseball.

Ichiro’s legacy has been formally enshrined among the greatest to ever play the game. In early 2025, he made history by becoming the first Japanese and Asian-born player elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, receiving 99.7% of the vote in his first year of eligibility. His impact on the city of Seattle was further immortalized on April 10, 2026, when the Mariners unveiled a bronze statue of him outside T-Mobile Park and officially retired his number 51. Today, he continues to serve as a special assistant to the Mariners’ chairman, where his philosophy of technical perfection and discipline continues to influence a new generation of players across the globe.

Island Records Co-Chairman and CEO Imran Majid leads with an artist-first approach, fostering a culture that encourages both artists and teams to take creative risks and push boundaries. Alongside Co-Chairman and CEO Justin Eshak, he has helped guide what Variety has described as “Island Records’ new dynasty,” supporting a new generation of breakout talent including Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Olivia Dean, Lola Young, Gigi Perez, Wyatt Flores, Suki Waterhouse, Carin León and Charley Crockett, while continuing to build on the legacies of iconic acts such as Bon Jovi and The Killers.

Majid began his career at Universal Motown in 2004, where he first met Eshak. He soon moved into A&R at the newly formed Republic Records, where they worked together before joining Columbia Records in 2013. In 2018, they were promoted to Co-Heads of A&R. At Columbia, Majid helped develop and support artists including Lil Tjay, Rosalía, Russ, and Polo G. In 2022, he and Eshak were appointed Co-CEOs of Island Records by Universal Music Group Chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge.

Under Majid and Eshak’s leadership, Island’s roster has earned expanded GRAMMY® recognition. In 2025 and 2026, Island artists Chappell Roan and Olivia Dean won Best New Artist in consecutive years, making Island the first label in decades to represent back-to-back annual winners in the category. Billboard also named Majid and Eshak “Executives of the Year.”

Majid has been recognized on Billboard’s annual Power 100 for four consecutive years, is a Gold House A100 Honoree, and has been featured by Variety, Music Business Worldwide, and HITS. He is based in New York City.

Jairaj Sethi is co-founder and CTO of Substack, a new media app that connects you with the creators, ideas, and communities you care about most. Founded in 2017, Substack is building a new economic engine for culture by putting publishers in charge and enabling subscribers to support the work they deeply value.

Before Substack, Jairaj was the Head of Platform and Principle Developer of the mobile messenger app, Kik. He has founded startups in education and mental health.

Jairaj graduated from the University of Waterloo and is based in Toronto.

Janti Soeripto is President and CEO of Save the Children US, a role she assumed in 2020 as the international humanitarian organization began its second century partnering with families in the US and around the world.

Before leading Save the Children US, Janti served as deputy CEO of Save the Children International for eight years. She oversaw market growth and guided strategy as Save the Children transformed into an integrated international body after decades as a decentralized group of national organizations.

Janti began her global career in the private sector. For over 15 years, she held senior positions at corporations including Kimberly-Clark and Unilever, working in her home country of the Netherlands, as well as Indonesia, the United Kingdom and Singapore.

Janti has been featured in a variety of prominent media and is sought after for her insights on global leadership in both the public and private sectors and her expertise on humanitarian crises affecting children. She has been quoted in outlets including Associated Press, POLITICO, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, and has been interviewed on CBS News “Face the Nation,” CNN, NPR, PBS “Amanpour & Co.”, and American Public Media’s “Marketplace.”

Janti’s past speaking engagements include those hosted by Clinton Global Initiative, Concordia, Global Philanthropy Forum, Milken Institute, World Bank, and the United Nations, among others.

Janti holds master’s degrees in Economics and Finance, speaks Dutch, English, Indonesian, and German, and is half-Indonesian, half-Dutch. She is a parent of two children and lives in Connecticut, USA.

Jason Kwon is Chief Strategy Officer at OpenAI, where he oversees the company’s policy, legal, risk, social impact research, people, and international work. He brings a multidisciplinary background spanning technology, law, and strategy, with prior experience as General Counsel of Y Combinator Continuity, Assistant General Counsel at Khosla Ventures, and an associate attorney at Goodwin. Earlier in his career, Jason worked as a software engineer and product manager. He holds a JD from UC Berkeley School of Law and a BA from Georgetown University.

Jenna Adler is an industry-leading music agent at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), based in Los Angeles, she represents a roster of some of the most influential and culturally defining artists in the world including Green Day, Doja Cat, Charli xcx, Jennifer Lopez, Olivia Dean, Deftones, Shaboozey, Benny Blanco, Shania Twain, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Mark Ronson, and Hilary Duff, among others.

Adler continues to demonstrate a strong ability to identify and develop talent from early stages into global success stories while also elevating established acts. She played a key role in Green Day’s Saviors Tour, which grossed over $400 million across global stadiums and festivals, including the band’s first-ever Coachella headline performance. She also helped drive Charli xcx’s breakout into arena-level success with her BRAT era, marked by major festival appearances and heightened cultural relevance.

Adler was instrumental in Shaboozey’s rise, as his hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” spent 19 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, alongside a sold-out debut headline tour and major festival bookings. A longtime collaborator with Deftones, she helped lead their sold-out arena tour, including milestone performances at Madison Square Garden and The Forum. She also guided the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ successful Hidden in Pieces tour, featuring multiple nights at venues like The Beacon Theatre and Royal Albert Hall.

Beyond individual artists, Adler continues to support the growth of CAA’s Hip-Hop/R&B Touring division, contributing to runs for artists like Playboi Carti, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, and Lil Yachty.

Adler is behind several major 2026 projects, including Doja Cat’s global arena tour, Olivia Dean’s first arena tour, and Jennifer Lopez’s Las Vegas residency, among other high-profile initiatives.

Jenny Han is an executive producer, showrunner, and #1 New York Times bestselling author of the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series and The Summer I Turned Pretty series. Her books have been published in more than thirty languages.

She is the creator and co-showrunner of The Summer I Turned Pretty series, which premiered in 2022. Starring Lola Tung, Christopher Briney, and Gavin Casalegno, the first season of The Summer I Turned Pretty became the number one show on Amazon Prime Video in its premiere weekend. Season Two followed in 2023 and more than doubled the viewership of its predecessor within the first three days. Season Three, which marked her directorial debut, premiered in July 2025. It drew 25 million viewers in its first 7 days and reached #1 in over 120 countries.

She served as an executive producer on the To All the Boys film trilogy on Netflix, starring Lana Condor and Noah Centineo. The first film, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, became one of Netflix’s most-viewed original films when it premiered in 2018. It was followed by To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You in 2020 and To All the Boys: Always and Forever in 2021. Han is also the creator and executive producer of the XO Kitty series, a To All the Boys spin-off that stars Anna Cathcart, now in its third season on Netflix.

In 2022, she signed an overall television and film deal with Amazon Studios. She develops and produces projects for the studio via her production banner, Jenny Kissed Me.

MASON REEVES
Mason Reeves made her acting debut this year as the young star of JOSEPHINE. Written and directed by Beth de Araujo, the story centers on 8-year-old Josephine, who witnesses a violent crime in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park while spending the day with her father, played by Channing Tatum. In the aftermath, the child spirals — not simply with words, but with behavior — as she seeks a sense of safety in a world that can no longer offer it. The film premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize Dramatic and the Audience Award Dramatic, a feat that only a handful of films have accomplished. JOSEPHINE went on to premiere internationally at the 76th Berlin International Film Festival where it was nominated for the Golden Bear. The film received raved reviews from critics which specifically called out Mason’s performance as one to watch.

Mason Reeves is a 3rd generation San Francisco native who was discovered at her neighborhood farmer’s market at age seven. Her mother is of Chinese descent and father is half Costa Rican. Mason is trilingual. When she’s not spending time with her three siblings, two cats, and a dog, Mason can be found at her jujitsu academy, reading, or doing arts and crafts.

GEMMA CHAN
Gemma Chan is an acclaimed British actress, producer, and advocate known for her groundbreaking roles in film, television, and the burgeoning field of digital media. A graduate of Oxford University in Law, she declined a prestigious legal career to study at Drama Centre London, eventually rising to global prominence as the anthropomorphic robot Anita/Mia in the sci-fi series Humans. She became a household name with her performance as the elegant Astrid Leong-Teo in the 2018 blockbuster Crazy Rich Asians and made history in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by playing two distinct characters: Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel (2019) and the lead protagonist Sersi in Eternals (2021).

Chan’s career has entered a sophisticated new era defined by award-winning independent cinema and high-tech production. In January 2026, she starred in and produced the thriller-drama “Josephine,” which won the Grand Jury Prize Dramatic and the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Her performance as Claire, a mother navigating the aftermath of a brutal trauma, was hailed as a career-defining turn. Additionally, she recently ventured into the gaming world, providing the voice and physical likeness for the character Selina Tan in “007 First Light,” a James Bond origin story released in March 2026 for the Nintendo Switch 2 and other platforms.

Beyond her screen work, Chan is a powerful advocate for inclusion and social change. She is a UNICEF Ambassador and the founder of the #StopESEAHate campaign in the UK, which supports grassroots organizations for East and Southeast Asian communities. Through her production company, she is currently developing projects focused on untold stories from the Asian diaspora, including an upcoming exploration of her family’s roots in mainland China and Hong Kong. Often cited as a “Changemaker” in the industry, she continues to balance high-fashion prominence—recently named a face for global luxury campaigns—with a steadfast commitment to structural reform within Hollywood.

BETH DE ARAÚJO
Beth de Araújo is a Writer and Director nominated for the 2022 Gotham Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award for her debut feature film, Soft & Quiet, which premiered at the SXSW 2022 Film Festival and was acquired by Blumhouse and distributed by eOne.

Her sophomore film, JOSEPHINE premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in U.S. Dramatic Competition and won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize.

Araújo has a BA in Sociology from The University of California Berkeley and an MFA from the American Film Institute. Her mother is Chinese-American and her father is from Brazil. She was born and raised in San Francisco with her three sisters and is a dual citizen of both Brazil and the United States.

JOSEPHINE ANTOCI
Josephine Antoci is the President and co-owner of Erewhon. A Taiwanese-American entrepreneur and UCLA alumna, Antoci acquired the brand’s sole remaining location in Los Angeles’ Fairfax District with her husband, Tony, in 2011. Under her leadership, the chain has expanded to 12 locations across Southern California, achieving a reputation as the world’s most exclusive grocery destination with a reported annual revenue exceeding $170 million.

Antoci serves as the company’s “chief tastemaker,” personally overseeing product curation and ensuring every item on the shelves meets rigorous nutritional and aesthetic standards. She is widely credited with pivoting Erewhon toward being a luxury wellness lifestyle, spearheading the expansion of its upscale cafes and the development of viral, celebrity collaboration smoothies. Her commitment to a “clean eating” philosophy, focusing on organic, non-GMO, and biodynamic products, has earned her recognition on Forbes’ 50 Over 50 list and solidified her influence in the retail and wellness industries. Through her meticulous attention to detail and brand identity, Antoci has successfully turned a simple grocery trip into a coveted social experience and a benchmark for modern luxury retail.

KABIR JAIN
Kabir Jain is the Chief Growth Officer and Chief of Staff at Erewhon, where he has been a central architect in transitioning the brand from a local organic grocer into a digitally native lifestyle powerhouse. Since joining the leadership team in 2019, Jain has spearheaded the company’s most critical expansion efforts, including the overhaul of its membership program, the launch of a robust e-commerce platform, and the optimization of digital ordering systems that fuel the brand’s viral popularity.

Before joining Erewhon, Jain built a strong foundation in consumer-focused finance and strategy. He began his career as a Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company before moving into the world of private equity, where he specialized in high-growth consumer brands. His tenures as a Senior Associate at TSG Consumer Partners and as a Principal at Butterfly Equity allowed him to hone his expertise in scaling premium food and retail businesses, a skill set he successfully applied to Erewhon’s rapid scaling throughout Southern California.

An Austin native and graduate of the Texas McCombs School of Business, Jain is recognized in the industry as a leader at the intersection of retail and technology. Under his guidance, Erewhon has moved beyond traditional grocery metrics to prioritize community-driven growth and high-impact partnerships, solidifying its place at the forefront of the modern wellness economy.

JP PARK
Junghyun ‘JP’ Park is the owner and executive chef of Atoboy, Atomix, NARO, Seoul Salon in NYC.

Chef Junghyun ‘JP’ Park is a Seoul-born, New York City-based chef. He is globally acclaimed for his NYC restaurants Atomix (2 Michelin Stars, No. 12 World’s 50 Best 2025), Atoboy in NoMad, NARO in Rockefeller Center, Seoul Salon in Koreatown.

With an academic background in Food Sciences bolstered by years of experience in creating restaurants pioneering the ‘New Korean’ movement, Chef Junghyun Park continues to hone his dedication to evolving Hansik through research and development on a global scale.

Chef Junghyun Park was named a “Rising Star” by StarChefs (2016), “Best New Chef” by Food & Wine (2019), and the James Beard Foundation’s “Best Chef: NY State” in 2023.

ELLIA PARK
Ellia JeongEun Park is the co-founder and CEO of NA:EUN Hospitality, the acclaimed restaurant group behind Atoboy, Atomix (2 Michelin Stars, No. 12 World 50 Best Restaurants 2025), NARO, and Seoul Salon in New York City.

Known for her thoughtful, guest-centered approach, she leads the group’s service and operations. Her work has earned top recognition, including the Gin Mare Art of Hospitality Award from The World’s 50 Best (2022) and the James Beard Award for Outstanding Hospitality (2025).

Together with her husband, Chef Junghyun ‘JP’ Park, Ellia continues to redefine Korean cuisine on the international stage, fostering creativity and inclusivity within the industry.

Saint Paul residents elected Kaohly Her as the city’s first woman and first Asian American mayor in 2025. Mayor Her was born in the mountains of Laos and came to the United States as a refugee at age three. A strong work ethic, her family’s tenacity, and support from her community propelled Mayor Her to the highest levels of our state government and now to City Hall. She earned her Bachelor’s in Finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an MBA from Northeastern University, and is a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Saint Thomas. A finance professional, non-profit executive, stay-at-home mom, school board administrator, and State Representative, Mayor Her brings her years of lived experience across different sectors to help Saint Paul move forward.

KAYDEN BEASLEY
Kayden Beasley was born in China as a congenital bilateral amputee. His birth parents abandoned him, and at age 3, Kayden was adopted by Anthony and Amy Beasley and brought home to North Carolina on Christmas Day 2009.

In 2019, Beasley started playing sled hockey with the Carolina Hurricanes Sled Hockey team. Five years later, he made his debut on the U.S. national team in the International Para Hockey Cup, where he was named U.S. Player of the Game in their semifinal win over Italy.

When not on the ice, Kayden enjoys hanging out with his older brother Caleb, playing video games.

JEN LEE
Jen Lee was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and moved to the United States at age six. In high school, he competed in track and field and basketball. He enlisted in the U.S. Army after high school. Lee had his left leg amputated above the knee when it was injured in a motorcycle accident in 2009. He was introduced to sled hockey by “Operation Comfort,” an organization dedicated to assisting injured U.S. service personnel at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Lee was named to his first Paralympic team for U.S. sled hockey at the Paralympic Winter Games Sochi 2014 and was a backup goalie to USOPC Hall of Famer Steve Cash for 2014 and 2018 Paralympic gold-medal winning teams. For the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, Lee was named the starting goalie and did not allow a goal in the four games he played for the United States as the sled hockey team won an unprecedented fourth straight gold medal.

When he is not on the ice, he enjoys CrossFit workouts. In July 2024, his first daughter, LeiAna LilliAni, was born.

BRETT BOLTON
Brett Bolton grew up in Rockledge, Florida, a fan of the two NHL hockey teams in Florida: the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Bolton was born a congenital amputee and competed in numerous sports growing up, including gymnastics, wrestling, and track and field. He was introduced to sled hockey at age 8, as his local team, the Space Coast Blast, had featured two-time Paralympic gold medalist Greg Shaw.

At age 16, Brett Bolton made his U.S. National Sled Hockey Team debut at the 2022 IPH Cup in Ostrava, Czechia. He was a member of Team USA’s gold-medal winning squad at the 2023 World Para Ice Hockey Championship and helped the U.S. capture a silver medal at the 2024 World Para Ice Hockey Championship the following season. Bolton didn’t make the U.S. roster for the 2025 tournament but used it to fuel his desire to make the 2026 U.S. Paralympic sled hockey team: “I kind of had my eye on Milano Cortina as a little bit of redemption.”

Bolton was named to the U.S. team for the 2025 Para Hockey Cup where he had the game-winning goal in the championship vs Canada and also tallied a hat trick against China in the semifinals to help propel the U.S. to the title game. Just over a month later, Bolton would be named to his first U.S. Paralympic team for the Paralympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

Off the ice, Bolton is a sophomore at the University of Colorado, where he is pursuing a double major in finance and accounting, with a minor in leadership.

Kehlani is a Grammy-winning singer and songwriter who has become a leading voice in contemporary R&B, celebrated for their raw vulnerability and genre-blending sound. Originally from Oakland, California, Kehlani rose to prominence through the mixtape Cloud 19 and the critically acclaimed You Should Be Here, the latter of which earned them their first Grammy nomination. Over the years, they have cultivated a reputation for deeply personal storytelling that touches on themes of love, queer identity, and mental health, establishing a loyal global fanbase.

The past year has marked a definitive peak in Kehlani’s career, highlighted by the massive success of the single “Folded.” The track became their first solo top-ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned them two Grammy Awards in early 2026 for Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song. Building on this momentum, Kehlani was honored with the Impact Award at the 2026 Billboard Women in Music event, recognizing their contributions to the evolution of the genre.

Most recently, Kehlani released their self-titled fifth studio album on April 24, 2026—coinciding with their 31st birthday. The project is their most collaborative to date, featuring a star-studded lineup including Missy Elliott, Usher, Brandy, and Lil Wayne. Described as a “historical personal moment,” the album serves as a definitive mission statement for an artist who continues to bridge the gap between classic R&B influences and a modern, singular vision.

On the personal impact of being Asian:

The Oakland-born R&B singer and songwriter, Kehlani, was born a unique blend of ethnicities including Filipino, African American, Caucasian, Native American, and Spanish. Months after her birth, Kehlani lost her father, never properly meeting him. Mired in drug addiction, her mom shuffled her to an aunt. She initially found solace in dance—ballet in particular—but a knee injury sidelined her what might’ve been a budding career as ballerina. “That’s when I started singing,” she recalls. “When I was living with my aunt, she played me all of these powerful women and love songs. It was that Neo Soul-R&B, and I couldn’t get enough of it. It felt right to sing from the moment I began.” Kehlani’s 2014 mixtape, Cloud 19, introduced her to the world. Immediately, tastemakers and audiences alike wholeheartedly embraced her brutally raw pain, passion, love, and triumph. Complex showcased the songstress in a piece entitled “How R&B Saved 2014,” Pitchfork dubbed the mixtape one of the “Overlooked mixtapes of 2014,” Vice proclaimed her an “R&B Artist on the Verge of Blowing Up,” BuzzFeedpegged her at #4 on their “41 SXSW 2015 Artists You Need In Your Life,” and she ended up being one of SXSW’s “Top 5 Most Tweeted Artists.” In late April she shared You Should Be Here with the world. Upon its release Billboard immediately called this project “The year’s first great R&B album”. Amongst their great review,You Should Be Here has seen quite a bit of success on the charts. Aside from being the top R&B debut of the week, it also came in at #1 on the iTunes R&B/Soul chart and #2 on both the Overall R&B Albums and Current R&B Albums chart.

Kevin Ma founded the Group in 2007, and was appointed as an Executive Director of the Company in 2015. He also acts as the Chief Executive Officer, the Chairman of the Board, the Chairman of the Nomination Committee and a member of the Remuneration Committee of the Company. He is a Director of CORE Capital Group Limited, a controlling shareholder of the Company.

Kevin is primarily responsible for the overall management, business direction and strategies of the Group. With over 17 years of industry experience in digital media marketing, web business development and social media marketing, he has been defined as a leading cultural entrepreneur by global media outlets. Through the global expansion and growth of Hypebeast, Kevin has cemented his position on an international level, and Hypebeast has transitioned today into the most relevant and reliable source for culture news. He has transformed Hypebeast into a global platform through his creativity, innovation and experimental spirit. In 2012, he launched the e-commerce site, HBX, with the aim of bridging the gap for readers to purchase products, resulting in tremendous business.

Always on the move and striving to achieve more by experimenting and creating new products, Kevin also developed a creative agency arm, Hypemaker, serving globally recognized clients worldwide through delivery of premium creative services and adding to his list of professional achievements. Kevin obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in economics and psychology in May 2005 from the University of British Columbia, Canada.

Koyoharu Gotouge is the anonymous, visionary creator of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, one of the most successful media franchises in history. Known only by their signature bespectacled crocodile avatar, Gotouge became the first manga artist named to the Time 100 Next list in 2021. Their work is celebrated for its emotional depth and distinct art style, which blends traditional Japanese motifs with visceral action.

By April 2026, the Demon Slayer phenomenon has transitioned into a record-breaking cinematic trilogy. The first film, Infinity Castle, released in July 2025 and earned over $778 million globally, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of all time in Japan. While Ufotable recently confirmed that the highly anticipated sequel will arrive in 2027 to ensure production quality, Gotouge remains an active supervisor of the franchise. Looking ahead, the author has expressed interest in departing from dark fantasy to create a science-fiction romantic comedy, marking an eagerly awaited “Second Phase” for the “Crocodile-sensei.”

KPop Demon Hunters has become a definitive cultural landmark, shattering viewership records and bridging the gap between Korean entertainment and global mainstream media. By blending traditional Korean folklore with modern pop aesthetics, it transformed K-pop into a vehicle for universal storytelling. The film’s historic 2026 awards sweep, which included winning Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song at the Oscars, cemented its legacy as a production that successfully translated the “Hallyu” wave into prestigious, multi-platform critical acclaim.

Kruti Patel Goyal is Etsy’s Chief Executive Officer. Previously, she served as Etsy’s President and Chief Growth Officer, where she brought together all customer touchpoints to deliver a more compelling and inspiring experience for millions of Etsy buyers and sellers. In that role, she oversaw Product, Engineering, Marketing, Member Support, Trust & Safety, and Strategy and Operations. Kruti also serves as a member of Etsy’s Board of Directors.

From 2022 to 2025, Kruti served as CEO of Depop, an Etsy, Inc. subsidiary. During her tenure, she strengthened Depop’s core marketplace proposition and prioritized product development and marketing strategies that differentiated the company in the growing secondhand market. Together, these initiatives accelerated gross merchandise sales and established Depop as the fastest-growing online apparel resale marketplace in the United States.

Prior to joining Depop, Kruti worked at Etsy for over 10 years, serving in leadership roles through multiple phases of growth. Her responsibilities included serving as Chief Product Officer; overseeing Etsy’s global Seller Services business; managing Corporate Development; leading the International Growth team; and serving as the company’s first Head of Marketplace Integrity and Trust & Safety. Before joining Etsy, Kruti worked in strategy and business development at Viacom and at Product (RED). She began her career in mergers and acquisitions at Morgan Stanley and at General Atlantic Partners in growth equity.

Laufey (pronounced lay-vay) has captivated a generation with virtuosic songs of love and self-discovery by manifesting her vision of jazz- and classical-infused pop music. After becoming the youngest ever recipient of the GRAMMY for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album (for Bewitched), the Icelandic-Chinese composer and singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist feels freer than ever to, as she puts it, “let my heart wander.” For her third album, A Matter of Time, Laufey teams with fellow producers Spencer Stewart and Aaron Dessner to break the set of expectations she herself set, serving up a transcendent sound and honest writing that cuts to the heart. It’s the culmination of an incredible journey that began with her playing cello with the Iceland Symphony as a teen before writing her first charting single while studying at Berklee College of Music. Laufey’s many achievements have since grown to include 5+ billion global streams, a social media audience of 24+ million, the biggest jazz LP debut in Spotify history, an album in Billboard’s Top 20, a pile of Platinum plaques, a Forbes 30 Under 30 designation, and, in 2025, being named one of TIME’s Women of the Year. She’s also: sold out the Madison Square Garden, Crypto.com Arena, Red Rocks Amphitheatre and London’s Royal Albert Hall; performed backed by the LA Phil, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the China Philharmonic Orchestra; shared the stage with the likes of Jon Batiste and Raye; and collaborated on record with artists including Barbra Streisand, Beabadoobee and Norah Jones.

MAIA KEALOHA
Maia Kealoha, a 9-year-old actress from Hawaii, gained international recognition for her breakout role as Lilo in Disney’s live-action adaptation of Lilo & Stitch. The film became a global box office phenomenon, surpassing one billion dollars worldwide, and introduced Maia to audiences around the world with her heartfelt, spirited portrayal of the beloved character.

Grounded in her Hawaiian heritage, Maia draws on her love of hula and cultural upbringing to bring genuine warmth and authenticity to her performances, capturing the aloha spirit at the heart of Lilo & Stitch.

She recently appeared in Amazon MGM’s film The Wrecking Crew and guest-starred on Disney’s newest TV series Electric Bloom. Maia will next be seen in the holiday film Nutmeg & Mistletoe, continuing to build an exciting and diverse young career.

Known for her infectious personality and unforgettable viral interview moments, Maia captivates everyone she meets with her charisma and magnetic energy. Off-screen, she pours her creativity into singing, dancing, reading, writing short stories and poems, and drawing—passions that reflect her love of storytelling and imagination, bringing the same energy and joy to her personal pursuits as she does to her work on screen.

SYDNEY AGUDONG
Born and raised on the island of Kaua’i, Hawai’i, Sydney Agudong is a multi-talented actress and singer-songwriter, best known currently for lighting up screens as ‘Nani’ in Disney’s live-action film adaption of LILO & STITCH. The blockbuster released theatrically on May 23, 2025, and became an instant box office hit, becoming the first movie of 2025 to pass the $1 billion milestone worldwide. The widespread success garnered a quick greenlight for LILO & STITCH 2, which is currently in development.

Sydney can be seen in the popular Netflix drama series, Ripple, as well as in the psychological thriller “Ether” in which she is also an executive producer. In addition, Sydney can be seen as the lead in the upcoming film, “At Her Feet”, and in supporting roles in the indie films, “Trapped in a Farm House” and “Infamously in Love”. She also recurred as Charlize in season 4 of Netflix’s On My Block and appeared in an episode of NCIS.

Sydney will next be seen co starring in the Josie Andrew’s comedic slasher film, Bach Sh*t Crazy currently in production in Lake Tahoe.

In addition to her acting, Sydney is working with FR8 Train Music Publishing, a publishing company founded under Westlake Studios, as a top-liner/songwriter for sync and other artists. She released her debut original song in 2022 “Welcome to Hollywood” under her artist name “Jayne Doe” and it has been recognized by magazines and publications including Earmilk, Sweetyhigh, and more. Sydney has been working hard and is very excited to release more original music soon. Sydney is represented by Gersh Agency, AEFH Talent Agency, Trilogy Talent Management, Inc. and attorney Howard Fishman of HWHM+F.

CHRIS KEKANIOKALANI BRIGHT
Chris Kekaniokalani Bright is a Native Hawaiian filmmaker, writer, photographer and musician from Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi. After attending Kamehameha Schools for thirteen years, Chris went on to study film and music at Chapman University. He worked in production at Walt Disney Animation Studios from 2014-2017. In 2018, his feature script CONVICTION made the Black List and was sold to Warner Brothers. His first credited feature film is the live-action version of LILO & STITCH (2025).

Lola Tung is an American actor and singer who rose to global stardom as Isabel “Belly” Conklin in the hit series The Summer I Turned Pretty. Born in New York City and an alumna of the prestigious Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, Tung was famously discovered while a freshman at Carnegie Mellon University. Her portrayal of Belly across three seasons (2022–2025) turned her into a definitive Gen Z icon, leading to high-profile partnerships with brands like Coach and American Eagle.

Tung has successfully transitioned from teen drama lead to a versatile performer across film and theater. In 2024, she made her Broadway debut to critical acclaim as Eurydice in the Tony-winning musical Hadestown, a role that earned her an iHeartRadio Music Award nomination for Favorite Broadway Debut. Most recently, she pivoted into the horror genre with a starring role in the 2026 supernatural comedy “Forbidden Fruits.” The film, which premiered at SXSW in March 2026 and released nationwide shortly after, features Tung as Pumpkin, a member of a secret witch cult operating out of a suburban mall.

Critically acclaimed actress and filmmaker Lucy Liu is internationally recognized for roles in films that have grossed over $3.7 billion worldwide, including Kill Bill, Charlie’s Angels, Chicago, Set It Up, Presence, and Red One. She produced and stars in the indie feature Rosemead which was released in theaters nationwide in January 2026. Critics praised Liu for her revelatory turn in the film and have called it a career best performance. The feature film made its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival, won Best Narrative Feature at the Bentonville Film Festival, and won the Prix du Public UBS audience award at the Locarno Film Festival where Liu also accepted its prestigious Career Achievement Award.

Liu earned Emmy nominations for Ally McBeal and The Pirate Queen (VR), and has produced and championed impactful documentaries including Freedom’s Fury and Redlight. A celebrated visual artist and longtime UNICEF Ambassador, Liu became only the second Asian American woman in nearly 60 years to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

MADISON CHOCK
Madison Chock began her figure skating career at the age of five. Chock partnered with Evan Bates in 2011, and the two became one of the top U.S. ice dance teams. Chock made her Olympic debut at the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014 alongside partner Bates, and the pair won their first Olympic medal at their third Olympic Games, capturing gold in the team event in Beijing.

They just missed the podium in the ice dance event, finishing fourth, but since the Beijing Games, Chock and Bates have won three consecutive ISU World Figure Skating Championships (2023-2025), becoming the first U.S. team to accomplish this feat. By winning their seventh U.S. title in January 2026. Chock and Bates now hold the record for most consecutive podium finishes at U.S. Nationals in any discipline, surpassing Michelle Kwan (1994-05) and pairs team Theresa Weld Blanchard and Nathaniel Niles (1914, 1918, 1920-29).

Madison Chock started her own business called Madison Chock Design, which offers her design services to other figure skaters. Chock designed a hooded, sand-colored dress for Spain’s Olivia Smart that won the ISU’s Best Costume for the 2024-2025 season.

Off the ice, Chock married her ice dance partner, Evan Bates, in June 2024 in Hawaii. They have two poodles, Henry and Stella.

ALYSA LIU
Alysa Liu is an American figure skater and Olympian who made history as one of her generation’s youngest and most accomplished skaters. Born in Clovis, California, she began skating at age five and, at age 12, became the youngest woman ever to land a triple Axel. A year later, she won the 2019 U.S. National Championship, becoming the youngest skater to do so at 13 years old.

Liu competed at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, finishing sixth in the women’s singles event, the highest among the U.S. competitors. A month later, she won a bronze medal at the 2022 ISU World Figure Skating Championships, becoming the first U.S. woman to reach the world podium since 2016. She finished the 2022 season and then retired from competitive skating at age 16.

During a skiing trip, a friend inspired Liu to return to figure skating. She decided to make her return, carefully selecting her own costumes, music, and program aesthetic. After finishing second at the U.S. Championships in her first season back on the ice, Liu became the first U.S. figure skater to win the women’s singles world title in 19 years at the 2025 World Championships held in Boston.

Outside of the rink, she’s interested in photography. During her two-year hiatus from skating, Liu climbed to the top of Mount Everest base camp (17,000+ ft above sea level) with friends.

ELLIE KAM
Kam’s skating career began at age 4 when she discovered the sport by watching her brothers enjoying their Learn to Skate classes. Growing up in Alaska, she trained on the same rink as two-time Canadian Olympian Keegan Messing. She began her career as a singles skater before transitioning to pairs.

She formed a partnership with Ian Meyh and relocated to Colorado Springs to train under coach Drew Meekins. The partnership qualified for the 2022 U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships. The partnership ended in mid-2022, leaving Kam at a crossroads in her skating career.

During this time, Kam met Danny O’Shea, a veteran pairs skater who had technically retired after a decade of elite competition. He stepped in when Kam needed someone to practice with to maintain her skills during this transitional period. They officially partnered together in September 2022, creating one of the most unique pairings in American skating. The nearly 14-year age difference between them became the largest for any U.S. pair to compete at the world championships since at least 1990.

The 2022-23 season marked their competitive debut, medalling at several competitions including a 12th place finish at the 2023 World Figure Skating Championships, a strong result for their first season. They experienced continued success throughout the years. In the 2024-25 season, they became only the fourth U.S. team to qualify for the Grand Prix Final in the last 14 editions.

Beyond competition, Kam’s experiences working with Olympic-level physical therapists and mental health professionals have inspired her interest in working with athletes, particularly female competitors, to emphasize physical and mental well-being in training environments. She actively participates in her team’s costume design and creation, bringing her love of fashion and thrifting to their competitive presentations.

In her limited free time, Kam enjoys baking, reading novels, knitting, and high-performance auto driving. She trains her two dogs, Bailey and Bear, and finds balance between the intense demands of Olympic-level pairs skating and the simple pleasures of life outside the rink.

Maneet Ahuja is an award-winning journalist, author and Editor-at-Large at Forbes, where she covers the intersection of Wall Street, billionaires & entrepreneurial capitalism. She is also the Founder of ICONOCLAST, Forbes’ premier global investor summit convening the world’s most iconic titans, visionaries, philanthropists, and changemakers. She holds the unique distinction of being the only journalist at Forbes to also be an alumnus of the celebrated Forbes Under 30 list for media and began her career on Wall Street at the age of seventeen working at Citigroup—which is where she earned the nickname “Wall Street Maneet.

Marian Lee was named Chief Marketing Officer of Netflix in March 2022 after joining Netflix the year prior in the role of Vice President of Marketing for the US and Canada. Previously, she spent eight years at Spotify, where she served as Vice President & Co-Head of Music; Vice President, Global Head of Artist & Label Services; and held various other positions leading the Global Consumer Marketing & Creator Marketing teams. Marian has also worked at some of the world’s leading brands in fashion and entertainment, including Condé Nast and J.Crew. She began her career at PwC as a management consultant in the Retail & Consumer Products division. Marian holds a B.A. in psychology from Barnard College, Columbia University.

Could have been an engineer. Became a YouTuber instead.

Maya Rogers is CEO of Tetris, where she is leading one of the world’s most iconic entertainment brands into its next era of global cultural relevance. Under her leadership, Tetris has evolved from a beloved video game into a cross-generational platform spanning gaming, film, fashion, and consumer products through more than 100 international partnerships. She has overseen the launch of acclaimed titles including Tetris Effect: Connected and Tetris 99, and served as an executive producer on the Apple TV+ feature film Tetris, helping position the brand at the center of digital culture.

Raised with a front-row view of Tetris’ global rise, Maya brings both deep respect for its legacy and a bold vision for its future. She is redefining how timeless intellectual property can live beyond the screen and move through culture, wellness, and everyday life.

Beyond Tetris, she co-founded Blue Startups, an early-stage tech accelerator based in Hawaiʻi that has supported more than 157 companies across gaming, sustainability, travel, and diverse founding teams, with a strong emphasis on backing women founders. As a women-led organization, Blue Startups is committed to leveling the playing field in technology, with a goal of supporting 50% female-founded companies.

Maya serves as Chair of the American Red Cross Pacific Islands Region and sits on the boards of Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women and Children and Cushing Academy. Across her work, she is shaping how global brands evolve and who gets to build what comes next.

MELANIE PERKINS
Melanie Perkins is CEO and co-founder of Canva, an online visual communication and collaboration platform with a mission to empower the whole world to design. Since launching in 2013, Canva has grown to over 190 million users across the world.

Melanie started her first company at the age of 19, creating an online design tool for creating school yearbooks. As the company grew and design became an increasingly universal need across almost every industry, Melanie went on to launch what would later become the first version of Canva.

In 2021, Melanie launched the Canva Foundation, announcing her commitment to donate the vast majority of her wealth and equity in Canva for philanthropic causes.

CAMERON ADAMS
Cameron Adams is the co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Canva, where he serves as the primary architect of the platform’s user experience and product strategy. A University of Melbourne graduate with a background in both Law and Science, Adams initially built his reputation as a “design technologist” at his agency, The Man in Blue, before being recruited by Google to work on Google Wave. In 2012, he joined Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, providing the technical and design bridge necessary to turn their vision of a simplified design tool into a global reality.

Under his leadership, Canva has scaled to over 190 million monthly users and successfully pivoted into the AI era through the launch of Magic Studio. As an author of five books on web design, Adams has focused on maintaining an intuitive interface even as the platform’s capabilities expanded into video, presentations, and websites. He has joined The Giving Pledge, committing the majority of his wealth to philanthropic causes, with a specific focus on environmental conservation and climate change.

Michael Luo is an executive editor at The New Yorker and writes regularly for the magazine on politics, religion, and Asian American issues. His first book, “Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America,” was published by Doubleday in 2025. It was named a best book of the year by The New Yorker, the Washington Post, Time, the Boston Globe, Bloomberg Businessweek, Kirkus Reviews, and the Library Journal, and long-listed for the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction. He joined The New Yorker in 2016 as an investigations editor and later became the editor of the magazine’s website. In 2024, he was named executive editor. Previously, he spent thirteen years at the New York Times, as a metro reporter, national correspondent, and investigative reporter and editor. He is a recipient of a George Polk Award and a Livingston Award for Young Journalists.

Mayor Michelle Wu is working to make Boston a home for everyone.

Since taking office, she has invested more in making housing affordable than any other administration in Boston’s history. In her first full year as mayor, gun violence fell to the lowest level on record in the city—and has continued to fall every year since. She promised a paid summer job to every BPS student who wanted one—and delivered, and has expanded Boston’s Pre-K and early education to serve more children and families than ever before.

From climate resiliency and transportation, to public health and community safety, Mayor Wu has established Boston as a global leader in delivering solutions to the biggest challenges families are facing.

She has divested City funds from fossil fuels and ended their use in all new City construction and major renovations; saved residents and businesses more than $230 million in energy costs through Boston’s Community Choice Electricity Program; secured funding for thousands of new jobs to protect Boston’s coastline; and doubled the number of trees planted on Boston’s streets every year.

Mayor Wu has boosted public transit ridership in the city through fare-free Boston bus lines; installed more speed humps to protect pedestrians and neighbors on residential streets in the last two years than in the previous six combined; secured a board seat granting Boston a voice in governing the MBTA; and deployed new technology to optimize traffic signals and reduce congestion on Boston’s roads.

Under her leadership, the City settled a collective bargaining process with law enforcement that set a national standard for accountability and community policing—investing in officer education, improving family leave policies, and ending arbitration as a way to avoid disciplinary action for the most serious offenses.

Building on the success of her BPS Sundays Pilot program, Mayor Wu worked to make nine of Boston’s leading museums and cultural institutions free to all school-aged children in the city. As a Boston Public Schools mom, she has expanded early college and career programs to more high school students than ever before; invested in the District’s first long-term vision for facilities informed by clear data and community standards; and delivered more resources for academics, arts, and student athletics across our neighborhoods.

Mayor Wu’s administration has cut the ribbon on 20 new or newly-renovated public parks; supported more than 90 new small businesses in revitalizing formerly vacant neighborhood retail spaces, creating more than 800 new jobs; filled more than 18,000 potholes; and helped nearly 700 families become first-time homeowners through City of Boston programs.

Mayor Wu is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. She began her career in public service interning at City Hall for Mayor Tom Menino and is an alumna of the Rappaport Fellows Program in Law and Public Policy. Mayor Wu lives in Roslindale with her husband Conor and their three children, Blaise, Cass, and Mira.

Mike Chuthakieo oversees all aspects of commercial strategy and revenue generation for Dick Clark Productions, establishing strategic brand alliances and helping to develop and expand the reach of IP across all media platforms for top-rated programming, including “Golden Globes,” “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest,” “American Music Awards,” “Billboard Music Awards,” and “Academy of Country Music Awards.”

Prior to Dick Clark Productions, Chuthakieo served as Chief Revenue Officer at 88rising, where he led the commercial efforts to help champion the best of Asian music and culture around the globe. Chuthakieo’s career includes pivotal leadership positions at Pinterest, Pandora, and MySpace/Fox Interactive, where he played key roles in building their advertising businesses from the ground up. His extensive experience spans ad agency, sports marketing, media, and adtech, bringing a forward-thinking, cross-platform approach to commercial strategy.

The first Asian American head coach in WNBA history and the 2025 WNBA Coach of the Year, Natalie Nakase led the Golden State Valkyries to 23 regular season wins during their inaugural campaign, a WNBA single-season record by an expansion team. Under her leadership, the Valkyries also became the first-ever expansion franchise to reach the playoffs in their inaugural season.

Nakase joined the Valkyries following over 16 years of coaching professional basketball, including three seasons as first assistant coach with the Las Vegas Aces where she played a critical role guiding the team to back-to-back WNBA Championships (2022, 2023).

Prior to her time with the Aces, Nakase spent 10 seasons in various capacities with the Los Angeles Clippers, most recently as an assistant coach and player development coach in a dual role with the NBA team and their G League affiliate, the Agua Caliente Clippers.
Nakase got her coaching start in 2008 with the Women’s Professional Basketball German League, serving as head coach for the Wolfenbuttel Wildcats for two seasons (2008-10). She then served as an assistant coach for the Tokyo Apache for one season (2010-11) in the Men’s Professional Basketball Japan League, followed by acting as head coach for the Saitama Broncos from 2011-12, making her the first woman to serve as head coach in the league.

Nakase was a walk-on women’s basketball player at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1998-2003, where she played her way into the starting lineup and served as team captain for three seasons. A native of Los Angeles, she graduated with her bachelor of science in psychology. After graduation, she played professionally for two years in the National Women’s Basketball League (NWBL) with the San Jose Spiders and San Diego Siege.

Neil Shah was named Chief Commercial Officer in 2018 and provides global leadership to the Sales, Analytics, and Marketing organization.

Neil joined SharkNinja in October 2007 as the Manager of Sales Planning and Analysis; Neil has held various leadership roles within Strategic Sales & Marketing. Prior to joining SharkNinja, Neil held several positions within The Holmes Group, including Category Manager for the Wal-Mart business, and Senior Analyst, Sales and Operations, for the Jarden Consumer Solutions business.

Neil received his Bachelor of Commerce and his Master of Commerce in Statistics and Accounting from H.A. College of Commerce at Gujarat University in India. He holds a Master of Business Administration in Management from McCallum Graduate School of Business at Bentley College.

Drawing on 25 years of leadership in nongovernmental organizations and the private sector, Patrick Canagasingham oversees the operations of Habitat for Humanity’s work in more than 70 countries.

Patrick is a native of Sri Lanka and a Canadian citizen. Before coming to Habitat, he served as CEO of Toronto-based Children Believe since 2017. He previously served as COO of Oxfam International, where he applied his considerable experience in operational management, strategic planning and organizational leadership to serve a global workforce of 10,000 staff members and oversee a budget of $1.3 billion.

Before his time with Oxfam, Patrick held senior leadership roles with World Vision in Canada and East Asia from 2007 through 2015, including vice president of international programs at World Vision Canada, where he was accountable for planning, implementing and evaluating the organization’s international program commitments in nearly 70 countries in conjunction with other World Vision offices.

Patrick holds a master’s degree in human rights from the University of London and a bachelor’s degree from York University in Toronto.

Phillip Sun is the founder and CEO of 1v1 Entertainment, a full-service management firm advancing clients’ global enterprise ambitions.

For the last twenty-one years, he has dedicated himself to pushing forward multi-cultural talent and story-telling, with clients including Academy Award Winner Michael B. Jordan, Emmy Award Winner Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Gemma Chan, Simu Liu, Caleb McLaughlin, Lance Gross, Jaalen Best, Sullivan Stapleton, Stephanie Suganami, and Lucien Laviscount.

Sun began his career in the William Morris Agency mailroom in 2005, and then transitioned to WME in 2009 as the agency merged with Endeavor. In 2015, he became one of the first Asian American agents to be promoted to partner at the agency. He utilized his platform to push for change as co-founder of Empower at WME. Following this, he co-founded and served as former co-founder and managing partner of M88, the first major BIPOC-led representation and management company. Sun most recently launched 1v1 Entertainment in 2025.

He has appeared in The Hollywood Reporter’s Next Generation list, Empowerment list, and was previously honored on the A100 Most Impactful Asians list in 2021.

Sun is a proud graduate of The College of William & Mary in Virginia, and currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife (Perri) and two sons (Quinn and Ryder).

Rahul Patil is the Chief Technology Officer of Anthropic, a role he assumed in late 2025 to lead the company’s engineering organization across product, infrastructure, and security. A veteran of the technology industry with over 20 years of experience, he joined Anthropic from Stripe, where he served as CTO and oversaw the technical systems supporting millions of global businesses. His career is defined by a focus on building and scaling mission-critical cloud infrastructure, including senior leadership tenures at Amazon Web Services, where he led the Kinesis team, as well as Microsoft and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

At Anthropic, Patil is responsible for the technical foundation that powers the Claude AI models, specifically overseeing compute, inference, and the integration of product-engineering with infrastructure teams. An alumnus of PES University in Bengaluru with a Master’s in Computer Science from Arizona State University and an MBA from the University of Washington, Patil is recognized for his “design for failure” philosophy, which emphasizes building resilient, self-recovering systems capable of supporting the massive enterprise demand for generative AI.

Rati Sahi Levesque, President and Chief Executive Officer of The RealReal, is responsible for overseeing all of the company’s revenue channels and operations, including its authentication center and retail footprints, as well as expert teams and authentication. She also leads the merchandising, editorial and creative vision of the company. Rati joined The RealReal Founder Julie Wainwright in 2011 as the company’s first employee and a catalyst to bringing Julie’s vision of a new way to buy and sell consigned luxury goods to life. Prior to joining The RealReal, Rati launched her first entrepreneurial endeavor with the fashion-forward Russian Hill boutique, Anica. Setting out to fill the void of avant-garde designers in the city, Anica acquired a significant following, especially for the store’s luxury consignment selection. Prior to that, she worked in the financial industry, following her graduation from the University of California, Santa Cruz where she received a degree in Economics.

Rati is featured prominently in fashion publications like Fashionista, Glossy, The Coveteur, ELLE, Cheddar and more, offering expertise on all things luxury and consignment. She was featured in the second annual Glossy 50 list, as well as in Internet Retailer’s Hot 100 issue. Rati spoke at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Next Gen Summit and was recognized by Luxury Daily as one of their Luxury Women to Watch. Additionally, she was part of the ShopStyle Advisory Board. Rati resides in San Francisco with her husband and two children.

REI MATSUNUMA
Rei Matsunuma previously served as director at UNIQLO Co., Ltd., including UT Collaboration Business Division, Global PR and Japan Marketing. He led the impressive growth of the UT business.

2021 Director and COO of the Company

2022 Representative Director, President and COO of the Company, overseeing overall management and business divisions

2024 Representative Director, CEO and COO of the Company

REHITO HATOYAMA
Rehito Hatoyama began his career at Mitsubushi Corporation, and then served as managing director of Sanrio Co., Ltd., leading corporate strategy, global business development and new businesses such as IT. He currently serves as Outside Director of several listed companies including DeNA Co., Ltd., LINE Corporation, Pigeon Corporation, Transcosmos Inc., and Z Holdings Corporation. Rehito holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

2021 Director and CSO of the Company, overseeing global business development and strategy department

Reshma Saujani is a leading movement builder, the founder of Girls Who Code and Moms First, and the host of the award-winning podcast My So-Called Midlife with Lemonada Media. For more than a decade, she has launched bold, culture-shifting organizations for gender equality, working to close the gender gap in tech, fight for paid leave and affordable child care, and confront the penalties women face in midlife. In 2026, Saujani was named one of TIME’s Women of the Year. Her first documentary, No Country For Mothers, which aims to uncover the lies dividing American moms, premieres in June 2026.

On the future of industry:

The future is in the hands of our girls! We’re teaching girls to code and giving them the tools they need to unlock their power and potential to change the world.

On the personal impact of being Asian:

I grew up as one of the few Indian families in my neighborhood, and at an early age I experienced racism and prejudice. I often felt like I didn't belong. This experience is what led me to be an activist and to fight for diversity, inclusion and racial justice in every space I have been in.

On how Asians can amplify society:

Voter registration. It's so important for our community to participate in the political process and to make sure we have a voice.

Revathi Advaithi is chief executive officer of Flex, the manufacturing partner of choice that helps leading brands design, build, and manage products that improve the world. Since 2019, Ms. Advaithi has led Flex’s workforce spanning approximately 30 countries in a transformation to define a new era in manufacturing. Under her leadership, Flex is focused on driving technology innovation, supply chain resilience, and responsible, sustainable manufacturing solutions across various industries and end markets.

Prior to Flex, Ms. Advaithi was president and chief operating officer for the electrical sector business at Eaton, with corporate responsibility for the Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions. During her tenure, she led several strategic initiatives, including digital technology transformation and globally distributed innovation centers. In addition to her time at Eaton, Ms. Advaithi worked at Honeywell for six years in leadership roles spanning manufacturing, procurement, supply chain, and sourcing. She is a recognized advocate for public-private collaboration in manufacturing. In 2023, she was appointed to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations and the Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness by the U.S. President. Ms. Advaithi serves on Uber’s board of directors, is a member of the MIT Presidential CEO Advisory Board and belongs to the Business Roundtable. She was co-chair of the WEF Advanced Manufacturing CEO Community (2022-2025). Ms. Advaithi has been named one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business and featured on CNBC’s inaugural Changemakers list.

She has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India, and holds an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management

Reynold is a co-founder at Databricks, a San Francisco-based tech startup powering the data, AI, and cybersecurity infrastructure for organizations worldwide. At Databricks, he has helped create multiple billion-dollar product lines. He is a central figure in modern data infrastructure for his work on Databricks and his contributions to many of the most important open source projects in the space.

He earned a PhD in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BASc in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto.

Sabih Khan is Apple’s chief operating officer, reporting to CEO Tim Cook. In this role, he oversees Apple’s worldwide operations, environmental and social initiatives, as well as AppleCare customer service and support.

Sabih leads the team in charge of Apple’s global supply chain, including planning, procurement, manufacturing, quality, logistics, and product fulfillment functions, as well as Apple’s supply chain innovation programs that support and educate workers at supplier facilities around the world.

Sabih also oversees teams focused on Apple’s environmental and social initiatives, accessibility, and AI data operations. And as the leader of AppleCare, Sabih leads the dedicated teams that help customers navigate any service and support they need for their Apple products and services.

Sabih previously served as Apple’s senior vice president of Operations, and since joining Apple in 1995, he has played an important role in delivering each of Apple’s innovative products to market. Prior to Apple, Sabih worked at GE Plastics. He earned bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University, and a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Sam Gill is the president and CEO of the Doris Duke Foundation (DDF), a private foundation based in New York, New Jersey and Hawai’i, which seeks to build a more creative, equitable and sustainable future through work across three areas: Arts & Culture, Nature, and Health & Well-being. He previously served as senior vice president and chief program officer at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and as a vice president at Freedman Consulting, LLC.

Sam Wu is Chief Executive Officer of Rakuten Viki, the leading global streaming service for Asian entertainment. Under his leadership, Viki has scaled to over 100 million users across 190 countries, helping to establish Asian film and television as a global cultural force. By championing Asian creators and stories, he has guided Viki in bridging cultures and expanding global appreciation for these narratives.

SAMANTHA WU
Samantha Wu is a seasoned CMO and advisor to the C-Suite, with over 20 years of experience she has held senior roles across Facebook/Meta, Eventbrite, Visa and American Express. Her marketing teams have been awarded with numerous global advertising awards, including Bronze Lions at Cannes, and several Shorty and Clio awards for exceptional social content and campaign work.

Wu has a BA in Economics and Asian studies from Tufts University, a MIA from Columbia University in International Affairs and Finance.

ANAND GANDHI
Anand Gandhi is a seasoned finance executive who currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer of Eventbrite. With over 25 years of experience, he has built a career navigating complex financial landscapes for both large public corporations and high-growth, venture-backed businesses. Before joining Eventbrite in late 2024, he held the CFO position at Viator, the world’s largest travel experience marketplace, and previously served as CFO for the online learning community Skillshare.

His extensive professional background includes significant strategic leadership roles at major media organizations such as The Walt Disney Company, 21st Century Fox, Viacom, and Time Inc. Gandhi began his career in investment banking at Morgan Stanley, where he specialized in Mergers and Acquisitions.

He is recognized for his expertise in capital markets, corporate development, and business transformation. At Eventbrite, he oversees global financial operations, including accounting, strategy, and data analytics. Gandhi holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Columbia University, where he also served as Class President. As of early 2026, he continues to play a central role in the company’s strategic evolution following its acquisition by Bending Spoons.

Sandy Liang is a New York-based fashion designer whose work has defined the “downtown coquette” aesthetic of the 2020s. After briefly studying architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design, she transferred to Parsons School of Design, launching her namesake label in 2014 immediately after graduation. Her brand is famously rooted in hyper-local and nostalgic inspirations, particularly the “Chinatown grandma” style she observed while growing up in Queens and spending time at her father’s Manhattan restaurant, Congee Village. She rose to mainstream prominence in 2019 when her leopard-print fleece jackets became a viral sensation, leading to the opening of her Lower East Side flagship store in 2020.

Liang has solidified her reputation for blending “girlhood nostalgia” with technical utility, often utilizing motifs like ribbons, bows, and lace alongside gorpcore-inspired silhouettes. Her expansion into footwear (specifically her signature ballet-inspired Mary Janes) has created a cult following frequently compared to that of streetwear giants.

Based in New York, she continues to lead her label with a focus on “timeless innovation,” maintaining a creative philosophy that prioritizes personal history and self-expression over fleeting industry trends.

SASWAT PANIGRAHI
Saswat Panigrahi is Chief Product Officer at Waymo, an autonomous driving technology company with a mission to be the world’s most trusted driver.

In this role, Saswat manages Waymo’s engineering and commercial roadmaps across our business lines of ride-hailing, long haul trucking and local delivery. He leads functions that include strategy, product management, technical program management, user experience research and design, industrial design, and product data science for Waymo. Having joined Waymo in 2016, he was part of Waymo’s launch of the first fully autonomous public ride-hailing service in Phoenix, and the start of fully autonomous operations in San Francisco. He was previously the company’s VP of Strategy, Product Management and Data Science.

Before Waymo, he was the Senior Product Manager at Google, working on Chrome Browser, Chromebooks, and Android in Germany and the U.S. Prior to Google, he held roles of Software Developer, Product Manager and Line Manager at Ericsson in Canada, China and Sweden leading a group of engineers, pre-sales, program and product managers in his last role. He also worked as a research engineer at McGill University.

Saswat earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur, his master’s in electrical and computer engineering at McGill University in Canada and Masters in Business Administration from IMD in Switzerland.

AMAR K. MEHTA
Amar K. Mehta is the Chief Legal Officer at Waymo, an autonomous driving technology company with a mission to be the world’s most trusted driver.

In his role, Amar is responsible for legal, insurance, global public policy, and government relations. His purview leading legal includes Waymo’s financing and corporate development transactions, worldwide commercial and strategic deals, litigation and law enforcement matters, and regulatory compliance and product safety, security and privacy counseling. Amar also leads development and enforcement of the company’s industry-leading IP portfolio and development of the company’s first-in-kind autonomous vehicle technology insurance underwriting, coverage and claims functions. In addition, he leads the global public policy and government relations team for Waymo, which is responsible for engaging with lawmakers and regulators in the U.S. and around the world to help create safe and sensible rules for AV deployment.

Before becoming Waymo’s Chief Legal Officer, as Deputy General Counsel, Amar oversaw the IP, Commercial, Corporate, and Employment legal functions and Waymo’s corporate development function. Prior to Waymo, Amar was a senior member of Google’s IP group, leading teams that covered Android, Chrome, Play, Hardware and YouTube. Before joining Alphabet, he was Partner and Chief Legal Officer at Altitude Capital Partners, a private equity firm that generated more than $700 million from IP investments. Earlier in his career, Amar litigated IP matters at Fish & Richardson and was an investment banker in Credit Suisse First Boston’s technology group.

Amar holds a SB and MEng degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Shailesh Jejurikar is P&G’s President and Chief Executive Officer and serves on the company’s board of directors. In this role, Shailesh is responsible for leading one of the world’s largest consumer packaged goods companies, serving about 5 billion people in more than 180 countries every year.

Prior to becoming CEO in January 2026, he was Chief Operating Officer with profit and loss responsibility for P&G’s Enterprise Markets (Latin America, India, Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe) and led Information Technology, Global Business Services, Sales, Market Operations, Purchasing, Manufacturing, Distribution and New Business for the company.

Shailesh’s extensive P&G career has spanned multiple businesses (Health & Beauty Care, Home Care, Fabric Care and P&G Professional) in both developed and developing regions (North America, Europe, Asia and Africa). With a passion for impacting the lives of people around the world, he is known for his ability to identify growth possibilities by meeting the needs of consumers in new, better, and more complete ways. He has consistently delivered strong business results in every market and on every business, enabled via his deep experience of growing brands locally, regionally, globally and across industries.

Over the course of more than thirty years, Shailesh successfully led various businesses in both developed and emerging markets. Notably, he served as CEO of Procter & Gamble’s largest business sector, Fabric & Home Care, which includes many of P&G’s most-iconic brands: Tide, Ariel, Downy, Gain, Febreze, Swiffer—and represents about one-third of total company sales and net earnings.

With a strong commitment to the local community, Shailesh actively serves on the boards of the Cincinnati Center City Development (3CDC) and The Christ Hospital. His involvement reflects his dedication to enhancing the region and supporting initiatives that benefit its residents.

SHEILA VASHEE
Sheila Vashee is the Chief Marketing Officer at Figma, overseeing the marketing, communications, growth and customer support teams. Prior to joining Figma, Sheila served as Chief Marketing Officer and Consumer GM at Ethos, VP of Marketing and Growth at Opendoor, and was the second marketing hire at Dropbox, scaling the team to 80 people and 1 billion in revenue. She is also currently a Venture partner at Basis Set Ventures, an early stage investing firm, advising early stage companies on growth and operations. She started her career as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley and holds a BA from Stanford in Economics and an MBA from UC Berkeley.

PRAVEER MELWANI
Praveer Melwani has served as Figma’s Chief Financial Officer since March 2022, and Treasurer since February 2024. Praveer joined Figma in July 2017 and previously served as the company’s Head of Business Operations and Finance. Prior to Figma, Praveer held positions in Business Operations at NerdWallet, in Strategic Finance at Dropbox, and in investment banking at Union Square Advisors. Praveer holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Ivey Business School at Western University.

YUHKI YAMASHITA
Yuhki Yamashita is the Chief Product Officer at Figma, where he leads the product and design teams. Before joining Figma, he was at Uber for over four years, where he led the redesign of both the rider and driver apps. Prior to that, he was responsible for the YouTube app on iOS at Google and spent more than two years working on Outlook and Windows products at Microsoft. He holds a B.A. in Computer Science from Harvard University.

Shuntaro Furukawa is the sixth president of Nintendo, having succeeded Tatsumi Kimishima in June 2018. A graduate of Waseda University, Furukawa joined Nintendo in 1994 and spent a formative decade at the company’s European headquarters in Germany. Unlike many of his predecessors who emerged from game design, Furukawa rose through the corporate and financial ranks, bringing a global, data-driven perspective to the leadership of the Kyoto-based giant.

Under his tenure, Nintendo has achieved record-breaking success with the Nintendo Switch, which became the company’s best-selling console by late 2025. Furukawa has prioritized expanding Nintendo’s IP beyond hardware, overseeing the opening of Super Nintendo World and the global success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie. By 2026, he has successfully managed the transition to the Nintendo Switch 2 (released June 2025) while continuing to scale Nintendo’s cinematic presence with the 2026 release of The Super Mario Bros. Galaxy Movie and the development of a live-action Legend of Zelda film.

Sinners (2025) redefined the Southern Gothic genre by using supernatural horror to explore Black resilience and the “vampiric” nature of white supremacy. A historic awards juggernaut, the film earned 16 Academy Award nominations and grossed nearly $300 million domestically, proving that high-concept, culturally intentional horror can dominate the global box office.

The production’s success was anchored by the creative leadership of Sev Ohanian and Zinzi Coogler, who negotiated a landmark deal for creator rights while prioritizing a massive, theatrical-first experience. This vision was realized through the lens of Autumn Durald Arkapaw, who became the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Her mastery of IMAX and 65mm formats gave the film a visceral, “dream-like” quality that grounded its supernatural elements in historical reality.

Son Heung-min is a South Korean professional footballer widely regarded as the greatest Asian player in the history of the sport. Known for his explosive speed, lethal finishing with both feet, and humble leadership, he spent a transformative decade at Tottenham Hotspur, where he became a global icon. During his time in North London, he achieved historic milestones, including becoming the first Asian player to win the Premier League Golden Boot in 2022 and surpassing 100 Premier League goals. His tenure at Spurs culminated in May 2025 when he captained the club to the UEFA Europa League title, ending a 17-year trophy drought and cementing his status as a club legend before departing for Major League Soccer.

Son has successfully transitioned to the next chapter of his career with Los Angeles FC (LAFC). Since joining the MLS in August 2025, he has continued his prolific form, winning the 2025 MLS Goal of the Year for a stunning free-kick debut and recording 12 goals in just 13 appearances. On the international stage, he remains the talismanic captain of the South Korean national team. With 142 caps and 54 international goals, he is currently on the verge of breaking Cha Bum-kun’s all-time scoring record as he prepares for his fourth FIFA World Cup in the summer of 2026. His influence extends far beyond the pitch, as he remains a recipient of the Cheongnyong Medal—South Korea’s highest sporting honor—and a vital cultural bridge between Asian and Western football.

SONALI MEHTA
Sonali Mehta is a music industry leader with extensive artist partnership, content strategy, and business development experience. She serves as the Executive Director of NPR Music, overseeing the strategy for all NPR Music programming and content, including Tiny Desk, and ensuring NPR remains at the forefront of music journalism and discovery.

Sonali began her career on the YouTube Artist Development team where she worked with over 800 artists during her tenure to support their music releases, grow their audiences on the platform, and forge multi-million dollar partnerships. She later transitioned to the digital marketing team at Arista Records under Sony Music where she conceptualized and executed bespoke global marketing campaigns to promote artist discovery and music consumption. Prior to joining NPR Music, Sonali served as Chief of Staff at ADA under Warner Music.

Sonali is Indian-American and has developed opportunities throughout her career to support South Asian artists with marketing, content strategy, and funding.

She lives in New York with her husband and her dog.

SURAYA MOHAMED
Suraya Mohamed is the Executive Producer for NPR Music, leading the team behind Tiny Desk Concerts—arguably the most popular video concert series in the world—alongside Alt.Latino, All Songs Considered and a portfolio of special projects and programs. She navigates high-pressure challenges to drive audience engagement through thoughtful talent curation and artist relationship management.

Her leadership extends beyond traditional production into strategic global expansion. She helped launch Tiny Desk Korea, Tiny Desk Japan, and Tiny Desk Brazil—leveraging cultural sensitivity and strategic vision to adapt NPR’s flagship format across international markets. Most recently, she spearheaded Tiny Desk Radio, collaborating with multiple stakeholders to develop a comprehensive content strategy that optimizes music programming for public radio stations.

Mohamed began her career in the audio engineering department at NPR, taking on diverse technical leadership responsibilities across multiple programs and productions. She later founded her own production company specializing in documentary production, sound design, and mixing, winning three Peabody Awards, three Gracie Awards, and receiving the NEA Chairman’s Award for Distinguished Service for her work on the Jazz Profiles documentary series.

A graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Music with degrees in viola performance and recording arts and sciences, Mohamed brings a wide range of musical interests and experiences—she fondly remembers performing as a substitute violist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. For years, she served as an adjunct professor at Howard University’s School of Communications. She lives in Silver Spring, Maryland with her husband and is a proud mom of three adult children.

Srini Gopalan is president and chief executive officer of T-Mobile and a member of the company’s board of directors. He was appointed CEO in November 2025 after serving as chief operating officer.

As COO, Srini brought extensive global experience in technology, telecommunications and business operations, driving results through operational excellence, digital innovation and customer-first strategies. He has advanced T-Mobile’s digital transformation, strengthened execution and customer experience across the Consumer and Business groups, and continues to evolve the company into a more data-driven, AI-enabled, digital-first organization.

Now as CEO, he is focused on unleashing the Un-carrier’s next era of growth — leading from a position of strength and ensuring T-Mobile continues to reimagine what’s possible for customers.

Before joining the leadership team, Srini served on T-Mobile’s board of directors, contributing to the success of the Un-carrier strategy. Prior to T-Mobile, Srini was CEO of Deutsche Telekom Germany, where he doubled the company’s growth rate, expanded fiber to millions of homes and achieved record mobile market share. Earlier, as a Deutsche Telekom board member for Europe, he helped transform the business into one of the region’s fastest-growing telecom operations with industry-leading customer satisfaction. Srini also had senior roles at Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Capital One.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from St. Stephen’s College in New Delhi and a Master of Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad.

Stephanie Mehta is the CEO & Chief Content Officer of Mansueto Ventures, parent of Inc. and Fast Company. Most recently, she served as editor-in-chief of Fast Company, overseeing its print, digital, and live journalism. Previously, Mehta served as a deputy editor at Vanity Fair, editing feature stories and coediting the annual New Establishment ranking. She also curated the invitation-only New Establishment Summit and Founders Fair conference for women entrepreneurs, which she launched in 2017. In addition, she has worked as a writer and editor at Bloomberg Media, Fortune, and The Wall Street Journal. Mehta began her career as a business reporter at The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia. She received a B.A. in English and an M.S. in journalism from Northwestern University.

TEJAL RAO
Tejal Rao is a chief restaurant critic for The New York Times, traveling the country to review restaurants of all kinds. She was born in London to East African-Asian and Indian parents and raised in Kuwait, Khartoum, Paris and Atlanta. She has worked as a reporter and critic in New York, where she won two James Beard Foundation Awards for her work and a Vilcek Prize in creative promise, and now lives in Los Angeles with her husband, daughter and two extremely food-motivated dogs.

LIGAYA MISHAN
Ligaya Mishan is a chief restaurant critic for the New York Times. She has won a James Beard Award and an Asian American Journalists Association Award, and has been a finalist for the National Magazine Awards. Her pieces have been selected for the Best American anthologies in magazine, food, and travel writing. Her criticism has appeared in The New York Review of Books and The New Yorker. The daughter of a Filipino mother and a British father, she grew up in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. She studied English literature at Princeton and earned a master of fine arts in poetry at Cornell.

By 2026, The Pitt on HBO Max has emerged as a transformative cultural force, lauded for a “hyper-realistic” depiction of the American healthcare system that moves far beyond the tropes of traditional medical procedurals. The series has had a profound impact on diversity standards by dismantling the “token representative” model, instead featuring an ensemble where multiple AAPI and BIPOC characters exist in prominent, intersecting roles simultaneously. A hallmark of this authentic texture is the show’s normalization of multilingualism; characters frequently transition between English, Tagalog, and various Himalayan dialects during high-stakes shifts, reflecting the actual linguistic landscape of urban hospitals without the need for forced narrative explanation.

Socially, the show serves as a visceral critique of the American medical industry, tackling systemic issues such as hospital profit motives, the bureaucratic burden of “charting,” and the trauma of professional burnout. By structuring seasons around a 15-hour shift (where one episode equals one hour of real time) it captures the exhausting rhythm of the ER, which has led many medical professionals to hail it as the most accurate representation of their field to date. This realism extends to its treatment of socioeconomic themes, particularly the “crushing” reality of medical debt and the way policy decisions manifest as life-or-death personal dilemmas for patients.

Theresia Gouw is the co-founder of Acrew Capital, a leading venture firm. Previously, she served as Managing Partner at Accel and Aspect. Acrew’s Long Term View (LTV) fund invests in early stage startups while Acrew’s Diversify Capital Fund (DCF) helps diversify the cap tables and introduces diverse talent to leading growth stage companies through value added capital. Theresia has worked with many companies through IPOs or acquisitions including Forescout (FSCT), Imperva (IMPV), Trulia (TRLA), Hotel Tonight (ABNB), Astro (WORK), and LearnVest (Northwestern Mutual). Some of the investments she’s led include Cato Networks, HYCU, Ketch, and Solv.

In addition to her venture work, Theresia is an active sports investor. She is the lead investor in Major League Volleyball’s NorCal franchise, holds a majority investment in p1440, is a minority owner of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and the NBA’s Golden State Warriors Group, and is an LP in Bay FC, the Bay Area’s National Women’s Soccer League team.

Theresia is a first-generation immigrant and a passionate supporter of educational causes, serving on the board of DonorsChoose.org & Brown University, and increasing diversity in the tech industry. Her work and impact have been widely recognized as she has been named to Forbes’ 50 Over 50 list, 100 Most Powerful Women list, and Midas List (9x), Time’s 40 Most Influential Minds in Tech, and Carnegie’s annual Distinguished Immigrants List.

Vicky is the NBC News Chief Consumer Investigative correspondent and co-anchor of NBC News Daily. Her New York Times best-selling memoir “Boat Baby” shares her journey from being a Vietnamese refugee to network journalist. She reports for the TODAY Show, Nightly News with Tom Llamas and NBC News Now where her stories help people live better, smarter, healthier and wealthier lives. Vicky is the recipient of multiple EMMY, Gracie and Murrow awards as well as the Columbia duPont and Loeb for her consumer and investigative reporting. She frequently works with organizations including Gold House, The Asian American Foundation and the Asian American Journalists Association to spotlight and amplify AAPI creators, leaders, and innovators making a positive difference in the world. She graduated as valedictorian from the University of San Francisco. Vicky lives in New York with her husband and three daughters.

VIJAY KUMAR
In 2021, Vijay Kumar packed up from San Francisco, where he was working as a chef, to travel cross-country to New York City and work with restaurateurs Roni Mazumdar and Chef Chintan Pandya, whose Unapologetic Foods group is known for presenting Indian food honestly and authentically. In October of that year, the trio opened Semma, serving heritage Southern Indian cuisine inspired by Chef Vijay’s upbringing. To date Chef Vijay and Semma have received world-wide critical acclaim, including Vijay being the winner of the prestigious James Beard Foundation award Best Chef New York State 2025 and being placed as the #1 restaurant of the year on The New York Times Top 100 Restaurants in New York list. Upon its debut Semma was named a Top Ten Best New Restaurant in America by Bon Appetit; Esquire; and as one of the Top 50 Restaurants of the Year by The New York Times. In 2022 Semma was awarded a Michelin star, an honor it has held every year since, making it the only Indian restaurant in New York City with that recognition.

Vijay grew up in the humblest of settings on a family farm in a small town near Madurai, located in the Southern part of India. The eldest of three children, Vijay helped his mother and grandmother in farming and cooking. It was this childhood upbringing where his passion for fresh ingredients and cooking arose.

CHINTAN PANDYA
Born in Mumbai, Chintan became interested in the culinary world at a young age. When of age, he enrolled in one of the most prestigious culinary schools in India, the Oberoi Centre of Learning & Development where he trained under the finest chefs from Oberoi Hotels. During this time, Chintan traveled throughout the sub-continent to develop a deeper connection with the way locals ate and became well-versed in the bold spices and dishes of the people.

Eventually Chintan left India for bigger opportunities. His culinary career took him to an extremely diverse set of locales including Singapore, Cleveland, Atlanta, and finally New York. He met restaurateur Roni Mazumdar in 2017 and became the chef at the modern and upscale Rahi, followed by Adda Indian Canteen for which Chintan was the winner of the 2019 StarChefs New York Rising Star, and Adda was named one of the best restaurants of the year by Food & Wine, Eater, and Bon Appetit. In 2021 the duo opened Dhamaka, for which Chintan won The James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef New York State. The first win in this category for an Indian chef. Serving food from “the forgotten India” it gave Chintan the opportunity to showcase the foods he came across when traveling throughout the villages of India. Dhamaka was also named the #1 restaurant of the year by The New York Times, Esquire Magazine, and one of the top 50 restaurants in the country by The New York Times.

In 2022, he and partner Mazumdar opened the quick service eatery Rowdy Rooster serving Indian spiced fried chicken for which Food & Wine Magazine named them as one of 16 people and companies changing the way we eat and drink in 2022. That was followed up by Masalawala & Sons in Park Slope, Brooklyn which specializes in Bengali cuisine, and also received a 2-star review in The New York Times.

Chef Pandya’s mission is to push the boundaries of what Indian food means in America. He continues to break new ground on an under-appreciated but phenomenal cui.

RONI MAZUMDAR
Roni Mazumdar, with partner Chef Chintan Pandya, is the innovative restaurateur behind Unapologetic Foods which owns and operates Adda, Dhamaka, Semma, Rowdy Rooster, Masalawala & Sons, Naks and soon to come Kebabwala. These restaurants and food brands have set the New York City scene on fire.

Roni is an active voice in speaking out on behalf of the future of the restaurant industry and the AAPI experience. He is on the board of the National Restaurant Association and part of the task force to create a new vision for the organization; has given talks, speeches, and sat on panels at Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; NYU Stern School of Business, American Express; Food & Wine Aspen Classic; and JetBlue. In addition to numerous interviews, Eater named Roni and Chintan as part of their New Guards of New York Dining, which explored the state of power and influence in the New York City dining scene. Crain’s New York Business honored him with placement on their prestigious 40 Under 40 Class of 2020 list, Bloomberg BusinessWeek named him and Chef Pandya as one of the People that Defined Global Business in 2021, and in 2023 they were #3 on the Observer’s Dining and Nightlife Power List.

Roni’s philosophy of business is continually met with a mind for philanthropy and community. He’s involved with Accion, one of the leading global nonprofits; and contributed a dish to Leyla Moushabeck’s The Immigrant Cookbook. Roni is part of City Harvest’s Food Council helping spread awareness of the organization’s mission of raising funds in donating high quality food to help feed hungry New Yorkers, and No Kid Hungry whose mission is to end childhood hunger.

Vineet Mehra is a global marketing leader, public board director, and advisor, renowned for building disruptive, category-defining brands.

As Chief Growth and Marketing Officer of Chime, he is responsible for building Chime’s brand and performance engine while driving overall business growth – overseeing member acquisition, engagement, retention, and loyalty across the full customer lifecycle. He is harnessing the power of innovation, data-driven media, product-led growth, and cultural storytelling to scale Chime’s reach, deepen member relationships, and continue to disrupt long-standing industry incumbents. Under his leadership, Chime was named TIME’s #1 Banking Brand, one of Fast Company’s 2025 Brands That Matter, and the #1 Most Loved Banking App in the U.S.

Previously, Vineet served as Global Chief Customer and Marketing Officer at Walgreens Boots Alliance, where he led the $100B company through its COVID-19 transformation, and as Chief Growth Officer at Ancestry, launching AncestryDNA to redefine consumer genomics. Earlier in his career, Vineet built and led iconic brands at P&G and J&J.

Named among Forbes’ 50 Most Influential CMOs, Forbes’ 50 Most Entrepreneurial CMOs, and Business Insider’s Most Innovative CMOs, Vineet is committed to advancing the marketing industry as a board member of Effie Lions Foundation and MMA Global and an advisor to innovative companies like Spotify and Pixis.ai. As a public board director, Vineet serves on both the Compensation and Audit Committees for LoveSac (NASDAQ: LOVE).

Vinod is an entrepreneur, investor and technologist. He is the founder of Khosla Ventures, a firm focused on assisting entrepreneurs to build impactful technology-based disruptive companies. Vinod grew up dreaming of being an entrepreneur, despite being from an Indian army household with no business or technology connections. Since the age of 16, when he first heard about the founding of Intel, he dreamt of starting his own technology company.‍

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi, Vinod failed to start a soy milk company to service the many people in India who did not have refrigerators. Instead, he came to the U.S. to further his academic studies and received a master’s degree in biomedical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. His startup dreams led him to Silicon Valley, where he received an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Upon graduation, Vinod co-founded Daisy Systems, the first significant computer-aided design system for electrical engineers. The company went on to achieve significant revenue, profits and an IPO. Then, driven by the frustration of having to design the computer hardware on which the Daisy software needed to be built, he started the standards-based Sun Microsystems in 1982 to build workstations for software developers. As the founding CEO of Sun, he pioneered open systems and commercial RISC processors. Sun Microsystems was funded by Vinod’s longtime friend and board member John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers (KPCB).‍

In 1986, Vinod joined KPCB as a general partner. While there, he played a crucial role in taking on Intel’s monopoly by building and growing semiconductor company, Nexgen, which eventually was acquired by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Nexgen/AMD was the only microprocessor to have significant success against Intel. Thereafter, Vinod helped incubate the idea and business plan for Juniper Networks to take on Cisco System’s dominance of the router market. The company went on to give KPCB a 2,500x return on its early investment. Vinod also was involved in the formulation of the early advertising-based search strategy for Excite. He helped transform the moribund telecommunications business and its archaic SONET implementations with Cerent Corporation, which was acquired by Cisco Systems in 1999 for $7.2 billion.

In 2004, driven by the need for flexibility to accommodate four growing children, the desire to be more experimental and to fund sometimes imprudent “science experiments,” Vinod formed Khosla Ventures to focus on both for-profit and social impact investments. His goals remain the same: work and learn from fun and knowledgeable entrepreneurs, build impactful companies by leveraging innovation and spend time with a partnership that makes a difference. Vinod has a passion for nascent technologies that have beneficial effects and economic impact on society. He works closely with many KV companies as they face transitions or key decisions.‍

Vinod is driven by the belief that technology is a positive force multiplier to accelerate societal reinvention in food, health, climate, energy transportation, education, housing finance, media, retail and entertainment for billions around the globe. His greatest passion lies in being a mentor to entrepreneurs who are building companies to tackle society’s largest challenges. He was also a supporter of several microfinance organizations in India and Africa.

Vinod sits on the board of Breakthrough Energy Ventures and is a charter member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), a non-profit global network of entrepreneurs and professionals that was founded in 1992 and has more than 40 chapters in nine countries today. He is a founding board member of the Indian School of Business (ISB).‍

Vinod holds a bachelor of technology degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi, India, a master’s degree in biomedical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Walk for Peace is a spiritual pilgrimage dedicated to cultivating peace, compassion, and mindfulness in the world. Initiated by Bhikkhu Tuệ Nhân, a Theravāda Buddhist monk, the journey reflects the ancient tradition of monks walking mindfully from place to place, sharing the teachings of the Dhamma through presence, humility, and example.

Rather than a protest or political movement, Walk for Peace is a quiet and contemplative pilgrimage. Each step represents a commitment to inner transformation and collective well-being. By walking through cities, towns, and communities, the pilgrimage invites people of all backgrounds and beliefs to pause, reflect, and reconnect with the values of kindness, understanding, and harmony.

The journey has taken place across diverse landscapes, including long distances through challenging weather and terrain. Along the way, the presence of monks walking peacefully has inspired countless individuals who encounter them on the road. Many people describe feeling calm, hopeful, and encouraged simply by witnessing the walk.

Walk for Peace carries a universal message: peace in the world begins with peace in the human heart. Through mindful walking, meditation, and compassionate engagement with communities, the pilgrimage serves as a reminder that small acts of awareness and kindness can ripple outward to create meaningful change.

At its heart, Walk for Peace is not only a physical journey across land—it is also an inner journey toward wisdom, compassion, and understanding. By embodying the principles of loving-kindness (mettā), compassion (karuṇā), and mindful awareness, the pilgrimage encourages individuals and communities around the world to walk together toward a more peaceful future.

BOWEN YANG
Bowen Yang is a five-time Emmy-nominated comedian, actor and writer who has captivated audiences with his distinct wit and comedic style while breaking barriers across film, television and podcasting. He currently co-hosts the critically acclaimed podcast, Las Culturistas, alongside Matt Rogers. Yang and Rogers recently brought their Las Culturistas Culture Awards to television for the first time, which aired on Bravo on August 5 and is now streaming on Peacock. They will bring the Las Culturistas Culture Awards back to Peacock and Bravo again in 2026. Las Culturistas was named Podcast of the Year at the iHeart Radio Podcast Awards in 2023 and 2025. Yang and Rogers are currently developing an untitled feature film at Searchlight Pictures, inspired by the “Search Engine” podcast’s episode ‘Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain?’ The pair is set to star as well.

Yang starred in The Wedding Banquet, Andrew Ahn’s remake of the 1993 comedy, opposite Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran and Han Gi-chan, which premiered at Sundance and debuted in theaters on April 18. Previously, Yang starred in Universal Pictures’ Academy® award-nominated film Wicked as “Pfannee” and reprised his role in Wicked: For Good. In 2026, Yang will lend his vocal talents as a voice in Warner Brothers’ animated film THE CAT IN THE HAT.

Through seven seasons as part of the main cast of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, Yang created memorable moments and characters. Joining the show as a writer in 2018 and becoming an on-air cast member in 2019, he received four Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, making him the most-nominated Asian male performer in Emmy history. He also received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 2019, on behalf of SNL. Yang was honored with the Vantage Award at the 2025 Academy Museum Gala. Yang currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.

MICHELLE YEOH
Michelle Yeoh is a groundbreaking Malaysian actress whose career has spanned over four decades, evolving from a Hong Kong action icon into a global powerhouse. Originally trained in ballet before a spinal injury shifted her path, she rose to fame in the 1980s by performing her own high-octane stunts in martial arts classics like Yes, Madam! and Supercop.

She achieved international stardom as a capable and intelligent Chinese agent in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies and further solidified her legacy in Ang Lee’s Academy Award-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Yeoh’s versatility has seen her take on diverse roles in everything from the historical drama Memoirs of a Geisha to the blockbuster romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians.

In 2023, she reached a historic pinnacle by winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once, making her the first Asian performer to receive the honor. Her momentum has only increased since; in early 2026, she was celebrated with an Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement at the Berlinale and became the first Malaysian to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Beyond the screen, she serves as a UN Goodwill Ambassador and remains a tireless advocate for environmental protection and gender equality.

JON M. CHU
Jon M. Chu is known for his visually stunning blockbuster films, as well as his kinetic work across various genres from groundbreaking series to commercials and films. His unique storytelling ability has earned him the honor of inclusion on the Hollywood Reporter’s Power 100 list as well as Variety’s New Hollywood Leaders.

Most recently, Chu directed Universal Pictures’ WICKED: FOR GOOD, which opened #1 in the global box office after its premiere on November 21. Oscar-nominated actresses Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande star in the epic conclusion to Part 1, which garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture and quickly became the highest-grossing Broadway musical adaptation in box office history.

His recent projects include the critically acclaimed adaptation the musical IN THE HEIGHTS for Warner Bros. as well as the worldwide phenomenon CRAZY RICH ASIANS, which was nominated for numerous awards, including a SAG Award, a Golden Globe and a PGA Award. It was the first contemporary studio picture in more than 25 years to feature an all-Asian cast and opened a new chapter in Asian American representation in Hollywood.

Chu has signed a new three-year first-look film and TV producing deal with Paramount Pictures and Paramount Television Studios, taking effect in 2026. He is currently attached to direct the highly anticipated biopic for Britney Spears based on her memoir, The Woman in Me, with Universal as well as Dr. Seuss’ OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO! with Warner Bros and JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot and the CRAZY RICH ASIANS Broadway musical. His previous films include GI. JOE: RETALIATION, NOW YOU SEE ME 2, JUSTIN BIEBER’S NEVER SAY NEVER and many more representing over 1.3 billion dollars in the worldwide box office. His memoir, Viewfinder, is his journey from growing up in Silicon Valley to transitioning to Hollywood and helming major studio projects, released Summer 2024.

WILL LIU
Will Liu is the President of Global Business Solutions and Monetization Products at TikTok, where he leads a multidisciplinary organization spanning product, engineering, sales, marketing, and more. He is driving TikTok’s global monetization strategy by bridging cutting-edge technology with business innovation to help brands connect authentically with the platform’s diverse, highly engaged audience.

Prior to TikTok, Will built and scaled the monetization engine at ByteDance and also initiated the Applied Machine Learning (AML) organization to establish the company’s foundational recommendation systems. Earlier in his career, he worked at the forefront of artificial intelligence—contributing to neural machine translation, recommendation systems, healthcare research, and deep learning for ads at Google Brain—and led large-scale machine learning initiatives at Yahoo! and Tencent.

With a unique combination of deep technical expertise and strategic vision, Will is shaping the future of advertising, one powered by automation, measurable outcomes, and creative expression. Splitting his time between Singapore and San Jose, he stays closely connected to global innovation and the rapidly evolving landscape of international business.

SANDEEP GROVER
Sandeep is Global Head of Trust and Safety at TikTok, where his mission is to make TikTok the most trusted platform in the world. He and his team lead the development and enforcement of platform-wide safety policies, balancing harm prevention with freedom of expression. His organization oversees Trust & Safety and Customer Support operations across more than 150 markets, serving a platform with over a billion people worldwide.

Before joining TikTok, Sandeep spent more than two decades at YouTube, Amazon, and a number of early stage companies, building systems and products designed to create safer, more trustworthy experiences for consumers and small businesses at scale.

Sandeep holds an MBA from The Wharton School and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology. He lives in California with his wife and two sons. Outside of work, his interests in artificial intelligence, chess, and Indian cooking are faithfully reflected in his TikTok For You feed.

FIONA (YING) ZHI
Fiona (Ying) Zhi is TikTok’s Head of Product, where she leads the teams responsible for creating a positive user experience and growing the TikTok community. Fiona was part of the original team that built and launched TikTok in 2017.

Prior to TikTok, Fiona was the Vice President at Douyin and focused on product growth and creator experiences. She also led the Douyin content product team and launched the new product Soda Music.

Before joining Douyin, Fiona held roles at Uber focused on expanding to new markets and driving business growth.

Wyna Liu is a puzzlemaker and artist based in New York City. She is a puzzle editor at The New York Times, where she writes the daily word game Connections. Her crosswords can be found in The New Yorker.

Wyna began constructing crosswords in 2018 and had her first puzzle published in the American Values Club Crossword in January 2019. She joined The New York Times as a puzzle editor in 2020.

In addition to her editorial roles, she makes jewelry and enjoys learning about machining and other fabrication processes.

Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as the 112th Mayor of the City of New York on January 1st, 2026. Prior to becoming Mayor, he represented the 36th New York State Assembly District and its neighborhoods of Astoria, Ditmars-Steinway, and Astoria Heights.

He is the first Muslim and first person of South Asian descent to serve as Mayor of the City of New York and is the youngest mayor the city has seen since 1892.

Bhavitha Mandava is an Indian fashion model and architecture student who became a viral sensation and a historic figure in luxury fashion in late 2025. Born in 2000 and raised in a traditional academic household in Hyderabad, India, she moved to New York City to pursue a Master’s degree in Integrated Design and Media at NYU Tandon School of Engineering. Her career began through a “cinematic” stroke of luck: she was scouted by a modeling agent while waiting at a Manhattan subway station in 2024. Initially reluctant, she agreed to sign with an agency primarily as a means to pay off her student loans and finish her education.

Mandava’s rise was meteoric, making her runway debut as an exclusive for Bottega Veneta under creative director Matthieu Blazy in September 2024. Her career reached a historic milestone on December 2, 2025, when she became the first Indian model to open a Chanel runway show. The event, the Chanel Métiers d’Art 2026 collection, was ironically held on a subway platform at the Bowery station, echoing the location where she was first discovered. A video of her parents reacting to her history-making walk went viral, turning her into a symbol of South Asian representation and a household name within the Desi community.

By April 2026, Mandava has been named a Chanel House Ambassador, the first Indian model to hold the title. She has balanced her high-profile modeling career (which includes covers for British Vogue and i-D Magazine) with her studies, having worked as a lab coordinator at the NYU MakerSpace while traveling to Europe for fashion weeks. She spends her downtime learning the Indian flute, ukulele, and even medical suturing. She is widely considered the most influential breakout face of 2026, bridging the worlds of academic engineering and high-fashion luxury.

Hudson Williams stars as Shane Hollander in the breakout HBO Max and Crave series Heated Rivalry, created by Jacob Tierney. Renewed for a second season just three weeks after its debut, the series has swiftly marked him as a rising star to watch. He will next be seen in Crave’s Yaga and Netflix’s The Altruists, following appearances in CBS’s Tracker and CBC’s Allegiance. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Hudson is a graduate of Langara College’s Film Arts program.

Ishaan Khatter is an acclaimed Indian actor and trained dancer known for his versatile performances across Bollywood and international cinema. Born into a family of actors—the son of Neelima Azeem and Rajesh Khattar and half-brother to Shahid Kapoor—he began his career as a child actor before making a major adult debut in Majid Majidi’s Beyond the Clouds (2017). His performance earned him the Best Actor award at the International Bosphorus Film Festival and a Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut, setting the stage for his commercial breakthrough in the 2018 romantic drama Dhadak.

By early 2026, Khatter has solidified his reputation as a “global crossover” star. Following his roles in the British miniseries A Suitable Boy (2020) and the American mystery series The Perfect Couple (2024) alongside Nicole Kidman, he received widespread critical acclaim for his lead role in the 2025 film Homebound. The film was selected as India’s official entry for the 2026 Academy Awards, marking a pinnacle in his acting career. Beyond the screen, Khatter has become a prominent figure in international fashion, making history in late 2025 as the first Indian person to be the face of a Hugo Boss global campaign and representing Indian talent at major events like the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2026 show in Paris.

KATSEYE is a groundbreaking global girl group formed through The Debut: Dream Academy, a high-stakes collaborative project between HYBE and Geffen Records. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the group consists of six members from diverse cultural backgrounds: Sophia (Philippines), Lara (USA), Yoonchae (South Korea), Megan (USA), Daniela (USA), and Manon (Switzerland). Since their official debut in June 2024 with the single “Debut,” they have been pioneered as the first American girl group trained under the rigorous K-pop system, blending Western pop sensibilities with intricate, high-energy choreography.

KATSEYE has solidified its position as a dominant force in the international pop scene. Following a string of viral hits including “Touch,” “Gnarly,” and the chart-topping “Gabriela,” the group made history in early 2026 by becoming the first girl group in over two decades to perform at the Grammy Awards. Most recently, they captivated audiences at Coachella 2026, delivering a cinematic performance on the Sahara stage that featured a high-gloss collaboration with the voices of the animated phenomenon KPop Demon Hunters.

Lola Young is a British singer-songwriter whose raw, conversational lyricism and smoky vocals have earned her comparisons to icons like Amy Winehouse. Born in Croydon in 2001 and an alumna of the prestigious BRIT School, she first gained widespread attention with her 2021 cover of “Together in Electric Dreams” for the John Lewis Christmas advert. However, it was her 2024 sophomore album, This Wasn’t Meant for You Anyway, that catapulted her into the global spotlight, fueled by the viral success of “Messy.”

Young has cemented her status as one of the most significant new voices in pop. In February 2026, she made history by winning the Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance for “Messy,” making her one of the few BRIT School graduates to achieve the feat. Her 2025 follow-up album, I’m Only F**king Myself, debuted at number three on the UK charts and further explored her signature “unfiltered” style.

She notably won British Breakthrough Artist at the 2026 BRIT Awards and recently headlined major sets at the Future of Music festival in Austin and the London Palladium, signaling a powerful new chapter in her career.

Led by Creative Director Phan Huy and CEO Steven Đoàn, PHAN HUY was founded in 2023 as a couture house dedicated to redefining modern luxury through a refined fusion of Vietnamese heritage, artisanal craftsmanship, and contemporary innovation. The brand’s atelier seamlessly blends traditional techniques—such as silk weaving, intricate embroidery, and natural dyeing—with advanced methods like laser cutting and material experimentation, creating a distinctive couture language that is both sculptural and poetic.

PHAN HUY achieved a historic milestone by becoming the youngest-led independent brand to be officially invited as a Guest Member of Paris Haute Couture Week. This recognition from the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM) marks a transformative moment for Vietnamese fashion, placing the brand on the official global calendar. It serves as a powerful testament to Phan Huy’s artistic vision and the exceptional skill of Vietnamese artisans, proving that their craftsmanship meets the most rigorous standards of the international couture landscape.

Saman focuses on leveraging technology to empower patients and providers with the tools they need to make healthcare as convenient and effective as possible. He is focused on expanding Ro’s vertically integrated primary care platform to address a growing scope of patient goals. Saman is also central to instilling Ro’s collaborative culture and has led the integration of medical professionals into Ro’s product development process, ensuring clinical input from ideation to launch. He also leads Ro’s incubations and special projects within the company.

Prior to Ro, Saman co-founded Managed by Q, the smart office management company acquired by WeWork in 2019. He also holds a partner role at Prehype, a venture development firm that incubates new businesses within Fortune 500 corporations. Before Prehype, Saman had a decorated career as an advertising creative director, becoming the fifth most awarded creative around the globe in 2010. He has been named Crain’s Notable in Health Care and recognized by Business Insider as a 30 Under 40 leader in Healthcare. Saman earned his B.S.c at Brunel University London in Multimedia Technology and Designs.

Tejasvi Manoj is a high school senior from Texas whose pioneering work is transforming digital safety for older adults. Inspired by a personal experience when her grandfather nearly fell victim to a cyber scam, she founded Shield Seniors, an AI-powered platform dedicated to empowering seniors with digital independence, security, and dignity.

A compelling voice at the intersection of technology and social impact, Tejasvi has taken the stage at TEDxPlano 2025 and has been featured on nationally recognized platforms including The Kelly Clarkson Show and a special edition of CNN State of the Union. Through these appearances and her ongoing outreach, she continues to elevate awareness around the urgent need for cybersecurity education among older adults.

Her work has garnered widespread national attention, with features from CBS News, CNN, NBC, FOX, and The Dallas Morning News, as well as recognition by The Free Press. She was also recognized by SXSW EDU Student Impact Challenge for her work driving meaningful social change through technology.

In recognition of her extraordinary leadership and impact, Tejasvi was named the 2025 TIME Kid of the Year and invited as a distinguished guest and judge at The Allstate Foundation National Youth Service Summit. She has received letters of recognition from the President of the United States, the Governor of Texas, and a United States Senator. Her honors also include being named a Top 100 Emerging Innovator of the Year and a 20 Under 20 Next Gen STEAM Superstar.

Beyond her technological achievements, Tejasvi exemplifies service and leadership as an Eagle Scout, a National Merit Commended Scholar, and a recipient of the United States Congressional Silver Medal.

Tetairoa McMillan, frequently referred to as “T-Mac,” is a star wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers and one of the most prolific young talents in the NFL. Born and raised in Waimānalo, Hawai’i, McMillan remains deeply rooted in his Hawaiian and Polynesian heritage, his journey from the windward side of Oahu to the bright lights of the NFL has made him a beacon of pride for the local community, continuing a long and storied tradition of Hawaiian athletes excelling on the football field.

Before his professional ascent, McMillan’s cultural impact was cemented during his collegiate years at the University of Arizona, where he was a Consensus All-American and a record-breaker with 3,423 career receiving yards. In 2024, he was honored as the Polynesian College Football Player of the Year. His selection as the 8th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft was a historic milestone, making him only the sixth Polynesian player ever to be drafted in the first round. Throughout his rise, he has been vocal about his responsibility to represent Hawai’i, often using his platform to uplift Pacific Islander youth and highlighting the resilience ingrained in his upbringing.

McMillan has established himself as the premier young weapon for the Carolina Panthers, following a debut season where he recorded 1,014 yards and was named the 2025 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. Even as he navigates the demands of the NFL, he maintains a close connection to his roots, frequently returning home to Waimānalo to host football camps and give back to the local programs that supported his early development.

Tim Chau built their first online community at 13 as a One Direction fan page and never looked back. Today, as a nonbinary Asian-American founder, Tim has built Impact Media to reflect the lived experience of the most diverse generation of all time: Gen Z. As Co-founder and CEO of Impact Media, Tim leads the defining digital destination for that generation, reaching over 55 million monthly readers and generating billions of content views across cultural deep dives, events, creator franchises, and news.

Under their leadership, the company has generated over 1 billion engagements, led award-winning marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 partners including Unilever and Samsung as well as leading non-profits like Ford Foundation and USC Annenberg, and expanded into events and original IP franchises. The company has also raised over $1.7 million for social causes, driven more than half a million petition signatures, and registered thousands of young voters.

Impact Media has been recognized by the GLAAD, The Webby Awards, Teen Vogue, and Fast Company; Tim was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2022. A sought-after voice on media and culture, Tim has been invited to speak at leading stages including Cannes Lions, Stanford University and Meta. Tim holds a BS in Business Administration from UC Berkeley Haas.