Filipina American entrepreneur raises $650,000 on 'Kickstarter' with her great idea

Angelia Trinidad pursues one of her passions.

WANT TO know what to do with the rest of your life? You say you want to pursue what's really important to you?

"Follow your passion," is probably the worst piece of advice you can give to a young person just starting out, because that doesn't prepare them for rejection or giving up some of the other things you expect out of life - like paying the rent, eating, or taking  vacations.

However, for a few people, that advice works out. It is their success that gives  hope to the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed optimists coming out of high school or college.

The next few weeks will be busy for Angelia Trinidad. After raising more than $650,000, she closed out her second Kickstarter campaign last week. That sum is a whopping 6,584 percent of her modest $10,000 goal. This isn’t chump change.

According to Kickstarter’s statistics, only 1,619 successfully funded projects have raised more than $100,000—less than 2 percent of all projects. 

The 24-year old Filipina American just might be able to (finally) move out of her parent's San Diego home where she has taken over the garage for her warehouse/office.

So what is Trinidad’s grand product that attracted 23,000 backers? An old-school paper planner. (Watch the video below.)

She finds that taking the time to write things down helps her to focus.

Back to the future? Find out more about Angelia's great idea. 

To look at her in her backwards baseball cap, jeans and southern california casual style, you wouldn't think she is a CEO. However, she's garnered the attention of the local business scene and she's been invited to do motivational and business workshops and even gave a TED talk at UC Irvine.

Through it all, Angelia has managed to keep her head and priorities straight to focus on what's really important to her. Her "Planner" must be working for her.

“I think my version of the American Dream is just having enough and having lots of people that I feel close to,” she told a reporter. “I value friendships and my family way more than money. I remind myself over and over again what my values are and what I want out of my life. What the Passion Planner does is helps you find out what matters, on paper.”

Angelia Trinidad's parent's garage is now too small for her growing business venture.

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Asian American athletes "can't breathe"

Lakers show their colors

Jordan Clarkson (end from left) and Jeremy Lin (far right) joined their teammates on the L.A. Lakers to express their views on the grand jury decisions for no indictments in the killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in Staten Island, NY. (Washington Post photo)

ERIC GARNER'S last words as he was being choked to death was "I can't breathe, I can't breathe, I can't breathe."

His words have become a rallying cry for those who believe an injustice was committed when a Staten Island Grand Jury chose not to indict the police officer that used an illegal choke hold on Garner. Black athletes in particular have begun to publicly bare their sympathies by wearing t-shirts with the words "I can't breathe" emblazoned on the shirts.

Last Tuesday (Dec. 9) the entire L.A. Lakers NBA team (except for one player) wore the black t-shirts during warm-up.

Jeremy LIn and Jordan Clarkson - Chinese American and Filipino American respectively - showing their support, were the first Asian-American professional athletes to don the shirts this week along with the rest of the team, including Kobe Bryant, the team's best player.

The players had the support of their coach Byron Scott. “Freedom of choice and freedom of speech,” Scott said. “That’s their choice and whatever they choose, from my standpoint as a coach, I’m going to support them, but that’s their choice.”

“I think it would be a serious disservice to limit this to a race issue. It’s a justice issue," said Bryant. “You’re kind of seeing a tipping point right now, in terms of social issues. It’s become now at the forefront right now as opposed to being a local issue. It’s really been something that has carried over and spilled into the mainstream, so when you turn on the TV and you watch the news or you follow things on social media, you don’t just see African-Americans out there protesting.”

Some people may argue that athletes shouldn't use their celebrity status to voice their opinions.

Why not? They're Americans, too.

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Malala Yousafzai gives powerful speech at Nobel Awards ceremony today

Malala Yousafzai brought five young girls as her guests at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony today (Dec. 10)

MALALA YOUSAFZAI, the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, accepted her award today (Dec. 10) and gave a moving, powerful speech to the audience in Oslo, Sweden.

This young woman, who has become an international advocate for peace and education for girls and a voice for the world's children is my hero!

For this first-ever Nobel Peace Prize "Girl Delegation," Ms. Yousafzai was joined by Shazia Ramzan and Kainat Riaz, her school friends from Swat who got shot along with her in an attack in 2012; Kainat Soomro from Sindh, Mezon Almellehan from Syria and Amina Yusuf from Nigeria.

The young women were her special guests when she receives the award at the ceremony to be held on Wednesday.

“Though I will be one girl receiving this award, I know I am not a lone voice,” Malala said in a statement.

“This Nobel Peace Prize is for all girls everywhere who want education. These courageous girls are not just my friends, they are now my sisters in our campaign for education for every child,” she added.

On exhibit at the Nobel Peace Prize Exhibit was her school uniform she was wearing on the day she was attacked by the Taliban and left for dead.

"My school uniform is very important to me because when I was going to school I would wear it," she said. "The day I was attacked I was wearing this uniform. I was fighting for my right to go to school, I was fighting for my right to get education. Wearing a uniform made me feel that yes, I am a student, I am doing it, practically. It is an important part of my life, now I want to show it to children, to people all around the world. This is my right, it is the right of every child, to go to school. This should not be neglected."

The bloodied school uniform that Malala Yousafzai
 wore on the day she was attacked  is on display at
the Nobel Peace Prize Exhibit. 

It's hard to believe that she is only 17-years old. I think of the teenagers that I work with and their  concerns about boyfriend/girlfriend matters, fashion and social media addiction, and I wonder if they can relate to Malala.

I think of the young people in the streets protesting the grand jury decisions in New York and Ferguson, Missouri; I think of those who get a thrill breaking windows and stealing from stores; I think of the young adolescent boys conscripted to fight for warlords in Africa; I think of the young girls kidnapped by those same warlords; I think of the young children in Syria, Iraq, Palestine and Israel; I think of the children in Africa whose parents have died from AIDS or ebola; I think of the millions of children in the Philippines, India and around the world who go to bed hungry.

I wish they could hear Malala and her message. She gives me hope -- and that is something we all need this turbulent holiday season.

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Friends say 12-year old suicide victim was a victim of bullying

Ronin Shimizu

YOUNG RONIN SHIMIZU followed his heart and for that, he was teased and bullied. The Folsom, California student committed suicide Dec. 3 because he thought no one understood him.

Ronin's tragic story swept the Internet and was printed in media outlets around the world. 

His parents, Brandon and Danielle Shimizu, described their son as the "most loving, compassionate, empathetic, artistic and funny kids to grace this earth," in a statement issued to the media.

It was his "specialness" that made him a target of bullies, "individuals that could not understand or accept his uniqueness."

Ronin's story touched so many people. Friends and people who never met the young boy are expressing their heartfelt condolences at a Twitter account #ripronin.

A Ronin Shimizu memorial fundraising effort began Saturday at GoFundMe.com and had raised more than $6,000 by Monday morning.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article4368221.html#storylink=cpy

Statement from Shimizu Family:

The tragic loss of our son has and will forever change our life. The love and support that we received from family, friends and the Folsom community has been immeasurable and words cannot begin to express our gratitude through this most difficult grieving process. 

The people close to our family know exactly who Ronin was, but since the story of this tragedy has spread worldwide, we want to take a minute to let the world know who he was. Ronin was one of the most loving, compassionate, empathetic, artistic and funny kids to grace this earth."

Ronin was a child who was not afraid to follow his heart, and we as his parents did everything in our power to allow him to pursue his passions, while protecting him from the minority that could not understand the specialness he possessed. 

As you already know, Ronin loved to do Cheer, but he also loved art, fashion, being a Scout and most recently crew/rowing. It is true that because of his specialness, Ronin was a target of bullying by individuals that could not understand or accept his uniqueness. Ronin was not just a target of bullying because of his participation in cheer, but for him just being Ronin. 

We as his parents always knew that he would make an impact on the world, we just thought it would be in something like fashion design or art related. We had no idea that God and Buddha had a more important role for him, and we as his parents will make it our mission in life to turn this tragedy into something positive and hopefully prevent another senseless tragedy. In closing, please remember that education in regards to bullying prevention does not only need to occur in our schools but also in the home.

Thank you,

Brandon and Danielle Shimizu

Need help?
Bullying can affect you in many ways. You may lose sleep or feel sick. You may want to skip school. You may even be thinking about suicide. If you are feeling hopeless or helpless or know someone that is, please call the LIFELINE at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or go to www.stopbullying.gov.

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Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article4368221.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article4368221.html#storylink=cpy

Talking about race, part 3: Two Americas

THE GAP between the two different perspectives of America has never been more starkly delineated than in the last few weeks by the recent events in in Ferguson and New York City.

There is the one America we wish we could be and the alternate America where lives the poor, the disenfranchised and the neglected. The believers in the former can't see or hear the latter and the latter find themselves further and further from obtaining the so-called American dream. 

As always, the true America lies somewhere between the two perspectives. 

Ferguson is just the latest chapter in the ongoing story of this country's race relations and is the latest example of the sharp divide between the two camps.

No doubt, the United States has come a lo-o-ong way from the days of slavery, but Ferguson shows that we have a lo-o-ong way to go. The video below shows James Baldwin on the Dick Cavett Show in 1968 explaining his perspective to those who just don't get racism and how insidious and how deeply ingrained it is in the "perfect" America of our dreams.

It's hard to have an honest and substantive discussion about racism when one party doesn't want to talk about it, see it, reminded about it or even admit that it still exists.

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If Baldwin didn't get his message across, sports icon Muhammad Ali expressed the same message on another interview in 1971 where he shows why he is the greatest.

Yeah, he's got some funny lines there but he made his point. Sometimes, humor can get be more acceptable for people who don't want to listen to the hard truth.

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More recently, just last week, comedian Chris Rock used humor to speak about race and America in an interview in New York Magazine. He may not have the gravitas of Baldwin, but amongst the sarcasm and humor, you can find the truth.

Rock turns the general perspective of (white) America looking at African Americans as if they were outside of our society and puts that white perspective under a microscope to by analyzed, dissected and talked about on the Sunday news shows. Its brilliant how he puts the onus on white people to change.

When we talk about race relations in America or racial progress, it's all nonsense. There are no race relations. White people were crazy. Now they're not as crazy. To say that black people have made progress would be to say they deserve what happened to them before…

So, to say Obama is progress is saying that he's the first black person that is qualified to be president. That's not black progress. That's white progress. There's been black people qualified to be president for hundreds of years. If you saw Tina Turner and Ike having a lovely breakfast over there, would you say their relationship's improved? Some people would. But a smart person would go, "Oh, he stopped punching her in the face." It's not up to her. Ike and Tina Turner’s relationship has nothing to do with Tina Turner. Nothing. It just doesn't. The question is, you know, my kids are smart, educated, beautiful, polite children. There have been smart, educated, beautiful, polite black children for hundreds of years. The advantage that my children have is that my children are encountering the nicest white people that America has ever produced. Let's hope America keeps producing nicer white people.

Nice!

About white people, he said they needed to own up to their role in race relations besides just tsk-tsking about slavery and white privilege:

Owning their actions. Not even their actions. The actions of your dad. Yeah, it’s unfair that you can get judged by something you didn’t do, but it’s also unfair that you can inherit money that you didn’t work for.

About racism, he said:

But the thing is, we treat racism in this country like it’s a style that America went through. Like flared legs and lava lamps. Oh, that crazy thing we did. We were hanging black people. We treat it like a fad instead of a disease that eradicates millions of people. You’ve got to get it at a lab, and study it, and see its origins, and see what it’s immune to and what breaks it down.

Rock is a comedian so people may not take him as seriously as academics, but in his role as Everyman, he's hit a bulls-eye.

The interviews of Baldwin, Ali and Rock are decades apart but as they show: the conversation on race may have started, but has anybody been listening? There's a lot more that needs to be said.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was written before Chris Rock's gaff joking about Asians when he hosted the Academy Awards in 2018 amid the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. Needless to say, those racist jokes were one more piece of evidence to show that America still has a lot that needs to be said about race.

Talking about race, Part 2: Famous last words & the number 21

THE FRONT PAGE of the New York Daily News sums up the incredulous reaction shared by most people at the Grand Jury decision not to indict the police officer who choked Eric Garner to death despite videotape evidence. 

The video of Garner's struggle has gone viral worldwide and his last words, "I can't breathe," joins the last words of Michael Brown, who said, "I don't have no gun, Stop shooting," before being killed by another police officer in Ferguson, Missouri - as indictments of the American judicial system's unequal treatment towards people of color, especially young black men. Studies show that black teenagers are 21 times more likely to be shot by police officers than their white counterparts. Twenty-one more times more likely to be shot by police. That's a huge disparity.

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Talking about race, Part 1: Ferguson, America is in the Heart

Photo by Anonymous

IN RECENT DAYS, there has been a lot written about how the events in Ferguson impact Asian Americans.

The discussion of race in America has historically been dominated by the black and white dynamics. We all know the reason this is so. However, the emergence of Latinos, Native Americans and Asians have made the conversation more complicated.

While Latinos have centered most of their civil rights efforts around immigration and education, no central issue has galvanized the Asian community into a single cohesive force even though we are subject to the same racial profiling, institutional racism and demeaning stereotypes as African Americans and Latinos.

I don't think we should be talking about Asian, Latino responses to Ferguson as if we are outsiders looking in. Ferguson should be an issue for us -- for all of us -- as Americans. For this, I look back at perhaps the most famous paragraphs from Carlos Bulosan's iconic America is in the Heart:

Fil-Am writer Carlos Bulosan 

"America is also the nameless foreigner, the homeless refugee, the hungry boy begging for a job and the black body dangling on a tree.

"America is the illiterate immigrant who is ashamed that the world of books and intellectual opportunities is closed to him.

"We are all that nameless foreigner, that homeless refugee, that hungry boy, that illiterate immigrantnt and that lynched black body. All of us, from the first Adams to the last Filipino, native born or alien, educated or illiterate -- We are America."


We are America. Ferguson is an American issue; our issue -- no matter to what ethnic or racial group you belong.

Several commentaries have been written about Ferguson and what it means to Asian Americans. Most widely read is the essay by Jack Linshi of Time Magazine, "Why Ferguson should matter to Asian-Americans."(Most discouraging has been the racist responses to his article.)

Grace Hwang Lynch has an interesting take in her blog. She has more links to other commentaries by Asian Americans so it's not like the Asian American community has been silent on the issue. But shouting from The Edge is often unheard by the white-perspective-dominated mainstream media.

The support for justice in Ferguson is more widely spread among communities of color than mainstream media has thus far reported. Some media outlets, like Faux News, would have its viewers and readers believe that Asian Americans do not support the protestors in Ferguson.

Vincent Pan, executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action, offered his personal thoughts and said it was important to validate people’s anger about the grand jury decision.

“I think it is imperative to validate the frustrations that millions of Americans across the country are experiencing at this moment,” Pan said.  “Sometimes anger is not only justified, it is morally required. I believe that this is one of those times.

“We have an obligation to be angry because the death of Michael Brown and the failure of the grand jury to indict his killer, Darren Wilson, must be understood in the context of racial discrimination and oppression in the United States.”

“We urgently call upon the White House, the Department of Justice and congressional leaders to review and address the ongoing pattern and practice of racial violence and systemic discriminatory treatment by law enforcement of our communities of color,” warned Gregory Cendana, Chair of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA) in a statement. 

In their own statement, Asian Americans Advancing Justice said the death of Michael Brown and other African Americans by police officers, "show us that the racial profiling and violence that African Americans experience run deep and happen because of systemic failures."

We need to remember that the Grand Jury decision to not recommend charges agains Darren Wilson is not the final word. The investigation by the Department of Justice continues to look into Ferguson.

"The reality is that what we see in Ferguson is not restricted to Ferguson." said Attorney General Eric Holder. "There are other communities around this country that have these same issues that have to be dealt with and we at the Justice Department are determined to do all that we can to bridge those divides. 

"We launched in September our Building Communities of Trust initiative to provide training to law enforcement and communities on bias reduction and procedural fairness and we plan to apply evidence-based strategies in the five pilot sites around the country. This is all designed to bridge those divides, bridge those gaps between law enforcement and the communities that they serve. These gaps, these divides exist in other parts of the country beyond Ferguson and our focus will be nationally in its scope to try to deal ultimately with these issues. ... This isn't just about talking. We want to ensure that concrete steps are taken to address these underlying barriers to trust," said Holder.

18 Million Rising - an Asian American progressive website - is urging its readers to join an online petition started by Colorofchange that will be sent to the White House.

The Grand Jury report and recommendation sparked violent protests throughout the country. Yes, it is unfortunate that some of the demonstrators are using the protests to hide their wanton destruction of private and public property. It is also unfortunate that the media chooses to focus on these acts of violence rather than the underlying reasons behind the anger and frustration. 

Pew graphic

There will be differences within the Asian American community and the gamut of opinions on Ferguson is wide.

The rapid rise in Asian immigration has also created a historical gap in the Asian American community. The killing of Vincent Chin, the last event that united the Asian American community, happened in 1982, occurred way before the majority of Asian and Pacific Islanders came to this country. They haven't heard the history of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the World War II Internment of the Japanese Americans, the Filipino farmworkers' struggle because they've been so immersed with trying to adjust to their new home. They don't identify themselves Asian-American, much less, with other communities of color.

They don't know the history of the civil rights movement nor how Asians, Native Americans, African Americans and Latinos united during the Third World Strike, and they don't know - yet - that we have more in common with each other and the other communities of color than we have with those who would prefer we fight among ourselves.

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Asians & Affirmative Action

Asian American students in favor of affirmative action showed their support for overturning California's Prop. 209.

THE DEBATE about the role Asian Americans play in the affirmative action debate is heating up again at the University of North Carolina where some say Blacks and Latino students are unqualified to attend the school.

Asian Americans are refusing to be pitted against the Black and Latino students, according to an article Asian American Activists Are Refusing to Join the Fight Against Affirmative Action by Joseph Williams, a former correspondent for Politico. 

It appears that a questionable advocacy group is claiming that Asian American students are being refused admission because their spots are being taken by allegedly unqualified Black and Latino students. It is the same argument that was being used in California earlier this year to make it appear that Asians don't support affirmative action.

After a little digging, however, it turns out the advocacy group's parent organization Project for Fair Representation is run by Edward Blum, who is more interested in ending the affirmative action program than helping Asian American students gain admission.

Project for Fair Representation filed a lawsuit in federal court against UNC Monday (Nov. 24) and what it alleges is a "race-based" affirmative action program. The suit was filed on behalf of the actual plaintiff, Students for for Fair Admission, a recently formed group of "high-achieving" students (in other words - Asian). PFR also filed a suit versus Harvard for its policy of "legacy" admissions. In both cases, the "high achievers" claim they were denied spots  on campus because less qualified students were taking their seats in class.

Affirmative action and Asian Americans have had questionable relationship for a while. Some say we're against affirmative action, while others say we're for it.

When California's State Constitutional Amendment 5 overturning Prop. 209 was rejected last Spring by the legislature, the media said it was because of strong opposition from Asian Americans. There's now evidence that line perpetuated by mainstream media is a myth. 

I don't know who the media is talking to when they say that Asian Americans are against affirmative action but the Asian Americans I know are overwhelmingly in support of affirmative action. A recent survey taken by the Field Poll and the National Asian American Survey indicate that support for affirmative action among AA's has actually grown since 1996 when Prop. 209 was passed by California voters. It's not even close.

"These findings point to the likelihood that the opposition to SCA-5 was probably the result of selective mobilization among those Asian American voters opposed to the measure, rather than a sign of drastically shifting opinion among Asian American voters against affirmative action," wrote Karthick Ramakrishnan, author of the NAA survey in an L.A. Times oped. 

What worries me though, is the discovery of the involvement of Project for Fair Representation and how it is pitting Asian Americans against each other and using AA's and the myth of the "model minority" against other minorities in a divide-and-conquer strategy. It makes me wonder how many shadow groups are out there, what else have they been doing and what is their funding source? 

I - for one - strongly resent that Asians are being used by organizations to do their dirty work for them. Evidently, there are forces in this country who would prefer the current power structure remain unchanged.

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