RUSSELL LOW

Physician with a passion for discovery and storytelling, the discovery of his own roots began 30 years ago through the stories of his parents and their siblings. Growing up in Central California, more American than Chinese, his connection to Chinese culture and history was limited and incomplete. Discovering the 1903 Hong family photograph among the belongings of 100-year-old great Uncle Kim sparked a decades-long search for the stories behind the photograph. These are the stories presented in his seminal work, Three Coins. In his searches, Russell came across a 130-year-old newspaper notice titled “Villainous-looking Chinese after a Chinese Girl.” In the article, he recognized his great-grandparents’names, but the romantic drama it uncovered shook the core of his family’s belief in who they are and how they came to be Americans. Russell frequently lectures on Chinese-American history, and his family’s story has been featured on the History Channel, National Public Radio, Public Radio International, the Voice of America, the California State Railroad Museum, and the Smithsonian Museum of American History.Russell’s discoveries as a physician in the medical field have changed the way that his colleagues world-wide practice medicine and image disease.

JIAN WANG

Born to a musical family in Beijing, China, cellist Jian Wang began her musical studies at the age of five with her mother, a cellist with the former Central Philharmonic of China, and she made her Beijing Concert Hall début at t13 with the Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D Major. She was a pupil of the renowned cellist and pedagogue Eleonore Schoenfeld, who also guided her through her years at the University of Southern California. Ms. Wang has been the recipient of numerous awards, including top prizes at the ASTA State Competition and the LA Philharmonic Fellowship for Excellence in Diversity Scholarship. She has appeared as soloist with such orchestras as the Pacific Symphony, the American Youth Symphony, the YMF Début Orchestra and the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra of China. Ms. Wang performs frequently in recitals and as a chamber and orchestral musician. She was invited by Maestro Zubin Mehta as one of the featured artists at the 60th wedding anniversary celebration of Mr. and Mrs. Mehli Mehta. She recently made a film titled PSA, which involved 46 kids/12 adults from 28 families of diverse ethnic groups appeared on camera. The film was inspired by the attack on Asians during the pandemic in America and sparked by a simple question from her daughter “why do they hate us?” A recent transplant to the San Diego area, Ms. Wang makes her home in La Jolla with her two daughters and her Emmy Award-winning cinematographer husband whom she met while covering five Olympics as a reporter for NBC’s Olympics coverage. She has been performing for several months this season at Copley Symphony Hall at the invitation of the San Diego Symphony.

MUTA BARUKA

Allan Hope, better known as Muta Baruka, is a Jamaican Rastafari dub poet, musician, actor, educator, and talk-show host, who developed two of Jamaica’s most popular radio programmes, The Cutting Edge and Steppin’ Razor. His name comes from the Rwandan language and translates as “one who is always victorious.” His themes include politics, culture, Black liberation, social oppression, discrimination, poverty, racism, sexism, and religion.

SEYI OLUYOLE

Seyi Oluyole is a popular Nigerian creative director, screenwriter and choreographer who gives kids a better life through dance. She is an award-winning humanitarian.

Seyi Oluyole is the founder of Dreamcatchers Academy, a Nigerian free arts programme which uses dance, music and drama to provide educational opportunities for the less privileged kids.

SEGUN ADEFILA

Segun Adefila is the Lead Masquerade/artistic director, Crown Troupe of Africa, a Choreographer, Director, and Performance Artist.

This background has greatly influenced his art with a remarkable awareness of the potency of the arts as a veritable tool for social rejuvenation.

RUBY AND ANTONIO

Antonio is the Founder and President of Macau IC2 Association which stands for I CAN TOO which was formed in 2016 by a group of people with autism and intellectual disabilities.

Antonio was disgnosed with autism at the age of three.

He is the author of the elf in me and runs the association with the support of his mother, Ruby