The 100 Most Influential Filipinas
October 17, 2007
It was 470 years ago, on October 18, 1587, that the captain of a Manila-Acapulco galleon logged the earliest known record of Filipinos (then known as Luzones Indios) in America.
With October now known as Filipino American Heritage Month, the timing couldn’t be better for the Filipina Women’s Network to honor 100 of the most influential Filipina women in the United States at its fifth annual summit in Washington on Oct. 25 to 27.
For one of the most “invisible” ethnic groups in America, this is history — or rather herstory — in the making. Yet, to Filipinos everywhere, these women’s achievements are neither surprising nor unexpected.
Rooted in an ancient culture where female leadership is the rule, most Filipina women are raised to believe that they are both highly valued and expected to fulfill central roles in family and society. This becomes especially apparent when household funds run low and Filipino sons are taken out of school temporarily to allow their sisters to continue their studies.
Filipina women, Philippine- and American-born, face the complex task of staying true to their heritage in a stubbornly male-dominant milieu. All 202 nominees in six categories of the network’s nationwide search are up to the challenge. A selection committee will announce the final 100 at a gala awards banquet on Oct. 25 at Washington’s Grand Hyatt.
The summit, “Filipina Voices: Changing the Face of Power in America,” is described by network president Marily Mondejar as “a dream with a meaningful purpose” — double the number of Filipina women leaders by 2012. To achieve this goal, says Mondejar, the network sought to identify the top 100 Filipina women “who are shaping our community’s influence in American society today and how they are impacting our future.”
Hawai‘i state Representative Rida Cabanilla is one of 41 nominees in the “Policymakers and Visionaries” category. She chairs her state’s House Committee on International Affairs, is a registered nurse and lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserve. Other nominees are Maryland General Assembly Delegate Kris Valderrama; Davis, Calif., Mayor Pro Tempore Ruth Uy Asmundson; and Washington state legislator Velma Veloria, the first Filipina in the continental United States elected to public office.
The “Builders and Emerging Leaders” category lists Rose-Ann K. Ubarra, youth program coordinator for New York’s Filipino American Human Services Inc. One of the youngest nominees, Ubarra is pursuing a double major in Sociology and Urban Studies at Queens College. Nominee Zenei Cortez, RN, recently became the first Filipina president of the California Nurses Association.
Nominees in the “Founders and Pioneers” category, honoring Filipina women who blazed trails to the top of their fields, include lawyer and industrialist Loida Nicolas Lewis, Olympic gold medalist Victoria Manalo Draves, concert pianist Cecile Licad, designer and CEO Josie Cruz Natori, Filipino American National Historical Society executive director and professor Dorothy L. Cordova, Philippine Expressions Bookshop CEO Linda Maria Nietes-Little and photo handbag creator/CEO Gina Lopez Alexander.
The list of “Innovators and Thought Leaders” range from boxer Ana Julaton, haute couturier Monique Lhuillier, Lea Salonga, Jessica Hagedorn and Leila Benitez-McCollum, to author and professor Leny Mendoza Strobel, theater director and community activist Elena Mangahas, Sun Microsystems’ Marisa Peterson, publisher/ writer Reme Grefalda and New York’s TAMA Gallery co-founder Lilia Villanueva.
“Behind the Scenes Leaders” are Filipina women who make things happen with little fanfare. These include Asian American Donor Program recruitment director Asia Yulo Blume, NASA’s Angelita Castro-Kelly, author Evangeline Buell, New Jersey Corrections Assistant Superintendent Flor Alcantara, and Connecticut entrepreneur and Girl Scout Council chair Aurora Daly.
Educator and author M. Evelina Galang and publishing pioneer and philanthropist Mona Lisa Yuchengco are among the nominees for the special Nicole Award, honoring Filipina women “whose words, actions and activism inspire others to act and revolutionize our society’s way of understanding traditional beliefs and customs.” This was inspired by Nicole, the young Filipina who sparked an international dialogue on women’s rights, national sovereignty and international law as she pursued justice against her U.S. Marine rapists in 2005.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been invited to speak at the summit that will also hold its first Filipina caucus with members of Congress at the Rayburn House on Oct. 25.
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Fay A. Olympia is the editor of publications for the Filipina Women’s Network.
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