Helen Zia is a writer, activist and Fulbright Scholar. Her latest book, Last Boat out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese who Fled Mao’s Revolution, was an NPR best book of 2019 and shortlisted for a 2020 national PEN AMERICA award. Her first book, Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People, about the contemporary civil rights struggles of Asian Americans, is a staple of Asian American studies classes.

The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Helen was born and raised in New Jersey during the civil rights, anti-war and women’s movements and her journalism centers on stories of social change and justice. She was Executive Editor of the iconic feminist publication MS.magazine, and has been outspoken on issues ranging from human rights to countering gender and hate violence and homophobia. Her work on the Asian American landmark civil rights case of anti-Asian violence appears in the Oscar-nominated film, “Who Killed Vincent Chin?“ In 2010, Helen became a witness in the federal case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made marriage equality the law of the land.

Helen has received honorary doctorates from the University of San Francisco and the City University of New York Law School. She attended Princeton University on a full scholarship and was a member of its first graduating class of women. Helen quit medical school to work as a construction laborer, an autoworker, and a community organizer, until she discovered her life’s work as a journalist and writer.

Helen’s social media & website:

@HelenZiaReal (FB, IG, Twitter); www.HelenZia.com

Ryan Patel is a world-renowned go-to authority on global business, political economy and corporate governance. An expert in scaling businesses, he has worked for startups to public traded companies; his deep knowledge in strategic global market development, concept scalability, digital transformation, innovation, consumer-driven marketing has made him a thought leader in the global business realm. He is a frequent CNN contributor, Board Director and Senior Fellow with the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University.

Patel is a strong believer in giving back to the community and paying it forward. He currently serves on several advisory boards ranging from social responsibility to technology.  From being a part of the Mastercard Innovation Collective to the Board at the Drucker School of Management his passion for combining social good and business has led him to discuss relevant and real-world situations which are accessible to both students and professionals alike. In 2015, he was awarded “Executive of the Year” by the Los Angeles Business Journal and received Special United States Congressional Recognition for outstanding services to the community. In 2017, Inc. magazine listed him as one of nine executives and innovators who serve as an inspiration for how all businesses can make a difference.

Patel’s unique and inherent knowledge of the ever-changing nature of trends and how it impacts business has been vital in providing valuable strategy and leadership in developing domestic and international growth plans across multi-cultural and cross-functional teams for some of the world’s most innovative companies.

Ryan is a multigenerational communicator who is able to break down complex global business issues in a digestible way. He is a contributor at CNN, BBC, Fox Business, The Hill, CGTN and more. He accompanies his literary talents with both domestic and international keynote appearances at company meetings and universities such as Money 20/20, World Government Summit, LEGO, London School of Economics, Wharton School of Business and more.

Ryan’s social media:

Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/patelryan/

Twitter @RyanPatelGlobal – https://twitter.com/RyanPatelGlobal

Instagram @RyanPatelGlobal – https://instagram.com/ryanpatelglobal

Website – https://ryanpatelspeaks.com/about

Lhakpa Tenzing Sherpa was born in Thame, a village 3860 meters high in the Everest region of Nepal near the Chinese border. When he was 3 months old, he and his mother were caught in an avalanche; Lhakpa was thrown from the basket on his mother’s back and came to rest under an ice ledge by a stream. After his mother found him unhurt 2 hours later, she took him to the Lama to pray and give thanks. It was at this point that Lhakpa was renamed “Apa” which means “much loved.”

Apa’s dream was to become a doctor, but his dreams were shattered when his father died. Following his father’s death, twelve-year-old Apa took up the responsibility of providing for his family, consisting of his mother, two sisters, and three younger brothers. He dropped out of school and started working as a porter and a kitchen boy for mountaineering groups. He reached the summit of Everest for the first time in 1990 and then proceeded to summit the famed mountain 20 more times over the next two decades; he holds 13 Guinness Book of World Records for his mountaineering feats and held the world record for most summits of Mount Everest until 2018. As a Sherpa, Apa has never lost a climber.

In 2009, Apa founded the Apa Sherpa Foundation, dedicated to the improvement of education and economic development in Nepal. Reflecting on his dream to be a doctor, Apa created the foundation to provide opportunities to young people in Nepal to pursue careers other than the dangerous work of a Sherpa. Without an education, many young Nepalese have no choice but to brave the icy slopes of Everest to support their families.

Born Michael Francis Yamamoto in Poston Relocation Camp in Yuma County, Arizona, in 1943, Mia Frances Yamamoto is the co-founder of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Southern California; co-founder and current co-chair of the Multi-Cultural Bar Alliance (a coalition of 17 minority, women’s and LGBT bar associations); and founding board member of International Bridges to Justice, a human rights group providing due process education and advocating against investigative torture in the judicial systems in China, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

Mia graduated from Cal State University, Los Angeles, in 1966 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Government. She then served in the United States Army’s 4th Infantry Division, USARV, from 1966-1968, earning the National Defense Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal and Vietnam Service Medal.

Following her service, Mia attended UCLA’s School of Law, where she co-founded the Asian Pacific Islander Law Student Association, graduating with her J.D. in 1971. Mia began her legal career at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, where she worked from 1971 to 1974. She served as Deputy Los Angeles County Public Defender and California State Public Defender from 1974 to 1984 before transitioning into private practice.

Mia has previously served on the boards of the L.A. County Bar Association, Korean American Bar Association, and ACLU of Southern California. She has served on the California Judicial Council State Task forces on Jury Improvement and Access to Justice and is the past president of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, a statewide organization of 2,500 private and public defenders, and past president of both the Japanese American Bar Association and the Asian pacific American Women Lawyers Alliance.

Mia’s past honors and awards include one of three inaugural Stonewall Awards, the Spirit of Excellence Award from the American Bar Association, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Trailblazer Award, the Harvey Milk Legacy Award from Christopher Street West/L.A. Pride and the Rainbow Key Award from the City of West Hollywood, among many others.

In 2014, Rachelle Arizmendi became the first person and woman of color to be elected to the City of Sierra Madre City Council in California. She was selected by her colleagues to serve as Mayor in 2017 and was recently re-elected to her second term as a City Councilmember.

Rachelle is a CA Governor Appointee on the California Department of Food & Agriculture Board, Board President of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, and Board Member/Governance Committee Chair of the National Coalition for Asian Pacific Association of Community Development. She represents Sierra Madre on the Foothill Workforce Development Policy Board, serves as an Advisory Member of the South Coast AQMD Local Government & Small Business Assistance Advisory group, and is a Board Member on the League of California’s Cities (LOCC) Women’s Caucus. Past leadership positions include Board Member of LOCC, Board Member of LOCC’s Asian Pacific Islander (API) Caucus, and CA Governor Appointee to the State Interagency Coordinating Council on Early Intervention.

Rachelle is also the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of PACE (Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment). PACE is a non-profit community development corporation that serves over 50,000 people every year in the areas of job training and employment, business development, early childhood education, financial education and asset building, affordable housing, energy and weatherization.

In 2018, she was recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the World by FWN. Other recognitions include Top 30 Alumni by the Southern California Leadership Network, CA Assembly Member Holden’s Woman of Distinction, and one of Los Angeles County Supervisor Antonovich’s Women of the Year.

Born in Carmel, California, Rachelle is a graduate of San Diego State University where she earned two Bachelor’s degrees prior to pursuing her Master’s degree at Eastern Illinois University. She’s a dietitian by education and has taught Nutrition courses at Pasadena City College. Rachelle, her husband Fili, and dog Madison, have resided in Sierra Madre for over twelve years.

Ben Chestnut is co-founder and CEO of MailChimp, the leading marketing platform for small businesses. Headquartered in Ben’s hometown of Atlanta since 2001, MailChimp is privately held and profitable, with over 800 employees and millions of global users. In 2017, MailChimp was named Company of the Year by Inc. Magazine and recognized as one of the world’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company.

Ben is a dedicated leader whose mantra for employees is “listen hard, change fast.” He has a bachelor’s degree in industrial design from Georgia Tech and was named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2016.

Ben is a native Georgian.

Chaiwon Kim is the first Asian American woman to serve as CEO / President of the Center for Pan Asian Community Services, Inc. (CPACS). CPACS is the first and only multi-service community center in the Southeast serving the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) communities. Her efforts have grown CPACS from a volunteer-run organization formed to help local Korean Americans, into a multi-service organization with a diverse staff of more than 40 full and 80 part-time employees with the ability to speak 15 different languages (Asian and non-Asian). Under her direction, CPACS capacity has grown from 791 clients served per month in 1999 to over 3,600 clients served per month in 2018.

A Registered Nurse (RN), Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and Addiction Counselor by Profession, Mrs. Kim recognized the need for a clinic in 1990 when she began working at CPACS as a volunteer receptionist. Soon after, she spearheaded the development of CPACS free clinic which provides basic health checks and immunizations for the immigrant community. In 1999 she initiated the Asian Breast Care program—a comprehensive program aimed at providing culturally and linguistically appropriate, affordable breast cancer screening to uninsured and underinsured API women. Out of the Asian Breast Care Program Mrs. Kim developed the Korean and Chinese cancer support groups, the first and only in-language support groups of their kind in Georgia.

In 2000, CPACS became a certified HIV testing and counseling center and in 2006 Mrs. Kim secured funding through HUD to develop the first Georgia senior housing complex —only the second for Asian Americans in the nation. She graduated from Georgia State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology in 2001 and become a state certified addiction counselor (GACA) in 2003. In 2008 Mrs. Kim opened the RICE (Research Institute and Counseling Education) Center, a CPACS satellite office, to provide mental health counseling. Finally, in 2013 Mrs. Kim opened CPACS Cosmo Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center, staffed by bi-lingual, bi-cultural physicians.

The City University of New York (CUNY) on March 30, 2020, named Frank H. Wu the president of its Queens College. Wu, who will assume office on July 1, 2020, will be the second Asian American leader of a CUNY college.

At time of the 2018 NAAAP100 award, Frank H. Wu was a Distinguished Professor, holding the highest rank accorded a faculty member, at University of California Hastings College of Law. He previously served as Chancellor & Dean at the school, receiving unanimous renewal to a second term after having been voted the most “influential” dean in legal education in a poll by National Jurist magazine. UC Hastings is the unique standalone institution affiliated with the University of California system, with its own governance and independent finances.

Before joining UC Hastings, he was a member of the faculty at Howard University, the nation’s leading historically black college/university (HBCU), for a decade. He served as Dean of Wayne State University Law School in his hometown of Detroit, and he has been a visiting professor at University of Michigan; an adjunct professor at Columbia University; and a Thomas C. Grey Teaching Fellow at Stanford University. He taught at the Peking University School of Transnational Law in its inaugural year and again a decade later. In his leadership roles at UC Hastings and Wayne, as well as on the faculty at Howard, he was the first Asian American to serve in such a capacity.

He is dedicated to civic engagement and volunteer service. In April 2016, he was elected by the members of Committee of 100 as their Chair, and he held that office for two years; then in February 2017, the Board named him as the group’s first-ever President. C100 is a non-profit membership organization based in New York City and professionally staffed. Founded by individuals such as cellist Yo-Yo Ma, architect I.M. Pei, businesswoman Shirley Young, physicist Chien-Shiung Wu, financier Henry Tang, and philanthropist Oscar Tang, it invites Chinese Americans who have achieved the highest levels of success to join, working on twin missions of promoting good relations between the US and China and the participation of Chinese Americans in all aspects of public life. C100 sends delegations to China, holds a Capitol Hill briefing series in Washington, D.C., and publishes a unique “mirror” survey of American attitudes toward China and Chinese attitudes toward America.

He was appointed by the federal Department of Education to its National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI), which advises the administration on higher education accreditation, and by the Defense Department to the Military Leadership Diversity Commission, which submitted to Congress the report From Representation to Inclusion. He currently is a Trustee of Deep Springs College, a highly-selective full-scholarship school enrolling twenty-six on a student-run cattle ranch near Death Valley, where he previously taught for several short periods. He was a Trustee of Gallaudet University, the only university in the world dedicated to deaf and hard of hearing persons, from 2000 to 2010, and Vice-Chair of the Board for the final four years of his tenure. He served on the Board of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund from 2004 to 2010.

Professor Wu is the author of Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White, which was immediately reprinted in its hardcover edition, and co-author of Race, Rights and Reparation: Law and the Japanese American Internment, which received the single greatest grant from the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund. He blogged regularly for six years at Huffington Post (“HuffPo”), and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Chronicle of Higher Education and National Law Journal. He is writing a book on the Vincent Chin case; he appeared on an episode of the TV show Fatal Encounters entitled “Killer Swing,” about the case, and his co-authored script of a trial reenactment of the Vincent Chin case has been performed around the nation.

Over the years, Professor Wu has maintained an extensive schedule of media appearances and public speaking. His professional credits include commentary for National Public Radio and Now with Bill Moyers. He has appeared as a guest on the Oprah Winfrey show, O’Reilly Factor, and C-SPAN Booknotes with Brian Lamb, and as part of a roundtable hosted by George Takei (the original “Mr. Sulu” on Star Trek) discussing the restored Charlie Chan films broadcast by Fox Movie Channel. In summer 2017, he visited Australia for a lecture tour featuring multiple events in Sydney and Melbourne.

Prior to his academic career, he held a clerkship with the late U.S. District Judge Frank J. Battisti in Cleveland and practiced law with the firm of Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco – while there, he devoted a quarter of his time to pro bono work on behalf of indigent clients. He received a B.A. from the Johns Hopkins University and a J.D. with honors from the University of Michigan. He completed the Management Development Program of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Professor Wu was born in the United States in 1967, to immigrants from Taiwan. He is married to Carol L. Izumi. They live in San Francisco. He is an avid runner, completing 36 half marathons in 2016; and photographer, shooting on film with a vintage Contax G2.

Bernarda Wong, better known as “Bernie,” is a founder and the President of the Chinese American Service League (CASL). Under Bernie’s leadership, CASL has grown from a one-person shop in 1978 with an annual budget of $30,000 to $13 million. She spearheaded the initiative to build a $6.7 million Senior Housing facility as well as CASL’s new facility, the Kam L. Liu Building, a community service center located adjacent to the Senior Housing facility. Prior to her work with CASL, Bernie served as Director of Social Services for a community center and a Head Start Day Care Program in a predominantly African American community. 

Li–Young Lee (born August 19, 1957) is an American poet. He was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, to Chinese parents. His maternal grandfather was Yuan Shikai, China’s first Republican President, who attempted to make himself emperor.  He draws on his Chinese-American heritage in his poems, in particular his early experience of exile and migration.

Linda Yu is a Chinese-American former news anchor and author. Yu is best known as co-anchor on the Eyewitness newscast for WLS-TV in Chicago, Illinois from April 1984 until November 2016. Yu became Chicago’s first Asian–American broadcast journalist when she began her news career in Chicago at WMAQ-TV in 1979. For her broadcasting work, Yu has received a total of five local Emmy Awards including one for her report examining the aftermath of 9/11 in 2001. In 1984, Yu was honored with a National Gold Medal from the National Conference of Community and Justice for her documentary, “The Scars of Belfast”.

Thomas Park Clement is the Founder and CEO of Mectra Labs, an inventor with 42 U.S. medical patents, a humanitarian, the author of The Unforgotten War and Dust of the Streets: The Journey of a Biracial Orphan of the Korean War, and a prominent leader of the Korean American Adoptee community.

Dr. Victor J. Dzau is the President of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly Institute of Medicine) and Vice Chair of the National Research Council. He is the Chancellor Emeritus and James B. Duke Professor of Medicine at Duke University, the past President and CEO of the Duke University Health System, and previous Chairman of the Department of Medicine at both Stanford University and Harvard University.

Dr. Omar Ishrak is the Chairman and CEO of Medtronic, which is the world’s leading medical technology company with more than $28 billion in annual revenue and operations reaching approximately 160 countries. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Asia Society.

Dr. Santa J. Ono is the 15th President and Vice Chancellor of the University of British Columbia and former President of the University of Cincinnati. He is recognized as one of the most admired leaders in higher education and a visible, outspoken advocate for social progress. Dr. Ono has also held faculty and administrative roles in medicine and biology at Johns Hopkins, Harvard, University College London, and Emory universities.

Juju Chang is an acclaimed and prize-winning journalist for ABC News. She was the first Korean American to serve a prominent role on a national U.S. morning news television show when she joined Good Morning America in 2009 and is a founding member of the Korean American Community Foundation. She received her NAAAP 100 award at a ceremony in February 2016 hosted by The National Society of Leadership and Success.

Ronald Chang is President of the UPS Corporate Treasurer, the highest ranking Asian American at UPS, and chair of NAAAP’s national board of directors. Mr. Chang has worked for 28 years at UPS, with an early role in 1991 as a supervisor in Finance and Accounting. In 1996, he moved to Singapore to become Controller of the Asia Pacific Region, where he was responsible for a $700 million book of business, comprised of twelve subsidiaries and countries spanning across Asia. In 1999, UPS relocated Mr. Chang to London to become Vice President of Mergers & Acquisitions, Treasury for Europe and Asia, where he worked on cross-border acquisitions, joint ventures, currency hedging, and debt placements. When Mr. Chang was asked to become Vice President of Finance for UPS’ Pacific Region in 2005, he assumed responsibility for one of the corporation’s largest business units. His promotion to Global Head of M&A and Intellectual Property in 2007 marked an expansion of his strategic role, for which he led an M&A team to fulfill his acquisition vision while working with investment banks and the UPS Board of Directors. Mr. Chang’s service as Vice President of Strategy at UPS Capital in 2013 was quickly followed within a year to his promotion as the President of UPS Capital, which offers financing and insurance services to protect companies from risk and manage cash in their supply chains.

As an individual of Korean descent, Mr. Chang has also volunteered his time to uplift the Asian community and promote inclusion in general. He has mentored and served as a role model to his fellow coworkers at UPS, helping to shape the company’s Asian talent development initiative and diversity leadership program. In 2010, Who’s Who in Asian American Communities recognized Mr. Chang with a Leaders & Legends Award for his influential contributions. Mr. Chang has also volunteered his time and supported several community organizations, including the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), and the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP). Mr. Chang earned his Masters Degree from Pepperdine University and lives with his wife and two children in Atlanta.

Tammy Nguyen Lee is President and Co-Founder of Against The Grain Productions and is an award-winning producer and filmmaker, professional actor, and philanthropist.

Born in Saigon, Mrs. Lee fled Vietnam on a boat when she was less than three months old and spent over a year in a Hong Kong refugee camp before being reunited with family in Dallas. After graduating near the top of her class from an International Baccalaureate program with intensive training in theater and music, she declined a scholarship to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts to be closer to family, matriculating at the esteemed Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University (SMU). As an undergraduate, she was a leader in several Asian organizations, and her short films Lunar Cycles and First Slow Burn were screened in various film festivals across the country. Mrs. Lee also reigned as Miss Asian American Texas from 1999-2001. Soon afterwards, she earned her M.F.A. at UCLA while producing films and continuing her work as a professional actor and spokesmodel.   In 2005, Mrs. Lee co-founded the nonprofit Against The Grain Productions, which is dedicated to Asian Americans in the arts and has raised funds for orphanages in Vietnam and given scholarships to emerging Asian leaders. Her documentary Operation Babylift: The Lost Children of Vietnam has won numerous national and international film festival awards and has brought attention to the aftermath of what has been called “one of the most humanitarian efforts in history.”

For over a decade, Mrs. Lee has made a tremendous impact in her local community through ongoing charitable and civic efforts. Mrs. Lee serves as an educator in promoting awareness around poverty, Asian culture, and female leadership, with key roles at the SMU Hegi Family Career Development Center and the SMU Meadows Alumni Advisory Council. In 2010, Mrs. Lee was honored with a Distinguished Alumni award, and in 2012, she received the NAAAP DFW Leaders of Excellence Award. Her work on the Board of Directors for Women in Film Dallas and her close work over the past four years with NAAAP DFW have made her one of the most well-known and respected leaders in the Dallas Asian community. Mrs. Lee lives in Dallas with her husband, their two daughters, and their miniature schnauzers, Oscar and Emmy.

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Tony DelaRosa (he/they/siya) is an aspiring Anti-Bias & Anti-Racist Educator, DEI Consultant, Spoken Word Poet, and Coalition Builder. He holds a BA in Asian Studies at the University of Cincinnati and a Masters in Education at Harvard University. 

 In 2013, he co-founded Pulse Poetry, a school school program which uses spoken word pedagogy and public speaking to empower youth voices in various cities. Because of his youth work, he was handpicked by the US-Phippine Embassy to serve as a delegate and on the board of the Filipino Young Leaders Program (FYLPRO). In 2019, he founded Tony Rosa Speaks LLC which provides DEI motivational speaking services. Tony Rosa Speaks LLC has been selected as an official CatalystEd Network provider, which consults for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the New Schools Venture Fund, and the like. His work has been featured in KQED,  Bain & Co, Harvard Ed Magazine, the Smithsonian, Columbia University’s Hechinger Report,  Hyphen Magazine, and elsewhere. 

Today, he currently works at Teach for America Florida, where he coaches the next wave of Miami’s teacher-leaders and is the cofounder of NYC’s first Asian American teacher support, development, and retention initiative called AATEND under NYC Men Teach, the NYC DOE, and Office of the Mayor.

Aisha Yaqoob is a professional advocate for immigrant rights at the state Capitol, working with legislators on both sides of the aisle to push for civil rights for immigrants and people of color. As policy director for a nonprofit legal and advocacy center, Aisha monitors local, state, and federal policies that affect immigrants and works to fight for their rights.

Aisha is passionate about voting rights, access to healthcare and education, and immigration. She believes in upholding the civil rights and civil liberties for all people, especially those whom have been historically underrepresented.

Aisha moved to Gwinnett County at the age of 6 from south Florida. Since then she has lived in the Collin Hills area, Suwanee and now Duluth. Aisha is the middle of five children and has always been surrounded by a large extended family.

Growing up in Georgia, Aisha took advantage of every opportunity given to her. She graduated with honors from North Gwinnett High School and earned the HOPE Scholarship to attend the University of Georgia where she earned her Bachelors of Arts in Journalism in 2013, and a Masters of Public Administration & Policy in 2016.

In college, Aisha took a special interest in working with students with disabilities and worked at the University’s Disability Resource Center. After her undergraduate career, she continued her passion for individuals with disabilities working at Gwinnett Technical College in the Disability Services department. Shortly thereafter, she joined her graduate program to study Public Administration & Policy to learn more about how to make an impact in government.

While in graduate school Aisha founded the Georgia Muslim Voter Project, an organization whose mission is to increase voter turnout in the American Muslim community. In 2016 she and her team helped to increase voter turnout across Georgia in a community that has historically rarely participated in the electoral process.

Aisha is actively involved in her community. She was a co-organizer of Atlanta March for Social Justice & Women (January 2017), which saw an estimated 60,000 people peacefully march in downtown Atlanta. She also earned a scholarship to participate in the National Labor Leadership Initiative, Southern Program.

Aisha has participated in the Gwinnett Citizens Academy (Fall 2016 Cohort) and served on the Advisory Committee for the Downtown Suwanee Redevelopment Commission (2014-2015).

She earned a 40 Under 40 Georgia Muslim Award from the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta (October 2016) and the Rising Star Community Champion Award from Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta (October 2016). In 2015, Aisha earned a commendation from the Georgia General Assembly for work in the Georgia Muslim Community.