“Dawn of a New Day: Asian American Women Who Are Changing Media” was presented by Visual Communications and UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs on Oct. 17 at the Japanese American National Museum as the closing event of the exhibition “At First Light: The Dawning of Asian Pacific America.” Top photo: The panelists, who have challenged a predominantly male-dominated industry, were (from left) moderator Ada Tseng, entertainment editor for TimesOC,an L.A. Timescommunity paper covering Orange County; filmmaker Grace Lee, who directed the Peabody Award-winning documentary “American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs”; actress, writer and comedian Tess Paras, whose TV credits include “Just Add Magic,” “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” and “Grimm”; performance artist, writer and elected representative Kristina Wong, who has appeared on Comedy Central and FX; and Fawzia Mirza, who co-wrote, produced and starred in the feature film “Signature Move” and worked on the CBS series “The Red Line.”

From left: Filmmaker Renee Tajima-Pe?a, professor of Asian American studies at UCLA; Karen Umemoto, professor of urban planning and director of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center; and Gary Segura, dean of the Luskin School of Public Affairs at UCLA. Speakers also included Francis Cullado, executive director of Visual Communications.

Photos by J.K. YAMAMOTO/Rafu Shimpo

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