Tech-Savvy CEO of Iridesco Danny Wen Despite the dotcom bust, the web is still very much a place for entrepreneurs. Now is the time for small teams and small applications to make a big impact-just ask Danny Wen. As Co-Founder of Iridesco, he and his team started off by doing consulting work and eventually morphed their experience into real-world applications. The first offering, SuprGlu, is a personal content aggregator to make managing social networks, blogs, and other sorts of information-sharing portals a snap. It was a quick hit and went live four weeks after the start of development, a great example of...

Phillia Kim Downs: Fashionista, Designer & Entrepreneur Extraordinairre Fashion Designer Phillia Kim Downs, 30, Founder and President of pH by phillia, Inc. had an unlikely start in her industry as she originally pursued her studies in Molecular Cell Biology, Genetics and Optometry. No matter how hard she tried to gear herself into the world of science – art and fashion kept pulling her back, or more appropriately, pushed her forward. She spends her day working with clients to design cute and sexy wardrobes, picking and falling in love with fabrics and developing hot new fashion forward ideas. Envious? Phillia shares with...

Melissa Hung of Hyphen When you think “non-profit” you don’t usually equate the word “selfish” to it. For Hyphen, that is exactly the reason and motivation for the magazine’s success. Melissa Hung, 29, Editor-in-Chief shares with us how her frustration to find a print media that she could identify with led to her launch her non-profit business idea. She utlized her journalism background and work experience and transformed her frustration to create what Hyphen is now. Her selish motivations have been praised by her readers because now they too have a magazine they can identify with. For the culturally and politically savvy, Hyphen...

Sandy Jen Thin is in! No, this isn’t about body image; it’s the evolution of software. With advancements in web browsers and scripting technologies, “thin clients” (your browser) are replacing those multi-megabyte installations with applications accessible from virtually anywhere. At the head of the pack is meebo. Founded by Sandy Jen, 25, meebo has packaged four popular instant messaging services into one web interface that looks and feels like a traditional desktop application. No installations or Alt-Tabbing between programs and windows – just quick, simple chatting anywhere the internet is. What other tricks can Sandy and meebo make your browser do? Get the...

ASPIRE You’re finishing high school, perhaps already enrolled in college. You’re lost among endless deadlines, parental demands, and truly defining who you’re meant to be. You’re not sure where to turn to for help until, that is, you find ASPIRE (Asian Sisters Participating In Reaching Excellence), a Boston-based non-profit dedicated to empowering Asian American high school and college girls. Nellie Hsu Ling, 29, founder and director, launched ASPIRE in 2001 and has spent the last five years leading a dedicated team in developing personal and professional skills of over 350 girls. Ling matches ASPIRE’s participants with other Asian American women in the...

There is a young professional movement to help support the human rights of North Koreans being subjected to human trafficking, torture, and exploitation and we’d like to tune you into what’s going on.Edward Song, 28, Director of Outreach and Programs Development of Liberty in North Korea or also known as LiNK shares with us importance of empowering young individuals to take a stand on North Korean human rights issues. LiNK, founded in 2004, has already created 28 underground shelters for refugees, provided support to women subjected to sexual trafficking and is in constant talks with the US government and NGOs to fight for North Korean refugees...

Amy Lin firmly believes in the Taiwanese people’s right to self-determination and right to be free. So strong are her convictions that she works as Program Director of theFormosa Foundation, a nonprofit organization that is committed to strengthening ties between Taiwan and the United States and protecting both their vital interests. The Formosa Foundation takes the position that the United States should recognize and support Taiwan – in keeping with a shared democratic and human rights value system – rather than continue its One China Policy, which the organization believes increases the strategic threat of China against Taiwan. Amy advances this position through educational...

People who work in sales and customer service have to manage relationships with large numbers of customers, clients, and other contacts. Traditionally, customer relationship management (CRM) has been complicated and expensive. But James Wong’s company, Avidian Technologies, offers a software solution that makes CRM simple and intuitive. Avidian created Prophet, a CRM software that is built right into Microsoft Outlook. Since sales professionals and customer service people spend so much of their time in Outlook anyway, it made obvious sense to develop a software that was within Outlook. That way, users have to deal with just one application and one customer contact database. Prophet...

San Francisco is well known for having high housing costs. So what do you do if you’re one of the city’s lowest-income residents? If you’re in Chinatown, the person to see just might be David Ho, 29. David discovered a passion for social justice advocacy in college, and since then he has made a career for himself as a professional activist, helping some of Chinatown’s most vulnerable residents. As a Senior Community Organizer at San Francisco’s Chinatown Community Development Center, David counsels low-income people in the area on housing issues. He also provideseviction-prevention defense work and advocacy on behalf of vulnerable members of the community....

Many people think that TV reporters just stand in front of the camera and talk. However, crafting a polished, compelling story that lets viewers not just watch the story, but experience it, requires tremendous preparation and behind-the-scenes work — all while under strict deadline. TV Reporter Jeff Tang, 25, of Newschannel 5, CBS’s affiliate in Nashville, TN, has a keen grasp of the art of reporting, and he has already won two regional Emmy Awards to prove it. He looks for story ideas, identifies people to interview, goes out and interviews them, reviews the video, writes the stories for three separate newscasts,...