Asian Hall of Fame

2023 Asian Hall of Fame Artist Ambassador Inductee, Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash was an American singer songwriter who became one of the best-selling artists of all time. A beloved musician among Asian and American audiences and dedicated supporter of veterans and the incarcerated.

As his music embraced country, he had the rare honor of being inducted into the Country Music, Rock & Roll, and Gospel Music Halls of Fame.

Most of Cash's music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation and redemption. With his distinct bass-baritone voice and the chugging guitar rhythms of his Tennessee Three backing band, his music was noted for its stripped-down sound and focus on the working poor alongside social and political issues.

Throughout his career Cash gave prison concerts and mostly wore an all-black stage wardrobe, which earned him the moniker the Man in Black. Exposed from childhood to music of the rural South, from hymns to folk ballads, Cash learned to play guitar and began writing songs during military service in Germany in the early 1950s.

After he settled in Memphis Tennessee, Cash began performing with the Tennessee Two (later Tennessee Three). Appearances at county fairs and other events led to an audition with Sam Phillips of Sun Records, who signed Cash in 1955. His songs as “Cry, Cry, Cry,” “Hey, Porter,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” and “I Walk the Line” brought him attention. By 1957 Cash was the top recording artist in country and western.

2023 Inductee, Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland

Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland represents Washington’s 10th Congressional District, which covers parts of Pierce and Thurston Counties.

Born in Seoul, she is the first African American to represent Washington State at the federal level, and one of the first Korean American women elected to Congress in its history. She earned her B.A. from the University of Washington and holds an MBA from Clark Atlanta University.

Prior to her election to Congress, Strickland was the President and CEO of the Seattle Metro Chamber of Commerce. She served two terms as mayor of Tacoma from 2010-2017, where she championed education, infrastructure, and job growth. A firm believer that there is dignity in all work, Strickland led successful efforts to raise the minimum wage and pass paid sick leave, paving the way for statewide action.

In the 118th Congress, Strickland sits on the House Armed Services Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. She serves as whip for the Congressional Black Caucus and is a member of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, the Bipartisan Historically Black Colleges and Universities Caucus, and the New Democrat Coalition. She is co-chair of the Puget Sound Recovery Caucus and a member of the Pro-choice Caucus. Congresswoman Strickland resides in the district with her husband, Patrick Erwin.

2023 Asian Hall of Fame Inductee, Santos Manuel

Santos Manuel was a revered leader of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians who thrived in harmony for generations in large swaths of what is now Southern California.

He was born in 1814 into the village of his father in the San Bernardino Mountains, the
Yuhaaviatam or “People of the Pines.” Manuel's life encompassed major milestones in California and US history, including Spanish missionization, the American settlement of
Southern California, urban development, and World War I.

In 1919, Santos Manuel passed away after spending the majority of his life instilling in his people lessons of Yawa’, meaning to act on one’s beliefs. He is beloved by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians as a visionary man who arose in their darkest hour through extraordinary leadership, ensuring the survival of their ancestors and tribe.

As a Serrano clan leader, Manuel is recognized for safely leading the tribe from its homeland in the mountains and valleys to escape militia forces that decimated the group during a 32-day battle. During this battle, he counseled his tribe not to fight with the settlers. By the battle’s end, the tribe had dwindled to fewer than 30 members.

Santos Manuel’s spirit continues to guide the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians that has grown in strength and numbers to carry on his legacy.

2023 Asian Hall of Fame Inductee, Nintendo

Nintendo Co., Ltd. is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops and releases both video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as Nintendo Karuta by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade hanafuda playing cards. After venturing into various lines of business during the 1960s and acquiring a legal status as a public company, Nintendo distributed its first console, the Color TV-Game, in 1977. It gained international recognition with the release of Donkey Kong in 1981 and the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Mario Bros. in 1985. Since then, Nintendo has produced some of the most successful consoles in the video game industry, such as the Game Boy, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the Nintendo DS, the Wii, and the Switch. Nintendo's mascot, Mario, is internationally recognized. The company has sold more than 5.4 billion video games and over 800 million hardware units globally as of 2022.

2023 Asian Hall of Fame Inductee, Lalisa Manobal

Thai rapper, singer and dancer Lalisa Manobal, also known as Lisa, is one of the biggest musical artists in all of Asia. Famous as a member of the Korean girl group Blackpink, she made her solo debut with her album Lalisa in 2021, which become a smash hit. The music video for its lead single recorded 73.6 million views on YouTube in the first 24 hours of its release, setting a record. Both Lalisa and the album's second single Money charted in the top 10 of the Billboard Global 200.

Lalisa has earned numerous accolades throughout her career, including a Mnet Asian Music Award, a Gaon Chart Music Award, and the first MTV Video Music Award and MTV Europe Music Award ever won by a K-pop soloist. She has been the most-followed K-pop artist on Instagram since 2019. Born as Pranpriya, an only child raised by her Thai mother and Swiss stepfather, LaLisa left her native Thailand at the age of 14 to move to South Korea, after winning a contest for aspiring musicians. Years of hard work as a teenager paid off when she was asked to join Blackpink in 2016. Lalisa is a global brand ambassador for the Celine fashion house and Bulgari, and has released her own collection with MAC cosmetics.

2023 Asian Hall of Fame Inductee, Kim Thayil

Kim Thayil is the lead guitarist and cofounder in 1984 of the Seattle rock band Soundgarden. The band pioneered the early sounds of grunge rock that spearheaded a movement out of Seattle that went on to include Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Thayil was quickly acclaimed for his guitar work and was cited among other guitarists as an influence for his iconic sound. Among Soundgarden’s five albums, three went platinum at least once, and won two Grammys.

Born in Seattle in 1960 to parents who came from the Indian state of Kerala, Thayil grew up in the Chicago suburb of Park Forest, where he formed his first band, Bozo and The Pinheads. Thayil met Hiro Yamamoto at Rich East High School in Park Forest, and the two moved to Seattle together. Yamamoto, also an Asian Hall of Fame inductee, is a founding member of Soundgarden as well. Thayil was named the 100th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone in 2010.

2023 Asian Hall of Fame Inductee, Lisa T. Su

Dr. Lisa T. Su is Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Prior to AMD, Dr. Su served as SVP and GM, Networking and Multimedia at Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., a semiconductor manufacturing company. Dr. Su joined Freescale in 2007 as CTO, leading the company’s technology roadmap and research and development efforts.

Dr. Su spent the previous 13 years at IBM in various engineering and business leadership positions, including VP of the Semiconductor Research and Development Center responsible for the strategic direction of IBM’s silicon technologies, joint development alliances and semiconductor R&D operations. Prior to IBM, she was a member of the technical staff at Texas Instruments Inc. in the Semiconductor Process and Device Center.

Dr. Su has published more than 40 technical articles and was named a Fellow of the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers in 2009. In 2018, Dr. Su was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and received the Global Semiconductor Association’s Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award. In 2020, Fortune named Dr. Su #2 on its “Business Person of the Year” list, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Science, and received the Grace Hopper Technical Leadership Abie Award. In 2021, she was recognized by the IEEE with its highest semiconductor honor, the Robert N. Noyce Medal, and was appointed by President Biden to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

2023 Asian Hall of Fame Inductee, Jennifer Lee

Jennifer Lee, known as TOKiMONSTA, is a Korean American record producer and DJ who creates music at the highest level. Over the last decade, the Los Angeles producer and Young Art Label Boss has helped define the sound of modern dance and beat music.

In 2015, in the midsts of her soaring career, she was diagnosed with moyamoya disease, a rare disorder that constricts arteries in the brain. After undergoing two brain surgeries, TOKiMONSTA relearned how to walk and comprehend speech. She also retaught herself how to consume and make music.

Since her recovery that has inspired a Netflix documentary, the music icon has collaborated with a range of artists and has done a number of official remixes. In 2019, Tokimonsta was nominated for a GRAMMY in the “Best Dance / Electronic Album” category for her album Lune Rouge. She was the first female Asian American producer to receive a nomination in this category.

Jennifer Lee grew up in Torrance, California. Her parents immigrated to the US from South Korea. She graduated from University of California, Irvine.

2023 Asian Hall of Fame Inductees, Far East Movement

Far East Movement (FM) is comprised of Kevin Nishimura, Virman Coquia, and James Roh. FM hails from Koreatown, Los Angeles, but has always had a global outlook on music. The group attained platinum hits ranging from the United States to the United Kingdom, from China to South Korea.

Since becoming the first Asian American group to hit Number One on Billboard Charts with their smash hit "Like a G6" and following up with another Top Five on Billboard with "Rocketeer" co-written by Bruno Mars, they kept the momentum going, most recently with two Number One hits (“Bamboo” and “Lovebird”) on China’s Netease platform in 2018. FM also showcased itself as one of the most exciting touring acts in world music performing at some of the most prestigious festivals all around the world like Ultra Music Festival, Tomorrowland, and Electric Daisy Carnival.

FM’s current focus is Transparent Arts, a company they built with their childhood friends, focused on supporting talented artists in different mediums. Their roster includes global pop icons The Rose, BI, and James Reid, actress Liza Soberano, rapper Dumbfoundead, and DJ/ Producer Yultron. FM has a joint label with Trap City, one of the largest dance music channels in the world (14 million subscribers), named BredNButter with a myriad of releases having amassed millions of plays in a little over a year of existence. They’ve also ventured into other fields, opening up a popular New American restaurant named Intercrew in the heart of Koreatown.

2023 Asian Hall of Fame Inductee, Peter P. Lee, M.D.

Peter P. Lee, MD, is the Billy Wilder Endowed Professor and Chair in Immuno-Oncology at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, which was recently ranked in the top 10 cancer hospitals in the US by U.S. News and World Report.

Dr. Lee was a tenured professor at Stanford University prior to being recruited to City of Hope in 2011. He is a pioneer in understanding the immune system in cancer patients and developing new cancer treatments to harness one’s own immune system. His research utilizes state-of-the-art technologies, computational modeling, and holistic systems approaches.

Dr. Lee has over 120 peer-reviewed publications and trained many students and postdoctoral fellows. He is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), and recipient of Damon Runyon Scholar Award, American Cancer Society Research Scholar Award, Dept. of Defense Era of Hope Scholar Award for Breast Cancer Research, Dept. of Defense Multi-Team Award for Breast Cancer Research, and Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C)/Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) Convergence Team leader.

In addition to his work in Immuno-Oncology, Dr. Lee is also a pioneer in the new field of microbiome. He is founder of Osel Inc., which focuses on developing live biotherapeutic products (LBPs) for women’s health and oncology. Their lead product in women’s health, LACTIN-V, has completed a major clinical trial published in New England Journal of Medicine and is ready for clinical trial for prevention of preterm birth in high-risk pregnant women. Their lead product for oncology, CBM588, has completed proof-of-concept clinical trials published in Nature Medicine, and is ready for Phase 3 clinical trial to bring this product to approval for patients with metastatic cancer.