Fellow Highlights

2016-2017 Edition: The New American

September 11, 2016

The 2016-17 edition of The New American is now available online at Issuu.com. The issue includes stories and news from over fifty of the Fellowship’s 565 current and past Fellows.

Magazine cover: Off-white background, on the right a man stands leaning against a wall with a light blue shirt and his hands in his pockets. He is in his 30s with heritage from Czech Republic with light skin tone and light brown hair. Across the top of the page it says "The New American" in black font. Down the left side featured articles are listed.

Writing America’s Story

Editor’s Note

The best part of my job is telling amazing stories. Whether I’m listening to a Fellow’s memories of her family immigrating to the United States, or looking at a Fellow’s brand-new company, I am privileged to work with some of the most brilliant people in the country. This year, as immigration and immigrants have taken center stage in US politics, this work becomes all the more relevant and critical. We as an organization must step up to ensure that we are telling the stories of immigrants and their children and all that they bring to this country.

We turned over the reins to the cover story to Andrei Cherny (1999), who is the founder and CEO of Aspiration, an investment firm for the middle class. Andrei was the youngest White House speechwriter ever when he worked for President Bill Clinton, and between that job and his current firm, he ran for Congress and wrote two books. He’s diving into what it means to be a New American and what obligations come with being one of our country’s newest members.

This year we were delighted to finally get our hands on Kao Kalia Yang’s (2003) newest book, The Song Poet: A Memoir of My Father, which follows her father’s epic journey from his childhood in Laos to his current retirement in Minnesota. We also want to let the world know about our very own Thuy Thi Nguyen (1999), who is the new president of Foothill College, near San Jose, California. Thuy is the first Vietnamese president of a community college in California, and possibly in the United States. Our interview with her is on page 28.

You’ll find interviews with beloved Trustees David E. McKinney and N. J. Nicholas Jr., as well as plenty of highlights from the year in Fellows In Brief.

We’re delighted to present you with this twenty-first issue of The New American, which we’ve done our best to fill with the stories that define our community and honor the accomplishments of immigrants and children of immigrants.

We’d love to hear what you think. Write to us!

Nikka Landau

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