Past Board members

We contribute this post to thank our previous board members. 

(Board Members 2019-2020)

AAJA-Asia board members are selected through a chapter-wide nomination and voting process. Board members serve a two-year term.

Oanh Ha, AAJA-Asia President
Oanh Ha oversees Asia coverage of consumer and healthcare news for Bloomberg. She joined the news organization in 2010 as Vietnam bureau chief. Before joining Bloomberg, she worked as a host and reporter for KQED Public Radio in San Francisco on its nationally-syndicated program, Pacific Time, examining the connections between Asia, the U.S. and Asian American issues. She’s also reported for the San Jose Mercury News, covering Asia Pacific affairs, technology and small businesses. She was born in Vietnam and grew up in California.

Zela Chin, Executive Vice-President 

An award-winning journalist, Zela is the principal reporter for the weekly, prime-time documentary program Pearl Magazine on TVB, the largest broadcaster in Hong Kong. Prior to launching Pearl Magazine, she was a reporter with TVB’s business feature program, Money Magazine. TVB shows reach 2.3 million households in the city, and over 300 million households worldwide. 

Zela started her career at CNN headquarters in the U.S. and later joined CNN in Hong Kong to produce Talk Asia. Highlights include interviews with Alibaba CEO Jack Ma, scientist Stephen Hawking and opera singer Luciano Pavarotti. 

Tom Benner, Vice-President, Singapore and Southeast Asia

Tom Benner is a Singapore-based journalist. He writes news stories for Al Jazeera English, columns for Mainichi Shimbun’s bilingual news magazine Mainichi Weekly, and works as a copy editor and fact-checker at Forbes Asia. He has served as editor of N3Magazine, the official publication of N3Conference. He became an elected board member of the Singapore Press Club in 2013 and joined the AAJA-Asia board in 2019. Before relocating to Singapore from Boston, Mass., in 2012, Tom worked in the US as a statehouse bureau chief, editorial writer, and editor of a street paper.

Kari Soo Lindberg, co Vice-President, Hong Kong 

Kari Soo Lindberg is a former nutritionist turned journalist. She previously reported on indigenous textile rights in Guatemala and the American prison system as a freelance journalist. She now works at Bloomberg in Hong Kong. She plans to move to South American within the next decade to cover the Chinese investments in the region. She loves meeting new people and can be reached at @Karisoo1 on Twitter.

Rebecca Isjwara, co Vice-President, Hong Kong 

Rebecca Isjwara is a reporter with Hong Kong-based trade publication Asian Private Banker, covering for all things tech — spanning from daily coverage responsibilities to chairing the annual technology awards. She currently serves as the co-vice president Hong Kong for the Asian American Journalists Association – Asia (AAJA-Asia), where she champions journalism through workshops, events, and annual conferences. She also volunteers as the marketing manager for TEDxWanChai and events coordinator for the Hong Kong International Literary Festival.

Rebecca graduated from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology with a BBA in Global Business and Finance. In her free time, she loves to brew a good cup of coffee and delve into third culture literary works.

Carina Lee, co Vice-President, Seoul

Carina Lee is an assistant programmer at A+E Networks. She develops programming strategy in the Korea market for the History and Lifetime channels, both of which launched in 2017. Previously she was the affiliate sales coordinator at Discovery Networks as she distributed Discovery channels across TV platforms in Korea. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Before her first career with Discovery, she has interned at CBS (WBZ-TV) and the Associated Press.

Jihye Lee, co Vice-President, Seoul

Shoko Oda, co Vice-President, Tokyo 

Shoko Oda is an equities reporter for Bloomberg News in Tokyo. She covers the Japanese stock market and its inner workings. Before joining Bloomberg, she was a student at the University of Southern California, where she majored in International Relations and East Asian Area Studies. When she’s not reporting, she’s out running in the nooks and crannies of Tokyo. 

Marika Katanuma, co Vice-President, Tokyo

Marika is responsible for spearheading Bloomberg Japan’s digital growth, as the regions Digital News Editor. Her multifaceted role convenes optimization across all digital medium channels, editorial production and assisting newsroom with valuable insights. Prior to Bloomberg, Marika spent 3 years studying Mass Communications and Sociology in Virginia and Boston and subsequently began her career at Yahoo! JAPAN in 2016. Twitter:@MarikaKatanuma

Soo Min Oh, Treasurer

Soo Min Oh is a former US-based investigative journalist who has written and reported for Fortune magazine, Time Inc., NPR, The Village Voice, and has worked on longform reporting and book projects. Her political reporting was included in Wayne Barrett’s investigative biography (published by Crown Publishing Group) of Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York and now attorney to US President Donald Trump. She also was research/editorial assistant to biographer Eleanor Dwight on the authorized biography (published by HarperCollins) of Diana Vreeland, the legendary late editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine and special consultant to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City. Ms. Oh currently is a specialist for the Hyundai Group, where she works in global human resources development with the corporation’s key partners that include Fortune 500 companies. She is a lecturer at Yonsei University. A native of Philadelphia, Soo Min has lived and worked in New York and Los Angeles, where she worked in acquisitions and operations for private and nonprofit hospitals and health care companies in Southern California. She has a degree in Economics and Mathematics.

Mark Zastrow, Secretary

Mark Zastrow is a science writer based in Seoul. He’s written for Nature, New Scientist, Sky & Telescope, NOVA Next, Retraction Watch, and other outlets. He co-edits Back of the Envelope, the science section of the literary magazine The Offing. He is also a board member of the Asia chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association and co-vice president of its Seoul subchapter.

He received his bachelor’s degree in astrophysics from the University of Minnesota and masters degrees in astronomy and science journalism from Boston University. He is currently a full-time freelancer, photographer, licensed pilot, and devout Formula 1 fan.

Angie Lau, At-Large Board Member 

Angie Lau is Editor-in-Chief, CEO, and Founder of Forkast.News. She is an award-winning veteran journalist who interviews newsmakers, CEOs, and icons, including the exclusive with Li Ka-shing — his first television one-on-one in more than a decade. Angie is a respected thought leader in blockchain technology, having been featured in Vogue Hong Kong’s May, 2019 issue: “Power of Next” for her leadership in media covering blockchain for a global audience. Angie speaks at conferences around the world, including the Forbes Summit, Binance Blockchain Week, Paris Blockchain Week Summit, Asia Blockchain Summit, and many others.

Before founding Forkast in July 2018, Angie anchored Bloomberg TV’s flagship morning show “First Up with Angie Lau” broadcast globally into 350 million homes, offices and trading floors. Angie’s TED Talk “I Am Not Supposed to Be Here” is now a TED Ed Lesson for its global audience of 6.7 million followers.  

Angie is a director on the Executive Committee Canadian Chamber of Commerce of Hong Kong, and is a former two-term President and now senior board member of Asian American Journalists Association Asia Chapter. She is a valued past Correspondent Board Governor at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Hong Kong, and also serves on the advisory board for Journalism Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong.

Grace Lee, At-Large Board Member

Grace is the Tokyo Correspondent for Feature Story News, an international broadcast news agency based in the United States. She provides coverage for TV and radio stations around the world. At the moment she’s in Hong Kong, covering the city’s months-long protests. Before joining FSN she was a reporter/producer for Reuters, where she told stories across Asia – with a focus on news out of North Korea. Prior to that, she was a local journalist at CTV News in Vancouver, Canada. You can follow her on Twitter at @graceleenews. 

Yuri Nagano, National Board Representative

Yuri Nagano has been reporting from California and Tokyo for the last two decades. She has been a reporter, producer and editor in print and broadcast for news organizations including the Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, International New York Times, a Financial Times-related publication, Bloomberg BNA, The Economist, public broadcaster KQED and Public Radio International. She started her career as a staff producer for Japan’s public broadcasting network NHK, where she won awards for her TV programs. She has served as a board member for AAJA-Asia since 2010. She enjoys hiking and practicing yoga in her free time. Follow her on Twitter @yurinagano.

Chloe Lim, Student Representative

Chloe Lim is a senior at Yale-NUS College in Singapore. Her AAJA journey began in 2019 with her internship with Tom Benner, VP of the Singapore subchapter. Chloe served as editorial assistant to AAJA-Asia’s N3Magazine and her work has been published in various media outlets. She has also recently interned at Forkast.News. Follow her on Twitter @chloelimjiahui.

(Board Members 2018-2019)

AAJA-Asia board members are selected through a chapter-wide nomination and voting process. Board members serve a two-year term.

Oanh Ha, AAJA-Asia President
Oanh Ha oversees Asia coverage of consumer and healthcare news for Bloomberg. She joined the news organization in 2010 as Vietnam bureau chief. Before joining Bloomberg, she worked as a host and reporter for KQED Public Radio in San Francisco on its nationally-syndicated program, Pacific Time, examining the connections between Asia, the U.S. and Asian American issues. She’s also reported for the San Jose Mercury News, covering Asia Pacific affairs, technology and small businesses. She was born in Vietnam and grew up in California.

Isabel Wong, Vice President, Hong Kong

Isabel is a multimedia producer based in Hong Kong with more than six years of experience in digital and broadcast journalism. She produces stories related to business and finance, arts and culture, and current affairs. She has worked at Bloomberg TV Asia and Hong Kong Tatler and her works can also be seen on Travel Channel, That’s Shanghai, Equal Times, and Hong Kong Discovery. Isabel also has experience in branding and digital marketing for luxury fashion brands like YOOX NET-A-PORTER Group in Asia Pacific.

Twitter: @isabelwjourno

Brolley Genster, co-Vice President, Seoul

Brolley Genster is the culture editor at the Korea JoongAng Daily, which he joined in 2015 as copy editor. He interned at EBS FM in Seoul and the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Washington, D.C. He graduated from American University with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Communication and has lived in Seoul since 2012.

 

Mark Zastrow, co-Vice President, Seoul

Mark Zastrow is a freelance science journalist based in Seoul. He’s written for Nature, New Scientist, NOVA Next, Retraction Watch, and other outlets. He received a bachelor’s degree in astrophysics from the University of Minnesota and master’s degrees in astronomy and science journalism from Boston University. He’s also a licensed pilot and a devout Formula 1 fan. Twitter: @markzastrow

 

Chelsea Phua, co-Vice President, Southeast Asia

Chelsea Phua is a Director and FinTech Lead at international communications consultancy firm Klareco Communications. She provides strategic counsel in public and investor relations to a broad spectrum of companies, including those listed on the Singapore Exchange, helping them to communicate their story and business profile. She has more than 16 years of experience working in the media, finance and communication industries. She has worked for The New York Daily News, the Providence Journal, the Associated Press and The Sacramento Bee. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Master of Arts in Journalism from New York University. In her spare time, she enjoys running, yoga, scuba and freediving.

Mike Raomanachai, co-Vice President, Southeast Asia

Mike Raomanachai is a technology reporter and entrepreneur. He earned a master’s degree in Multimedia Communications at Academy of Art University in San Francisco, where he was inspired by the technology industry in Silicon Valley. Mike is also a multimedia journalist who has been working on new reporting platforms such as live streaming and live blogging for the past seven years. Mike also served as AAJA-Asia’s vice president, representing Southeast Asia. He helps organize the chapter’s annual regional media conference N3Con as a social media coordinator. He also takes a responsibility as a board member of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT), the largest press club of Southeast Asia.  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeraomanachai/  / Twitter: @da_mike / Instagram: mikeraomanachai/ Facebook: Mike Raomanachai

Haruka Nuga, Co-Vice President, Tokyo

Haruka Nuga is a Tokyo-based TV news producer for Reuters. Her main area of coverage is Japan, covering stories from unique cultural happenings, natural disasters to financial beats. Before joining Reuters, Haruka was a global news intern for the Associated Press in Tokyo as well as part of the assignment desk at Bloomberg TV in Hong Kong. She graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a bachelor’s degree in  Journalism and Psychology. Instagram: @HarukaNuga/ Twitter: @HarukaNuga    /   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harukanuga/

 

Eunice Kim, Treasurer

Eunice is a Seoul-based freelance reporter, currently at Arirang TV’s Business Daily. She has filed stories on a range of topics – from Korea’s demographic and structural challenges to its aspirations for future growth, including FinTech. She also covers global stories for the English-language network. Born in Korea and raised in Indonesia and the US, she launched her media career in California, chasing crime and unearthing human interest stories. She also served as a magazine editor in Jakarta before landing in Seoul six years ago.

Carina Lee, Secretary

Carina Lee is an assistant programmer at A+E Networks. She introduces programming strategy in the Korea market for History channel and Lifetime channel, which these both channels have just launched in 2017. Previously she was the affiliate sales coordinator at Discovery Networks as she distributed discovery channels across TV platforms in Korea. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Before her first career with Discovery, she has interned at CBS (WBZ-TV) and the Associated Press.

Eunji Kim, At-Large Board Member

Eunji Kim is a radio producer for Korean Broadcasting System. She is currently in charge of K-POP Connection, a weekday music program.  Prior to joining KBS, she gained experience at the Korea JoongAng Daily, The Nation magazine and Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR). Eunji holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Media Studies and Political Science from Rutgers University.

 

Zela Chin,  At-Large Board Member

Zela is the principal reporter/producer for the weekly, prime time business program “Money Magazine” on TVB in Hong Kong. She started her career at CNN in the U.S. and later joined CNN in Hong Kong to produce “Talk Asia with Lorraine Hahn.” Highlights include interviews with Alibaba CEO Jack Ma, scientist Stephen Hawking and opera singer Luciano Pavarotti. She is also president of the Duke Alumni Association’s Hong Kong chapter. Zela has a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Hong Kong, a bachelor’s in Slavic languages from Duke University, and was the recipient of the Gates Millennium Scholarship.

Yuri Nagano, National Board Representative

Yuri Nagano is a multimedia journalist and senior reporter for Acuris (Mergermarket Group) in Tokyo. Nagano has reported for news organizations including Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, International New York Times, The Economist, Bloomberg BNA and Public Radio International.

She started her career as a staff producer for Japan’s public broadcasting network NHK where she won awards for her programs.

Nagano has helped grow the AAJA-Asia chapter through various board roles since 2010 including the chapter’s Co-President. @yurinagano http://yurinagano.com

Holly Chik, Student Representative 

Holly is a Hong Kong-based reporter at the South China Morning Post. Previously, she interned at Reuters in Hong Kong as well. 

She joined the AAJA in 2017 after her first New.Now.Next Media Conference. Since then, she has been part of the organizing committee of N3Con. She also took up the role as a student representative on the AAJA-Asia board during her undergraduate studies.

 

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(Former Board Members 1996 -2018)

Angie Lau, AAJA-Asia President (2016-2018)

Multiple award-winning anchor Angie Lau moves from business journalism to join the Li Ka Shing Foundation and his team of investors and philanthropists making a real positive change in the world by investing in disruptive technologies. Most recently one of Bloomberg TV’s key anchors globally, this internationally experienced journalist was one of the senior editorial voices in the region, heading up Bloomberg’s flagship morning programming for years. An accomplished keynote speaker, Angie gave an inspiring TEDx Talk called “I am Not Supposed to be Here” about the power of finding one’s voice. During Angie’s tenure as President of the AAJA Asia Chapter, AAJA Asia won Chapter of the Year.   www.angietvlau.com/ , LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/angielau/   

Ramy Inocencio, AAJA-Asia President and National Board Representative (Hong Kong) (2013-2015)

Host/senior producer of Wall Street Journal’s “Digits” global tech show, Ramy was previously CNN International’s Asia Business Analyst based in Hong Kong. Prior to CNNi, Ramy worked at CNN domestic in New York reporting from the NASDAQ in Times Square. He’s also served as a digital news anchor at CBS News in the Big Apple, an anchor/reporter at Channel NewsAsia in Singapore, a host for China Central Television International in Beijing and a former Peace Corps China volunteer. Ramy counts himself as half-Chinese, half-Filipino and all-American. He was graduated from the College of William and Mary in Virginia, did a year-long Asia-Pacific Leadership Fellowship at the East-West Center in Honolulu, speaks Mandarin Chinese and will inevitably get you to go to karaoke with him. Find Ramy on Twitter @RamyInocencio.

Regional Vice President, Beijing, Allen T. Cheng ( 1996-2012)

Allen Cheng is the Asia bureau chief of Institutional Investor, a New York-based financial media company that specializes in analyzing the global financial services industry and is a subsidiary of London-listed Euromoney Institutional Investor. He also is managing director of II Magazine Group in Asia and editor-in-chief of IIChina.com, Institutional Investor’s new online Chinese language service that caters to Chinese investors globally. Cheng has more than 24 years of journalism experience covering business, finance and politics in the U.S. and Asia. Prior to joining Institutional Investor, he was Bloomberg News’ China political correspondent based in Beijing. Over the course of his career, he has worked for several Fortune 500 media companies, including Gannett Co., publisher of USA Today, and Time Warner Inc. He is the co-author of a major magazine package on global sovereign wealth funds, which won first place for magazine investigative journalism in the 2009 U.S. Society of Professional Journalists Deadline Club Awards. A bilingual writer, Cheng also won the 2001 Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award in magazine journalism’s Chinese category for “Rising Phoenix,” a feature story that appeared in Reader’s Digest’s global Chinese edition on the rise of China. Cheng holds a B.A. and M.A. in mass communications from Washington State University and was a fellow at the Summer Program for Minority Journalists at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. Cheng co-founded AAJA-Asia in 1997 and has been a member of AAJA since 1985. He was a founding member of the Seattle chapter in 1985 and was president of the Portland, Oregon, chapter from 1990-1992.

Regional Vice President, Tokyo, Mayu Yoshida (Tokyo) (2017)

is a Tokyo-based business news caster / reporter for NHK World’s flagship program Newsline. (Japan’s public broadcaster) She mainly covers financial beats in the Asia Pacific region – from stocks markets to central bank decisions – and reports live from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. She also presented an in-depth report on Japan’s nuclear power policy. Before switching to broadcast news, Mayu was a staff reporter at Kyodo News Agency’s English news section where she reported on a variety of topics, such as the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and World Bank-IMF meeting. Her stories and comments were carried by Japan Times, MarketWatch, ABS-CBN etc. A graduate of Keio University Faculty of Policy Management, BA. Follow her on Twitter @mayuyoshidanews and via her LinkedIn profile

Regional Vice President, Seoul, Tae-hoon Lee (Seoul) 

Regional Vice President, Hong Kong, Billy Wong and Jenny Hsu (Hong Kong)

Board Member Youkyung Lee (Seoul) is a technology and business writer for the Associated Press based in Seoul, South Korea. Her usual beat covers the consumer and mobile electronics industry and South Korea’s family-controlled big business groups known as chaebol, however Lee has also written breaking news and feature stories on the deadly ferry disaster in 2014, cyber-attacks on governments and businesses, South Korean teenage Internet users and a whistle-blower who exposed the fraud of South Korean cloning specialist. Previously, she was a staff reporter at Yonhap News Agency covering technology and South Korea’s central bank for three years. Before that, she contributed stories for the Los Angeles Times and CFR.org. An Asian Freeman Scholar, Lee graduated from Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Arts in English and French Studies.

 

 

Board Member Eldes Tran (Hong Kong) is a copy editor at the International New York Times. Previously, she was an online news producer at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. She has also worked as a copy editor at the Los Angeles Times, from 2006 to 2010. Before that she was at Newsday in New York, where she first joined AAJA. Eldes is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Hong Kong’s Journalism & Media Studies Centre. She is also a part-time lecturer at Hong Kong Shue Yan University, where she helps journalism students refine their news writing. Find her on Twitter @eldestran.

Board Member Pradeep Kaphle (Nepal) is the news chief for Damauli FM 94.2 MHz in Nepal. He is also a reporter for Radio Nepal and president of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists chapter in Tanahun district. He previously worked for Gorkhaptatra National Daily, Rajdhani National Daily and Nepal Samacharpatra Daily. He is also chairman of the Damauli UNESCO Club and president of the WASH Journalists Forum in Nepal.

Board Member Amy Wu (Hong Kong) (2011-2013) is an American-born Chinese educator and journalist who was based in Hong Kong. She has been a member of AAJA since 1993 as an 18-year-old freshman at NYU in New York, and was one of the early college representatives for that chapter. Since then she has been an active member of AAJA’s New York chapter, and has attended national conventions and worked on the student-run convention newspapers along with the UNITY conferences in Atlanta and Seattle. She is a 2006 graduate of AAJA’s Executive Leadership Program. In 2010, Wu relocated to Hong Kong for work where she became re-involved in the AAJA-Asia chapter. As the development manager for The University of Hong Kong’s Journalism and Media Studies Center, she was involved in working closely with AAJA-Asia’s leadership in launching the AAJA-JMSC’s first New Media Conference last June. The event was a success with more than 100 attendees, and received much positive feedback from attendees and the attention of AAJA National’s office. She has spent 14 years working as a reporter at newspapers, magazines and websites. In 2009, she started working in higher education. She has played pivotal roles in the areas of marketing, communications, development, social media, and events planning for institutions including the New York Institute of Technology and The University of Hong Kong’s JMSC. She was formerly a full-time journalism lecturer at Hong Kong’s Shue Yan University, which has a well-regarded undergraduate journalism program. Wu, a native New Yorker, majored in history at NYU and earned her masters’ degree in journalism from Columbia University. She won best journalist award from the Organization of Chinese American (OCA) in 1993.

Board Member (South Asia Liaison) Roy Wadia (2011-2012) is an international media and communications consultant serving as executive director of Heroes Project, a Bombay-based HIV/AIDS communications and advocacy NGO under the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  He was previously director of communications at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control in Vancouver. Before that, he worked in Beijing as a communications/advocacy officer for the World Health Organization, handling issues such as SARS, pandemic preparedness and HIV/AIDS. From 1989 to 2002, Wadia was at CNN where, as executive producer, he helped launch much of CNN’s Asia-Pacific news programming, as well as CNN’s TV/Web convergence process at the network’s first-ever director of integration. He was born and raised in Bombay.

Secretary Ling Woo Liu (2009-2011) is director of the Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education in San Francisco. Previously, she was a writer-reporter for Time magazine in Hong Kong. She also directed a documentary film, “Officer Tsukamoto,” about the unsolved murder of a Japanese-American police officer in 1970. She worked in television in San Francisco and Beijing for several years, and holds graduate degrees in Journalism and Asian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

National Board Representative Tomoko A. Hosaka ( -2011) is a former reporter at The Associated Press in Tokyo, where she covers mainly business and the economy. She has also worked as an editor at Dow Jones Newswires in Tokyo and as a political reporter for The Oregonian in Portland, where she served as AAJA chapter treasurer for two years. She is a 1999 graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University (Go Cats!) and received an M.A. in international relations from Waseda University in Tokyo.

National Board Representative Blessing Waung (Hong Kong) is the Editor-in-Chief for the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, where she manages the chamber’s monthly business journal as well as four other publications. Previously, she has contributed to Forbes and Bloomberg in their Hong Kong and Shanghai bureaus. In a previous life, she explored Asia as the travel editor and social media manager at Time Out Shanghai. She graduated from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, where she was a recipient of the university’s full-tuition merit-based Trustee Scholarship. She has been involved with AAJA since her senior year of high school. You can find her on Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Instagram.