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The Power of Us: AAPI Trailblazers Gala 2026 is The Serica Initiative’s premier annual gathering celebrating the leaders, storytellers, and changemakers shaping the future of the Asian diaspora in America.

Hosted at the iconic 583 Park Avenue in New York City, the evening brings together innovators across business, media, arts, philanthropy, and public life to recognize individuals whose work expands opportunity, representation, and impact.

More than a celebration, the gala is a powerful celebration of not only the honorees & Rising Star winners, but of our growing Asian diaspora community. It reflects the belief that progress is built through collaboration, shared values, and collective action.

Funds raised during the evening support The Serica Initiative’s mission of advancing the impact of the Asian diaspora in America through storytelling, empowering, and convening.

In 2026, the theme “The Power of Us” celebrates the strength of community leadership and the transformative impact that emerges when individuals come together to build a more inclusive future.

Our 2026 Trailblazer Honorees

Steve Chen was the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of YouTube. A Silicon Valley veteran, Steve first arrived in the region in 1999 to join PayPal, where he met future co-founder Chad Hurley. After spending 20 years in Silicon Valley building and scaling global technology platforms, Steve has recently shifted his focus to Asia, looking to foster innovation and bridge the technology ecosystems of the East and West.

In 2005, Steve co-founded YouTube. As the company's key technologist, Steve was instrumental in building YouTube into a viral video phenomenon and a premier entertainment destination. He is credited with developing the massive data infrastructure required to support the site's rapid growth, leading the company through its acquisition by Google for $1.65 billion. Following the acquisition, he continued to guide the platform through its integration with Google. From 2014 to 2016, Steve returned to his roots in startup incubation, serving as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Google Ventures. Steve remains active in the global tech sector, serving on the board of Sharp Corporation and continuing to invest in startups in Silicon Valley. He has taken a leadership role in the Asian tech community, most notably by helping to launch the Employment Gold Card program for Taiwan in 2018 to attract top international talent.

In 2019, Steve has moved to Taiwan and has plugged himself into the thriving entrepreneurial community. He's interested in exploring the vast number of untapped opportunities that connect Taiwanese startups with Silicon Valley and, more broadly, the global ecosystem. Chen has received prestigious honors from the business, entertainment, and technology communities. In 2019, he was awarded the Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement in Technology & Engineering. Other acknowledgments include Business 2.0's "50 Most Influential People," GQ's "Men of the Year," Time magazine’s “Best Invention of the Year,” "Young Global Leaders" by the World Economic Forum, and Fortune's "Most Powerful People in Business." He was listed as one of the "15 Asian Scientists To Watch" by Asian Scientist Magazine in 2011 and was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois in 2018, receiving the Order of Lincoln, the state’s highest honor.

Sonia Cheng is the chief executive officer of Rosewood Hotel Group, one of the world’s leading global lifestyle and hospitality management groups which encompasses ultra-luxury Rosewood; upper-upscale New World Hotels & Resorts; Asaya, an integrated well-being concept; and Carlyle & Co. a modern and progressive private members' club. Sonia is also the vice-chairman of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group (SEHK stock code:1929), which was founded in 1929 and has been listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong since 2011. Renowned for its product design, quality, and value, the Group caters to diverse customer segments through its iconic flagship brand Chow Tai Fook" and other individual brans including Hearts on Fire, Enzo, Soinlove and Monologue", offering curated retail experiences and a wide variety of products, services, and channels. Sonia is also the executive director of New World Development Company Limited and a director of New World China Land, which, together with Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group, comprise one of the largest conglomerates in Hong Kong.

Since taking the helm of Rosewood in 2011, Sonia has successfully grown the luxury lifestyle brand into a globally renowned presence, with more than 50 hotels across 26 countries and over 30 new properties currently under development. In addition to her achievements at Rosewood, Sonia plays a prominent role at Chow Tai Fook, one of the world’s largest jewellers with a heritage spanning almost a century, where she is responsible for the strategic direction, performance, and corporate transformation. A visionary leader, her mission is to revitalize iconic legacy brands, ensuring they resonate with and appeal to today’s emerging demographics. She draws inspiration from the rich heritage of each brand, crafting curated experiences that deliver authentic and meaningful moments to stand apart in their categories. Sonia’s passion for connecting local cultures and traditions is exemplified through both Rosewood and Chow Tai Fook, where guests and customers are immersed in impactful experiences that establish lasting connections and build brands that are relevant and enduring.

Sonia’s past experiences include working with a major international investment bank, HSBC, and a global American private equity firm, Warburg Pincus, specializing in real estate investments. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Applied Mathematics with a concentration in Economics from Harvard University. Sonia was named to Bloomberg Businessweek's 2018 Bloomberg 50 list and Fortune 40 under 40 in the same year.

Dr. Alexis Chiang Colvin is a Professor of Orthopedic Surgery and Senior Associate Dean for Alumni Affairs at Mount Sinai. A graduate of Princeton University, she received her medical degree from Mount Sinai and completed her orthopedic surgery residency at NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases. During her residency, Dr. Colvin was selected for one of the most prestigious Sports Medicine Fellowships in the country at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh, PA. While in Pittsburgh, Dr. Colvin cared for professional athletes, including the Pittsburgh Steelers and Penguins, collegiate athletes at the University of Pittsburgh, and numerous other collegiate and high school athletes. Dr. Colvin specializes in the surgical treatment of knee and shoulder disorders. She has authored numerous scientific publications and has presented both at national and international meetings on sports medicine and orthopedic surgery.

Dr. Colvin is a board certified orthopedic surgeon and member of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, The American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine, and the Arthroscopy Association of North America. Dr. Colvin is the Chief Medical Officer for the US Open, the team physician for the USA's Billie Jean King (former Fed Cup) team, and served as the Chief Medical Officer for the United States Tennis Association until its relocation to Florida. Dr. Colvin has also served as a physician at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO. Crain’s New York Business recognized her on their inaugural “Notable Women in the Business of Sports” list in 2019 and 2022 and she has been selected as one of New York Magazine’s Best Doctors since 2016.

Yasheng Huang is a professor and holds the Epoch Foundation professorship of global economics and management at MIT Sloan School of Management. From 2013 to 2017, he served as an associate dean in charge of MIT Sloan’s global partnership programs and its action learning initiatives. His previous appointments include faculty positions at the University of Michigan and at Harvard Business School. Professor Huang is the author of seven books in English and another six books in Chinese and of many academic papers (such as on regulatory transparency, historical autocracy, statistical falsifications, tax, financing, sectoral and regulatory biases, history of reforms and strategy, political economy of controls, etc.) Professor Huang was a co-Principal Investigator in a large-scale multi-disciplinary research project on food safety in China.

His book, The Rise and Fall of the EAST: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology Brought China Success, and Why They Might Lead to its Decline, published by Yale University Press in 2023, was selected as a Best Book of the Year in 2023 by Foreign Affairs magazine and is available in Japanese, traditional Chinese, Korean, Polish, and Bulgarian editions. His 2008 book, Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics, was selected as a Best Book of the Year in 2008 by the Economist magazine.

His book, Statism with Chinese Characteristics, was published in 2026 by Cambridge University Press. It is a comprehensive review of the history economic reforms and economic performance of China since 1978. He is collaborating with other scholars on a book project, Reframing the Needham Question, based on a large-scale database on Chinese historical inventions (under contract from Princeton University Press). He is collaborating with Clair Yang on a book project, The Great Political Divergence, under contract with Yale University Press.

Outside of his academic research, Professor Huang has written for New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Foreign Policy and Foreign Affairs, and Project Syndicate, Caixin and Caijing. He is working on several policy projects related to US-China relations. He was one of the coauthors of MIT’s report, “University Engagement with China: An MIT Approach” and he is a co-chair of an implementation committee of that report. He is a member of a taskforce at Asia Society on US-China policy and a member of Brookings-CSIS Advisory Council on Advancing US-China collaboration. During 2023-4, he was a visiting fellow at the Kissinger Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington DC.

Professor Huang founded China Lab, ASEAN Lab, and India Lab, which have provided low-cost consulting services to hundreds of small and medium enterprises in these countries. From 2015 to 2018, he ran a program in Yunnan province to train women entrepreneurs (funded by Goldman Sachs Foundation). He has held or received fellowships and grants such as Sloan Foundation Grant, Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, Walmart Foundation Grant, National Fellowship at Stanford University, and Social Science Research Council-MacArthur Fellowship. National Asia Research Program named him one of the most outstanding scholars in the United States conducting research on issues of policy importance to the United States. He has served as a consultant at World Bank, Asian Development Bank and OECD, and serves on advisory and corporate boards of non-profit and for-profit organizations. He is a founding member and is serving as the president of Asian American Scholar Forum, an NGO dedicated to open science, protection of rights and well-being of Asian American scholars.

Kai Li, the Paul M. Wythes and Marcia R. Wythes Professor in Computer Science, earned a doctorate from Yale in 1986 and joined Princeton the same year. His research interests include ML for systems, privacy preservation for ML, data auditing, and computational neuroscience.

In 2001, he co-founded Data Domain Inc., a provider of deduplication storage systems for efficient backup and data replication for disaster recovery. The company was acquired by EMC Corp. in 2009. Professor Li is an ACM fellow, IEEE fellow, a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Washington State Academy of Sciences. In 2012, he won the ACM SIGOPS Hall of Fame Award and the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Chinese Institute of Engineers.

Ida Liu is CEO of HSBC Private Bank, where she focuses on deepening HSBC’s leadership with ultra-high net worth (UHNW) clients, strengthening cross-border connectivity across key wealth corridors and accelerating the growth of the Private Bank globally. Previously, she was the Global Head of Citi Private Bank, responsible for meeting the financial needs of Citi’s ultra-high net worth and family office clients through the award-winning Citi Private Bank team and in close partnership with Citi’s institutional businesses. Ida was also a member of the Citi Global Wealth Leadership team. Ida has 23 years of experience in the financial services industry with a proven track record of delivering results, developing and executing strategy and building exceptional teams. At Citi, Ida led the Private Banking activities in 50 offices across 18 countries around the world and delivers robust global, wealth management solutions to ultra-high net worth and high net worth clients, family offices, global clients and foundations & endowments. Ida and team were focused on deepening and acquiring new client relationships and delivering firm-wide Citi solutions. Additionally, Ida sat on the Citi Women Steering Committee, Citi’s global strategy to focus on the advancement of women. Priot to her time at Citi, Ida was head of the Private Bank in North America since 2019, and under her leadership, the North America business outperformed plan by double digit percentages and onboarded a record number of new clients. Prior to being named Head of North America, Ida was Citi Private Bank’s Global Market Manager for New York.

Ida previously founded Citi Private Bank’s North America Asian Clients Group. She started her career at Citi Private Bank in 2007 by launching and heading the Fashion, Retail and Entertainment Group. Before joining Citi, Ida was at VivienneTam, a women’s wear design house, where she was Global Head of Sales, Marketing, Public Relations and Business Development. Prior to this, Ida spent seven years in investment banking with Merrill Lynch’s mergers and acquisitions, and technology, media and telecommunications investment banking groups in New York and Hong Kong. She started her career in mergers and acquisitions at BT Wolfensohn (now Deutsche Bank).

In 2021, Barron’s recognized Ida for the second year in a row as one of the 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance and Crain’s named Ida to their Notable Women on Wall Street list. In 2020, she was also awarded as one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Finance by American Banker. She has been recognized as a Crain’s 40 Under 40, World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, Financial Times Top 100 Advisor and Top 50 Outstanding Asian Americans in Business. Additionally, Ida is a member of The Committee of 100 (C100) and Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). She previously served as a Board Member for Wellesley College Alumnae Association, Harvard Kennedy School Women’s Leadership Group, Volunteers of America and as an Advisor to Asia Foundation’s Lotus Circle. Ida is a frequent contributor to Bloomberg TV, MSNBC and has been a featured speaker at many industry events.

Ida holds a BA from Wellesley College and attended the Merrill Lynch Wharton Investment Banking Institute and Harvard Kennedy School Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century. She is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Spanish and conversant in Italian and Russian.

Rising Stars: Celebrating the Next Generation

A central part of the Trailblazers Gala is the Rising Stars Awards, which celebrate emerging leaders under 40 who are making extraordinary contributions across sectors including business, entrepreneurship, nonprofit leadership, and the arts.

Rising Stars are nominated by the public and selected through a competitive review process led by a distinguished panel of judges. Candidates are evaluated on:

• Professional achievements
• Leadership qualities
• Social impact
• Innovation and forward thinking

Finalists are recognized during the gala and introduced to the Serica community of leaders, mentors, and collaborators.

The Rising Stars Winners are...

EMCEES

Looking to get involved in a good cause and get exposure to a wonderful network of top Asian business leaders and pioneers? We are looking for title sponsors, auction items, booklet ads, donations, and more to support amplifying AAPI in 2026 and beyond through our programs!

Read the Sponsorship Proposal and speak with our Chief Development Officer, Lucy Yang for more information!

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Custom-fit 3D Printed Glasses from Breezm! (Pair 3)