13th Annual Banquet (2014) – Biographies

Grace Meng is serving her first term in the United States House of Representatives. Grace represents the Sixth Congressional District of New York encompassing the New York City borough of Queens, including west, central and northeast Queens. Grace is the first Asian-American Member of Congress from New York, and the only Representative of Asian descent on the entire east coast. She is also the first female Member of Congress from Queens since former Vice Presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro.

She is dedicated to fighting for the hardworking families of Queens by protecting Medicare and Social Security, spurring economic growth, creating jobs, ensuring access to a quality education, and increasing funding for transportation and infrastructure projects.

Grace is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and its Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa. She also serves on the House Small Business Committee, where she sits on two subcommittees: Contracting and Workforce – of which she is the Ranking Member – and Agriculture, Energy and Trade. The Small Business Committee, which was established to protect and assist small-business owners, has oversight of financial aid, regulatory matters and the Small Business Administration (SBA), issues critical to Queens and New York City, since small businesses are the economic engine of the region. In addition, Grace is a founder and Co-Chair of the Kids’ Safety Caucus, the first bipartisan coalition in the House that promotes child-safety issues.

During her first term in the House, Grace scored several legislative victories, an unusual accomplishment for a new Member of Congress. Her first major legislative effort, to allow federal disaster funds to be used for rebuilding houses of worship damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, passed the House just six weeks after she was sworn in to Congress. She also secured passage of her bill to reduce the massive backlog of veterans’ disability claims, as well as legislation that better protects American diplomats serving overseas, in the wake of the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. In addition, the House approved her measure to make the desecration of cemeteries a violation of religious freedom.

Prior to serving in Congress, Grace was a member of the New York State Assembly, where she was a dedicated bridge builder and a fighter for equality. She passed laws to extend unemployment coverage during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, fought human trafficking, cracked down on those who abuse women and children, and protected seniors from rising property taxes.

Born in Corona, Queens, and raised in the Bayside section of the borough, Grace graduated from Stuyvesant High School and the University of Michigan. She then earned a law degree from Yeshiva University’s Benjamin Cardozo School of Law. Prior to entering public service, she worked as a public-interest lawyer.

Lily Hui, CPA, is Partner with Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP, and has been with the firm since 1988 in the New York regional offices. Ms. Hui received her Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from Baruch College/CUNY. Ms. Hui specializes in working with closely and privately held companies. She has experience serving a wide range of industries, which include manufacturing, importer, wholesale and distribution, law firms, owner-operated real estate and professional service organizations.

Ms. Hui is a Member of Asian Women in Business, and Board Member of the Pan-Asian American Chamber of Commerce (USPAACC) – Northeast Region.

 
Baozhen Xie is an international student from Canton, China. Xie graduated from HuaNan ShiFan University High School and decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in the United States. She received her Associate of Arts Degree at Borough of Manhattan Community College/CUNY with honors in 2012. She then enrolled at Brooklyn College/CUNY to major in Health and Nutrition Science (Medical Nutrition), and minor in Biology. Xie is a member of both the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and New York City Nutrition Education Network.

In high school, Xie was inspired by her biology teacher to study human science and nutrition. During high school graduation, she enrolled and successfully passed the nutritionist certificate program at Sun Yat-sen University. This was Xie’s first great step towards the field of nutrition science, always using the slogan, “I believe in nutrition!” She believes that biology and nutrition are two of the important future human sciences.

Providing  volunteer health and nutrition services since 2013 at Brooklyn Social Day Care Center and Big Apple Senior Center, Xie observed a significant number of Chinese immigrants who experience health difficulties due to language barriers, cultural differences, and lack of education. From this observation, Xie started the, Health and Nutrition Tracing Project (HNTP), to deliver basic health education and nutrition information to seniors to improve their ability to self-monitor their health, increase motivation to seek health assistance, and to facilitate a healthy lifestyle. Under the supervision of Dr. Xinyin Jiang at Brooklyn College/CUNY, Xie will survey ninety seniors from April 2014 to March 2015 to assess their health and nutrition status, identify problems and provide appropriate health education and nutrition information.

Xie has been on the Dean’s list four time and has done two honors projects. In Summer 2012, she was selected as a Molecular Biology lab intern by the City University of New York Research Foundation, training under Dr. Priano and Dr. Jayant.

 
Ernabel Demillo is a veteran television journalist and educator. She currently works for CUNY-TV hosting and reporting for  “Asian American Life” http://www.cuny.tv/show/asianamericanlife, a magazine-style show focusing on the tri-state’s Asian American community.  The show was recently nominated for an Emmy for Best Public Affairs/Community Programming.

In addition, Ernabel is a reporter for CUNY-TV’s Emmy-nominated show, “Science and U!”  In 2013, she was honored with an individual Emmy nomination for Best Environment Program for her story on a group of musicians who turn trash into musical instruments.

Ernabel is also a tenured Journalism Lecturer at St. Peter’s University in Jersey City, N.J.  She started the Journalism program in 2008 and  is the faculty advisor to the school newspaper, the Pauw Wow, which was recently named one of the Top 10 college newspapers in the country.

Ernabel was born in Manila and grew up in San Francisco, California. She received her B.A. in Journalism and International Relations from the University of Southern California and her M.S. in Broadcast Journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She worked as a reporter and anchor in several television markets, including the CBS affiliate in Sacramento, Calif. and FOX-5‘s popular morning show, Good Day New York, where she spent a decade as a reporter and anchor.

Ernabel is an active member of the New York Asian community. She currently serves on the board of the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families, the country’s only pan-Asian advocacy group and has served on the boards of the Asian American Journalist Association and APEX.

She lives on the Jersey Shore, with her husband, John Muller, an anchor with the PIX11 News and their 11- year-old daughter, Alexa.