Luminary Gala

A trailblazing journalist for NBC, CBS, ABC, Connie Chung shattered glass ceilings, paving the way for many women and Asians alike. In 1969, at the age of 23, the once-shy daughter of Chinese parents took her first job at a local TV station in her hometown of DC and soon thereafter began working at CBS News as a correspondent.

Chung was tenacious in her pursuit of stories – battling rival reporters to get scoops that ranged from interviewing Magic Johnson to covering the Watergate scandal – and quickly became a household name. She made history when she became the first woman to co-anchor the CBS Evening News and the first Asian to anchor any news program in the country.  An entire generation of Asian women were named after her.

In Connie: A Memoir, Chung pulls no punches as she shares a behind-the-scenes tour of her life and career, from showdowns with powerful men in and out of the newsroom where overt sexism was a way of life to the stories behind some of her career-defining reporting.

Archana Athalye is the Founder & Director of Kulture Kool South Asian Cultural Center in New Jersey founded in 2009. With a Masters in Communication and extensive experience in the music and film industries in India, she has made significant contributions to cultural education in the communities of New Jersey.

In 2023, she founded The Diversity Center to unite diverse communities and promote inclusion through performing arts and language education. Archana also serves as the board president of Konnekt Global, a youth nonprofit and President of the East Coast section of the International Dance Council (a UNESCO affiliated organization).

Her work is centered on fostering cultural understanding and advocating for multiculturalism in the NY/NJ Metropolitan area.

Assemblymember Ellen J Park was born on March 6, 1972, in Seoul, South Korea. She immigrated to the United States in 1978 and her family settled in Sunnyside, Queens, where she attended public school P.S. 150. Ms. Park moved to Flushing, Queens in 1984 and went to attend the prestigious Bronx High School of Science. She received her B.A. from New York University and J.D. from Hofstra Law School. While at Hofstra, Ms. Park was the Vice President of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association and headed a Voter’s Registration Drive on Main Street in Queens in 1996. She also hosted a conference for Hofstra Law School with Judge Denny Chin as the guest speaker, one of the first Asian American federal judges nominated by President Clinton.

Ms. Park has been a practicing attorney since 2000 in New York. She and her husband, Richard Ma founded the Law Offices of Ma & Park in 2006, practicing criminal and real estate Law. She was elected to the Englewood Cliffs Borough Council in 2016 and served until 2018. She has been a member of the New Jersey Assembly since 2022, and currently serves as Chair of the Assembly Judiciary Committee. Ms. Park’s life is the American Dream. She arrived here as an immigrant, not speaking a word of English, feeling out of place, enduring financial hardships, but also committed to building a better future for her family.

Atlantic Health System (AHS) is dedicated to building healthier communities and improving lives for patients, consumers, and caregivers. Serving more than half of the state of New Jersey including 14 counties and 7.5 million people, AHS is dedicated to delivering high quality, innovative and personalized health care to all who enter its system.

In 2023, we formally changed our name to AAPI New Jersey to reflect the statewide priorities and activities that this group of committed community members and advocates now supports. 

We continue to host events and programs in Montclair and invite you to explore this site to learn more about the diverse resources and opportunities we offer.

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