History
Over 25 years of Beauty, Elegance, and Culture
Founded by Rose Chung, the Miss Asian America Pageant has been the premier event in Asian American community for the past two decades and the longest running Asian American pageant in the United States. From our humble beginnings in 1985 with the Asian American Arts Festival, our event has expanded to an internationally recognized event with regional competitions nationwide.
The Face of Asian America
Today, the Miss Asian America Pageant continues its active participation in nationwide events. From our partnership with the American Legion, the nation’s largest veteran’s organization, to our participation in America’s largest Chinese New Year celebration held in San Francisco annually, the pageant continues its positive representation of the Asian American community.
The Heart of Asian America
Celebrating “Beauty, Elegance, and Culture,” the Miss Asian America Pageant is proud to have contributed thousands to community causes and continues to be one of the largest scholarship providers for Asian American women nationwide. Proceeds from the event have been donated to Asian Perinatal Advocates, a nationally recognized child abuse/domestic violence prevention program and most recently, all event merchandise sales have benefited the Stanford University Asian Liver Center in an effort to fight Hepatitis B in the Asian American community.
The Future of Asian America
The pageant has seen through almost 500 contestants in its program and is proud of its titleholders. Mona Lee Locke (Miss Asian America 1986) went on to a successful journalism career and became First Lady of the State of Washington. Gwendoline Yeo (Miss Asian America 1995) has starred in JAG, NYPD Blue, OC, and 24. Amrapali Ambegaokar (Miss Asian California 1999) is an accomplished Cirque du Soleil dancer. We pride ourselves in shaping the leaders of Asian America.
The World of Asian America
More so than ever, with the fast pace globalization of the international community, the Miss Asian America Pageant is proud to be at the forefront of international cooperation and friendship. In 1993, the Miss Asian America went abroad for our first ever global goodwill tour as part of the Goodwill Mission Variety Show in Shenzhen, China and since then, we have spread our friendship across the globe, most recently at the United Nations World Environment Day in 2005. Ambassador Matthew Lee of the Republic of China calls Miss Asian America, “the bridge of American friendship to Asia.”
About the Founder
Rose Chung is the President of the Miss Asian America Pageant. A former Miss Chinatown USA, Rose has expanded the pageant from a largely Bay Area based cultural event to the longest running and most successful Asian American pageant in the nation. In addition, Rose has served on numerous community organizations. She is currently President of the Miss Asian Global Pageant, the Board of Directors of Asian Perinatal Advocates and the San Francisco Coalition of Asian American Government Employees. Rose also serves on the Board of the California Chinese American Republican Association and and the Chinatown Neighborhood Center.
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Getting Involved In Our Community
Since its inception, the Miss Asian America Pageant has been more than a platform for the growth and inspiration of young Asian America women, it has also been about building a strong community for Asian America.
In the past, contestants have worked for hundreds of nationwide and regional charitable organizations. As a contestant, you will not only shine, but you will also be a part of a team working together for our community. Here are just some of our partners.
Monster Cable
Our scholarship partner is the leading home theatre and entertainment industry electronics company in the world. We are proud to partner with Monster Cable to sponsor our annual Miss Asian America Scholarship.
Asian Liver Center
About 10% of API have chronic hepatitis B infection. Liver cancer rates are 6-13 times higher in Asian ethnic groups. Every year, 100% of event merchandise sale proceeds go towards the Asian Liver Center of Stanford University. Fight Hepatitis B, join the Jade Ribbon Campaign.
Asian Perinatal Advocates
By being a part of Miss Asian America, you will join the nation’s only group dedicated to fighting domestic abuse and child abuse in Asian families. For the past decade, we have been committed to supporting APA’s vital services: a domestic violence hotline, mental health counseling, home visitations, and parenting classes.
SF Hep B Free
San Francisco Hep B Free is a citywide campaign to turn San Francisco into the first hepatitis B free city in the nation. This unprecedented campaign provides free and low-cost hepatitis B testing and vaccinations to Asian and Pacific Islander (API) adults at locations throughout San Francisco.
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Beauty, Intelligence, Culture, and Talent
The goal of the Miss Asian America Pageant is to showcase young Asian American women in a high quality production that will best represent their culture, beauty, intelligence and talent. The contestants will have an opportunity to develop personal growth, leadership and marketing skills, friendships, teamwork and other invaluable experiences that will be with them for the rest of their lives. Most importantly, the contestants will have further developed their self-confidence to a level where they can challenge themselves to achieve those goals with diligence, grace, intellect and style.
The Miss Asian America Pageant is successful not only because of the wonderfully talented contestants who participate in the shows, but also because of the endless support from volunteers and members of the community. The dedicated volunteers give their time, expertise, creativity, and enthusiasm to produce the outstanding shows while in return, they come away with new friendships, skills, and fun memorable moments. The pageant also depends on the community support as a vital factor towards the financial stability of the overall pageant. The financial support provides for the production of these exceptional shows, donations to charitable causes, and also towards the scholarship awards for the Queen and Court.
The Miss Asian America Pageant displays the rich ethnic diversity of our society and gives us a glimpse into the many different cultures that surrounds us today. This pageant encourages young aspiring Asian American women to reach new heights and to work hard to turn their dreams into reality. The pageant committee members hope that the contestants will learn from this experience and use it as a stepping-stone to future leadership roles and help them be quintessential role models for the growing Asian America community.
Testimonials
“Thank you so much for such a great event! I had a great time hosting with Steven. I must add that The Miss Asian Global Pageant has got to be one of THE MOST ORGANIZED events that I have ever been a part of. ” Freska Griarte, 2012 Ecmee
“Even more impressive to me has been working with the entire staff and supporting people of MAAP, a first class organization from top to bottom, and experiencing how worthwhile it has been to support the pageant both financially and otherwise by becoming part of Rose’s immense pageant network, having met and been introduced to new clients, persons of influence, and other organizations to which I would not have otherwise been exposed.” Rob Hunt, Sponsor
“I am so blessed that I can experience a wonderful time with such awesome people. You make me to be a better person.” Chelsea Kuo, Miss Congeniality
“I remember thinking to myself, “what did I get myself into?” Well, after all these years, I can answer that question. I found some of the most important people in my life, my closest friends, most trusted confidantes, and dear pageant family.” Steve Cho, Head Escort
“With every new experience comes new memories, new knowledge, new self discoveries, and new friendships. I always feel like I grow more as a person and as a leader every time that I am involved in a pageant.” Louisa Liu, Queen
“My favorite part of the Miss Asian America Pageant event is gift exchange night with the contestants, escorts, and staff. I enjoyed buying gifts for everybody to show my love and appreciation. I love each of the contestants like my own daughter.” Penny Wong Belleza, Housemother, Escort Chair, Photographer
“I want to thank you all for making the last week such an incredible experience for me. as a first time pageant girl, i didn’t quite know what to expect. all of you have hearts of gold and all of your support, encouragement and sentiment made the long training days fly by so fast!” Janet Cruz, contestant
“I discovered that while working in this pageant, being able to work with all the amazing contestants and staff showed me that there is more than meets the eye. I want to thank the Miss Asian America family for letting me be a part of the experience and memories it carries now and for the future.” Brendan Hong, Escort
“I had so much fun and think that participating in this pageant was one of the best decisions of my life. It has definitely opened up a completely different window of opportunities for me that I never even considered before.” Stephanie Wong, Miss Community Service
“I remarked over the past few days how incredible Miss Asian America Pageant is to instill confidence in them and to encourage them to be themselves. Not too many pageants are run with such high values.” Sharon Seto, Judge