On September 13, 2023 at China Institute in New York City, the Serica Initiative honored George Takei with its Lifetime Achievement Award. George accepted the award virtually and gave this pre-recording acceptance speech. George Takei is a civil rights activist, social media superstar, Grammy-nominated recording artist, New York Times bestselling author, and pioneering actor whose career has spanned six decades. He has appeared in more than 40 feature films and hundreds of television roles, most famously as Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek, and he has used his success as a platform to fight for social justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and marriage equality. His advocacy is personal: during World War II, Takei spent his childhood unjustly imprisoned in United States internment camps along with 125,000 other Japanese Americans. He now serves as Chairman Emeritus and a member of the Japanese American National Museum’s Board of Trustees. Takei served on the board of the Japan-United States Friendship Commission under President Bill Clinton, and, in 2004, was conferred with the Gold Rays with Rosette of the Order of the Rising Sun by the Emperor of Japan for his contribution to US-Japan relations.

On September 13, 2023 at China Institute in New York City, the Serica Initiative honored Patricia "Miss Pat" Chin with its Lifetime Achievement Award. Video credit: Tuba Time Creative (https://tubatime.co). Patricia Dorothy Chin OD is a Jamaican entrepreneur and co-founder of VP Records - together with her late husband Vincent - the world’s largest independent reggae label and distributor of Caribbean music. For 60 years, VP Records has been a vital component in the growth and evolution of reggae music that has touched every country, every culture, and every continent. Starting from a small record shop in the late 50s’, Randy’s Records, in Kingston, Jamaica, selling discarded jukebox records to the Chin’s arrival in New York in the late 70’s to pursue the ‘American dream,’ VP has become a multinational company that stands as a symbol for reggae music. As a Grammy winning label co-founder, retailer, merchandiser, and with numerous accolades to her credit, Patricia Chin has left an indelible mark on the music she loves and impacted the lives of many around the world.

On September 13, 2023 at China Institute in New York City, the Serica Initiative honored George Takei with its Lifetime Achievement Award. Video credit: Tuba Time Creative (https://tubatime.co). George Takei is a civil rights activist, social media superstar, Grammy-nominated recording artist, New York Times bestselling author, and pioneering actor whose career has spanned six decades. He has appeared in more than 40 feature films and hundreds of television roles, most famously as Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek, and he has used his success as a platform to fight for social justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and marriage equality. His advocacy is personal: during World War II, Takei spent his childhood unjustly imprisoned in United States internment camps along with 125,000 other Japanese Americans. He now serves as Chairman Emeritus and a member of the Japanese American National Museum’s Board of Trustees. Takei served on the board of the Japan-United States Friendship Commission under President Bill Clinton, and, in 2004, was conferred with the Gold Rays with Rosette of the Order of the Rising Sun by the Emperor of Japan for his contribution to US-Japan relations.

On September 13, 2023 at China Institute in New York City, the Serica Initiative honored George Takei with its Trailblazers Award. Video credit: Tuba Time Creative (https://tubatime.co). Frank H. Wu serves as the eleventh President of Queens College. Prior to joining the City University of New York (CUNY) system, Frank served as Chancellor & Dean, and then William L. Prosser Distinguished Professor at the institution now known as UC College of the Law, San Francisco. Before joining UC Law San Francisco, he was a member of the faculty at Howard University, the nation’s leading historically black college/university (HBCU), for a decade. He served as Dean of Wayne State University Law School in his hometown of Detroit. Frank is dedicated to civic engagement. He was appointed by the federal Department of Education during the Obama administration to its National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI), which advises the administration on higher education accreditation, serving for nine years, including as Vice-Chair. He was a Trustee of Gallaudet University, the only university in the world dedicated to deaf and hard of hearing persons, from 2000 to 2010, and Vice-Chair for the final four years of his tenure. He was a Trustee of Deep Springs College, a highly-selective full-scholarship school enrolling twenty-six on a student-run cattle ranch near Death Valley, where he previously taught for several short periods; he served nine years, during the transition to co-education. Frank is the author of Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White, and co-author of Race, Rights and Reparation: Law and the Japanese American Internment. Prior to his academic career, he held a clerkship with the late U.S. District Judge Frank J. Battisti in Cleveland and practiced law with the firm of Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco. He received a B.A. from the Johns Hopkins University and a J.D. with honors from the University of Michigan.

On September 13, 2023 at China Institute in New York City, the Serica Initiative honored Wendy O'Neill with its Trailblazers Award. Video credit: Tuba Time Creative (https://tubatime.co). Wendy O’Neill has devoted her life to philanthropy and US-Asian exchange. She is currently the Chairman of the China Medical Board (CMB) where she has been a trustee since 2006. Created by the Rockefeller Foundation in 1914, in its early years CMB focused primarily on building and managing Peking Union Medical College, China’s premier medical school which introduced modern medicine to China. CMB presently is dedicated to funding medical education, policy research, global health, and health equity in China and Southeast Asia. Wendy is a Life Trustee of the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) which she chaired between 2009 and 2023 and where she was a trustee for 14 years. Founded in 1963 to advance cultural exchange, the ACC has supported over 6,000 Asian and American artists, scholars, and arts professionals at pivotal points in their careers to travel and learn in the USA or Asia. ACC’s notable Chinese and America alumni include Cai Guo-qiang, Chen Kaige, David Henry Hwang, Viet Thanh Nguyen and Julie Taymor. She, also, is the former Chairman of Rockefeller Philanthropic Advisors where she served as trustee for 11 years, and she was a trustee of the Rockefeller Brothers’ Fund for 9 years. She was a member of the American Women’s Association of Hong Kong’s Charitable Donations Committee between 2001 and 2009 serving as its chairman for three years. She received an A.B. from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges in East Asian Studies and a M.A. from UCLA in History with a specialty in Chinese History. She has worked in China trade as well as investment and was the first foreign intern at China International Trust & Investment Company.

On September 13, 2023 at China Institute in New York City, the Serica Initiative convened trailblazers, thought leaders, and rising talents to empower and inspire each other along Serica's mission: to galvanize a global community of changemakers to advocate for greater Asian American inclusion and advance positive social impact in U.S.-China relations, through dialogue, storytelling, and our convening power. Honorees included George Takei, Star Trek actor, author, and civil rights activist; Wendy O’Neill, Life Trustee of the Rockefeller-funded Asian Cultural Council and former Trustee of Rockefeller Brothers Fund; Frank H. Wu, President of Queens College, former Committee of 100 Chairman, and Serica Board Member; and Patricia Chin OD, Co-Founder of VP Records, the world’s largest independent reggae label.