California 2021 Unsung Heroes Award Ceremony, Ding Ding TV Founder Diana Ding is one of the winners

2021 Unsung Heroes Award Ceremony

Message from ALEX LEE, Assemblymember, 25th District:

Celebrating our Unsung Heroes

Dear Friend,

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving break celebrated with friends, family, or time off for yourself. On November 20th, we hosted a ceremony to recognize the Unsung Heroes of our district. Our unsung heroes often don’t get the spotlight for their incredible contributions, but it’s really these individuals and organizations that work on the frontlines every day that make it all possible.

We hosted the ceremony at Milpitas High School and recognized the 36 honorees nominated by local community leaders who witnessed the direct impact of their work.

Our honorees included nurses and medical heroes, food bank volunteers, community members that work with our unhoused, and those that responded in the wake of the VTA shooting.

Learn more about our honorees and the incredible work they do to better our community.

Missed the ceremony? The recording of the event is available to watch.

Honorees:

Diana Weiping Ding is one of the award winners among 36 other heroes.

Ceremony Trailer created by Ding Ding TV

What we have done in the last two years:

Thanksgiving Day is a time to come together and celebrate the blessings of the previous year. We are almost two years into the pandemic and, things have been challenging for most of us. November also holds a special meaning to us since it is the 12th anniversary of Ding Ding TV.

Santa Clara, where we reside, is known as The Center of What’s Possible. And during these difficult times, God opened our eyes to what’s possible.

This Thanksgiving, we would like to thank everyone in the community – there are no words to express our gratitude for your support. It means everything and keeps us going.

Thank you!

Since the pandemic started, Ding Ding TV has worked on numerous projects, and we are thankful for each one of them.

#StopAsianHate

Since the beginning of the pandemic, anti-Asian hate crimes have been on the rise. In March, in partnership with CLUSA, India Currents, and EM Collective, we organized “Stop Asian Hate Crimes – What Can We Together” event on Clubhouse. The conversation on Clubhouse gathered participants from diverse communities and all walks of life. It included present and former elected officials, community leaders from AAPI communities and other ethnic groups, NGO founders, entrepreneurs, educators, faith leaders, and journalists. Over 900 people tuned in to listen to the event.

In 2020, we organized two video competitions – “In Time of Covid-19” and “I Love My Community” Youth Video News competition.

“In Time of Covid-19” competition received over 50 entries, and the videos garnered over 1 million views on our website. We wanted to uplift our community with stories of perseverance, generosity, and kindness in times when the news cycle was bleak. It was also a way to bring the community together through our shared experiences.

For the “I Love My Community” Youth Video News competition, we partnered with 15 youth organizations. We wanted to inspire the next generation of reporters to contribute to our community and work together to create a positive impact in their communities.

In July, we organized 3rd Silicon Valley Civic Leadership Forum 2021 titled “Your Voice Is Your Vote” in partnership with CLUSA and 8 by 8, together with partners United National Asian Americans, Asians are Visible, and Silicon Valley Insider. It gathered numerous elected officials and AAPI community leaders to discuss how to let our voice be heard and make every AAPI vote count. Participants included: Fiona Ma, California State Treasurer; Mike Honda, former Congressman; Greg Tanaka, Palo Alto City Councilmember; Sandy Chau, the Founder of Civic Leadership USA; Joel Wong, Anthony Ng, Keith Koo, and other AAPI community leaders.

Since April, we have been hosting Asian Americans Network on Clubhouse each Tuesday. It serves as a way to connect as a community. The topics we covered include everything from how to connect and work with diverse communities, how to break the glass ceiling, and identify as the members of the AAPI community. Some of our speakers included bestselling authors, industry leaders, and leaders from virtually all ethnic communities. Asian Americans Network has almost 1000 members on Clubhouse.

In September 2020, we covered in the National Civic Leadership Forum titled “The Power of We”. We created six trailers for the event together with over 100 pages of video and text content. Organized by AAUC and CLUSA and co-sponsored by over 20 civic organizations, the forum featured more than 160 speakers, representing over 80 organizations and 11 AAPI ethnic groups.

In September 2021, Erika Moritsugu, Deputy Assistant to the President and AAPI Senior Liaison, spoke about how the Biden administration is forming partnerships across sectors to fight anti-Asian hate crimes. SFCAUSE (San Francisco Community Alliance for Unity, Safety, and Education) and the Commonwealth Club co-organized the event. As a media partner on the event, Ding Ding TV organized simultaneous broadcast of the event in Mandarin that reached over 400 people in the Chinese speaking community.

In March 2021, we participated and reported on the #StopAAPIHate rally in San Jose. Ding Ding TV created videos for all of the speakers at the event. This content was posted on our website and distributed via our social media and to our newsletter subscribers. The content was viewed by 200.000 people.

At the beginning of the pandemic and with PPE in scarce supply, we wanted to help our community. In less than a week, Diana Ding, the President of the US-China Chamber of Commerce Silicon Valley, together with the support of the Chamber’s board members, members, and friends, managed to raise over $12.000 for protective masks. We distributed 20.000 masks between Santa Clara Police Department and City’s Disaster Service Workers, San Jose police department, Cupertino city and Santa Clara County Police, Mountain View Police Department, Saratoga Senior Community, and Chinese American Senior Association.

Empowering the next generation

In June this year, Ding Ding TV 4th Youth Community Ambassador Training Summer camp took place in our studios. After receiving formal professional training from Ding Ding TV, our youth community ambassadors had the opportunity to conduct formal interviews with the different community members. Since the beginning of the program, we trained over 40 youth reporters.

In April, Ding Ding TV Youth reporters (7 BAYouth students) interviewed more than 20 people during the Saratoga #StopAsianHate​ rally including several elected officials and community members.

That same month, we helped organize Civic Leadership Forum – “How to talk so teens will listen.” Almost 500 parents joined us to listen to our young mentors and learn how to communicate better with their teens. The workshop covered topics on how to communicate with teenagers, how to make them respond, and communicate more openly.

Innovation can’t be stopped

The entrepreneurial and start-up community was hit hard by the pandemic. But it couldn’t stop the innovation.

We hosted Silicon Valley Business Forum to provide information from the state officials on how businesses can get back on their feet. In October, we hosted the 2020 Silicon Valley Innovative Product Expo. We wanted to create a platform for entrepreneurs, investors, and E-commerce partners to showcase new and innovative products to a global audience.

In December, Silicon Valley Innovation Forum – Dialog between the US and Asia brought together American and Asian industry leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, and think tanks to discuss how to best foster, protect, and advance innovation in the business world.

In February, Ding Ding TV organized “Perfect Pitch Online Workshop” with Dave Mosby (entrepreneur, investor, and educator with 35 years of experience). It gathered start-up founders and entrepreneurs who wanted to learn how to create a pitch that will resonate with investors.

In April 2021, Ding Ding TV hosted Silicon Valley Innovation Forum – Innovation Dialog Between East and West. The topic was “Biotechnology Trends 2021,” and the participants examined the trends and challenges of the biomedical technology industry.

A heartfelt thank you to all of our community partners:

• • Sandy Chau and everyone at CLUSA
  • India Currents
  • Hong Nguyen-Phuong
  • AAUC
  • Ethnic Media Services
  • Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce
  • The City of Santa Clara
  • The Rotary Club of Cupertino
  • Mentoring Club