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Our Shared Journey - Center for Lao Studies' Extravaganza Fundraiser 2017
The purpose of Our Shared Journey is to celebrate Lao culture and to raise funding to support many of our important and on-going programs, mainly the Between Two Worlds: Untold Stories of Refugees from Laos. The project consists of a traveling museum exhibit, which includes personal interviews of refugees of different ethnic groups (e.g., Lowland Lao, Hmong, Mien, Khmu, Tai Lue, etc.), artifacts, background information, and the development of Lao American history curriculum that will be distributed to educators. The exhibit is expected to travel to five major Californian cities: Redding, Sacramento, SF Bay Area, Fresno, and Fresno. More information are availble at:
The evening will include dinner and drinks, performances (Molam, fashion show, dance, and a variety of other performances), and a live auction. Seatings are limited so reserve your tickets online today for $120 each! If any seating is available, tickets will be $150 at the door.
OUR SHARED JOURNEY MCs
JOSIE AND ASHLEY PHOTHIVANH Josie Phothivanh is a 22-year-old hairstylist working in the Bay Area. Born and raised in Laos, she moved to the US at the age of thirteen in 2009. She has been a part of Jai Lao Foundation for the last three years, an organization that is raising funding to help the children of Laos. She is grateful to have the opportunity to live and work in the US, and always find a way to give back to the Lao community. We are fortunate to have Josie as a female MC along with her twin sister, Ashely, for our event.
Phetdalavone (Ashley) Phothivanh is a 22-year-old professional makeup and hair stylist in Alameda, CA. She was born and raised in Laos until her family moved to the US in 2009. Earlier this year (2017) she became a contestant of Miss Asian Global 2017. This experience meant so much to her since she was able to represent the Lao community and to showcase her culture in a profound way. She was one of the top ten finalists and was crowned Miss Asian Photogenic 2017. On her spare time, she volunteers for Jai Lao Foundation to raise awareness and funding for the children of Laos. Ashley will be one of three MCs for Our Shared Journey fundraiser.
TONY PHOUANENAVONG
Tony Phouanenavong has spent his entire life living in the Bay Area. Despite coming from a low-income family and almost dropping out of high school, he turned things around and was the first from his family to go to college and graduated from San Francisco State University with a BA in Organizational Communications. After college, Tony spent over a decade working with 2 large direct-sales companies where he became the first Lao Regional Vice President in the company; helping build some of the largest sales teams both domestically and internationally.
After years of coaching, he developed a passion for entrepreneurship and personal development, which gave him the courage to start his own business as Co-Founder of T&L Wine Solutions LLC in 2012. Four years later, Tony decided to pursue a field that allows him to make a bigger impact on people's lives; he currently works as a Financial Consultant with Arkshire Financial.
In his spare time, Tony loves catching up with family and friends, traveling, eating at new restaurants, looking for hidden gems, and doing outdoor activities such as hiking, sight seeing, and bicycling. Grateful for all his successes and failures, Tony is constantly looking for ways to make a positive impact in the lives of people he comes across each day. Tony will serve as our Lao speaking MC for the night.
OUR SHARED JOURNEY CHEFS
CHEF JAMES SYHABOUT
Chef James Syhabout is an ethnic Lao, born in Ubonratchathani, Thailand and raised in Oakland, California. He is a chef and proprietor of the successful Hawker Fare Restaurant and an owner of Commis Restaurant, the only Michelin Starred restaurant in the East Bay Area since 2010. Before opening Commis and Hawker Fare Restaurants, James has worked for numerous Michelin starred restaurants around the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain. In 2006 after returned from his independent work-study in Europe, Chef James opened up his very first restaurant, Coi, with Daniel Patterson in San Francisco. Through this, he has learned the true process of opening a restaurant from hands-on experience.
Chef James has made many appearances on the Food Network on Iron Chef America as a Sous Chef for Mourad Lahlou and David Kinch and aided them to triumphant victories. This Fall, Chef James is expanding Commis Restaurant to add a bar and lounge that has a more casual component, the fine called CDP. Also, he is publishing his first cookbook with Anthony Bourdain on Lao cookery and his personal journey from an inner city immigrant to a Michelin Star Chef, which is due to release in 2018. Chef James will be preparing a few dishes for our guests. Chef James will be preparing his favorite Lao dishes for our guests.
CHEF SENG LUANGRATH
Chef Seng Luangrath was born in Laos and fled to the United States during the Vietnam War. During her stay at a Thailand refugee camp in Nakhon Phanom, she learned how to cook from her camp neighbors and elders. At the age of twelve, she was the eldest of five and took on the role of caretaker of her four younger siblings in order to support her working mother. In 2009, at the age of 40 she decided to go after her greatest passion, cooking. In 2010, she took over Padaek, previously Bangkok Golden, a Thai restaurant where she slowly added Lao dishes of her own. Currently, the restaurant offers both Thai and Lao menus.
In 2014, she opened Thip Khao, a Lao restaurant in Columbia Heights in Washington DC and home of the Lao Food Movement. Thip Khao has been named one of the top 50 new restaurants in the U.S. by Bon Appetit Magazine, Michelin Bib Gourmand 2016. Chef Seng was also featured on TV at NBC Washington DC and was covered in many news articles, such as the Washington City Paper, Eater Magazine, and Washington Post. Chef Seng was named the Eater Awards 2015 Chef of the year, and 2017 James Beard Award Semifinalist (Best Chef Mid-Atlantic). Chef Seng will be preparing appetizers and entrees for our guests at the event.
CHEF JOI SIMMALY
Chef Joi Simmaly is the Founder and CEO of Spicy Joi Lao Food, LLC. Born in Vientiane, Laos in 197, Join immigrated to the U.S. in 1981. After working in the real estate and financial services industry for a combined 15 years in Silicon Valley, Joi finally quit in 2013 to pursue his true calling of working in the food industry. Chef Joi spent the next three years fully immersed working in several kitchens doing all necessary positions required while learning the business. His last couple of years in the restaurant industry was spent primarily as an assistant restaurant manager and catering manager at Spicekit in San Francisco. In 2016, he left Spicekit and started his own food company Spicy Joi Lao Food, LLC with the goal of producing, selling, and distributing authentic Lao food products. His mission for the company is to produce delicious Lao food products, preserve Lao food culture, and make Lao food easily accessible for future generations of Lao people. His other goal is to bring Lao food to the mainstream marketplace in hopes of sharing his country's delicious cuisine with the rest of the world.
Currently, Spicy Joi Lao Food is doing private catering, multiple private events, and pop-up restaurants throughout the year while leveraging social medial to consistently build an ever growing and loyal brand following. Chef Joi will make spicy papaya salad to order, provide his famous cheow (Lao dipping sauce), and desserts.
CHEF MONY VANGSOULATDA
Chef Mony Vangsoulatda is the owner and chef of Green Papaya Food Truck, which is a mobile restaurant that brings Lao and Thai food to the streets and community making it accessible for people to enjoy. Followed by a high in demand, she later opened up the Green Papaya Restaurant, a fast food restaurant located in Stockton, California. Chef Mony came to the U.S. when she was nine years old and has learned at an early age the meaning of hard work. During middle school and high school, she would get up early every morning to help her parents make and deliver desserts to sell at the local grocery stores. While in college, she enjoyed cooking for her friends as a hobby. In December 2011, she quit her full-time job to work alongside with her mother at her restaurant. It was there that she found her passion and love for cooking and decided to open a food truck in 2013 and then her own restaurant in 2017.
Chef Mony has been featured on Food Network's Diners, Drive Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri on Food Network. Chef Mony will provide our guests with her famous chicken laab, and purple rice custards.
CHEF NANA SANAVONGSAY
Chef Nana Sanavongsay is a home cook and chef of the famous Cooking with Nana on YouTube. She was born and raised in Vientiane, Laos and came to the United States with her family when she was nine years old. She got inspired to cook at a very young age by her mother who used to make lots of dishes to sell for extra income to support their family. She also learned to cook from her mother and stepfather by watching, observing and asking them questions. Nana and her husband, Alisak, decided to start making video of her cooking primarily due to numerous requests from friends who would often call her up asking her how to make lots of many different dishes. Her husband posted her very first cooking video on Facebook to share with their friends in November of 2011. Later on they were asked by some friends to have it posted on YouTube so their friends can see it too. That is how Cooking with Nana got started. Now, she has almost 41,000 subscribers on her YouTube Channel with over 100 videos and over 6.5 million views.
"I am not a nutritionist nor a professional chef. I just want to make as many cooking videos as I can to share with friends and help bring Lao food to the mainstream. Currently, we don't have many restaurants that serve Lao food. I hope to inspire people to want to cook and eat Lao food," said Nana. For more information, check out the following links for Cooking with Nana's YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/CookingWithNana and Facebook Page
OUR SHARED JOURNEY ENTERTAINERS
VANNY SAYAOSA
Vanny Sayaosa (also known as Souvanny Sinanouan) was born in Ubonratchathani, Thailand, but grew up in Pakse, Laos. She is the eldest daughter of the well-known Isan Molam artist, Ajanh Khammy. Vanny has started learning to sing Molam with her father at an early age because of her personal interests as well as wanting to carryon this traditional Lao-Thai art form that have been practiced by her family from generation to generation. At the age of 16, she has performed all kinds of Molam: lam peun, lam deun, lam vieng, folk songs, and etc. She is now living in California and still practices Molam and performs throughout the United States. Vanny was also featured alongside with the Lao Bantheung Sinh, a Molam troupe from the Bay Area, at the first Molam Tan Smay Performance hosted by Center for Lao Studies in May of this year. Vanny will sing molam for our guests at the event.
TOOKATA
Tookata is a famous Isan Lao Thai Molam (folk, country) singer. She started singing at the tender age of 12 years old. Her sound and genre is specific to the Isan region of Thailand. She has performed for an audience of over 100,000 people on Mother's Day for Thailand's Queen most recently. In addition to a successful career as a Molam singer, Tookata has also performed as a popular stand up comedian. Following are links to her personal YouTube channel
https://youtu.be/TDq751AzXoY. Tookata will be performing a few numbers for our guests at the event.
SANDY CHITTAVONG
Sandy Chittavong, also known in her artist name as Soal Nias (Soul Nices) which means Lao Asian Soul with a Thai heart of gold. She is known as a Lao /Thai American R&B, Soul, and Pop Independent Artist and Songwriter. She was born and raised in San Jose, California. She is the daughter of Peter Chittavong and Oraphet Sananikone, who had helped over 200+ Lao families in the refugee camps in Thailand to come to the United States. Sandy has an interest and love for music, singing, and dancing since she was a kid. Throughout her life, she has picked up some influences from listening to Molam songs performed by her grandparents as well as other Molam artists. Her grandfather would always play the Lao/Thai music instrument called the "Khene" while her grandmother would sing Molam. Sandy's music style is rooted in the music of the late '80s and '90s decade such as Lauryn Hill, Aaliyah, Brandy, Mary J. Blige, Tamia and TLC. She is an active supporter of other Asian/Pacific Islander artists, organizing with API artists to reshape the larger Bay Area music community. Sandy will be performing three songs from her recent tour.
ONE HUNNED
One Hunned is a Lao-American Rapper/Hip Hop artist from San Diego, CA. He has been in the hip hop culture since the age of 15-16 and has performed with artists such as TI, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, French Montana and Drake, just to name a few. He has toured throughout the United States as well as in Australia, New Zealand, France and Canada. One Hunned has performed both as part of concert tours, cultural festivals and fundraisers. He has taken part and performed alongside with the Lao Bantheung Sinh Molam Troupe at the Molam Tan Smay Performance, hosted by the Center for Lao Studies in May of this year in Richmond, CA. CLS is delighted to have One Hunned joining us again at the upcoming Our Shared Journey Extravaganza Fundraiser. He will be performing two songs are the event.
SEBASTIAN SAEPHANH
Sebastian Saephanh is a Co-Artistic Director, Co-Founder and Co-Choreographer of LV Dance Collective (LVDC). He received a Master of Fine Art in dance at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts in 2009. During his time at NYU, he had the privilege to study with well-established choreographers and educators Cherylyn Lavagnino, Gus Solomons Jr., and Gerald Casel just to name a few. He has a Bachelor of Art in dance from San Francisco State University. In Spring of 2010, he had the opportunity to teach a Master's Class at SFSU which has given him the opportunity to be one of SFSU Guest Artist during the 2010/2011 Season as well as Orinda Academy. Saephan has choreographed work for the Youth Ensemble at the Shawl-Anderson Dance Studio in Berkeley, which the company performed throughout the 2009/2010 Season.
He also continues to work at the Star Dance Studio in San Francisco as a substitute teacher. Previously, he has done workshops with artists such as Alonzo King, Joe Goode, Brenda Way, and KT Nelson. His credits include dancing for Mark Foehringer Dance Project, Cathleen McCarthy, Annie Rosenthal Parr, Booke Notary, Nguyen Dance Company, SFSU Dance Theater, Serene Dance Collective, and has performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. He was invited to present his choreography at the American College Dance Festival in 2007 and SFSU Dance Theater in 2006. Saephanh has been praised by the San Francisco Chronicle as a dancer who, "moved with sinuous grace through the staging" in his performance in the Oakland Opera-playing the lead role of Paul in Les Enfants Terribles. Sebastian and his dance troop will perform a dance number devoted to refugees from Laos.
KHETPHET PHAGNASAY
Khetphet Phagnasay originally came from Laos to the United States as a refugee in the 1980's. He earned his B.A. in Theatre Arts from California State University, Fresno. He earned his Master of Fine Arts in Acting from University of Hawaii, Manoa, where he studied Asian Theatre forms. KP is a working actor, director, producer and stunt-fight Coordinator and more. As an acting coach/instructor with 15 + years of coaching experience, he has taught at various studios in California and Hawaii; helping, developing, and guiding students to be successful in their career and life.
Khetphet Phagnasay has worked on the awarding winning feature film Street of Hope(2014) as the Acting Coach/Consultant/Actor. He is also the Associate Producer/Stunt coordinator for the Short independent film Cross (2010). Casting/coordinating for a feature film Biohazard (Zombie Apocalypse) (2011). KP has been a stunt coordinator on featured films such as Showboys (2011), Contender, Underclassmen: Lee Roy Soames and the Drama Boy (2013), The Recording, Uprising and more. Many of these films have won awards at various film festivals. KP will be performing a solo piece dedicated to the refugees from Laos.
SECRET LAO MALE MODELS
Members of the Lao community coming together to model for a cause. They are masculine, mysterious, smart, handsome, and Lao! (or at least Lao at heart). Please cheer them on as they walk the runway to show off the Lao silk sarongs and their physiques. Could you guess who’s behind the mask?
