The Arizona chapter was founded in the mid-90s. AAJA Arizona has not only provided networking and training opportunities for professionals but also established some of our own traditions including an annual scholarship golf tournament and wine tastings and silent auctions raising thousands of dollars for student scholarships.
As a chapter of AAJA, our mission is three-fold:
1. To encourage Asian American and Pacific Islanders to enter the ranks of journalism
2. To work for fair and accurate coverage of Asian American and Pacific Islanders.
3. To increase the number of Asian American and Pacific Islander journalists and news managers in the industry.
Meet our officers
President: Jeffrey Ong
Jeffrey Ong is a promotion producer for ABC15, KNXV-TV in Phoenix where he works on promoting the daily
newscasts and image of the news station.
Prior to that, Jeffrey worked as a video news editor and studio technician at ABC15. He is also a recipient of a
2005 Rocky Mountain Emmy Award.
He graduated in broadcasting from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University in 2002 and was fortunate enough to land his first job in Phoenix.
Jeffrey first joined AAJA during college and was AZ chapter secretary and treasurer.
He's glad to be a part of the small but mighty AZ chapter!
Board Rep: Abe Kwok
Abe Kwok is a founding member of AAJA's Arizona Chapter.
Abe is currently the director of the News Now Center at azcentral.com and The Arizona Republic.
Abe began his career at The Republic in the fall of 1989, upon graduation from the University of Arizona. He has covered public safety, courts, county and city government, criminal justice issues and general assignment for about eight years before joining he editing ranks in 1997.
Abe has served as an assistant city editor, weekend editor, assistant bureau chief and editor of the state political team, all at The Republic until his switch to online.
Vice President of Broadcast: Cara Liu
Award-winning journalist Cara Liu joined CBS 5 News in 2001. Before then, she worked as a reporter, fill-in anchor and host of "Monday Night Quarterback" at KTNV in Las Vegas, and as a reporter in Palm Springs, Calif.
Cara grew up in San Jose, Calif., and graduated from UCLA.
She is an avid sports fan who enjoys running, hiking, tennis, skiing and following her favorite teams.
Cara has been honored with awards from the Associated Press of Arizona, Best of the West, as well as a C. Everett Koop Award for medical reporting. She also received an Emmy nomination for Journalistic Enterprise in 2004.
Secretary/Webmaster: Michael Schennum
Michael Schennum grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in Art. After working as a photo editor for the now defunct dot com Excite@Home, he enrolled in Journalism classes at San Francisco State University. He interned at the Palo Alto Daily News in the summer of 2003 and at the Appleton Post-Crescent, Wisconsin in the summer of 2004 as a Chips Quinn scholar. He likes to rock climb, hike and canyoneer on weekends.
Treasurer: Georgann Yara
Georgann is a freelance journalist with published work in newspapers and magazines.
Prior to going out on her own, she worked for daily and weekly newspapers in Arizona and Washington State for 10 years, covering a variety of beats from sports to crime.
Georgann is also the recipient of the 2003 Arizona Press Club award for analysis and commentary in the small newspapers category.
A native of Honolulu, she currently lives in Tempe.
Recruitment/community outreach: Mindy Lee
Mindy Lee is currently a copy editor at 944 Magazine. Prior to that, she worked as an associate producer at Fox 10 in Phoenix. Mindy graduated from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
She went back a year later to start on her masters in mass communication.
Mindy is the recipient of a national AEJMC and regional SPJ award, and has interned in New York City at Legal Momentum, the nation's oldest women's legal rights organization.