2018 Asian Hall of Fame inductees named

Kourtney Kang is most known for her work as a Writer/Co-Executive Producer on ABC’S FRESH OFF THE BOAT and as a Writer/Executive-Producer on CBS’S HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER.

She is currently developing a new show with JJ Abrams and writing a feature script to direct.  On the feature side she most recently worked on CRAZY RICH ASIANS for Warner Brothers, WHITE GIRL PROBLEMS for Lionsgate, and AMUSEMENT PARK for PARAMOUNT ANIMATION.  Last year, she wrote and Executive-Produced the NBC comedy pilot WHERE I’M FROM (which was based on her life and explored what it was like growing up as the only girl in the only mixed race family in the suburbs of Philadelphia, dealing with real world issues like gender and race, while never losing focus of her goal… to become a Laker Girl like her idol Paula Abdul.)

She has written and Executive-Produced multiple pilots for NBC and CBS.  Previously, she was an NBC associate in Comedy Development.  She got her start at Carnegie Mellon University where she earned her MFA in Drama, but her real education came while writing/producing over 275 episodes of television.

Kang is a Korean-Irish woman who was born in Hawaii and now lives in LA with her husband and three daughters.

Roy Yamaguchi is a James Beard Award winning chef, restaurateur, and media personality who took the memories of his childhood – growing up on an American military base in Japan, his father’s Hawaii roots and his training in classic French cuisine to create his own, uniquely personal style of modern Hawaii Inspired cuisine.  He is the chef and founder of Roy’s Restaurants, Roy’s Beach House, Eating House 1849, and Humble Market Kitchin.

Yamaguchi was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan and is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in New York and currently serves on the board of trustees for his alma mater. His Hawaii roots are tied to his paternal grandfather who started a tavern and the Yamaguchi General Store in Wailuku, Maui in the 1940s. He attributes his appreciation for food to his parents and grandparents.

After graduating from the CIA in 1976, he continued his training in classic French cooking by working at some of the 1970’s most influential California restaurants: L’Escoffier, L’Ermitage, Le Serene, Michael’s, and Le Gourmet in the Sheraton Plaza La Reina. In 1984, Yamaguchi opened his first restaurant, 385 North, in Hollywood and in 1988, he moved to Honolulu to open the first Roy’s Restaurant.

Roy was the first person from Hawaii to receive the James Beard Best Pacific Northwest Chef Award in 1993. He has earned numerous honors including California Chef of the Year (California Restaurant Writers Association) Gault-Millau Top 40 (Forbes FYI), Top 50 Cuisines in America (Conde Nast Traveler), Fine Dining Hall of Fame (Nation’s Restaurant News) and the John Heckathorn Dining Excellence Award (Honolulu Magazine).

His public service involvement has placed him among the most influential chefs in the nation. In 2011, he was nominated by the late U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye and earned a political appointment under the Obama Administration to the board of the Corporation for Travel Promotion, now known as Brand USA. He was one of eleven board members for Brand USA and has used his culinary and travel experience to help promote the U.S. as a premier travel destination. He is also part of the U.S. Department of State’s American Chef Corps, a network of chefs from across the United States who serve as resources to help elevate the role of culinary engagement in America’s diplomatic efforts.
Yamaguchi recently partnered with Swiss-based MSC Cruises, the world’s largest privately-owned cruise company and in December (2017) will introduce Asian Market Kitchen, a specialty pan-Asian restaurant on board the cruise line’s next-generation ship, MSC Seaside, that will sail between Miami and the Caribbean.

Yamaguchi is also known as a television personality, hosting six seasons of the PBS series, Hawaii Cooks with Roy Yamaguchi. The series was the first public television cooking series to be shot 100% on location in farms across Hawaii and was carried by 300 public television stations in all 50 states and internationally in more than 60 countries. Equally notable, he was featured on the Food Network’s My Country, My Kitchen in an episode that takes him back to his roots in Japan. Yamaguchi also competed as one of twelve of the nation’s most notable chefs in Bravo’s Top Chef.

He has published four cookbooks: Pacific Bounty, Roy’s Feasts from Hawaii, Hawaii Cooks: Flavors from Roy’s Pacific Rim Kitchen and Roy’s Fish and Seafood.

Yamaguchi is a co-founder and co-chair with chef Alan Wong and Denise Yamaguchi, of the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival. The annual festival is Hawaii’s premier food and wine destination event.
His other community work includes the establishment of the Tom and Warren Matsuda Scholarship Fund, a scholarship for students to attend the Culinary Institute of the Pacific and founding the Roy’s Annual Golf Classic. The tournament has raised more than $770,000 for Imua Family Services and celebrates their 20th anniversary this year.

Yamaguchi serves as a trustee or board member for the U.S.-Japan Council, Go For Broke National Education Center, the Culinary Institute of America, and the Culinary Institute of the Pacific.