Meet the 2011 Main Stage Emcees

Since the first year of the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival, we’ve featured Denver-area Asian Americans from the media as emcees on our Main Performing Arts Stage, to showcase them as role models especially for young Asian Americans and Pacific Americans to enter journalism. Denver fortunately has Asians working at most of the local network affiliates, and at The Denver Post. But more Asians need to set their sights on media careers, to represent our communities accurately and fight stereotypes.

Here are this year’s emcees:

GIL ASAKAWA

University of Colorado, Nikkeiview.com
Gil is a veteran of the local media scene from Westword to The Denver Post and many online sites including serving as adviser to the CU Independent, CU Boulder’s student news website. He has volunteered for the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival since its 2001 debut. He manages the content for the festival’s website and newsletters, and is the lead emcee on the Main Performing Arts Stage. He is also a blogger and social media expert, and manages CDBF’s online social media presence.

GLENN ASAKAWA

University of Colorado
Glenn Asakawa works for the University Communications office at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for his Breaking News photography for staff coverage of the Columbine High School shooting. Before joining CU, he was a staff photographer for The Denver Post. Before the Post, he was on staff at the Rocky Mountain News for nine years, the Los Angeles Daily News for two years and he started his career at the Boulder Daily Camera in 1985, after graduating from CU with a degree in journalism.

AUDRA ENSIGN

High Noon Entertainment
Audra Ensign has a passion for journalism and for the AAPI community. A member of the Asian American Journalist Association, Audra brings over 5 years of media experience to the CDBF team. As a former news reporter for News 2/Fox 31 here in Denver, Audra has covered several major news events including the 2009 Democratic National Convention. Prior to working in the Mile High City she was a reporter for the ABC affiliate KLKN-TV in Lincoln, NE. Audra now works in reality television at High Noon Entertainment for the HGTV show “My First Place.” She graduated from Colorado State University in 2004 and grew up in Littleton. Audra is proud to be of South Korean descent and says she is honored to be a part of this year’s Dragon Boat Festival. She has been an emcee in the past.

NELSON GARCIA

KUSA 9News
Nelson joined the 9News team in November, 2005. Nelson came to 9News from WCCO-TV in Minneapolis where he spent five years. He worked the last three as their Education Reporter, before that he worked general news. Prior WCCO, he worked at WIS-TV in Columbia, South Carolina where he covered the city beat. Nelson also worked in Terre Haute, Indiana and at KOMU-TV in another Columbia — this time in Missouri. Originally from the suburbs of Chicago, Nelson attended CU for two years before getting his degree in journalism at the University of Missouri. “I hated to leave CU, but my parents weren’t too happy that I spent nearly as much time in the back bowls of Vail as I did in the classroom,” says Nelson. Now, he spends nearly every day in the classroom as 9News’ Education Reporter. Nelson and his wife Lisa live in Lakewood with their two young daughters and two crazy dogs.

CHRIS JOSE

KDVR Fox31/KWGN
Chris is new to Denver and he’s very excited to emcee this year’s Dragon Boat Festival. Chris is a morning news reporter for Fox 31 Denver’s Good Day Colorado and KWGN Ch. 2′s Daybreak. He also contributes reports for the stations’ evening newscasts. When he’s not chasing accidents and freezing in early morning blizzards, Chris enjoys shooting hoops, improving his below average golf game and exploring Colorado with his beautiful wife, Jaclyn and dog, Chloe. Chris is an active member of the Asian American Journalists Association.

AMANA MIYAMAE

Rock ‘n Roll Marathon Series
A former reporter with CW2, Amana now handles public relations for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, which holds charity runs all over the U.S. and now in Madrid, Spain. Amana studied journalism at Colorado State University.
 
 
 
 
 

PATTI MOON

KRDO
Patti Moon is an anchor/reporter for KRDO Newschannel 13 in Colorado Springs. She’s a Colorado native who graduated from Lakewood High School. Patti then ventured to Chicago where she got her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Northwestern University. She’s the oldest of four children and says she’s lucky to have the most loving and supportive family ever! As a Korean-American, she’s proud to be part of the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival!
 

JOE NGUYEN

YourHub.com
Joe Nguyen is a veteran journalist in Denver’s Asian community, as the driving force behind asiaXpress.com, and recently as editorial director of Asian Avenue Magazine. He is a reporter for The Denver Post’s YourHub community website and newspapers, covering Adams County and Aurora.
 
 
 
 

KIM NGAN NGUYEN

TheDenverChannel.com
Kim helped launch TheDenverChannel.com website in 2001 for KMGH Channel 7, and serves as its Managing Web Editor. Kim is responsible for the overall operation of the Web site. She was born in Vietnam and immigrated to the United States when she was 6 years old. She grew up as the youngest of nine kids in San Jose, Calif., and is a graduate of UCLA, where she received a bachelor’s degree in English. Before KMGH, she was the Managing Editor of Channel2000.com in Los Angeles, the Web site for KCBS-TV. Prior to that she worked as a producer and news reporter for a Citi-CABLE Ch. 22, a cable station in Torrance, Calif., and wrote feature articles for Valley Vantage, a paper covering the San Fernando Valley.

DEBORAH TAKAHARA

KDVR Fox 31/KWGN
Deborah Takahara is an anchor and reporter for Fox 31 and KWGN Channel 2 News. She has been named “Best News Anchor” by the Colorado Broadcasters Association. Deborah is an award-winning journalist who has traveled the country chasing big news stories. She has enjoyed living in Colorado for the past 5 years. She loves the outdoors and running. She has completed four marathons, including the 2011 Boston Marathon.
 

ANDY VUONG

The Denver Post
Andy Vuong joined The Denver Post as a business reporter in 2000 after earning a news-editorial degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He primarily covers technology and telecom. He was a driving force behind the January launch of TechKnow, the Post’s weekly technology section that appears on Mondays.