Jeff Yang

{{Short description|American writer, journalist, businessman, and consultant}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Jeff Yang

| image = 2023-11-12-reelasian-filmfestival-jeff-yang.jpg

| caption = Yang at Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival in 2023

| native_name = 楊致和

| birth_date = {{Birth based on age as of date|34|2002|8|25}}

| birth_place = United States

| occupation = Writer

| spouse = {{marriage|Heather Ying|2002|2013|end=div.}}{{cite news |last=Brady |first=Lois |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/25/style/weddings-vows-heather-ying-and-jeff-yang.html |title=WEDDINGS: VOWS; Heather Ying and Jeff Yang |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 25, 2002 |access-date=October 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151116130244/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/25/style/weddings-vows-heather-ying-and-jeff-yang.html |archive-date=November 16, 2015 |quote=Mr. Yang, also 34}}

| children = 2, including Hudson Yang

| education = Harvard University (BA)

}}

{{Infobox Chinese

| t = {{linktext|楊|致|和}}

| s = {{linktext|杨|致|和}}

| p = Yáng Zhìhé

}}

Jeff Yang ({{lang-zh|t=楊致和}}; born {{Birth based on age as of date|34|2002|8|25|noage=y}}) is an American writer, journalist, businessman, and business/media consultant who writes the Tao Jones column for The Wall Street Journal.{{cite web |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/tag/tao-jones/ |title=Tao Jones News — Speakeasy — WSJ |publisher=}} Previously, he was the "Asian Pop" columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle. He is an expert on Asian American pop culture and is the co-author of RISE: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now (2022) with Philip Wang and Phil Yu{{Cite web |last=Kaur |first=Harmeet |date=March 1, 2022 |title=From 'The Joy Luck Club' to 'Crazy Rich Asians,' a new book hopes to 'fill in the blanks' of Asian American pop culture |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/01/entertainment/rise-a-pop-history-of-asian-america-cec/index.html |access-date=June 15, 2022 |website=CNN}} and The Golden Screen: The Movies That Made Asian America (2023).{{Cite web |date=November 6, 2023 |title=Jeff Yang's new book is a 'cheer out loud' for the films that made Asian America |url=https://www.kccu.org/2023-11-06/jeff-yangs-new-book-is-a-cheer-out-loud-for-the-films-that-made-asian-america |access-date=November 12, 2023 |website=KCCU {{!}} Your Public Radio Station |language=en}}

Early life and education

Yang was born to a Taiwanese American family. He graduated from Harvard University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology.{{cite book |title=Harvard & Radcliffe Class of 1989 25th Anniversary Report |date=2014 |publisher=Flagship Press |location=North Andover, MA |pages=996–997 |editor=President and Fellows of Harvard College}}

Career

Yang has written a number of books related to Asian popular culture, including Once Upon a Time in China: A Guide to the Cinemas of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China, I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action (with Jackie Chan), and Eastern Standard Time: A Guide to Asian Influence in American Culture, from Astro Boy to Zen Buddhism.

In the comics genre, he has written Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology and co-wrote the second graphic novel in the Secret Identities series, Shattered: The Asian American Comics Anthology. He has also written for the Village Voice, VIBE, Spin, and Condé Nast Portfolio.{{Cite web |title=Jeff Yang |url=http://www.secretidentities.org/Site/Jeff_Yang.html |access-date=July 9, 2020 |website=www.secretidentities.org}}

Yang is also a business/media consultant on marketing to Asian American consumers for Iconoculture, Inc.{{Cite web |title=Strategist Bio |url=https://iconoculture.cebglobal.com/smart/_publicsite/strategistbioiframe.aspx?contactid=8 |access-date=July 9, 2020 |website=iconoculture.cebglobal.com}} Before joining Iconoculture, Yang was CEO of Factor, Inc., another marketing consultancy targeting Asian Americans.

Starting in 1989, Yang was the creator and publisher of A Magazine, then the largest circulating English-language Asian American magazine in the United States before it closed its doors in 2002. The magazine grew out of an undergraduate publication that he had edited while a student at Harvard University. Yang was a producer for the first nationally distributed Asian American television show, Stir.{{Cite web |title=Jeff Yang – Newspaper Columnist, Cultural Critic, and Proud Dad |url=http://www.taiwaneseamerican.org/100people/jeff-yang/ |access-date=July 9, 2020 |website=www.taiwaneseamerican.org}}{{cite web |last1=Hua |first1=Vanessa |title=Bay Area station creating a 'Stir' / Asian-language Channel 26 trying first show in English |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-station-creating-a-Stir-2785586.php |publisher=SFGate |accessdate=February 19, 2020 |date=March 6, 2004}}

He is a member of the Asian American Journalists Association and has served on the advisory boards of the Asian American Justice Center, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and the China Institute in America.

Personal life

Yang was married to Heather Ying, a physician assistant in cardiothoracic surgery. They married in 2002 and divorced in 2013. They have two sons, Hudson and Skyler. Their elder son, Hudson Yang, is a star of the 2015 ABC television series Fresh Off the Boat, based on Eddie Huang's memoir, Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir.{{cite news |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/abc-renews-last-man-standing-703041?mobile_redirect=false |work=The Hollywood Reporter |title=ABC Renews 'Last Man Standing,' Orders Two More Comedies |date=May 10, 2014}}

Works

{{Cite book |last1=Yang |first1=Jeff |last2=Gan |first2=Dina |last3=Hong |first3=Terry |year=1997 |title=Eastern Standard Time: A Guide to Asian Influence on American Culture from Astro Boy to Zen Buddhism |url=https://archive.org/details/easternstandardt00yang |url-access=registration |location=Boston |publisher=Mariner Books; Houghton Mifflin |isbn=0-395-76341-X |oclc=37022942}}

References

External links

[http://www.advancingequality.org/?id=135 Asian American Justice Center bio]
[http://www.sfgate.com/asianpop/ Asian Pop column archive], San Francisco Chronicle
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060812011221/http://www.ouatic.com/mojomail/mojo.pl?f=list&l=yanglist INSTANT YANG], Jeff Yang's mailing list
[http://www.randomhouse.com/features/iamjackiechan/yangbio.html Random House co-author bio] for I am Jackie Chan
[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D06E4DB153CF936A1575BC0A9649C8B63 Wedding vows: Heather Ying & Jeff Yang], The New York Times, August 25, 2002
[http://www.secretidentities.org/Site/Secret_Identities_Homepage.html Secret Identities Official Web site]

Category:1960s births

Category:Living people

Category:American consultants

Category:American male journalists

Category:American writers of Taiwanese descent

Category:American journalists of Chinese descent

Category:American marketing businesspeople

Category:Place of birth missing (living people)

Category:Television producers from New York City

Category:American writers of Chinese descent

Category:Businesspeople from New York City

Category:Harvard College alumni