Assunta Ng is Chinese American community organizer and the publisher of

Northwest Asian Weekly The ''Northwest Asian Weekly'' is a weekly Asian American newspaper based in Seattle, Washington's International District. Distributed for free, it was founded in 1982 by Assunta Ng, founder of the ''Seattle Chinese Post''. It has a circulation ...

and

Seattle Chinese Post The ''Seattle Chinese Post'' () was a weekly Chinese-language newspaper based in Seattle, Washington's International District. It was founded on 1982 by Assunta Ng, also founder of the ''Northwest Asian Weekly.'' At the time of its founding, it w ...

, based in Seattle's Chinatown/International District.

Biography

Ng was born in China and raised in Hong Kong. Ng got her first name, which means ascension, from an Italian priest when she was baptized. In 1971 at age 19, she immigrated to the United States from Hong Kong to attend the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seat ...

(UW). Ng wanted to relocate to the U.S. because her parents had low expectations for daughters and Ng did not want to become a housewife, which was what was modeled to her as she was growing up. At that time, she had the perception that only in America could a woman be free. After the first year, Ng supported herself for the rest of her college education. Her first job was as a dishwasher in a school cafeteria, and it paid $2.50 an hour. Ng also baby-sat and worked in restaurants to keep afloat. She wrote for the ''Daily'' newspaper while at the UW, and she earned a bachelor's degree in international studies and education from the UW in 1974, a teaching certificate in 1976, and a master's degree in communications in 1979. Post-college, Ng taught social studies to children of immigrant families at Mercer Junior High School. She observed that many were lost in a strange new system. It was during this time that she became aware of the lack of information available to the local Chinese community. In 1982, Ng started with $25,000 of her own seed money and founded the

. A year later in 1983, Ng founded the

, a Pan-Asian English-language weekly. In 1986, Ng was one of 15 women who joined the Seattle chapter of

Rotary International Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, prof ...

, before the parent organization allowed women to join. In 1996, Ng founded Women of Color Empowered, a tri-annual networking luncheon series that honors women of color who have made an impact in their local communities. Through her nonprofit, the Northwest Asian Weekly Foundation, Ng has organized programs and scholarships to help disadvantaged youth and women, and she has raised more than $3 million for various charities and scholarships for foster children, University of Washington, Washington State University, Seattle University, and Seattle Community Colleges.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ng, Assunta American women company founders American company founders Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American women

Biography

See also

References