Johnny Wu and other Asian Leaders honored at The Ohio Asian Leaders & Legends Gala

Three years after co-founding the landmark Cleveland Asian Festival, and eight years as the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), Cleveland Chapter president, Johnny Wu’s achievements are to be recognized on Saturday, December 1^st. The Ohio Asian Leaders & Legends Gala, is recognizing Johnny alongside dozens of other prominent members of the Asian community in Ohio.

Johnny Wu co-founded the Cleveland Asian Festival in 2010 to just over 10,000 attendees. In 2011, they tripled their attendance to 31,000, and in 2012, they reached a new record at 41,200 attendees. The most recent festival includes some remarkable statistics, including over one million dollars spent inside the festival. The results of Cleveland’s Asian Festival are clear. The festival has raised awareness of the AsiaTown community throughout the city of Cleveland, as well as the state of Ohio; it has strengthened the identity of AsiaTown, and Cleveland’s Asian community; it educates and promotes Asian cultures and traditions; and it celebrates Asian Pacific Heritage Month; in addition to winning a number of awards from the media and the press.

As president of OCA’s Cleveland Chapter, Johnny Wu has fostered an active and educational environment for Asian Americans living in the Greater Cleveland area. OCA is committed to promoting cultural heritage, active participation in civic and community affairs, securing justice, and equal treatment and equal opportunity for all Americans of Asian Pacific Islander descent.

In addition to the Cleveland Asian Festival and his presidency at OCA, Johnny Wu is also an award-winning filmmaker with an MBA specializing in brand marketing. He owns Media Design Imaging, and has been a branding consultant for several businesses and nonprofit organizations. He initiated an outreach project to promote Asian culture and diversity with OCA Image TV, a monthly television show airing through Time Warner and new media outlets. It was aired daily to over 420,000 households and received numerous awards. In 2012, OCA Image TV received a $25,000 Cable Television Minority Arts and Education Fund (MAEF) grant from the Cleveland Foundation for new episodes and distribution through new media.

Johnny Wu also sits on several boards, including St. Clair-Superior Development Corp., Neighborhood Connections Grant Review Committee, the WVIZ/Idea Stream Community Advisory Board, and the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Community Advisory Board, as well as an administrator for Cleveland IndieClub. He has done numerous speaking engagements at universities, conventions, and festivals on topics in Asian cultures, diversity, and filmmaking. He has made several feature-length and short films, including a few that have been distributed worldwide. Most recently, two of his films have each won Pixie awards for motion graphics and visual effects.

-MDI Staff