Director
I am honored to be part of Musicians47United. The company of such a dynamic group of musicians is truly inspiring, and I know that the personal commitment we’ve all made will carry us forward to meet the great challenges ahead.
A new era has been imposed on all of us without warning. The pandemic is shaping how we live; survival in the literal sense has forced us to adapt and find new perspectives, even skills. What musicians everywhere do has gained new meaning. For the first time in our lives, silence threatened to be a principal player. As the concept of togetherness has been renewed through technology, one thing is for sure: when we are eventually able to, we will make the most of being and playing together.
I was born in Taiwan, grew up in São Paulo, Brasil, and attended graduate school in Boston. Besides my first full-time orchestra job in São Paulo, I also held symphony jobs in Hong Kong and Spain before coming to Los Angeles in 2003. In this country I have been a member of five AFM locals for over 30 years, starting with Local 9-535.
My first interactions with our Local’s leadership was as part of an orchestra committee for two Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations, when Hal Espinosa was still president. I have voted in every election, often not knowing what exactly the musicians on the ballot stood for. Typically, the power of incumbency is met with little or no challenge. It’s not a coincidence that we find ourselves at this point in time having more than one choice. Our collective identity needs renewed assurance, and our union needs to be guided into the post pandemic era with more care, transparency and financial discipline than ever before.
The board room of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers was where I got my wake-up call about how the industry and those in charge actually rank us among our sister unions. I learned the multitude of arguments they like to use to deflect their role in ensuring the stability of all entertainment industry workers. As a participant of the Contract Action Team, the most valuable lesson I came away with is that only as a union can we organize and stand up to the corporations.
The members of Local 47 do have unique perspectives and different needs, but the one thing we all share is that our rights as workers must be respected and continually monitored so we can preserve the strength of our representation.
I am committed to doing my part and learn from others, to always carefully judge every side of an argument before arriving at an opinion, and most importantly, to be the voice of dissent when needed.