Words From Two Focus on Asian Cultures Emerging in Society (FACES) Conference Leaders, 1999-2003 

FACES Conference attendees pose with Ronald Takaki (second from the right), a famous historian and scholar in Asian American and ethnic studies. The FACES conference organizers invited Takaki to W&M as the keynote speaker for their 2001 conference.

Focus on Asian Cultures Emerging in Society (FACES) was a conference started in 1999 by Judith Lee Chi '00, previously Judith Lee Chaisiri. The conference brought together prominent Asian American professionals of all fields to allow students to network and hear from various leaders within the Asian American community.

The conference was held in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003.

For Judith, empowering the Asian American community at William and Mary was her primary purpose with FACES.

“We really felt like, the way to move the needle on something and to create this progress is through celebration and through positivity. And, when I look back on faces and what I wanted it to do, I wanted it to feel like empowerment, right? And empowerment through positive force. 

“And so the idea of FACES was, you know, let's, let's think about who we see in the media, who do we see out there kind of changing the world in their own way, serving society, building community, and let's bring those people on to our campus and have them share with us like, what was your journey?”

Veronica Salcedo '02 attended FACES as an audience member in 2000 and later joined the FACES organizing team as a part of the speaker committee in 2001 and as conference chair in 2002.

To Veronica, becoming a co-chair of the speaker committee gave her the opportunity to shape the content FACES—as she was especially interested in Asian American history and identity. 

Veronica states, “[The speaker committee was] where I realized I could shape the thing I've been craving and that was history. I wanted to know the context of how Asian Asian Americans came to be. And to kind of dial it back, I took a ‘History of US Immigration’ course with Professor Fitz, Maureen Fitzgerald. She's since now retired. But at that course, I was like, Whoa, I saw like two or three other FASA [Filipino American Student Association] members…

“I think we were all trying to find like, where were the Filipinos in American history…Where are the Asian people? And how did they come to the US…Can someone tell us our history? [That] is how I read the fact that so many of us FASA people were in the same history class. 

“And that's the class where we were assigned a Ronald Takaki book…And that's where I was so passionate. I was like, I'm going to try to invite this person. And he ended up being our keynote for 2001.”

While there were plenty of Asian American organizations on campus at the time, they primarily functioned as social organizations. They focused on food, dance, and other fun, cultural elements. They didn't foster conversations regarding what it means to be Asian American, explore Asian American history, or provide a space for political action.

For Veronica, the FACES conference filled that need, even if it was only for one weekend out of the year. Veronica explains, “I think I was looking for an Asian American organization that would satisfy, for me, questions about identity questions about history. 

“I don't think I had the word ‘critical thinking’ back then. But looking back, I wanted to find a group where we could agitate, think critically, and organize for some cause that wasn't limited to sending us books to children in the Philippines, which is all fine and good. And I remember participating in book drives with FASA [the Filipino American Student Association]. I remember, you know, some of the charity or advocacy we would do. But I think that was about all I could get from FASA...it felt mostly like a social organization.

“But I also wanted something where I could learn more about Filipino American-ness, you know, Filipino American History, identity, politics, things that weren't just about eating food.”

In 2021, the leaders of FACES were awarded the Inaugural Asian Centennial Award on April 30, 2022, which sought to honor trailblazers and acknowledge the accomplishments of Asian and Asian American students, faculty, and staff at William & Mary.

Courtesy of Veronica Salcedo, speaker chair for the 2001 FACES conference.

Courtesy of Veronica Salcedo, conference chair for the 2002 FACES conference.