The Ronin Project Podcast
The RONIN PROJECT PODCAST is a weekly podcast airing on Sundays hosted by veteran political strategist Bill Wong about bad Asians getting into good trouble. This podcast will feature Asian American elected officials, candidates, and career campaign operatives to give Asian Americans insight and inspiration into claiming their rightful place in the halls of power and to curate Asian American political stories that have heretofore been ignored or erased. It will be real and raw conversations on Asian Americans and where they meet or miss the arena of politics, power, influence, justice, and representation. This no-nonsense podcast is for Asian Americans who want to know more about how politics is played, political professionals that want to know more about Asian Americans and how they vote, and troublemakers who want to make the world a better place. Bill Wong has over 30 years of experience that includes work as a chief of staff, a lobbyist, a political director, and a strategist to community non-profits, powerful labor organizations and Fortune 100 companies. He recently served as the senior political advisor to California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and led efforts that elected and held the largest Assembly Democratic supermajority in over 130 years. In addition, he has dedicated his career to mentoring Asian Americans political professionals and helping elect a historic number of Asian Americans to local, state, and federal offices.
Episodes
39 episodes
Chicago DNC Recap & Analysis w/ Fmr. Majority Leader Alberto Torrico
Former CA Assembly Majority Leader and Ronin Project Podcast Host Bill Wong give their hot takes on the Democratic National Convention in Chicago from Aug. 19 to 22, 2024. This episode is 100% certified F-Bomb Free.
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Season 3
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Episode 7
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39:45
Roshni Nedungadi, Founding Partner & Chief Research Officer, HIT Strategies
Roshni Nedungadi is a founding partner and chief research officer of HIT Strategies, the leading millennial and minority-owned public opinion research firm in Washington, D.C. Roshni has led expansive, multi-phase research projects exploring ho...
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Season 3
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Episode 6
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45:23
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2024 California Primary Election Recap
Join Ronin Project Podcast host, Bill Wong, for an insightful recap of AAPI races in California's March 5, 2024 Primary Election.The Ronin Project Podcast's regular interview format will continue next week with pollster Roshni Nedungadi...
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Season 3
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Episode 5
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22:17
Warren T. Furutani, Author - Activist - Fmr. Elected Official
Warren T. Furutani has been a community and political activist for over 50 years. In the late 60’s he help start the Asian American and Pacific Islander social justice movement. He started as a student activist and fought for college admissions...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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49:29
Madalene Mielke, Pres. & CEO of APAICS
Madalene Xuan-Trang Mielke is a nationally recognized civil rights leader and a member of USA Today’s Inaugural Leaders of Change. As President & CEO of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) and Founder and...
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Season 3
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Episode 3
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37:06
Boo Yuen, Co-Founder & EVP Adwell Group
Boo Yuen, co-founder and executive vice president of the Adwell Group, is an expert ad maker and strategist. Boo credits comedy as his entry into campaigns. While in school, Boo wrote for his college satire magazine, where he got h...
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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47:50
Betsy Lin, Founder of beelinning strategies
Betsy Lin is a national strategist working at the intersection of politics, advocacy and campaigns. As the founder of beelinning strategies, Betsy leverages her over two decades of experience across the Senate, federal campaigns, and multi-mill...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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44:02
Manjusha Kulkarni, Exec. Dir. AAPI Equity Alliance
Manjusha Kulkarni is the Executive Director of AAPI Equity Alliance, which serves and represents the 1.6 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Los Angeles County. In March 2020, Manju co-founded Stop AAPI Hat...
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Season 2
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Episode 15
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44:36
Professor Sara Sadhwani, Pomona College
Sara Sadhwani is an assistant professor of politics at Pomona College, specializing in American politics and race and ethnic politics, and a commissioner on the 2020 California...
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Season 2
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Episode 14
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37:10
James Santa Maria, Founder of the Santa Maria Group
James Santa Maria brings more than 20 years of government, political, and public affairs experience to The Santa Maria Group. James specializes in local government, focusing on the City and County of Los Angeles as well...
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Season 2
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Episode 13
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41:12
Dr. Jasmeet Bains, CA State Assemblymember
Dr. Jasmeet Bains was elected to the California State Assembly in November of 2022 to represent the Central Valley’s 35th Assembly District. Assemblymember Bains worked as a family doctor providing p...
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Season 2
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Episode 12
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32:43
Dr. Richard Pan, Sr. Policy Advisor AAPI Data
Dr. Richard Pan is a pediatrician and currently the senior policy advisor to AAPI Data.He is a former UC Davis faculty and a former State Senator and State Assemblymember representing the Sacramento region. He is the first Asian American...
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Season 2
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Episode 11
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31:30
Gina Pak, CEO Tech For Campaigns
Gina is CEO of Tech for Campaigns. She joined TFC in 2022, leading TFC’s voter turnout initiative. She advises early stage mission-driven start-ups on strategic growth and prior to TFC was a founding member of Blueland, where she was CMO. Gina ...
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Season 2
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Episode 10
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19:07
Jeane Phan Wong, Writers Guild of America Strike Captain
Jeane Phan Wong is a feature writer that is also a strike captain for the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and co-chair of the WGA Women's Committee. A child of Vietnam War immigrants, Jeane is Vietnamese-Chinese. She was raised Buddhist in...
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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27:36
Henry Lo, Monterey Park City Councilmember
Henry Lo is a member of the Monterey Park City Council. Henry's history of public service spans over 20 years. From 2003 to 2020, he served on the Garvey Elementary School District Board of Education.As a board member, he c...
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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24:48
Dr. Arvind Venkat, House Representative PA General Assembly
Dr. Venkat is an emergency physician and was elected last cycle and serves as State House Representative for the 30th Legislative District in the state of Pennsylvania. He is the first Indian American to be elected to the state Hou...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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32:19
Alberto Torrico, Fmr. CA Assembly Majority Leader
Alberto Torrico was elected to the California State Assembly in 2004. He served for six years, including two years as Majority Leader. During his three terms in Sacramento, Alberto served as Chair of the Public Employee Retirement a...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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41:55
Maria Oyama Leininger, Founder of Overton Political Solutions
Maria Oyama Leininger, Founder of Overton Political Solutions, talks about diversity, helping progressive campaigns win, the no asshole rule, the Overton Window, and 38 cent donations.Overton Political Solutions is one of the only polit...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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49:57
Better to Win - Hardball Lessons in Leadership, Influence, & The Craft of Politics
Bill Wong talks about the book, Better to Win, he recently wrote on Asian Americans and politics that will be widely available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble on April 8, 2023 on Season 2, Episode 4. Better To Win o...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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14:29
Kim Bernice Nguyen, Candidate for Congress
Kim Bernice Nguyen was elected to the Garden Grove City Council on November 8, 2016. She is the first Garden Grove City Council Member of Latino descent. She’s half Latino and half Vietnamese. In a recent LA Times article, she is describe...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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34:07
Bethany Khan, Dir. Comms/Dig.Strat. Culinary Union Local 226
Today’s guest is Bethany Khan, the Spokeswoman and Director of Communications & Digital Strategy at the Culinary Union Local 226 in Nevada. As spokeswoman for Nevada’s largest union and immigrant organization, Bethany is proud to use ...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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42:03
Alex Lee, CA State Assemblymember
Assemblymember Lee was elected in 2020 and became the youngest Asian American legislator ever elected and first openly bisexual state legislator in California history. In this episode he talks about running for office, fighting for afford...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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25:27
Bryan Ha, California Faculty Association Director of Government Relations
Bryan Ha, California Faculty Association Director of Government Relations, talks about AAPIs in the House of Labor, his mentor Dean Murakami, and fighting for the rights and fair pay for CSU faculty and campus employees.Learn more about...
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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21:48
Jill Tokuda, Candidate for Hawai'i Congressional Dist. 2
Former Hawai'i State Senate Ways & Means Committee Chair Jill Tokuda gives insight on how she effectively fought off a last minute multi-million dollar dark money attack during the Democratic Primary Election for Hawai'i Congressional Distr...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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29:21
Nadia Nisha Belkin, Exec. Dir. Asian American Power Network
Nadia Nisha Belkin talks about the unprecedented $10 million effort to organize and mobilize progressive Asian American voters in seven key states this election cycle and building the ecosystem that will support broad, deep, and sustainable Asi...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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53:28
