The promise of possibility was palpable at the AAJA-LA chapter’s always-highly-anticipated annual lunar new year celebration, a welcome opportunity to gather with friends, make new ones and underscore the importance of community.
This year’s event, which was sold out, was held Saturday, Feb. 28, at Mama Lu’s Dumpling House in Chinatown and featured a 10-course meal including dumplings (of course), honey walnut shrimp, fried chicken, green beans (a fan favorite) and beef with broccoli.
Chapter members and their guests — many of whom were bedecked in red — had some time to mingle and network before AAJA-LA President Samantha Masunaga officially kicked off the festivities with welcoming remarks and other members of the chapter board introduced themselves.
Servers presented rounds and rounds of food to the roughly 100 attendees at their tables, wrapping up with a refreshing dessert of fresh orange slices. Diners were also gifted traditional red envelopes containing stickers designed by board member Maneeza Iqbal and entries for raffle prizes, which included free AAJA memberships and T-shirts, AMC movie tickets and See’s candy.
Advisory board member Teresa Watanabe and national board rep Anh Do were the location scouts for the event and, with Masunaga, the dinner’s main organizers.
The Year of the Fire Horse, a rare occurrence that takes place every 60 years, is affiliated with intense energy and bold action. The AAJA-LA chapter hopes to channel that type of passion into our activities throughout the year. We encourage you to take the reins and get involved (or more involved!) with AAJA this year as well.
— Rubaina Azhar, general board member
P.S. If you attended the lunar new year celebration, thank you for joining us! Please fill out our post-event survey here: https://forms.gle/PR6v8Z8nvtQSUZJ8A
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We also have a NEW LinkedIn Group exclusively for AAJA-LA members so you can post interesting pieces, achievements and opportunities to your fellow members. Request to join here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/18365078/
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Photo credits: Maneeza Iqbal, Lorena Tong, Rubaina Azhar and Julie Patel