Richard Lui

Clay is joined by journalist, businessman, and author Richard Lui to discuss the state of the nation in 2021 and how we can begin to come together as one people.  Is apolitical selfishness or making the effort to reach out and sit down to talk with those who disagree with us the answer?  It’s a difficult question, but with small steps, intention and good will, we might be able to take the advice of Richard and find the way forward for us, our communities, and our country-- no matter which side of the aisle we're on.  What do you think?

Richard Lui is a thought leader at the intersection of media, social impact, and storytelling.  He is a content and digital-social specialist with 30 years of experience in network television, technology, and business.

Currently, he is a journalist and news anchor for MSNBC and NBC News.  Before that, he was news anchor at CNN Worldwide, where he became the first Asian American male to anchor a daily national news broadcast in the U.S.  Most recently, Lui reported on the ground on the Paris and San Bernardino Terror Attacks and in Ferguson and Baltimore during heightened racial unrest.

For 15 years Lui’s reporting has focused on politics, covering every U.S. national election since 2004. He has interviewed hundreds of politicians, from Detroit Mayor to U.S. President.  He has been a contributing columnist for USA Today, Politico, Seattle Times, Detroit Free Press, Huffington Post, and others. Lui is a Policy Fellow at UC Riverside.

Lui’s passion for politics started in the 70s, when he debated California’s controversial Proposition 13 on bus rides to school. His interest turned into a job at the age of 19:  campaign manager for San Francisco College Board incumbent Alan Wong. After the election, Lui returned to college. His plan was to write on policy and the affairs of state, subscribing to the Washington Post when it had to be mailed to the west coast.

In the 1990s, Lui reported for news radio KALX during a unique time in California politics. Two of his first stories as a journalist were Dianne Feinstein’s first successful U.S. Senate campaign and the Rodney King verdict and riots.

Later in the 2000s, Lui reported from Asia during an increasingly heated political climate. Two Muslim countries in Southeast Asia transformed:  Indonesia’s Sukarno family was defeated after rule spanning over half a century; and Malaysia’s prime minister, after almost a quarter of a century handed over power.  Lui also reported on Taiwan’s controversial election between pro- and anti- China political parties. He was at Channel NewsAsia, an English-only news network in 20 countries and territories.

Lui is also a technologist with a wide-reaching business career that started in the 1990s.  He launched six technology brands over three technology cycles, most recently an artificial intelligence company in Silicon Valley in 2016. While at Citibank Singapore, he co-founded and patented a Visa-like payments backbone (a first of its kind) and was a management consultant at Mercer for an IBM joint venture.  He sits on six boards of directors / advisers in spaces ranging from international relations to artificial intelligence.  He is a 2016 Governance Fellow for the National Association of Corporate Directors.

Lui’s accolades and achievements include the top tiers of business, political and journalism distinctions.  In addition to being a team Emmy and team Peabody recipient, he has been recognized for his reporting from national organizations including the National Education Association, Advancing Justice, AAJA, NAAAP 100 and WWAAC. He is ranked globally in the top 1% of social media users by Twitter Counter.  Business Insider named Lui one of 21 careers to watch alongside Warren Buffett and Sheryl Sandberg. And more lightheartedly, he’s been ranked three years in a row by Mediaite as one of the “50 Sexiest in TV News.”

Lui is a Policy Fellow at the University of California Riverside where he explores the cross of public policy and media, UN Spokesperson for the HeForShe Campaign, one of 100 US State Department Traveling Speakers, and ambassador for NGOs focusing on gender equality and human trafficking.

Lui graduated from City College of San Francisco with A.S. Honors in Math and Science, UC Berkeley with a B.A. Honors Rhetoric, and the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan with an MBA. A first generation Chinese and Polynesian American, Lui has a twist in his background.  Because his grandfather, an unauthorized immigrant, filed false “Paper Son” documents, Lui’s real last name is Wong.

Twitter|Website |Instagram |Author of “Enough About Me” | Asian American Business Roundtable

Clay Aiken has sold 6 million albums, authored a New York Times bestseller, and ran for Congress in North Carolina in 2014 almost unseating a popular Republican incumbent.

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