Diana Ding recognized as California’s Woman of the Year 2024 in District 26

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03/25/2024

By DDTVRobe

On March 15th, Diana Ding (the Founder and CEO of Ding Ding TV and Silicon Valley Community Media) was the recipient of California’s Woman of the Year 2024 in District 26. Assemblymember Evan Low presented Diana Ding with the Assembly’s Certificate of Recognition and the American flag at a luncheon in San Jose. Congresswoman Anna Eshoo introduced Diana to the audience. The flag presented to Diana was flown over the United States Capitol on February 7th, 2024, at the request of Congresswoman Anna Eshoo.

Woman of the Year recognizes, honors, and celebrates individual achievements of women who build communities of rich cultural diversity and serve as role models to young women.

Diana Ding said: “I am honored and grateful to have been named the 2024 Woman of the Year. However, this recognition is not just about me but a celebration of the diverse communities and ethnic media, and an acknowledgment of the contributions made by all Asian Americans. I’m just fortunate to have more visibility than many others.”

Further, she added: “I want to thank Assemblymember Evan Low and his team for organizing this wonderful party honoring me, and thanks to Congresswoman Anna Eshoo for the wonderful introduction. It gives me immense pride to be an American, and receiving such an honor from my role models, who work tirelessly to safeguard our democracy, is truly humbling. I also want to express my gratitude to all the previous Women of the Year, who have set great examples as powerful and inspiring women leaders I can learn from and follow.”

Diana Ding spoke about her work: “I would like to thank the California State Library for supporting our efforts to Stop Hate and bring the community together. I also want to thank the cities of Santa Clara, Cupertino, San Jose, Sunnyvale, Saratoga, Milpitas, Palo Alto, Fremont, and San Francisco for supporting our community events over the last 15 years… This year marks Ding Ding TV’s 15th anniversary, and it takes the whole Bay Area village to raise Ding Ding TV, Silicon Valley Community Media. It’s not just the Chinese community – it’s Indian, Vietnamese, Filipino, Korean, Japanese, Latino, African, Portuguese, Jewish, and many other communities that support us and work together.”

She concluded her speech by inviting everyone to the upcoming Asian American Stories Award Ceremony to be held in Milpitas in May. The event will recognize Asian American storytellers and kick off the Asian American Heritage Month.

Numerous elected officials attended the luncheon: Mayor of Santa Clara Lisa Gillmor, Santa Clara County Supervisor Susan Ellenberg, Mayor of Saratoga Yan Zhao, Mayor of Sunnyvale Larry Klein, Santa Clara Councilmember Kathy Watanabe, Vice Mayor of San Jose Rosemary Kamei, Vice Mayor of Union City Jeff Wang, Mountain View Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga, De Anza Foothills College Board President Patrick Ahrens, Board President of the Fremont Unified School District Yajing Zhang, Former Mayor of Sunnyvale Tony Spitaleri, Member of the Fremont Union High Board of Education Jeff Moe, and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian. Also in attendance were the members of the Cupertino Rotary Club (where Diana Ding has been an active member since 2002) and Silicon Valley Central Chamber of Commerce (where Diana has been a member for the past 13 years). Diana’s family, friends, and colleagues were also in attendance. Diana Ding is the fourth member of the Cupertino Rotary to be named Woman of the Year. Previous recipients include Beverly Lenihan, Hung Wei, and Anjali Kausar.

Diana Ding is the Founder and CEO of Ding Ding TV and Silicon Valley Community Media. She established her company in 2009 to share the stories of the Asian American community in Silicon Valley. Diana created and organized the Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs Festival and Silicon Valley Food and Art Festival. Since 2023, when Lunar New Year was declared a state holiday in California, Diana started organizing Celebrate Lunar New Year Together, which brings together communities of Silicon Valley in celebration of the holiday.

She is also an active member of the community – apart from being a member of the Cupertino Rotary and Silicon Valley Central Chamber of Commerce, Diana also served as the President of the US–China Chamber of Commerce Silicon Valley, and the Vice President of the Northern California Chinese Media Association.

Over the years, Diana Ding received numerous awards including Asian American Hero in Santa Clara County in 2008 and California Unsung Hero in 2021. In 2023, Silicon Valley Business Journal recognized Diana as one of the Women of Influence, and she received the 2023 Santa Clara Citywide Community Award.

Diana Ding’s speech – Woman of the Year 2024