U.S. Speaker Spot
This is a new periodic feature for the Office of American Spaces Newsletter. We will be featuring upcoming speakers available for virtual programs about priority themes as a partnership with the Office of the U.S. Speaker Program. For more information about the U.S. Speaker Program, and to submit a program request, please reach out to your local Public Diplomacy Section.
World Press Freedom Day
Luis Botello
Luis Botello is the deputy vice president for global impact and strategy at the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ). Botello is an award-winning journalist with more than 25 years of experience in reporting critical issues and managing international media programs. He is also an international media analyst for major news networks such as CNN en Español, NTN 24, and Voice of America. Botello launched ICFJ’s flagship program, the International Journalists Network, and expanded ICFJ’s presence in Latin America, helping make it the premier journalism organization in the region that develops groundbreaking programs on journalism ethics, press freedom, digital technology and investigative reporting in more than 20 countries. Botello is fluent in Spanish. Bio
James LeMay
James LeMay is a senior consultant for Global Media Connections, where he advises and consults broadcast executives and journalists around the world. Previously, he served as deputy managing editor at CNN and led the CNN Newsource Washington Bureau. LeMay is the recipient of numerous awards including Emmys for investigative reporting, and has appeared on Oprah and Nightline as a leader in news coverage. He has held many board positions including those with ABC News Affiliate Board and the National Red Cross, Washington, D.C. He is also the founder of Battle Saints, an organization that raises money for returning veterans. Bio
Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month
Robert George Lee
Robert George Lee is Brown University’s associate professor emeritus of American studies. As a leading scholar on Asian American and transpacific history, Lee has published extensively on Asian Americans, popular culture and racial formations, Asian American diasporas, and the social and cultural connections between Asia and America. As a Fulbright alumnus and an American studies expert, Lee played a significant role in helping develop American studies programs in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan. Bio
Rose Wong
Rose Wong is an associate professor in the Department of Social Work at California State University. As a teaching and clinical psychologist, Wong is instrumental in developing culturally sensitive and inclusive mental health education approaches to treat mental illnesses among Chinese immigrant communities in the U.S. Her innovative and culturally sensitive educational materials have been adopted in textbooks and widely used among mental health professionals who care for Chinese immigrant communities. Wong is fluent in Cantonese. Bio
Jewish American Heritage Month
Tamara Meyer
Tamara Meyer, a Holocaust educator, lectures on her parents’ experiences as German Jews avoiding the atrocities of World War II. Meyer addresses bridging the divide between the perpetrators of extremism and those who experience it. She partners with a former Neo-Nazi on a lecture series, “Dismantling Anti-Semitism Through Dialogue,” that gathers former Nazis and their descendants with Holocaust survivors and their children in conversations designed to promote reconciliation. Meyer serves on the board for Parents for Peace, an NGO dedicated to combating extremism. Bio
