After the completion of this internship, Senator Torres asked him to work for his campaign for state Insurance Commissioner as his volunteer coordinator. Being a part of this campaign fueled and solidified his passion for politics even though Torres lost.

Continuing his passion, he started an Asian American organization at his university. It aimed to engage Asian American students in politics and issues that affect Asian Americans. At the time, the biggest issue was Proposition 209, the anti-affirmative action measure. To help defeat it, he interned for Ron Wong’s then-firm, Lang Murakawa and Wong to raise money for and build support against it within the Asian American community.

Upon graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering, James worked as a policy consultant for a state senator and later as a legislative director for an assemblymember in Sacramento. He successfully developed, advocated for, and built community support for many bills that were signed into law.

James served as the executive director of California League of Conservation Voters, an organization that elects pro-environment candidates by raising money to support its endorsed candidates, targeting districts with independent expenditures and volunteers, and mobilizing grassroots support.

Politically, he worked on a number of campaigns for individuals — from president down to city council — and for ballot measures. In addition, he served as an Assembly District Delegate for 16 years and as an elected member of the Los Angeles County Democratic Central Committee for six years.

In 2009, he ran for the state assembly in one of the most competitive races in the state. To support his campaign, he raised nearly $500,000 in the election cycle, earned endorsement from major political organizations, and built a strong grassroots operations of over 300 volunteers. With seven candidates in the race and over $5 million spent by candidates and through independent expenditures, James finished a close second.

While he fell short, the lessons and experiences from this campaign helped to successfully elect his wife, Sandra Chen Lau, who defeated an incumbent in 2018, to the Pasadena Community College District Board of Trustees.

Previously, Jenny served as a consultant for the Asian and Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus. With a background in public service and politics, she was proud to previously serve as California Democratic Party Secretary from 2017-2021.

Mr. Wong has built a mission-driven company. Imprenta’s mission is to empower communities of colors by giving them a voice and communicating to them in ways that respects their diversity and understands their culture. The company’s clients share this philosophy and commitment to educating hard-to-reach, culturally and linguistically isolated communities. Imprenta’s clients are some of the largest companies and organizations in  California, including Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Gas Company, Health Net,  NBCUniversal, Frontier Communications, The California Endowment, and government entities throughout the state.  

Mr. Wong’s work on behalf of his clients is recognized as “best in the business,” and he has received nearly 100 individual awards including Boutique Agency of the Year from Bulldog  Reporter, and awards for creative ads and successful campaigns. The Los Angeles Business  Journal recognized Mr. Wong as the Asian Business Advocate of the Year 2013, and he was a semi-finalist for the Ernest & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017 and 2016. He has also been honored by the State Senate, State Assembly, Los Angeles City Council,  Organization of Chinese Americans, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, Chinese American  Elected Officials, Asian Business Association, Korean American Federation, and the  Organization of Chinese Americans, among others.  

Prior to founding Imprenta, Mr. Wong served on the senior staff of some of the country’s most prominent elected officials including California Governor Gray Davis, Speaker of the Legislature Willie Brown, State Senator Art Torres, L.A. County Supervisor Ed Edelman, and as a political appointee in President Clinton’s Administration at the U.S. Department of  Justice, Community Relations Services (CRS).  

From 1998 to 2001, Mr. Wong served as the chief deputy appointments secretary to California  Governor Gray Davis. In this position, he served on the governor’s senior staff and advised  Governor Davis on filling the more than 3,000 appointments to various commissions, boards and exempt positions in the governor’s administration. From 1994 to 1997, Mr. Wong served as founding partner of Lang, Murakawa & Wong (LMW), one of the nation’s very first multicultural strategic communications and public relations firms.  

Mr. Wong received a bachelor of arts degree in political science from the University of California,  Los Angeles (UCLA). He is a recipient of the Sloan Foundation Fellowship at the University of  Washington, Graduate School of Public Affairs, and completed the Management Development for Entrepreneurs program at the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Business.