Today we’d like to introduce you to Marc Ang.
Asian Industry B2B (AIB2B) grew from a simple desire by founder/President Marc Ang to make an effective and productive networking group. After years of serving on boards of diverse multicultural chambers of commerce, Marc saw many things that were missing: a true business sense and productivity mindset in nonprofits that should’ve been “walking the walk” and truly serving the members in meaningful action.
After a lot of soul searching and an arsenal of experiences leaving all other boards he served on, he was led by God to start a unique organization: one that was Christian, charitable, business-minded, politically advocating for businesses, and with a nucleus based in the East San Gabriel Valley.
The inaugural monthly mixer on September 2017 was a hit, with over 50 in attendance, bursting at the seams in a small room, attended by heavy hitters in business, politics, and entertainment. It featured Mayor of Fullerton, Bruce Whitaker and the charity, Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches (A3M). The subsequent mixers grew in size, breadth, and scope, with strong early support from Wells Fargo, Southern California Edison and import/export and logistics companies such as H Saga International and Minuteman Transport.
The organization stayed consistent in these mixers and Marc led the group to new heights, as the organization hit a huge 6th month mixer, in March 2018, a Lunar New Year celebration that drew hundreds of people, to the point that the venue had to be moved from a Wells Fargo branch to the Industry Hills Expo Center. This special event also featured the debut of Betty Tom Chu, the founder of East West Bank as well as the former mayor of Monterey Park and Congressional candidate.
Marc Ang’s leadership and Betty Tom Chu’s contribution as a senior advisor steered the group to new heights, as AIB2B grew its political influence, including hosting one of the only 39th Congressional District debates, featuring the top 3 pro-business and pro-family candidates in May 2018.
Themed monthly mixers started occurring, highlighting human trafficking in the month of June 2018, which drew around 100 people in Chino. As more volunteers and eventual board members joined the team, the charitable committee developed, impacting many causes AIB2B is known for, from anti-human trafficking, veterans, and active military, autism, public health, underprivileged children in San Bernardino, education and mentorship.
Just one month later, the last monthly mixer, Marc’s late father was able to see was one that struck an important chord in the inspiration and mission of AIB2B. July 2018’s mixer, featured in Longo Toyota in El Monte, drew over a hundred people to celebrate Asian film and the preview of “Crazy Rich Asians”, featuring Asian American creatives.
AIB2B continues to throw mixers, now almost weekly, and in one week as recently as May 2019, had well-attended events attended by over a hundred people each, back to back, from human trafficking, immigration to the recent sex education changes in the curriculum has been a cause AIB2B has taken a clear stand on.
June 2019 was also AIB2B’s first Asian Industry Business Expo with 1,200 RSVPs and ultimately, hundreds in attendance, and almost 100 vendors in the beautiful Diamond Bar Center. This event featured the diversity of AIB2B in industries, ethnicity, and scope, bolstering AIB2B’s brand as a powerful connector of businesses. The program included a beautiful and breathtaking show of Chinese fan dancers, led by Linda Huang, as well as an inspirational speech from William Hung, and an elaborate taekwondo presentation by Excel Academy, led by Master James Nam. Over a dozen elected officials made remarks, including Senator Ling Ling Chang, who AIB2B supported as a tax and business advocate and the youngest mayor in the United States, 25 years old Tara Campbell, mayor of Yorba Linda and former State Senate Minority Leader, Bob Huff, all good friends of the organization.
Now, AIB2B is a force supported and covered by media from San Gabriel Valley Tribune to ABC to OC Weekly to Chinese media giants, World Journal, EDI Media, ETTV, Sing Tao, Epoch Times, NTD TV and many more.
AIB2B is also known for access to politicians such as most Orange County officials on the city, county, state and federal levels, and key leaders in business such as the top executives of big banks (Wells Fargo, East West Bank) and Asian entertainment (members and ambassadors William Hung, and Only Won (Baldwin Chiu), an accomplished hip hop artist and filmmaker, as well as many other key players).
Events are now no longer just once a month mixers, but weekly affairs with activities beyond just business mixers, but now including charitable causes, issues informational mixers, factory tours, lifestyle gatherings such as safe firearm handling, movie showings, and team building activities uniting churches, or business matchmaking with a partnership with Cal State Fullerton’s Business school.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not. Growth always come with challenges, from simple problem-solving at events, to dealing with hecklers who take opposite stances that we do on issues, to the general struggles that occur with the movement and growth of an organization. I’ll get into specifics now.
Events are perhaps the most complicated things with so many moving parts. This is entertainment. People have traveled their way out to learn or be entertained. Ensuring an event runs smoothly is a new process every time. I had to train my mind to be flexible to deal with many unknowns, especially considering we are never in the same venue. So constantly we deal with new situations, new setups, lack of power supply, or interesting audio/video setups, etc.
AIB2B is not afraid to make a stand, and we certainly did with our stance on sex education. We believe in responsible sex education, not age-inappropriate material introduced way too early to kids before puberty, or the stripping away of parental rights. Hecklers have come to our events to protest. We welcomed them and fed them, only to have our message misconstrued. That was an interesting diplomacy situation I had to deal with, but ultimately, we saw that they came in bad faith and could not hear a counterpoint, even when it was delivered with kindness. I had to keep my cool and it has trained me to be better able to handle tricky situations.
Finally, the struggles in building an organization hit closer to home than just strangers heckling. When people you consider friends, are no longer helping to move the mission forward, the goodbyes are tough. The biggest struggle is realizing that people are your friends, you love them dearly, but if the mission is no longer aligned, you move forward and meet new people who end up being the blessings you need to move the organization forward and grow.
Please tell us about Asian Industry B2B.
Asian Industry B2B is a lifestyles organization, uniting Asians and those who celebrate Asians with a special focus in business, charity, advocacy of Asians in film and political engagement.
What sets us apart are our large crowds but also depth of engagement as we have so many different committees, as well as our quality programming in events that inspire and move our community.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Understanding that I’m not in control. So many people stifle things but focusing and controlling all the wrong things instead of letting things grow on their own time. I invest my energy in being faithful on the little things because I know my heart is focused on the mission. I see so many organizations fail because they haven’t fixed themselves from the inside out. Even within my own board, I have let go of people who are focused more on the glory and the ego than the mission. The mission is everything and leadership is being faithful to the mission and sharing the leadership and letting the right people shine. Discernment of your closest team is everything. If the wrong person gets in, like a cancer or virus, the negativity will spread. Select your tribe carefully and then you won’t be sweating the wrong things and investing valuable time in the right things.
Pricing:
- $150 Individual Membership
- $500 Corporate Membership
Contact Info:
- Address: 3628 Lynoak Dr
Ste 203 Claremont, CA 91711 - Phone: 4242912102
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/asianindustryb2b
- Facebook: facebook.com/asianindustryb2b
- Twitter: twitter.com/asianib2b
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