Town Hall Seattle and the Office of Mayor Wilson present
A Town Hall on Security and Surveillance
With Mayor Katie Wilson and Florangela Davila
Lori Matsukawa with Mimi Gan
Being There: Memoir of an Asian American Journalist
EVENT NOTES
Doors for this event will open at 6:30 PM. Town Hall events are approximately 75 minutes long.
News anchor Lori Matsukawa is an award-winning journalist, author, and speaker who spent nearly 40 years at KING TV in Seattle. A trusted voice in Northwest media, she reveals how her childhood in multi-racial Hawai’i and traveling the world as Miss Teenage America led to a career she couldn’t imagine. Despite discrimination and disappointment along the way, Matsukawa became the role model she wished she’d had. She helped change what viewers saw on the newscasts that entered their homes.
Matsukawa pursued her career at a time when society expected little from a person like her: a female of color from a working-class family who attended Hawai’i public schools. Yet, an astonishing series of events — highlighted by a year representing her country as Miss Teenage America during her senior year in high school — propelled her to keep breaking down stereotypes. Today, she continues to promote civic engagement and share stories to inspire the next generation of journalists.
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Lori Matsukawa is an award-winning broadcast journalist with more than 40 years in the industry. She retired after 36 years as an anchor and reporter at KING TV in Seattle. Matsukawa received two Northwest Regional Emmy Awards, one in 2017 for her series “Prisoners in Their Own Land” and another in 2018 for “Shane Sato: Portraits of Courage.” She is a co-founder of the Seattle Chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association and the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington. Matsukawa is also the author of Brave Mrs. Sato (2023), a contributor to Intersections: A Journalistic History of Asian Pacific America (2025), and Being There: Memoir of an Asian American Journalist, published in April 2026.
Mimi Gan is a multiple Emmy Award–winning former KING 5 colleague of Lori’s and a longtime reporter and host. She is now the founder of Mi2 Media, where she produces short‑form social‑impact documentaries. Mimi was recently recognized as one of Seattle Magazine’s Most Influential People: Equity, received the Stanford University Asian American Alumni Award, and currently serves as a trustee for the Wing Luke Museum and Seattle Children’s Theatre.
Presented by Town Hall Seattle.
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