Bay Area Innovators

From English-as-a-Second-Language learner a national speech competition champion, Anita Chen's journey is full of inspiring stories. Her passion for English eventually led her to become an educator. Now, she is running for a congressional seat and tirelessly advocating for the victims of human and sex trafficking. We also discuss the Sound of Freedom movie and its implications and wake up call and awareness of child sex trafficking. "It's far more prevalent than most of us imagine. When we think of child sex trafficking, most of us picture a poor Guatemalan girl sold by her family to a brothel... But the reality is that the vast majority of child sex trafficking cases in the United States involve American youth. That means youth who are born in the United States or are here legally," said Anita Chen. Today, she will explain why human trafficking is not what you think and what impacts it has on the younger generation. #bayareainnovators #ESL #child #childsextrafficking #children #bayarea #california #soundoffreedom #crime #unitedstates

Do you remember the first time you discovered something you thought you could be #passionate about for your whole life? Mike Hennessey, a #carenthusiast and #collector, will share how he fell in love with #cars and his journey from fixing #oldcars to becoming the #Businessman of the Year in #SantaClara. Now, Mike is extending his passion from car garages to the office. He will talk about why he decided to run for city council and what he wants to achieve. "If everybody that watched your show, any other show, if everybody did a little something—I mean, it could be a $5 thing—we really wouldn't have a lot of the problems that we do," said Mike.

With artificial intelligence (#AI) these days being inserted into anything, from a PDF file to a toothbrush to a death calculator, the development of this relatively new #technology taking the world by storm is going at full speed and is being fueled by companies like #Nvidia and #AMD in Silicon Valley. Yet regulation and control are completely out of sync with the speed of development, and this has become a major concern. “This is the risk that we see. And those are the flashlights or the flash points we see about the super AI when they start making decisions without going back to us. The fear here is—and this is actually mentioned in so many of the hearings in the Congress—that the AI will create its own AI, the human is not involved in that cycle. That is the fear, that is the beginning of the super AI,” said Ahmed Banafa. Today we sit down with Mr. Banafa, professor of engineering at #SanJoseStateUniversity and expert in AI and #cybersecurity. He is an award-winning author and was named No. 1 voice on AI by #LinkedIn in 2024. He has been interviewed by major media on this topic. Besides regulations, Mr. Banafa will also talk about the hidden threat of AI and what needs to be done to minimize the negative impacts.

As a former union boss, Seneca Scott was involved in deciding who would be elected “for the people”. “I was a hired gun ... Now I am organizing for my family, for my neighbors, for the elders who are scared to walk down the street.” “Oakland is going backwards ... Our policies have created an emergent apocalypse, a modern-day hellscape ... We have no choice. If we want to live in Oakland, I have to fight,” said Mr. Scott, a community activist and founder of Neighbors Together Oakland. According to Mr. Scott, the corruption in the city is deep-rooted and institutional. He said the “phony” progressives and the “spineless” business people have all contributed to the problem. Today, he takes a deep dive into the issues that contributed to the decline of Oakland and how it can be turned around from the root.

#California and many other states are faced with increased crisis: #homelessness, high cost of living, #crime and energy security...#GenZ and younger generations are getting more and more concerned with the direction the nation is heading. Our guest today is David Chen, the youngest GOP chair in history. He will talk about why he got involved and what the issues Gen Z concerned the most, as well as the impact of younger generations on politics.

California's suburbs are facing more and more #crime. There are increasing efforts calling for a change in its soft-on-crime approach. Our guest today is Denise Aguilar Mendez. She is a former gang member and is now an advocate for #children and parental rights. She will talk about her journey from a street #gang member to a candidate for the state legislature, as well as why #California can't control the increasing crime issue. Will California Stop The Soft On Crime Approach? | Denise Aguilar Mendez #bayareainnovators #sanfrancisco #bayarea

Our guest today is Eugene Zhang, founding partner at #TSVC, a leading early-stage #venturecapital fund in #SiliconValley. He has led investments in over 200 startups, including Jasper Therapeutics, Carta, and the well-known video conference company Zoom. Eugene only invests in U.S. companies and does not invest in China, and his team’s track record is very impressive. While on average 1 out of every 10,000 startups that are funded reach ‘Unicorn’ status (defined as a startup with a value of $1 billion or more), his team’s portfolio includes 9 unicorns and 5 IPOs (initial public offerings) from the 225 firms they’ve invested in. Eugene takes us through his early days as an engineer at Amdahl, Sun Microsystems, Cisco, and Juniper, and discusses the 3 pillars his team need to consider before investing in a startup. I also asked him about the changes AI will bring to the landscape of Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist on What It Takes for Successful #Investments | Eugene Zhang #bayareainnovators

San Francisco is going through a change based on the past election. The results indicate that the city is becoming more moderate. What happened to the city? And why is the tide turning? Today we sit down with John Farell, who is a real estate expert and worked for the San Francisco city government for many years. He will talk about the issues and challenges the city faces and what else will take to bring this great city back.

#bayareainnovators What is happiness? Is unhappiness curable? Today we sit down with Dr.Loretta G. Breuning, who spent years on research on the origin and theories that revolve around happiness. She will talk about the reason of happiness from a biological perspective, as well as the history and popular ideas of how to pursue happiness.

#bayareainnovators In a previous episode, we learned that San Francisco's illegal drug market is controlled by Honduras drug dealers. In today's episode, we will look further and find out where the drugs originally come from. Francois Cavard, who is a human right activist and spent years on investigating the drug trade in central and south America, will give us an overview on drug trafficking and what roles the communist regimes play in the overdose crisis of the US.

Is Santa Cruz County the worst place in California to build new homes? Our guest today is Tom Decker, a builder and real estate developer from Ben Lomond. He will give us an overview on why new homes are difficult to build in Santa Cruz County and the impact it has on its residents.

#bayareainnovators Have you seen the viral videos showing crazy smash-and-grab happening in San Francisco? Some doubt whether the videos reflect the real picture of the city. Our guest is Rafael Gordon, who was born and raised in San Francisco and worked as a firefighter and paramedic for 30 years. Today, he will tell us what he saw on the ground while working for the city and county of San Francisco and will give us his first hand opinion on why crime went out of control.

#bayareainnovators Oakland is seeing more and more crime according to the residents. At the same time, people are leaving the city and businesses are closing down. Today, we sit down with Christopher Moore, a housing provider from Oakland. He will give us a comprehensive view on what is going on in the city and why the crime is out of control.

The city of San Francisco has an annual budge of almost $15 billion, and yet it is faced with an increasingly problematic homeless situation. Today we invited former San Francisco Supervisor, Tony Hall, who will give us his insight on why San Francisco is not able to effectively address its homeless problem despite millions of dollars spent over the years. #Bayareainnovators ======== 🔵 Sign up for our newsletter: https://bayareabeyond.com/ ⭕️ Follow us on GAN JING WORLD: https://bit.ly/GJW_Bay

California's transgender movement is getting more and more attention, from controversial bills to becoming a billion dollar industry virtually overnight. Today we talk to Yvette Corkrean, a registered nurse from San Francisco. She will give us an insight on the transgender movement, especially related to children, and why it is affecting all of us across the nation.

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California has been creating more and more laws to embrace DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion). Today we invite Kevin McGary, President of the Frederick Douglass Foundation of California, to talk about the origin and development of DEI, as well as its impact in the future. His book is DEI in 3D: Deciphering Designs, Demands And Dilemmas of DEI https://a.co/d/iWvTTAQ

The homeless crisis in San Francisco is not getting better despite millions of dollars spending on the services provided by the city. Today we sit down with an experienced recovery advocate, Tom Wolf, who once was a homeless himself. He will talk about how he fell into homelessness and what brought him out of the dark. More importantly, he will explain why the city is having a hard time reducing homelessness and what lies ahead for San Francisco.

Hello and welcome to Bay Area Innovators. This program is featuring people who have played a part, be it big or small of shaping the Bay Area into what it is today and what will become in the future. Some of them you may know as they are well known celebrities, others you may not. Through our conversations, you will get to know them better, get to know their views, insights and opinions as well as their lifelong experience with the common goal of constantly striving to make things better.

San Francisco has an annual budget of $14 billion but why is the homeless issue only getting more and more out of control each year? Today, we talk to the founder of World Peace Movement, Darren Stallcup, who is also a concerned resident from San Francisco. What change has the homelessness brought to the city? Why is it only getting worse after billions of dollars spent? Let's find out.