Michelle Kwan

In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, here is some more information about another famous Asian American that you might not know much about.

Michelle Kwan was one of America’s most popular figure skater and has won numerous Olympic medals.

Kwan was born in 1980 in California to parents who immigrated from Hong Kong. She grew up speaking Chinese and English. She started figure skating when she was five years old. Her older sister Karen and her practiced three to four hours every day. It was very expensive and when Kwan was ten, her parents couldn’t afford a coach, but a member of the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club helped them out. In 2009, she earned a bachelor’s degree in international studies with a minor in political science from Josef Korbel School of International Studies. In 2013, she married Clay Pell, an American lawyer and former director for strategic planning on the National Security staff at the White House. After four years of marriage, they filed for divorce in 2017.

Kwan won five World Championships and nine US Championships. She holds the record for the most consecutive US titles and consecutive4 US Championship medals.

In 2006, Kwan was named as a public diplomacy ambassador representing American values and traveled a lot.

In 2008, She became a member of the Committee of 100, which is a Chinese American organization that encourages relations between the US and China.

In 2011, she served as an adviser to the US-China Women’s Leadership Exchange and Dialogue.

In 2012, Kwan was appointed as a state department senior adviser for public diplomacy and public affairs.

In 2014, she joined Fox Sports for the Winter Olympics broadcast.