Stephen Cheung - President and CEO of LAEDC & WTCLA | Los Angeles Leaders

Stephen Chung's journey from immigrant child to economic development leader offers a masterclass in resilience and coalition building. After arriving from Hong Kong at age eight and quickly facing family upheaval, Stephen found himself working alongside his mother in sweatshops, earning half a penny per shirt thread he cut. These early experiences with economic hardship fundamentally shaped his understanding of opportunity and equity.

What makes Stephen's leadership approach distinctive is how he transformed perceived weaknesses into strengths. As a self-described introvert who once struggled with public speaking, he learned to "perform" effectively while maintaining authenticity. This balance between vulnerability and capability resonates throughout his career trajectory—from social worker to governmental advisor to his current role leading LA's economic development efforts.

The podcast reveals fascinating behind-the-scenes moments from Stephen's career, including facilitating high-level international relationships during his time at the Port of Los Angeles and arranging for then-Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping to visit Los Angeles. 

At the heart of Stephen's philosophy is a commitment to data-driven decision making balanced with genuine human connection. His team at LAEDC produces comprehensive economic research while ensuring that information translates into tangible opportunities for all Angelenos. His newly articulated vision, "A coalition of one, an economy for all," encapsulates his belief that regional prosperity depends on collaboration rather than competition.

For listeners navigating their own leadership journeys, Stephen offers refreshingly practical advice about embracing "scrappiness," learning through observation, and finding strength in diversity of experience. His story demonstrates how personal history—even painful chapters—can inform compassionate and effective leadership. Ready to reimagine what economic development looks like when it centers both prosperity and equity? This conversation provides an inspiring blueprint.

📌 ABOUT OUR GUEST:
🔹 Name: Stephen Cheung
🔹 Title: President & CEO
🔹 Organization:  LAEDC & WTCLA
🔹 Guests Social: https://www.linkedin.com/in/st

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Stephen Chung
• 9:22 Immigrant Childhood and Family Challenges
• 21:49 Education Journey and Finding Direction
• 34:12 City Hall Career and Mentorship
• 44:03 International Trade and Port Experience
• 52:06 Building LAEDC and Leadership Philosophy
• 1:00:16 Overcoming Introversion and Public Speaking
• 1:04:27 Future Vision and Final Reflections

Transcript

Narrator 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Los Angeles Leaders Podcast, where we dive deep into the stories of the visionaries shaping the future of our region. Hosted by Christopher Luna, this podcast brings you conversations with the movers and shakers driving innovation, leadership and community impact across Los Angeles. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a community leader or simply someone passionate about making a difference, this podcast is your gateway to the insights and inspiration you need to lead and succeed. Get ready to be inspired by the leaders making waves in Los Angeles and beyond.

Narrator 2: 0:37

In this episode we welcome Stephen Chung.

Narrator 2: 0:39

Stephen's career began in the nonprofit sector, serving as a children's advocate at a shelter for survivors of domestic violence and as a community advocate at a legal aid organization, a product of the public education system.

Narrator 2: 0:52

Stephen holds a Master of Social Welfare and a Bachelor of Psychobiology from the University of California, los Angeles, and is a proud Angeleno whose career journey from working as a busboy and garment worker to representing Los Angeles on the global stage underscores his unwavering belief in the power of opportunity and the importance of building an inclusive, resilient economy that benefits every Angeleno. Stephen Chung serves as the president and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation and its subsidiary, the World Trade Center Los Angeles. In this dual role, stephen leads the organization's mission to reinvent the regional economy by advancing growth, equity and prosperity for all Angelenos. Stephen's exceptional contributions to the region have earned him widespread recognition. In 2024, he received the prestigious Coro Southern California Crystal Eagle Award and was named Regional Champion of the Year by the National Small Business Advocacy Council for his tireless advocacy on behalf of small businesses and economic mobility in Los Angeles County. Please welcome Stephen Chung.

Christopher Luna: 1:59

Welcome to Los Angeles Leaders. I'm your host, christopher Luna, today. I'm honored to have you, stephen, and, just so you know, we're going to play your intro right before this. I didn't say it beforehand, but you have quite an impressive resume and background and I'm honored to have you here.

Stephen Cheung: 2:17

Thank you, I'm delighted to be here. Thanks for having me.

Christopher Luna: 2:20

So I'm not sure if you know a little bit and we never talked previous to this about the show but there's a reason why I'm having a platform like this is I go to a lot of different events and I see very inspirational leaders, have a lot of speaking opportunities being on a panel and you know fireside chats and conferences and you guys are always so humble and you always talk about your organization and what you do for the community, but we don't really get to know you as a person, and Los Angeles Leaders is kind of formed from that, because it's inspiring to see people in these leadership roles and all I'm trying to do is learn from you and learn how are those techniques and what can I do to kind of better myself and better our audience. So that's kind of the platform that I'm building here and thank you again for giving me your time.

Stephen Cheung: 3:11

Thanks for sharing the stories. I'll do my best.

Christopher Luna: 3:14

So just from what I've read and obviously I've been to some of your events I know you come from Hong Kong and that's your background. At what age did you move to LA? I was eight when I moved here, okay, so by that time you have memories of being in Hong Kong, I'm assuming.

Stephen Cheung: 3:30

Yeah, I do Not clear memories. I have bits and pieces. What's interesting is that we're known as the 1.5 generation. We're not quite first generation, not quite second generation, because I was too young to remember Hong Kong and too old to be truly American in that sense. So I always felt when I moved here I didn't really quite fit in like a lot of immigrants. But later on I think I used that to my advantage because I realized if you don't fit in, you can actually become that bridge and it's not just bridging between here and Hong Kong, but here and everywhere else, because you have that experience to be able to understand. When people don't quite fit in, you have to adjust differently and I think that's a lot of Angelenos.

Christopher Luna: 4:16

Definitely. I mean, we're definitely a melting pot, and I think a lot of us get put in that situation as well. Before you came to the United States, did you come straight to Los Angeles, and who did you come with?

Stephen Cheung: 4:28

Yeah, so it's actually an interesting story. We actually came here because we won the lottery not financial lottery, but there is an immigration lottery by the United States and so I think we're one of 2,000 families that were selected to get a green card. So at that point, I think our family was getting ready for some transitions. It was around 1987 is when that happened, and we knew that in 1997, China was going to take over Hong Kong and our family my father is from Malaysia, but ethnic Chinese, my mother is from Indonesia, ethnic Chinese as well and both of them met while they were in China, learning Chinese, and so we were born in Hong Kong and I think, with all the transition, not knowing what's going to be happening with the transition, they wanted to give us a new beginning, and so at that point we were looking to immigrate and we were supposed to actually move to Australia. Wow, and when we won the green card, my mom and my father figured it's a better option for us to be in the United States and that's why we came.

Stephen Cheung: 5:42

Was it you three, or do you have siblings? Oh, yes, I have an older brother and an older sister, so the five of us came together. Yeah, Awesome Straight to Los Angeles. Straight to Los Angeles, to Hacienda Heights.

Christopher Luna: 5:52

Oh, did I tell you.

Narrator 1: 5:53

That's where I'm born.

Stephen Cheung: 5:54

No, or where I was born.

Christopher Luna: 5:55

No, no, oh well.

Stephen Cheung: 6:08

Small world high school. Okay, wilson high school awesome. So tell me about your upbringing. I mean, uh, yeah, so now moved over here. Uh was a bit of a struggle. Uh went to elementary school in hacienda heights and remember they were very kind. Um, it was la puente unified school district actually got me a tutor and back then, uh, there are a lot of um asian families already around that area. However, I think most of them were already second generation, so they spoke english fine, so they're not a lot of uh immigrant families. So they got me a tutor because they realized that they don't have a full esl class. So the tutor was for me and my sister and, I think, one other kid, except that tutor was from Taiwan. So I think the school district at that point didn't have enough experience knowing that people from Hong Kong spoke Cantonese. So this tutor, in order for her to teach us, we had to learn Mandarin before we can learn English, which is great, though.

Stephen Cheung: 7:02

Which is great now but back then it was quite stressful. When you're eight, you're just trying to assimilate and all of a sudden you have to learn another language before you can learn. So English is actually my third language, um, and at that point I was a bit resentful, but now, uh, I I can speak three languages. So I'm very, very grateful for for that opportunity. Yeah, so yeah, we, we, we moved here, we grew up. What did your parents do? This became an interesting story. We're known as astronaut kids.

Stephen Cheung: 7:32

My father was doing import-export business, especially with Chinese medicine Back then. There's not a whole lot of connection between especially Taiwan and China, especially Taiwan and China. So my father actually had a business that basically became the intermediary to basically bring goods between China and Taiwan and other locations as well, and he was basically flying back and forth between Hong Kong, taiwan, china and the United States and my mother was just basically here with three kids just basically trying to establish a home. He started getting more and more busy and we started seeing him less and less over the years and my mother felt really bad and wanted to surprise him. So I popped back to Hong Kong to surprise him, but she was surprised because there was another family and my mother gave an ultimatum either us or them, and he chose them. So we very quickly became a single, uh, parent family, uh, with three kids, monolingual um mother.

Stephen Cheung: 8:40

At that point it was the early 90s, the underwater mortgage situation became real for us and we became a bit stuck, wow. So my mother started basically taking on all sorts of different jobs odd-end jobs as a waitress, as a seamstress, and so basically we didn't do quite well and we struggled, but we got through. So it was definitely not an easy upbringing, but at the same time, you know, kind of that's how I think we built our resiliency, we learned how to survive and, uh, I think one one of the things I learned is, uh, learned how to be scrappy, and I think that's a word that I always use to describe myself and very proud of the scrappiness I bring with it Well.

Christopher Luna: 9:22

I think it gives you that sense of urgency too, to assist right in those situations. I think when you have the upbringing and you see your mom in particular trying to make ends meet I think in those early 90s the interest rates were really high during that time and I'm sure it was very difficult.

Stephen Cheung: 9:42

So what age? Was that around, if you don't mind me asking yeah, I think everything started to go south around. I think I was nine years old, so it was pretty quick that we moved in, yeah.

Stephen Cheung: 9:52

So I think it wasn't a clean, you know kind of separation. It took a while because my mother still believed a family should have two parents, and so she insisted that that. You know, uh, your father cheated on on me, not on the family, um, but you know, I think as the the time passed, um, he stopped visiting. So I think by the time I was like 12 or 13. Uh, we haven't really seen him after that. Uh, I think this is where, also, when it comes to what you're mentioning in terms of that experience, right, I also would follow my mom, and when she's working as a seamstress in a sweatshop in El Monte, I was there too, and when she was making sewing the clothes for I just remember very clearly every single shirt that she sewed, she would get about five cents for each one, and I would be on the floor cutting the strings that were coming off of the leftover from the sewing.

Stephen Cheung: 10:52

And for every single shirt that I would snip the threads for, I would get half a penny for each shirt. Wow. So for me, I get to work, right, I get to contribute. So I was happy about that. But in hindsight, and even during that time, I get to work right, I get to contribute. So I was happy about that. But in hindsight and even during that time, I remember how do you let a 9-, 10-year-old kid work 12 o'clock at night? You know we saw the underbelly of society very quickly and the conditions were not great. But this is also why you know kind of the jumping ahead, the work that I do means so much to me because it's about giving people opportunities, a career and trying to basically promote livelihoods and that folks aren't taken advantage of. So once you've seen the underbelly of society when you're young, you know what can happen if people are not taken care of.

Christopher Luna: 11:49

Yeah, I mean you tap into. You tap into a lot right there. I think it's it's incredible to know your journey. I mean fast forward now. Right, you're in international trade, so I can see where your dad and your background and in international relations importing, exporting that all ties into what you're doing now. But before I get into that part um, tell me a little bit about your high school years and college years. I mean you mentioned los altos. Have you ever gone to los altos, or or is your, as your family, your mom, still no?

Stephen Cheung: 12:15

yeah, yeah. So, um, uh, when I graduated high school, I was the youngest of three, so my uh brother, um, you know, was doing his own thing. My sister actually moved back to Hong Kong, and when that happened, my mom actually once I graduated high school, I was an adult, so she actually wanted to move back to Hong Kong as well and she wanted to also help take care of my sister. So I then went to UCLA for my undergrad, but during high school, basically, I was at Los Altos, I worked as a busboy and eventually became a waiter, played volleyball, you know nothing, nothing special, but really actually I didn't want to go to UCLA, to be honest with you, you did not, I did. I didn't want to go to UCLA, to be honest with you, you did not, I did not. I didn't know much about my brother and my sister. I think my brother actually tried to go to college, but it didn't work out. So I was the first to graduate from college, and so there was not a lot of blueprint for us being the youngest.

Stephen Cheung: 13:21

Yeah, we didn't really know much about it. So in my school, however, there were a lot of smart kids, and so I'm a competitive guy, so I wanted to be up there with them. So everybody was talking about going to Ivy League schools. So of course, we'll have to go to an Ivy League school. I have no clue what an Ivy League school was. I remember each of those applications. At that point, you have to basically submit your application and you have to pay a fee, and I think each one of them were like $74. And so I would be working as a busboy sometimes in the weekend and, if you're lucky, you get $120 for a weekend of tips, and that would be amazing for me, and so I was collecting it so I can pay for the application well um, the, the results came back and I think I got into maybe like one or two.

Stephen Cheung: 14:13

I was waitlisted in one school and when the financial aid packet came I just realized I couldn't go because there's no way I can afford it. Yeah, um, and then then. So the only school that I got in as a backup in California was UCLA.

Christopher Luna: 14:28

What a great backup Well again.

Narrator 2: 14:30

I didn't know any better right.

Stephen Cheung: 14:32

And thank goodness. I mean it's probably the best choice and that was. I mean we'll get to it later, but it's one of my favorite memories and experiences going to UCLA, but at that point I just didn't because you don't know any better.

Christopher Luna: 14:47

But the studies that you did tell me more about that. I mean, it wasn't in international relations or policy work.

Stephen Cheung: 14:53

No, I actually graduated with a psychobiology degree, but initially when I went to UCLA, I was pursuing a degree in chemical engineering because, again, not knowing much, and I had to basically tell a good story. So I thought I wanted to do biomedical engineering and make robotic arms, not really knowing what that is and they actually didn't have a program that did that. But chemical engineering was the closest thing. Two years into it I just realized I didn't like chemical engineering. But now I have this whole program that I've committed to.

Stephen Cheung: 15:35

And I remember calling my mom when she was in Hong Kong and I was just so what's the word? Maybe regret was the word Letting her know that I have to change my major and letting her know that I was going to have to disappoint her. And she's like look, stephen, I'm going to support you regardless. I just want you to be happy. And I was like what are you talking about? Mom, you always told me, if you're not a doctor, an engineer or a lawyer, you're nobody. That's why I'm pursuing this. And she's like no, steven, I just want you to be happy, I just don't want you to be a starving actor or something. And behind my back was my application to the UCLA theater department, wow. So I didn't want to. I didn't have the heart to break it to her and so I decided to not pursue my passion of becoming an actor and I decided to just finish my program as quickly as possible.

Stephen Cheung: 16:27

And so all the science classes and all the engineering physics classes I took, the only degree that was applicable that I can finish as quickly as possible was psychobiology. So I went into neuroscience and basically finished the next two years and I think it was like two or three months before I was about to graduate. I had this crisis situation in my hand because I was in my internship and this crisis situation was literally in my hand because I had two dead rats in my hand. I was doing neuroscience, so I was doing opiate receptor research for a lab and in order for me to do that research, I have to inject the rats with opiate and then put fix in them, bleed them out, decapitate them, take out the brains, freeze them, cut them up and study them. I love animals, so I just I'm like I can't imagine doing this for the rest of my life. What do I do? I'm about to graduate, so I finished college with a psychobio degree, not knowing what on earth I'm going to do.

Christopher Luna: 17:26

And did you pursue your master's right after, or did you waste some time?

Stephen Cheung: 17:29

No, no, no. I was so lost I didn't know what to do. So there was an escape path and I actually UCLA offered a program that allows you to go to London, go to England and get some sort of a temporary job that you can work there. So I actually ran out to London for a year to work there and I got a job as a headhunter. And this is where it becomes really interesting. Remember, I was born in Hong Kong, so I actually have a British national overseas passport Nice. So I can actually have a British national overseas passport Nice. So I can actually have a pathway to actually stay there more permanently if I want to. And that's why I decided to basically just move to London and be there for good.

Stephen Cheung: 18:15

But one of the most important things is because at that point I thought I hated LA. I thought LA is so fake LA. I don't like it anymore. There's nothing here for me. I want to go to London, I want to get cultured.

Stephen Cheung: 18:29

Instead, I got seasonal affective disorder. I didn't know what that was, but for those of you who grew up in Los Angeles, you know we get about 300 days of sunshine. I moved to London. I didn't see the sun from September to April and when you don't get the sunlight and the vitamin D, your body just changes and emotionally I was just a wreck. And one day I was just walking down the streets in my little London fog rain jacket and someone bumped into me and I had to walk into a phone booth not the cute red ones, but the silver one that smells of urine and I just sat down on the floor because someone bumped into me and I cried for 20 minutes and I said something is not right here. So I picked up and moved right back to LA and never complained about LA again. And that's why this job is so great for me, because I get to be LA's cheerleader.

Christopher Luna: 19:28

It's incredible, stephen, I think, that you I mean throughout this whole time you didn't have anyone next to you just kind of guiding you through all of this, right? You're literally on your own this whole time, right, even when you talk to your mom. I'm sure she's a great support, but not having her so close or near must have been hard just to kind of be put in those positions.

Stephen Cheung: 19:52

Yeah, I think this is a story of many Angelenos around and going back to UCLA a little bit as a first-time college student and once I moved there my family was gone my sister and my mother there in Hong Kong. My brother was around, but not really around that much, so no one told me that the dorms will be closed during the holidays. Where do I go? I don't have a home. That's a big problem now still that's exactly it.

Stephen Cheung: 20:22

So, thank goodness, I made friends with the janitorial staff, so I don't want to get them in trouble. But uh, they just left the side door open at the dorms and I would just basically stay there for thanksgiving and the winter break and they don't say anything. I just stayed in my room, I just stayed out of the way. So, be nice to the janitorial staff and, uh, they be friends with them.

Christopher Luna: 20:42

I was talking talking to a nonprofit, depaul. They assist these college students at USC, ucla, who can't go back home during the holidays because it's still a big problem, right, it's not cheap to be in Los Angeles, so a lot of these students don't even have the money to fly back home.

Stephen Cheung: 20:59

Yeah, that's exactly it and unfortunately for some, they might actually live in their cars during some of those breaks because there's no option for them If they have a car, if they have a car right. So yeah, it's challenging for a lot.

Christopher Luna: 21:15

I'm sure you've been back, but do you go to Hong Kong often?

Stephen Cheung: 21:18

Not often actually. I didn't start traveling again until I started pretty much working. I didn't start traveling again until I started pretty much working, and so when I was working for the city of Los Angeles in the port, I got to do that.

Christopher Luna: 21:31

How did you get there? We skipped that part.

Stephen Cheung: 21:33

Oh, it's quite a bit between, so I'll just kind of fast forward. So UCLA went to London, came back. Once I got back I had this epiphany that I don't want to do something that I'm not passionate about again. And so, by the way, when I was in London straight out of college, this headhunter job was difficult, but at the same time I fell into. I was quite lucky, I think, because it's based on commission and basically you have to place folks, and at that point I think I was supposed to be recruiting for financial officers and there was a position that came up in the Mars company over in London and they're looking for a chief financial officer.

Stephen Cheung: 22:23

So in my brilliant mind it's like hmm, let me recruit from Nestle, because you have to recruit from a chocolate company to a chocolate company, of course, a CFO. They can do anything right from my mind, but anyways, I called Nestle and it just so happens that they actually have a full team of folks that are ready to go. So I recruited them and was able to place them, and so I got commissioned. So I made quite a good living. So that was fine. But coming back to.

Christopher Luna: 22:50

I'm sorry to cut you off but it's incredible that you're out there trying to find a good role. But being a headhunter is a big deal, right? I mean, you have to have an eye, because it's not just placing them, they have to stick around too, so you have to be good with recruiting.

Stephen Cheung: 23:06

You have to develop a relationship, you have to basically earn their trust, and I think one of the things that helped me was because I came with this weird accent not quite American, not quite Chinese. There's this bit of something there and the Brits, when they're picking up the call, like who is this guy, why are you calling me? And so that's how I was able to use that to my advantage. Going back to what I was saying scrappiness. I was scrappy and it worked out, but once I got back, I decided let's try something new, let's try something that I wanted to do. So I actually actively was seeking to work with people, and the job that I got was working in a domestic violence shelter for women and children who are escaping the domestic violence situation. Because I really believe in social work and knowing, especially for a lot of the Asian community members, they don't have access, and if you're monolingual you're really limited. And if you're monolingual, you're really limited.

Stephen Cheung: 24:03

And having grown up the way that I did, I knew the power of helping folks that didn't have a voice, and so I worked for the Center for Pacific Asian Family for about two years, one of the most rewarding jobs I've ever had in my life, but also one of the most emotionally challenging jobs I've ever had. I was never emotionally strong enough to do that job, so two years later I was recruited by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center to basically be a community legal advocate, doing similar work, but the thing is I don't have to do direct services anymore, so it's more about connecting resources and advice and making sure that folks are getting connected and this is where going all the way back, because I was able to speak Cantonese and advice, making sure that folks are getting connected and this is where going all the way back, because I was able to speak Cantonese and Mandarin. I'm now able to help two communities, and so thank you for La Fuente Unified School District for getting me that tutor again that became-.

Christopher Luna: 24:55

I'm gonna blast this video out there, because I know a lot of people that still sit on the board over there.

Stephen Cheung: 25:00

Please, please, no that really, really little things that were there. Those opportunities just basically create an entire life-changing experience for folks right. So at the legal center for two years.

Christopher Luna: 25:13

And you can tell your mom you kind of became an attorney.

Stephen Cheung: 25:16

Kind of you know. That's why I have to choose right. So after two years, I realized that, in order for me to progress in the things I wanted to do, I need an advanced degree, and so I was actually choosing between a law degree or social work, and because I was in the APOC, there were a lot of attorneys already, and seeing some of the struggles that they have, I decided to go after social work, and that's when I went to UCLA to get my master's in social work.

Christopher Luna: 25:47

And did you do anything continuously after your master's in that industry?

Stephen Cheung: 25:51

No so what happened was at UCLA. The first year I interned for the Department of Children and Family Services and again direct services. That was tough, reaffirming my inability to control my emotions. I was just basically weeping almost every week because you're working with seeing some of the most devastating experiences when children are removed from their home. I just remember I was doing a group therapy session every Wednesday in Long Beach for children, my group of children that I was working with. They're 7 to 10, and all of them have been sexually assaulted by their own family members. How do you process that? And I just couldn't do it anymore.

Stephen Cheung: 26:36

So next year, my second year, I decided to pursue my internship with a pop on the macro side, the policy side. So there was a assembly member who was known for her work in foster care. So there was an assembly member who was known for her work in foster care and I was hooked. So I got my placement with her and she then, in her work, started progressing in her career path and eventually became the first African-American Speaker of the Assembly. Assembly member. Karen Bass was my supporter and mentor in many ways and after the internship was done she connected me with the city of Los Angeles, with Mayor Villaraigosa. That's how I got started with the city.

Christopher Luna: 27:21

And that's why you have such strong ties and relationships with her now.

Stephen Cheung: 27:25

Yeah, no, I was actually doing Select LA. She came to our 10th anniversary and gave an amazing speech, but I took that opportunity to give a back story about how, even when she was in the assembly, I was asking her what she cared about and she talked about international relations. And 15, 20 years later, here we are to see what she's able to do and how she's able to inspire someone like me to basically now take on international trade as well.

Christopher Luna: 27:55

And you started as an intern.

Stephen Cheung: 27:56

I started as an intern.

Christopher Luna: 27:58

Incredible. So, when you're entering from her, what are some of those leadership? You know skills and what did you see from her coming from your background? How did you learn from her personally and how do you apply that to your life now?

Stephen Cheung: 28:11

yeah, um a few things. One from the beginning you can see her vision. She has such a big vision. She knows um from her background and from her work in community coalition as a nurse practitioner. All the things that she did before um uh, not nurse practitioner, sorry as a physician's assistant, um, she knows the direct impact to individuals but at the same time she sees how larger policies and and um movements can change millions of people. So that vision is something that I always admired, and I can see also the way that she's able to place things together and play the long game.

Stephen Cheung: 29:01

It's not about short-term wins, it's about how do you basically build a coalition to change society as a whole. That back then I didn't truly understand until much, much later. So that's one of those skill sets. Second thing that I learned from her is collaboration. It's easy to say. It's different, it's very difficult to do and that takes time. That takes nurturing relationship, and she worked with people across the aisle, it doesn't matter what their background is. If you can find that commonality and you build that relationship and you build that coalition and again, in the long run you can actually make a lot of changes.

Christopher Luna: 29:39

And I can see that from you now personally in the past and I'm new to this world, I'm new to the scene three years in right Like literally working for the chamber I was in a bubble before then but I can see the power and the influence between all of these organizations and all of these community partners working together and you guys definitely, as leaders, learn how to lean into that quite a bit. I feel like in the past and I could be wrong, but in the past there was a lot of redundancy. There's a lot of, you know, just separation, just separation between all this, and it wasn't so much of a regional approach. And you guys, um, you know, because of the leaders that we have now, you guys are really well diverse and know how to work hand in hand with one another.

Stephen Cheung: 30:22

Well, I think we've also seen um the shortcoming and the challenges when you're not working together. Because when you're not working together, a lot of times you end up working against each other and you start duplicating the services and you start competing with each other, and in my mind, this is too big of a region and no one can do it on their own anyway. So why compete against each other when you can unite together and actually turn la into this massive region that we really are, that people don't know about, right?

Stephen Cheung: 30:50

um, when I say, people don't know about is that when you go internationally, a lot of times when they think of los angeles, they only think of los angeles city. They don't even know that we have 88 cities, over 100 incorporated regions, we have 140 nationalities, 224 languages we speak and all they think is one thing hollywood yeah, and when you're international and abroad, you could say Los Angeles and it could be.

Christopher Luna: 31:12

I mean, you can be living in Riverside or in Orange County and to these people overseas it's LA, right. So that's what brings you guys and puts you in these positions, where you take these regional approaches. It's all of Southern California, all of California, and we'll get to all of the work that you guys are doing. Now Tell me a little bit about your transition between Carabas and Antonio Virgos, Eric Garcetti and all that. Yeah, that's a transition.

Stephen Cheung: 31:42

Yeah, it's also a fun path. So after working with Karen, I was working first as Mayor Antonio Virgos' West Area Deputy. So I was West Area Director overseeing the Neighborhood Community Service Division in the West Side, Anything from Pacific Palisades down to Westchester, all the way to Robertson that's my jurisdiction. So community engagement, working with transportation issues, LAX issues, and so really got to learn how to work with the community, how to wallop your sleeves and basically build coalitions. I was concurrently.

Stephen Cheung: 32:30

I'm a nosy and a very curious individual so I'm always trying to do more and learn more. So besides working on the Neighbor Community Service Division, there were policy issues that I was very curious about. So back then the Neighbor Council, the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, was already having, I think, over 90 neighbor councils. So I also became the liaison from the mayor's office to the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment. So I was able to work with a lot of neighborhood councils and one of the things I tried to do back then and now I've replicated that process in many different ways was to bring together the Westside neighborhood councils and, working with a couple of the neighborhood council leaders, we were able to create the Westside Regional Councils. So it's called REC, so it's still going. So it's been fun to kind of build those synergies and then to see what they can do afterwards.

Stephen Cheung: 33:21

So that's how I got started with Viragosa. Five years with him. I had about eight different positions, so eventually I became a liaison to the Port of Los Angeles. Through that, working on energy, working on business, became Mayor Vigosa's Senior Director for Scheduling and Advance, which is also a very interesting job. Then did international trade, became Managing Director for International Trade and Clean Tech. So a bit of everything.

Christopher Luna: 33:51

Give me the time frame again for international trade and clean tech. Wow, so a bit of everything. Give me the time frame again for those who don't know those years.

Stephen Cheung: 33:57

Oh, that was 2007 to 2000 and maybe about 2012 when he turned out, so along the way, each position that you're in, you're growing.

Christopher Luna: 34:12

I'm assuming they're not lateral moves, so it takes a lot to kind of grow an organization as big as LA right working for the mayor.

Stephen Cheung: 34:19

Yeah, so there were some lateral moves, there were some, you know, kind of jumping around, but you know, all within the mayor's office. It's just basically, I think, once you get to city hall and I think, many government entities, it's just basically, I think, once you get to City Hall and I think, many government entities, if you have the passion, you have the desire and you have the patience and you have the relationship, people will give you a chance. And again, I was saying, one I'm scrappy and two I'm nosy. So I'm always trying to learn something new.

Stephen Cheung: 34:47

And you're passionate and you care, I try to care, I try to be passionate. Uh, it's been. It's been a great learning experience, because it's not everywhere that you get this opportunity as well. It really has to do with a lot, has to do with the leadership and mayor virgos. Uh, you know, I think sometimes you see folks, they give access because you have access to money or power. He knew that I didn't have access to any of that. He didn't care when he was asking, when he was interviewing me. He doesn't care about my background.

Christopher Luna: 35:22

He asked me about what I can do. It's your work ethic. I mean, it's like you said. You don't have that influence or the background or the funds, like you said, but I think how do you? What were some of those characteristics that he saw in you? I mean, obviously we see it now, but think of the emerging leaders. People like me are still growing. Like, what can we learn off of that? What were some of those characteristics that you had that said hey, you know, this is someone I can trust. This is someone I can help carry along the way and that can support is someone I can help carry along the way and I can support.

Stephen Cheung: 35:53

I don't know. I think I remember an interview with him when I was interviewing for the port liaison position and he sat down with me and he said, steven, it seems like you've been doing great work in the west side and the neighborhood side. You have great recommendations. However, I don't know whether you can do this job at the port. It's a completely different position. And I told him it's like well, I also didn't know anything about the West Side and I learned, so I will learn.

Stephen Cheung: 36:24

It's like well, if you don't, if you're successful, great. If you don't, let's just basically give it a three month trial period and if you can do your job, grow with it, right. But if you can't, let's move you back to the, the west side, and I'll be fine with that as well. So, given that, that flexibility flexibility for me to learn and to grow and to try different things that type of leadership, um, I don't think you see everywhere. And so I think he sees folks who are eager, who want to do good and who cares, and I think he gives people that chance and I think he also gives you the freedom and the flexibility and he will back you right, and so that allowed me to do a lot and allow me to grow.

Christopher Luna: 37:05

And I think, if you were to ever go back to him and say hey, you know, I'm way over my head, I don't understand this you to ever go back to him and say, hey, you know, I'm way over my head, I don't, I don't understand this, you know, I don't feel comfortable.

Stephen Cheung: 37:19

He's not gonna, you know, be upset or hold you to that right. He's gonna, yeah, align it and yeah, yeah, I, I absolutely think that's the case. Uh, for me, though, um, I don't know how to do that, so, even if I didn't know how to do it, I just basically start moving forward, uh, you know, moving to the, the various positions, right, um, going from enviro, the environmental uh side. I didn't know much about it. I got to work with david freeman, who was the deputy mayor back then overseeing, uh, um, the energy side, but he was also the port, uh commissioner and just a really, really smart individual, and learned a lot from all these deputy mayors I got to work with. So the City Hall experience has been fantastic for me, because I just kept on getting to learn from amazing, amazing and smart people.

Christopher Luna: 38:01

And it opens up so much. I mean, when you're at the ports now, you're thinking of all the logistics, you're thinking of the supply chain, you're thinking of all these you know manufacturing companies, these terminals. I mean I'm just learning it myself. I went to not so long ago. I visited Otis from Pacific Harbor Line and he's man, he's so inspirational as well and he gave me a whole rundown of how the ports work. I could spend a whole day there just learning from him and people like him. And I mean that's such a major port complex I mean you hear it on the news now with everything that's going on but just to understand that world and understand that it's a vein not only to our region but to the United States in general, I mean I'm sure you learned a lot there.

Stephen Cheung: 38:47

And I still learn all the time. I think to your point point you can spend not a day, you can spend a year and you still don't know a portion and a fraction of basically what's happening there. Uh, and that's why for for folks like gene soroka and mario cadero um, just to run these operations, these major major operation that influences, again, not just la but the world, as you're talking about the rail part, right, most people in los angeles they don't know that we have the alameda corridor. They don't know the joint power authority that that got created and what that meant for for goods movement for this entire region. They don't know that because of the work that's there now, over 902 000 jobs are directly supported in the five county region by these two major ports and the entire trade and logistics sector. They don't know how rail trucks, warehouse, distribution center longshoremen, like all these folks all tied in together that makes this entire very, very complex ecosystem.

Christopher Luna: 39:45

I nerd out about things like that and most people don't know. I learned that from COVID. So I grew up in a family business and my parents used to import quite a bit internationally and when I took over the family business I used to import from Germany, turkey, china, mostly from Turkey. And when COVID happened, then you understand it all right. It's like where's my product, how is it stuck and how do I get it? So it's incredible to see that work. So tell me about your position there at the port. Where did you go from there?

Stephen Cheung: 40:19

So, after close to four, four and a half years or so with the mayor's office, I was, you know, one of the positions earlier on was liaison to the Port of LA. So I was working very closely with the port's leadership team as well as the commission, and I continued that relationship as I had the other positions. And then, when I became the managing director for international trade, mayor Rigosa wanted to do a trade mission to Asia. So I again, not knowing anything about it, put together a trade mission to China, korea and Japan. Very successful. We got to meet with then Vice President Xi Jinping. He was starting to ascend to being contention for the future president and so when it was decided that he was going to likely become the next president, he did a tour of the United States. He went to Washington DC, he went to a place just outside of Des Moines, iowa, because that's where he did a stint as an exchange official, and then he was going to go to and I don't know whether people know this, maybe I shouldn't be saying this, but he was supposed to go to San Francisco.

Stephen Cheung: 41:33

And then we, through the mayor's leadership, convinced the Chinese government that the future president should visit one of the largest populations of Chinese individuals here in the United States. In Los Angeles, they should be visiting a location that has control over the port complex and the airport complex. That really facilitates international trade. So when he came over here, we actually arranged for a visit to the Port of LA where the China shipping terminal was investing, I think, over 240 million dollars on the new terminal construction that allows for short side, plugside, plug-in. That will basically reduce carbon emission while moving goods right. So great sustainability efforts from the Chinese government as well as from the US, so that became a highlight.

Stephen Cheung: 42:23

And at the terminal itself, when we're just about to basically have the vice president come to visit us, I spoke to the leadership of the port at that point and they came up to me and said they would like to recruit me to work for the port. And so then we arranged a deal and they recruited me to become the director for international trade for the Port of Los Angeles at that point. And I gave notice and the mayor wished me luck and was very gracious about the the exit and I moved to the the port. Uh was just learning the ropes and a month later I got a call. Uh, back then it was my blackberry as a block call and I picked up the phone and there was mayor Virgoza basically saying hey, how are you doing over there? I'm'm like doing fine.

Narrator 2: 43:08

You like it.

Stephen Cheung: 43:10

I hope you like it there, but we need you back here too. So because support belongs to the city of Los Angeles as a family. So I basically concurrently did my international trade role as well as supportive Los Angeles role until he turned out.

Christopher Luna: 43:26

Wow, yeah, yeah, that's incredible. So when you're at the port, I mean, we went through a lot right there. But when you're at the port, how did you transition and be become in charge of World Trade Center Los Angeles?

Stephen Cheung: 43:41

Oh well, that didn't. It didn't happen like that. So after Mayor Virgos had turned out, I was going to go back to the port. So after Mayor Virgosa turned out, I was going to go back to the port. But Mayor Garcetti came into office and asked me to join his administration to help him set up his international office. So I actually went back to the mayor's office again and was running international trade but also oversaw the port and the airport. So that's when another portfolio that I got to learn about what's happening with uh, laua, uh, very interesting as well, and because I was concurrently still working at the port. Um, that's why I think it's like I was. I was there for a while and I think I was only with the, the garcetti administration for maybe a two and two and a half years or so two and a half three years, uh and two and a half three years and then after that I left City Hall altogether and the city altogether, and then I joined the World Trade Center at that point.

Christopher Luna: 44:37

Okay, and at that time it was still under LADC, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's always been under LADC, yeah, it's always been under LADC.

Stephen Cheung: 44:43

So World Trade Center is a subsidiary, a nonprofit organization under the umbrella the LADC umbrella. So LA County Economic Development Corporation was created by LA County Board of Supervisors 44 years ago, in 1981. And so it acquired World Trade Center Los Angeles, I think back in about 2000 or so. So it's really one entity. You can consider the World Trade Center international trade arm with LADC. So back then Bill Allen was the CEO and he and I worked together. When I was at the mayor's office and I think we were doing a trade mission to Brazil and at that point he was starting to recruit me for this position, I said no many times and after two years he was able to convince me to join the World Trade Center because I had a civil service position at the Port of Los Angeles.

Christopher Luna: 45:30

I mean, and I'm sure you're eyeing the EED role there.

Stephen Cheung: 45:35

Oh, no, no, I was far from it, I was just, you know. No, no, I was just basically really still learning because I haven't been fully engaged at the port. Every single time I try to work at the port full time, I get pulled back to the mayor's office by both administration right. So I really wanted to basically dedicate some time to really learn the operation at the port. But when this opportunity came up to work for the World Trade Center and it was the president's role and I get to basically shape it the way that I want to and Bill gave me full authority and support to really envision a new World Trade Center, and that's when I start focusing on transforming World Trade Center to focus on foreign direct investment attraction. And that's been a fun ride and it's been 10 years.

Christopher Luna: 46:21

And that's where you come across all the great countries and you work with the counselor corps and you become friendly with them and understand what their priorities are. What are some of your milestones heading World Trade Center in Los Angeles?

Stephen Cheung: 46:33

Yeah, one of the first things we did is we created Select LA Investment Summit in partnership with our board chair, steve Olson, who was the first executive director for Select USA in DC. When he came back to LA he was working with Mayor Garcetti actually to launch select la here in la so that we can actually do the international attraction program here. And um actually at the very first select la was when they announced I was going to be switching to world trade center los angeles. So last week when we had our select investment summit, it's a 10th anniversary. It's also my 10th anniversary being with the organization, so that's definitely a great milestone, because when we first started it it was a small conference and now it's becoming one of the largest foreign direct investment summits of the state and it's actually the most successful spinoff event from SelectUSA. So that's definitely a huge milestone.

Stephen Cheung: 47:26

The other one is our foreign direct investment report. We talk about the impact, but the thing is without data and information, it's just basically anecdotal story. So we want to quantify it and that's what LIDC does really well. So, utilizing LIDC's capacity of research, we married that together with World Trade Center and we've been doing this report that quantifies the impact of foreign direct investment. So you know how many foreign-owned companies are actually located here, how many jobs are they creating, what sectors are they in, what are the top investment countries. Once you have that information, then you can start allocating your resources right. So those are the two things that I think we are most proud of yeah, I mean, I've gone to a few of your events and I've.

Christopher Luna: 48:11

What I love about your events is you always come out with so much information and I would love to have your notes and talking points when it comes to all of it, cause you have a really great team that that you work with and you build with that. How do you I mean, how do you build a great team around you working in so many different verticals, so many different areas right now heading Alley EDC?

Stephen Cheung: 48:32

Yeah, Well, one. We have this amazing talent pool here in Los Angeles with 180 higher education institutions all throughout this entire region. You just got some of the most brilliant minds that are trained here. And then, additionally, because LA is LA, so we attract all these folks that want to be here. Because they don't want to, I don't know they don't want to get seasonal affective disorder and they want the sunshine and they love the vibrancy of this entire region. So we get the best minds.

Stephen Cheung: 49:05

So, when we're recruiting, if you tell the right story and the right narrative, people want to be a part of this organization because they can see that you can actually make changes in the difference.

Stephen Cheung: 49:16

And so we, basically, when we're bringing the team together, we start identifying one specifically, what skill sets we're trying to cultivate, and also you start identifying the characteristics and the personality that you want to build. Uh, one of the things that I think is like crucial to to to me and to the organization, is that you don't want to sell snake oil, and this is what we tell the team all the time develop the expertise and actually be good at your job, because sometimes people over advertise and they don't actually have the quality and the content to be able to back those claims. And that's why, to what you're saying, we pride ourselves in making sure that when we have our events, whether it's Select LA, whether it's Economic Forecast, it's based on information, fact and data that we can collect and that we are proud of releasing. And then, once you have the data, we have the goods. Then you also need the relationship, and so you can't build relationship if you're not a nice individual. So we always look for folks that are able to build collaboratives and partnerships.

Christopher Luna: 50:32

I mean, when you're building this team, though, like if you're giving a leadership course, what are some of those characteristics that these individuals can take away from? Because, like I said, you've done so much in your career and it's hard for me to capture those characteristics that you have without people knowing you right. So, for those who don't know you personally, like, what are some of those key factors that we can tell people like this is what you need to do or hone in on that can make you that better person? Because if they have the degree, they have the, the, the analytics and the smarts to it all, like, how do we build that character?

Stephen Cheung: 51:12

when I screen for our staff members, excuse me. When I start interviewing for folks, I actually look at their background. When I look at their background, I actually would ask for things that are not on the resume. One of the things that I always value is when someone tells me they've been a waiter or a busboy before. I said would ask for things that are not on the resume. One of the things that I always value is when someone tells me they've been a waiter or a busboy before.

Christopher Luna: 51:35

I said it. She was here. I said it on one of my interviews. I always used to hire people that were in the service industry.

Stephen Cheung: 51:41

Because I think folks that are able to be in fast pace and sometimes work with individuals and groups, that might be difficult and still have to have that composure. That's not an easy skill set, and if you're able to be successful there, that's that quality that you're looking for, that adaptability, that scrappiness. And then if you're able to identify the intelligence, the ability and when I say intelligence there are different types of intelligence I'm looking for not only the book smarts, I'm also looking for the street smart, to your point where you're saying there are a lot of folks with great minds the engineers and the economists but if they're not able to connect with folks, then that becomes a problem because your information is not able to get out to the public, and so you have to look at really what the role and what is the mission. What are you trying to do? Once you're able to understand that your job is to not only just send out the data, it's to make sure that people understand the data, then you hire differently. So that characteristic is a mixture of different characteristics, so it's hard to define and quantify. But I'll say one thing though because you can't find everything in one single individual. That's why it's a team.

Stephen Cheung: 53:01

I think a lot of people get surprised. But I tell folks all the time now because I was ashamed of it before, but I realized that there's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm an introvert by nature and throughout high school and I would be the guy in the back of the room, very quiet, very shy. In many ways there's this stereotypical kind of quiet Asian kid that was me. When I have to basically stand up and read, I stutter and I would get so nervous because I'm very self-conscious of my accent and when I read I don't read well. So once I mess up one word, then it basically sends me into this spiral, so I don't want to be out in public. It basically sends me into this spiral so I don't want to be out in public. And now what I do is be public every single day.

Stephen Cheung: 53:48

This is a performance and this performance was actually created because I work for Mayor of Yergoza. What I learned is when you go on stage and you present the certificates in the West Side, you can't say hi, my name is steven chung, I'm here to, especially when you have a mayor that's so dynamic. And I start learning that performance, that showmanship, because that's when you get people's attention, and once you get people's attention, you can now convince them. You can now, um, uh, basically get your message across. So it's about the outcome, right? If you really want?

Stephen Cheung: 54:24

Going back to what I was saying before, ladc is about making sure that people absorb the information, the data about the economy, and then you can make policies and you can make decisions. So, if your outcome is basically convincing folks to get to, you have to do certain things that are different, maybe things that you're not comfortable with, and so to find those individuals who have the skill sets but who are willing to push themselves out of their comfort zone and be a performer you're in hollywood, you have to be a performer yeah, did you have any formal training to your presentation skills or your your?

Stephen Cheung: 54:56

um, the training is that I, I train myself in the car quite a lot. So if you see me driving, I'm always talking to myself because I I know that, um, you really have to think fast and then, especially when you're doing media interview, especially when you're doing a presentation, when someone's asking you a question and you don't your brain doesn't always function that way. So you need to practice and be well rehearsed that if you get asked a question that you're not quite comfortable with or you don't know what the answer is, you have your stock happen you'd have to answer. So you probably have heard me say this even in this interview um, I like my stats and that's my comfort level, so that's why, when something happens, you see me basically needing my time. Let's talk about the 88 cities 128.

Christopher Luna: 55:45

Well, I know you carry your little notebook a lot. I've observed that quite a bit. You've been on multiple interviews recently on the news talking about the ports and international relations and trade. You do quite a bit publicly. So to hear someone like you that was kind of quiet and and didn't have any formal training but you observe that through your mentors and everyone I mean it says a lot. I think it inspires a lot of us to to get out of that comfort zone and I'm definitely, you know, doing something new too, where being on a platform like this and speaking in front of a camera it's, it's not natural to me I have no training myself and I'm still learning but definitely very inspirational. So thank you for all you do there.

Stephen Cheung: 56:30

I think we're all learning At least we should all be learning and for me, I think the thing that drives me to do that is I have a job to do, and if I'm not performing and I'm not able to convince folks, if I'm not performing, I'm not able to convince folks I'm not doing my job well. So, whether I like it or not, that's for me to basically deal with.

Christopher Luna: 56:51

After the camera's off and after I go home, well, the thing is that you there's a sense of responsibility. I mean, you represent such an influential and powerful region. Um, when you speak, you speak on behalf of a lot of us, so I'm sure it's a weight on you too, where you're maybe driving home and you're thinking about did I say that right? Or I hope I didn't misspeak. Or, when it comes to numbers and analytics, everyone looks for you for those details. So I'm sure it's not easy to memorize all of that.

Stephen Cheung: 57:22

It's not and I really hate to listen to myself and actually watch myself on camera, but I have to do it so that I can learn. Recently I was in Coden Coden Nolan and I watched the video back and I was just cringing every other word I was saying, because I noticed my accent, I noticed my grammar is not perfect, right, and so every single time I'm very self-critical and I want to improve. But sometimes when you're asked difficult questions because you don't have all the stock answers, it basically kind of exposes your vulnerability. So it's you know, all you can do is basically try to learn and try to grow. But I'll just say it's not easy. It doesn't come naturally to me and I know it doesn't come naturally to a lot of folks, but people just see the camera. They don't see the other side.

Christopher Luna: 58:17

Oh yeah, and that's what I'm trying to capture. Here is the other side of Stephen Chung, so I'm coming up on my hour if I haven't passed it already. But what's next for you? I mean, I know you have quite a runway still and a lot to accomplish with LADC, but what do you see yourself doing after this? Or any thought to what's to come or what you?

Stephen Cheung: 58:39

would like to do. Yeah, I had a lot of plans when I was younger because I said this is what I'm gonna do and I realized that None of them actually have come to fruition. Life just takes you to a different direction. I know every single time I'm doing something, whether it's on stage, whether I Last week, select LA again right, mayor Bass was there, supervisor Mitchell was there, we had all these concert generals and I was doing a fireside chat with the lieutenant governor. Last week, select LA again right, mayor Bass was there, supervisor Mitchell was there, we had all these consul generals and I was doing a fireside chat with the lieutenant governor, and halfway through I was doing that fireside chat interview. I just had this moment. It's like what am I doing here? How did I get here? You're just with the lieutenant governor.

Christopher Luna: 59:17

You've been with the governor, just recently at your other event.

Stephen Cheung: 59:24

So, yeah, you do sit there and you, and for me it's uh, the time frame in my mind is still, I still feel, uh, like that kid that was on the floor at nelmonte in the sweatshop all the time, and so, for me, I'm always, I have this performance, I have to do, but at the same time, I'm always constantly like this imposter syndrome syndrome that people talk about. It's not so much as imposter syndrome, it's not so much Um, what are you? Who, who, who, who the hell do you think you are to actually be doing this? And um, that's why, going back to what you're saying, right, that weight is heavy, because I I feel that there are so many other folks that don't have this opportunity and, since I'm giving this opportunity, don't mess it up. Don't mess it up for yourself, don't mess up for other people, because this is an amazing opportunity.

Stephen Cheung: 1:00:16

So, in terms of what's next, um, I truly I don't know. Uh, but my goal, again, this is not the, the path I chose. I think I was just very fortunate to be given this path. I keep on kind of enjoying this ride in my mind. I would love to move to New Zealand and open a shelter for dogs, old dogs that basically need rescuing, and if I don't have to talk to another person for three months, I'll be very happy. I'll do some hikes. I'm a simple, simple person, I don't need a lot, and so that would be actually my escape plan.

Christopher Luna: 1:00:58

Well, hopefully that's a long, long, long time from now, because we definitely need Stephen Chung, we need you in this community and what I love about you is that you do have such a strong passion for our region and it shows. And when I took this role too, what I do now is, like I mentioned, I come from that family business and we have a lot vested in this community. My parents did a lot for Los Angeles and we continue to live off Los Angeles and whatever we can do to help right, big or small. So I think that when you don't have that alternative motive, it really shines through and I've seen that from day one when I saw you on some stage somewhere. So, like I said, thank you so much for everything you do for the community, thank you for being part of this show. It really means a lot.

Narrator 2: 1:01:53

And.

Christopher Luna: 1:01:53

I really hope that I get to sit down with you more, because I have a ton of questions that I did not ask, but before you go, I'm not sure if you saw, but they opened a new Javier's down in this building, so I wanted to give you this gift. Thank you, and definitely enjoy a nice dinner there. It's Javier's across the street from Crypto Arena here in downtown Los Angeles, so we're lucky to have them here. And again, just thank you. Is there any last words that you would like to to give to the audience?

Stephen Cheung: 1:02:22

uh, no, uh, well, thank you for for having me. I I think, uh for for me, and as I'm kind of, um, kind of building what's next for ladc, what we're trying to do, we actually came up with our new vision. Uh, that will be announced soon for ladc and we've been previewing for a while, and it goes back to a lot of things that we've been talking about. I realized that this actually interview has helped me understand where it came from, and our vision is a coalition of one, an economy for all. It's really about building that coalition so that we can all come together to build a strong economy that will support all Angelenos, and it's a good tagline.

Stephen Cheung: 1:03:03

But what was everything we talked about before is that it's not easy building that coalition. So we hope to work with you and everybody else to make sure that we come together as Angelenos, especially during this time where it's going to get more and more challenging. When resources are tight, we see competition and we see people infighting with each other. That's not going to help us and that's why, having seen all the conflict I've seen throughout my life, if there's something that I can do and we can do together to help bring together this entire region so that we can collectively work together to make people's lives better. That would be wonderful.

Christopher Luna: 1:03:39

Yeah, it's great and we didn't really tap into anything you do at LAEDC. And just search Stephen Chung on YouTube and you'll find a lot of things. Or follow him on LinkedIn, follow you really. Or follow LAEDC as well. They do a lot of great work. You do have a lot of great interviews where you talk about the regional and how we need to stay competitive and what we need to do to not lose the competitive advantage with other states and, like I said, it boils down and it is a domino effect. You see it, when things are not doing well, you'll see these businesses close and, like I said, you speak for a lot of us. So, thank you for all. You do Search his name for those who don't know who you are, but you're well known. So, but, thank you again for being here and I appreciate your time. Thank you for joining us. Look forward to the next one.

Narrator 1: 1:04:29

Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Los Angeles Leaders Podcast, hosted by Christopher Luna. We hope you found our conversation as inspiring as we did. Don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Thank you.