Sylvia shares she is Korean and grew up in Burnaby, B.C. She experienced racism living in a predominantly Caucasian community. She shares how people made fun of her food such as kim chi and her name Sae Joung. Her social justice work is derived from feeling voiceless and invisible. She notes in grade 11, her mother told her about comfort women whereby the Japanese military had women in sex slavery. She voices how she had to return to Asia to find herself. She states that education is key in racial healing so pain can turn into power.
Sylvia Yu Friedman is an award-winning filmmaker, Penguin author, serial entrepreneur, and philanthropy consultant. She is the author of three books, A Long Road to Justice: Stories from the Frontlines in Asia (Penguin); Silenced No More: Voices of Comfort Women, the only journalistic account of historical Japanese military sex slavery during WWII, and Heart and Soul: The Life Story of Pastor Augustus Chao. A former TV anchor and advisor to philanthropists, Sylvia was among the Top 100 Human Trafficking & Slavery Influence Leaders List in 2017 by Assent Compliance. She won the prestigious 2013 International Human Rights Press Award for her 3-part documentary series on human trafficking in China, Hong Kong, and Thailand. Since 2005, Sylvia has managed and directed millions of dollars to major humanitarian portfolios impacting at least more than one million people. She is producing a feature film inspired by her book, A Long Road to Justice.
