Launch of Loida Lewis memoir ‘Why Should Guys Have All the Fun’ in SF, April 20

Prominent immigration attorney, author, businesswoman, philanthropist and community leader Loida Lewis will have book launch in San Francisco for her memoir of love, life, and foray into a billion-dollar international food corporation, TLC Beatrice.

The book launch and signing of Lewis’ Why Should Guys Have All The Fun will be at Sentro Filipino/the San Francisco Filipino Cultural Center at 814 Mission Street, San Francisco, on Thursday, April 20, 2023 at 6 p.m. (RSVP at e.sparxo.com/loidalewis).

Lewis is the first Asian lawyer to pass the New York State Bar (1974) without graduating from an American Law School. She wrote How to Get a Green Card in 1992, co-founded the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NAFFAA) in 1997.

She chairs the Reginald F. Lewis Foundation, which built The Lewis College (TLC) in Sorsogon, Philippine, donated $3 million tothe creation of the Reginal F. Lewis International Law Center at Harvard Law School, Reginald Lewis’ alma mater, $5 million toward the construction of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture, in Baltimore, $1.5 million to Virginia State University, and recently pledged $5 million toward the creation of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

After completing her law degree at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, and later as a newly minted US citizen, wife and mother, she published a short lived anti-martial law monthly, Ningas-Cogon.

As a co-founder of NAFFAA, she effectively lobbied the US Congress to pass the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill. Under her leadership, NaFFAA lobbied the Philippine government to pass the Overseas Voting and Dual Citizenship laws. She has supported the election of Filipino Americans to public office all over the US.

Odette Keeley, director of Maynard 200 will moderate the book talk and signing, which is underwritten by Filipino American organizations such as UP Alumni Association of San Francisco, SF Filipino American Chamber of Commerce, Sentro Filipino, Philippine American Press Club USA, Filipino Food Movement, NAFFAA, Friends of the Fiipino American Community-PAC, PinayPowerhouse, Pistahan, and spearheaded by community leaders Sonia Delen and Rodel Rodis.