The Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE) has announced its Emerging Executives Committee for 2026.
The initiative, known as CEEC, will be supported by The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) and the Robert & Lien Chen Family Foundation.
CEEC aims to fast-track rising Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander assistant and coordinator-level employees to become the next generation of Hollywood executives.
Norman Chen, the CEO of TAAF, said, “Since 2021, TAAF has proudly championed AAPI creatives at every stage of their careers, and we’re thrilled to deepen our collaboration with CAPE to invest in the next generation of AAPI assistants and coordinators in Hollywood.” Chen added, “The CAPE Emerging Executives Committee ensures that future decisionmakers bringing our community’s rich, complex stories to life have the support and mentorship they need for the next step of their careers.”
Sam Campos (vp of drama development, CBS Studios), Duane Luu (director of drama development, NBCUniversal) and Mohan Mandali (head of development at JusticeRx) return to co-chair the 6-month-long program. All three were former members of the CAPE Leaders Fellowship, an accelerator for emerging senior creative executives.
Speaking on behalf of his co-chairs, Mandali said, “CEEC is about building the kind of community many of us wished we had earlier in our careers, one rooted in access, collaboration and mentorship. As we enter our third year, we’re incredibly proud of what this committee has built so far, including alumni of the program who have already been promoted into the executive ranks across the industry.”
This year’s Emerging Executives Committee is as follows:
Andrea Wang – Drama Development Assistant, CBS Network
Through her experiences at Newport Beach Film Festival, CBS Network and Fox Entertainment Network, Wang fell in love with the process of creative development and is passionate about championing diverse voices across film and television. A Southern California native, Wang has a Business Economics degree from UC Irvine and a master’s in Communication Management from USC.
Aurellia Himawan – Executive Assistant to SVP, Head of TV and Film, Blue Marble Pictures
Previously, Himawan worked in the Office of the President at Searchlight Pictures. She began her career in production before joining Verve, where she co-founded Color Wheel, an ERG built alongside her cohort to advance inclusion and community initiatives. Born in Jakarta and raised in Austin, Texas, her Chinese-Indonesian heritage and passion for travel informed her sensibility for stories that are formally inventive and culturally rooted. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Southern California with dual bachelor’s degrees in Narrative Studies and Film & Television Production.
Helen Hejran – Executive Assistant, Development, FX Networks
Hejran worked as a coordinator in development at Universal Content Productions. Helen is a Taiwanese-Iranian American, born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley. She graduated with a B.S. in Biology with minors in Theatre and Health Care-Social Issues from the University of California, San Diego before earning a Master of Entertainment Industry Management from Carnegie Mellon University.
Quinn Hanschen – Executive Assistant, Television, Lord Miller
Hanschen got her start through the Disney College Program slinging Dole Whip at the Tiki Juice Bar for a summer. She made her way into the industry proper as a management assistant before returning to Disney at ABC/Hulu Comedy to work across current programming and development. Born in China, she was adopted to the Bay Area and graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Film Studies. When she is not reading scripts, she enjoys taking too many photos of her cats, playing video games and going to trivia nights with her friends.
Sam Liu – Executive Assistant to Partner, Film & TV, Barnstorm
Liu was an executive assistant at 21 Laps, where she supported film & TV projects including “Backrooms” and “Stranger Things 5.” She got her start in the mailroom at UTA before working in the Motion Picture Literary Department. Born and raised in SoCal, she graduated from Princeton University with a degree in English, where her studies focused on Asian American Literature.
Raylene Factora – Assistant to SVP, Development, Fuzzy Door
Factora is currently an executive assistant to the senior vice president of Fuzzy Door, supporting the creative development team’s projects across the film and TV slate. Previously, Raylene supported the Chairman, Television Studios, NBC Entertainment and Peacock Scripted at NBCUniversal. She got her start in the industry interning at NBCUniversal as an undergraduate at UCLA and joined the West Coast NBCUniversal Page Program after graduating with a degree in Communications. The proud daughter of Filipino immigrants and SoCal born and raised, Factora is passionate about pushing for a future where all people feel inspired and represented by the media on screens across the globe.
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