With an illustrious career that spans decades, Janet Yang is not only a trailblazer but also a storyteller who has dedicated her life to amplifying voices that deserve to be heard.

Yang’s love of film began early. “I grew up watching a lot of films and loving movies,” she says. But the idea of working in the industry felt like too distant a dream. Born to Chinese immigrant parents on the east coast of the United States, Yang’s upbringing was steeped in traditional expectations. “Of course, [my parents] fervently wished that their three children would be doctors, lawyers or engineers,” she says, laughing. While her siblings dutifully followed those paths, Yang’s rebellious streak led her to carve out a different destiny.

“I think my parents knew from the start that I wasn’t going to fit into a mould,” she says. This sense of freedom allowed Yang to explore her interests, which eventually took her to China in the 1980s after college. It was there, in Beijing, that she experienced a profound revelation. “For the first time in my life, I saw films that were made by, for and about people who looked like me,” she recalls. “It was a stunning epiphany.”

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