For our first series, we will be focusing on Asians in The Political Field as the general election on November 3rd, 2020, nears in the United States. For this series we will be interviewing different Asians in The Political Field to empower the Asian community to get more involved with politics as well as vote in not just this year's general election but all elections in the future as well.
Sam Cho was elected to the Port Commission in 2019. Cho is the son of immigrants from South Korea, who came to the United States through the Port of Seattle. He is currently the only person of color serving on the Commission. Commissioner Cho was the Founder and CEO of Seven Seas Export, an international trading company that was headquartered in Seattle and exported to Asia. He identified an opportunity to sell eggs to Asian countries that were experiencing an egg shortage at the height of Asia’s avian influenza epidemic in the winter of 2016. He exported more than 2.5 million pounds of eggs to countries like South Korea. Prior to his entrepreneurial endeavor, Commissioner Cho was a political appointee under President Barack Obama serving at the US General Services Administration. He helped manage a federal agency of more than 10,000 federal employees and worked on executing the administration’s agency-wide policies in real asset management, federal procurements, acquisitions, and technology. Commissioner Cho also served as a Legislative Assistant to a Washington State Senator and a member of the United States Congress for whom he managed a portfolio of Foreign Affairs, Trade, Small Business, and Financial Services. He also served as an analyst at the US Department of State. His priorities as a commissioner include promoting trade, working towards environmental sustainability, ensuring diversity and inclusion in the workforce and contracting, and stopping human trafficking.
We hope that you'll enjoy listening to this episode with the esteemed Sam Cho as he talks about his humbling experiences during his first job, working with people who have different views, and his Korean identity.