Larissa Lam
Introduction (2-3 lines)
Larissa Lam is a Chinese American award-winning director and music artist from Diamond Bar, CA who loves to empower, inspire and educate others through arts and media.
Larissa Lam directed the award-winning feature documentary, Far East Deep South, about Chinese families in Mississippi during segregation. The film made its broadcast premiere on the World Channel (PBS) series, “America ReFramed” and received a 2022 Telly Award in the TV History program category. She is a native of Diamond Bar, CA, and a proud UCLA Bruin. She previously directed the acclaimed short documentary Finding Cleveland, and was part of the Smithsonian's History Film Forum Emerging Filmmakers Lab. In 2021, she received the Mary Pickford Award in recognition of excellence in filmmaking.
Before entering the film world, Lam carved out a distinguished career in music releasing four critically acclaimed solo albums. Her song, “I Feel Alive” won the Hollywood Music in Media Award for “Best Dance Song and as a composer, she has written music for film and TV projects such as The Oprah Winfrey Show. Lam is a frequent speaker on issues of diversity and the Asian American experience at Fortune 500 companies and major universities. She has also been featured on CBS News, USA Today, NPR and many other major media outlets.
Beyond film, Lam has written, directed and/or produced TV shows such as “Top 3” for JUCE TV, music videos, commercials, PSAs and short form digital content like “A Day in the Life of an Engineer” for The White House/Intel “Stay With It” engineering campaign under the Obama administration. Lam began her career in entertainment as the CFO of NSOUL Records and has written music for film (Gone, Zulu), TV (The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Oz) and video games (Konami, Square Enix).
Larissa is passionate about empowering, inspiring and educating others through arts and media. She has been a speaker at TEDx and numerous universities such as Yale, UCLA and MIT. For nine years, Lam hosted a talk show on JUCE TV interviewing prominent authors, humanitarians and celebrities. She was also the host of an advice radio show for young adults, UTalk Radio. Currently, she produces the podcast, “Love, Discovery and Dim Sum“, which she co-hosts with her husband, Baldwin Chiu.
