Canta Pian was the Director of Economic Support for Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C. 
Anchen Lin, was a clinical social worker, married to the late Professor Jimmy H.C. Lin. The University of Maryland was a recipient of several endowments in memory of her late husband, a beloved professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and a prolific inventor.
Julia Chang Bloch was born in Shandong, China, but grew up in San Francisco from the age of nine. She attended the University of California at Berkeley, receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications and Public Policy. She then went on to Harvard University for her Master’s degree in Government and East Asian Regional Studies. She was conferred an honorary Doctorate of Human Letters from Northeastern University. Julia was the first Asian American woman to be appointed as an Ambassador (Nepal) for the United States. Her works and achievements are numerous and amazing. She is married to an extremely supportive husband, Mr. Stuart M. Bloch, an attorney of note in Washington, D.C.
Pauline Woo Tsui was born in Nanking, China. She attended school in Shanghai at the prestigious McTyeire School and graduated from Saint John’s University. With the Japanese invasion, Pauline and her mother were able to exit China as they were American citizens. Pauline would go on to attend Columbia University in New York, and she earned her Master’s degree in Music Education. She and her husband T.L. Tsui, a Taiwan Chinese diplomat, have two children. Pauline served as a translator for the U.S. Army Map Service for many years. She was our Executive Director and Acting Executive Director of OCAW until 2007.
A common thread that linked these ladies together was the fact that they all experienced what it was like to be a woman, and a minority, working in the United States. Having experienced the challenges and succeeding in spite of them, they wanted to reach other Chinese American women to help them achieve parity.
During the 1970s, there were growing opportunities for women to gain equality and fairness in the job market. OCAW was able to receive sizable federal grant money to help with teaching and sharing important steps to minority women.
In 1978, OCAW’s first national conference was held in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The keynote speaker was Congresswoman Patsy Takemoto Mink. She was the principal author of Title IX Educational Amendments in 1972. Representatives from the following OCAW chapters attended: Baltimore; Central Virginia; Chicago; Colorado; Dayton, Ohio; Delaware; Detroit; New England; New York; Pittsburgh; Southern Alameda County, California; St. Louis, Missouri; Washington, D.C.; and Wisconsin.
(At that time, OCAW had 26 charter members. Dr. Margaret Lee, who later became the first OCAW Hawaii Chapter President, was one of them.)
On November 2, 1981, OCAW was granted IRS 501(c)(3) status.