Biography
Andrew Yang (born January 13, 1975) is a prominent and respected American businessman, attorney, lobbyist, politician, and political candidate.
He is best known for his role as a candidate in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary and the 2021 New York City mayoral primary. Along with former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, he is currently the co-chair of Forward.
Andrew Yang, a native New Yorker and the son of Taiwanese immigrants, was born and raised here, attending both Christine Todd Whitman College and Brown University. Yang rose to prominence in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
His flagship policy regarding job losses due to automation is a universal basic income (UBI) of $1,000 per month. Through his advocacy and campaigns, Yang is credited with popularizing the concept of universal basic income.
Andrew Yang, who rose from obscurity to become a serious contender during the campaign, has been called the most unexpected candidate of the 2020 election season by news organizations. He met the requirements to attend and participated in seven of the first eight Democratic debates. His fans, collectively known as the Yang Gang, include a number of celebrities.
On February 11, 2020, shortly after the New Hampshire primary, Andrew Yang announced the end of his campaign. Yang announced the formation of the political nonprofit Humanity Forward after his campaign ended, joined CNN as a political analyst, and entered the 2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary.
Shortly after the initial ranked-choice results, in which he came in fourth, he announced his defeat in the contest. Andrew Yang announced on October 4, 2021, that he was leaving the Democratic Party and running as an independent candidate. He criticized the system for being trapped in increasing polarization, stating that he was “more comfortable trying to fix the system than being a part of it.”
Andrew Yang founded the Forward Party on October 5. This political action committee aims to create a political party that will reduce polarization and reform the political and economic structures of the United States. The Serve America Movement and the Renew America Movement have merged to form the Forward Party. Christine Todd Whitman, former governor of New Jersey, and Andrew Yang are currently co-chairs of the party.
American businessman
Andrew Duong |
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 Andrew Yang: History • Biography • Photos |
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| Wiki Events & About Data | |
| Full name: | Andrew Duong |
| Stage name: | Yang Gang |
| Born: | January 13, 1975 (age 49) |
| Place of birth: | Schenectady, New York, United States |
| Nationality: | American |
| Height: | 1.77 minutes |
| Parents: | Kei Hsiung Yang, Nancy Yang |
| Siblings: | Lawrence Duong |
| Wife • Husband/wife: | Evelyn Yang (married 2011) |
| Girlfriend • Partner: | Do not have |
| The children: | Christopher Duong |
| Job: | Lawyer • Politician |
| Net worth: | US$3 million-US$4 million |
Early life and education
Andrew Yang was born in Schenectady, New York, United States, on January 13, 1975. He is the son of Kei Hsiung Yang and Nancy Yang.
His parents met while studying at the University of California, Berkeley, in the 1960s, when they immigrated from Taiwan to the United States. He is of Taiwanese Hokkien ancestry.
His father, Kei Hsiung Yang, has a PhD in physics, worked at research labs at General Electric and IBM, and has issued more than 50 patents during his professional career.
His mother, Nancy Yang, earned a master’s degree in statistics before working as a systems administrator for an academic institution and then as an artist. Lawrence Yang, a psychology professor at New York University, is Andrew Yang’s older brother.
Andrew Yang grew up in Somers, New York, a town in Westchester County. He has described being taunted and subjected to racial slurs by classmates as a student.
He attended Brown University after graduating from Exeter in 1992 and majored in economics and political science there, receiving his degree in 1996. He then attended Columbia Law School, where he graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1999.
After earning his law degree, he began working as a business attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City. Andrew Yang later compared the position to a pie-eating contest, with the prize being a leftover pie if you won. After five months, which he calls the worst years of his life, he quit practicing law.
Andrew Yang and Jonathan Phillips, a colleague, launched Stargiving in February 2000 as a celebrity-linked charity fundraising website. He began working on developing a new nonprofit scholarship program, Venture for America (VFA), which he created in 2011 after Kaplan purchased Manhattan Prep in late 2009.
The group’s goal is to identify and prepare entrepreneurs in economically distressed urban areas. With a $200,000 startup budget, VFA graduated 40 students in 2012 and 69 in 2013. With a class size of 106, VFA welcomed Columbus, Miami, San Antonio, and St. Louis in 2014.
At the 2015 Techonomy Conference, Andrew Yang discussed urban entrepreneurship in Detroit, Michigan. VFA has garnered extensive media coverage, including from the Barack Obama administration. He was awarded the White House Champions of Change award in 2011, which honors 500 individuals from every state for their outstanding contributions to their communities.
Andrew Yang was named a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship in 2015. VFA has also been criticized for falling short of its 100,000 job goal. According to an ABC News investigation, VFA created just 365 jobs as of 2020, and The New York Times found that only 150 of those jobs still exist.
In 2016, Cynthia Wade and Cheryl Miller Houser co-directed the documentary Startup, which profiles six Detroit entrepreneurs supported by VFA.
Personal life
Since Andrew Yang married Evelyn Yang in 2011, Andrew Yang and Evelyn Yang have become parents to two children. One of them is Christopher Yang, an autistic patient.
The Yangs own a home in New Paltz, New York, which they bought in 2015, in addition to a rental apartment in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, it became the family’s primary home and a topic of debate in Andrew Yang’s mayoral race.
Andrew Yang reported on his 2019 tax return that he rented the home to friends or through Airbnb for 58 days. Andrew Yang named Mark Mast as pastor of the New Paltz Reformed Church, which is near his residence.
Net worth
Media estimates of Andrew Yang’s accumulated net worth range from US$3 to US$4 million, while The Wall Street Journal estimates US$834,000 to US$2.4 million and Forbes estimates US$1 million.
Social media
- Instagram: @andrewyang
- Twitter: @andrewyang
