Interview with Esther Hwang
By Dennis A. Amith, AsianConnections.com

Excellence is one word to describe Esther Hwang. She has an impressive resume which includes Miss Asian America, Miss Greater San Francisco USA and Miss Korean San Francisco just to name a few. She also reached the finals of the 1998 Miss California Pageant.

     She is a successful model doing shows for Gucci, Bebe and Georgiou. She has done runway, bikini and lingerie modeling.

     Esther has starred in roles on television and commercial productions. These include music videos for Jane's Addiction and Porno for Pyros.

     Unfortunately, some women involved in the business have been labeled as "airheads". Esther is far from that stereotype.

     She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley on an alumni scholarship with a double major in Asian-American studies and English .literature. She balanced her studies while at the same time was involved in the community. She played an active role in the UC Berkeley Associated Student Body and cheerleading.

     In 1998, Esther was hired as the personal scheduling secretary for San Francisco mayor, Willie Brown. Many people in the city wanted to know who the beautiful woman with the mayor was. That year, a popular SF newspaper exposed Esther to the general public.

     The article was about the mayor's personal secretary who had sexy photos of herself on her personal web site, Esther.com. The exposure has helped Esther become a successful business woman.

     Since that article, Esther.com has received over 1.9 million hits and memberships to her site continue to increase.

     In January, Esther made a move from secretary to a much more lucrative job at the Department of Public Works.

     To add to her list of recent accomplishments, Esther has a limited edition calendar out and a part in the upcoming movie "Secret Agent Man".

     AC recently had the opportunity to interview Esther.

     Our goal was to ask Esther a few questions that she usually doesn't get from people interviewing her:

Dennis: Now that your name is becoming well known among the Asian community, tell us the truth. Are you getting phone calls from your ex-boyfriends?

Esther: Every single dork that I can imagine having a relationship or a date with comes back to tell me, "Don't you remember me?" But yes, people would call me out of the woodwork. The real meaningful guys, they don't call back because they're scared.

Dennis: Do you feel there is currently a glass ceiling in the modeling industry for Asian models?

Esther: Yes. How many Asians do you know are supermodels? I don't see any Asian models on the cover of Glamour, Vogue or any of the mainstream stuff. The only place where you see Asian models are in Playboy and that's not mainstream.

Dennis: Do you see things opening up for Asian models?

Esther: It's the same as before. The question is what does the majority of the public want? The public wants to see Caucasian girls. Here is an example that I see very often. A client coming in and saying I want 10 girls who are over 5'8" and I want 8 who are white, 1 Asian and 1 African-American. Out of the 50 Asian girls in an agency, they will pick only that one. That one will be the only person who can pay her rent each month if she's a full time model. I've been fortunate at certain points in my life that I was that one.

Dennis: What kind of modeling do you enjoy doing? Do you like the bikini, lingerie or chick type shoots?

Esther: I like the wedding gown shoots because they're not enough of them and you feel like Cinderella for a few hours. It's an unbelievable feeling.

Dennis: On Esther.com, I read that you want to make a statement for Asian women. Can you elaborate on this?

Esther: One of the main reasons I did Miss California USA is because I wanted to make a statement. I was the first Asian representative to become Miss San Francisco USA and I made a statement by placing among 100 girls in the top 10 and then the top 4. It was a really good experience but there is a huge glass ceiling.

Dennis: On the final day as personal secretary for Mayor Brown, what did you do to celebrate?

Esther: Oh my god! I took a vacation! I ran off to Hawaii. When I was a personal secretary my personal life went down the drain and I'm still trying to recuperate from it. I had no boyfriend.

Dennis: Would you describe yourself as a workaholic?

Esther: I think I'm ambitious and determined.

Dennis: When you have free time, what do you like to do?

Esther: When I have free time, I go all out. It's like when I want to eat, I eat good. I take one extreme to the other. If I work, I'll work hard. If I play, I'll play hard.

Dennis: When you did the summer bikini issue for AsianWeek, you had letters from people supporting you and people against you because they don't think role models and bikini or lingerie mix. Do those type of letters bother you?

Esther: In the beginning it did. I tell them not to emulate their life like mine. I'm not God. I'm human. No matter how hard you try, you're not going to please everyone.

Dennis: Would you ever pose nude or do any nude scenes in a movie?

Esther: It depends. How hard core your talking about?

Dennis: Basic nudity.

Esther: I'm not saying no and I'm not saying yes. It depends what it's going to be for and if it's worth it. You have to remember, once I take it all off, the mystery is all gone.

Dennis: I have never heard your response about those who write letters about how you aren't a good representative of Asians. What would you like to say to them?

Esther: I'm living my life passionately. I'm trying to make a difference. If that upsets people along the way, so be it.

Dennis: I'm curious. Did Mayor Brown look or treat you differently after he seen your lingerie and bikini photos?

Esther: He knew and he loves it.

Dennis: Hmmm...Is he a pervert?

Esther: No. He's a total gentleman. I always make the following point to people. If he is a pervert or a jerk, of the women he has been with, not one has ever slandered him. Not even one because he treats them like ladies. He's a very good man.

Dennis: Let's talk more about Esther.com. Can you quit your job and live off of your web site?

Esther: The membership pays for the web site alone and it takes care of my staff. I make sure that whatever Esther.com makes, I put it back into the business and that helps us fund our own projects like the calendar.

Dennis: Do you remember your first fan mail from Esther.com?

Esther: It felt so good. It came from a little boy.

Dennis: A little boy? Eh?

Esther: He said he was ditching school and smoking a lot of pot and he said that he read my story. He said he would go back to school and change his life because he figured if I did it he could too, and I am just a girl. Isn't that cute? That really touched me.

Dennis: You had a very positive childhood didn't you?

Esther: Yes.

Dennis: You mentioned you have a brother. I bet it was hard for him being Esther Hwang's brother. I'm sure he has a lot of friends telling him things about his sister.

Esther: Oh, I know! I feel for him so much. He's like the typical big brother type. He's really protective.

Dennis: Tell me something. What is the weirdest fan letter you got from Esther.com.

Esther: Oh, one guy wanted me to fly out to Australia. I was like yeah whatever and I e-mailed him back and said thank you but I'm all tied up. He wrote me back and said he would take care of me.

Dennis: Oh jeez. For all you know this guy could be a serial killer.

Esther: Exactly. And then guess what? Within that week I received plane tickets Fed-Ex'ed to me first class.

Dennis: What did you do?

Esther: Oh, I felt he may be obsessive and my manager took care of it.

Dennis: What future plans do you have for Esther.com?

Esther: The business aspect of Esther.com is definitely going to grow.

Dennis: Let's talk about your swimsuit calendar. How long have you worked on it and what all is involved in creating it?

Esther: I have been working on it for quite awhile. Although it's 12 images it takes forever. The layout, the makeup artists, the locations, the photographers, the bathing suits, the angles. This project took me about half a year.

Dennis: Do you have a boyfriend?

Esther: No. I have been single for awhile. In fact, I'm writing a whole story that I'll be selling on my website. I did that because I read "Chicken Soup for the Single's Soul". I was so sad about being single and after I read the whole book, it changed me.

Dennis: What you have done with your life is amazing. It's like almost impossible to know of anyone who has gotten straight A's in college, involved with the community and the student body, winning beauty pageants, modeling, in music videos, TV and movies. It's like?"No way! This can't be possible!"

Esther: Yes, I get that all the time.

Dennis: How did you make it possible?

Esther: I'm the kind of person if I have a 1 through 10 scale, I had to get a 12. I set high expectations for myself.

Dennis: Let's talk about this movie "Secret Agent Man" that you're in. Can you tell us more about it?

Esther: It stars Lucy Liu (Ally McBeal). I play the little sister of the main character. I'm supposed to be this sexy seductive girl that goes out and seduces these guys in order to kill them.

Dennis: If you had one word to describe yourself what would that word be?

Esther: I want to say determined but that's not fair to me. I want to say "beat" because there is so much more I think to me than meets the eye and that's how I feel.

Dennis: What words of advice do you have for Asians who want to pursue acting or modeling?

Esther: Stick to it and don't get discouraged by getting rejected. It's all part of the industry.

Dennis: What final words do you have for your fans.

Esther: Thank you. I wouldn't be here without you.

Thank you to AsianConnections correspondent Dennis A. Amith. This interview by Dennis originally appeared in Asian Pacific Review - Vol. 5, Issue No. 3

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