Emcees and TV Personalities

Born in Calcutta, India, Homa Bash is a reporter at WEWS-TV Channel 5 in Cleveland, Ohio. Previously, she worked at KTVZ in Bend, Oregon; KTAB in Abilene, Texas; KTUL in Tulsa, Oklahoma; WEWS in Cleveland, Ohio; KXAS in Dallas. Homa has a B.A. in Journalism, Middle East Studies & Political Sciences from the University of Arkansas; M.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University.  Homa is happily married to her husband Daniel Ball and fans can read more about her and their Indian-American fusion wedding in the January issue of Cleveland Magazine.  She can be found on Facebook and Instagram @HomaBash.

Lynna Lai joined Channel 3 News in April 2012 and anchors the weekend editions of Channel 3 News at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.  She can also be seen reporting weeknights.  Lynna brings to the job her broadcasting experience in major markets across the country. Her aggressive career pursuits began as a reporter at WMBD-TV in Peoria, Ill., which was quickly followed by a year at KGW-TV in Portland, Ore. She then became the first Asian-American television reporter in Cleveland at WJW-TV, but left to pursue anchoring and reporting jobs at WTSP-TV in Tampa, Fla. and WSB-TV in Atlanta, Ga. She has also served as a freelance correspondent for ABC News and the BBC. Lynna returned to Cleveland television in 2001 as an anchor for WOIO-TV.  Lynna can be found on Facebook and Twitter @Lynna_Lai.

Chris Tanaka anchors the 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts on Cleveland 19 as well as the 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. on CLE43.  Chris joined the Cleveland 19 news team in July 2016, after a five-year stint as anchor and reporter in Honolulu, Hawaii. While Chris moved to Cleveland to further his career, the move was also an opportunity to discover his roots as Chris’ father was born and raised in Lakewood, OH. Chris is half Japanese and was born in Taipei, Taiwan.  He is happily married with two young boys. Chris can be found on Facebook and Twitter @Chris_Tanaka.

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Lead MC Wayne Wong is the recipient of the Asian American Engineer of the Year Award.  Wayne is the Chief of the Thermal Energy Conversion Branch, Power Division, at the NASA Glenn Research Center where he is helping to develop future high-efficiency space power systems and was awarded the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal for his work.  Wayne was born in Hong Kong and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University.  Wayne is also an artist, actor, and scriptwriter, having pursued comic book illustration in the past and more recently wrote or acted in several films.  He is the OCA Asian Pacific American Advocates, Greater Cleveland Chapter V.P. of Administration, and leads the OCA Dragon Dance Team.  He enthusiastically volunteers his time and energy to further the goals of the Cleveland Asian Festival as Executive Committee member, Performance Chair, and Lead MC.