Dr. Rika Houston, Associate Professor of Marketing and Consumer Culture at California State University, Los Angeles where she conducts interdisciplinary research on visual consumer culture and critical issues at the intersection of gender, culture, and technology. Shown here as a panelist in the Discover Nikkei program, "Revelations & Resilience: Exploring the Realities of Hapa-ness" held on Saturday, April 12, 2008 in the Democracy Forum at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, Los Angeles, California.

A community activist, Dr. Houston sits on the Board of Directors for Little Tokyo Service Center. A native of Tokyo, Japan, Dr. Houston celebrates her heritage of Japanese, African American, and Native American ancestry at home in Los Angeles with her Chinese American husband and three children.

Photo by Richard Murakami.