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<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBy Sebastian Garcia, from the Spring 2026 edition of Reflections magazine<\/p>\n
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary this July, Central Florida may seem an unlikely place to look for insight into the nation\u2019s history. After all, when Americans think about the founding era, they tend to picture Independence Hall in Philadelphia or battlefields like Gettysburg, not a region best known today for theme parks. Yet Orlando and Orange County encapsulate a defining feature of modern American identity: a social and cultural melting pot shaped by immigration, especially since the late 20th and early 21st centuries.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In 1990, about 51,000 foreign-born immigrants lived in Orange County, or 7 percent of the county\u2019s total population, according to census data and other studies. Thirty-four years later, in 2024, that number increased to about 360,000 foreign-born immigrants, or roughly a quarter of Orange County\u2019s total population. The city of Orlando experienced a similar pattern during this time.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Who are these immigrants, and what are their stories? Most importantly, how have they shaped the history of Central Florida through their influence on politics, culture, and the economy? Drawing on oral histories I collected for the Florida Historical Society\u2019s Library of Florida History, this article highlights individuals whose lives reflect the changing cultural and ethnic contours of Greater Orlando since the late 20th century. By focusing on these narrators, we gain a fuller understanding of people often ignored in the histories of our city and nation, yet who have contributed significantly to both. We\u2019ll begin with Jasbir Mehta of Orlando.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Indian musician Shivkumar Sharma, invited by Jasbir Mehta (right) to perform as one of the first artists featured in ACA cultural programs. Image courtesy of Jasbir Mehta.<\/p>\n
Jasbir Mehta <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I came to Orlando, there was nothing here,\u201d Jasbir Mehta recalled in May 2025. \u201cThere were not that many Indians.\u201d Mehta was born in 1955 in Sri Ganganagar, a city in the northernmost part of the state of Rajasthan, India, near the border with Pakistan. She emigrated to the United States in 1976 to pursue higher education at the University of Pittsburgh, as such opportunities remained limited in India for women at that time.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In 1989, Mehta moved to Orlando. That same year, she founded the Asian Cultural Association (ACA) to address the lack of programming in the area that highlighted and supported Indian culture. \u201cIf I have to raise my kids and for them to be exposed to the kind of stuff that I grew up with or that I wanted culturally, which I thought the kids should learn, then I have to start this on my own,\u201d she recalled. \u201cAnd so I invited 17 people to my house, fed them, gave them tea, and asked them to cough up 50 dollars apiece. And that was how I started the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mehta initially focused on Indian music, leveraging her connections with musicians and partnering with institutions such as the University of Central Florida (UCF), Rollins College, and Stetson University to expand her reach because, in her view, \u201cyou cannot build an audience without the education.\u201d In addition, she invited Indian musicians like Zakir Hussain to sold-out crowds at Orlando\u2019s Beacham Theater and Sanford\u2019s Helen Stairs Theatre.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mehta also created the first accredited course in Indian music in the state of Florida through Stetson University and later UCF. In 1991, only two years after she founded the ACA, the organization held its first South Asian Film Festival at the Enzian Theater in Maitland. \u201cAt that time, there was no forum for independent filmmakers to present their work, which could be sold to distributors. . . . So I wanted to use that as a format that if an independent filmmaker presents his work, then some distributor would want to take the movie on,\u201d she recalled. The event remains the oldest South Asian Film Festival in North America, according to Mehta.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She continued to expand ACA\u2019s programming to include visual and performing arts, while always maintaining the educational focus of these initiatives. \u201cAt one point in [the] Seminole County system, we were one of the largest providers of the outreach program,\u201d Mehta noted. \u201cWe used to reach twenty [and] thirty thousand kids. And now also we have a program [that] any school calls us to give a presentation, we are definitely there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No other organization has hosted more cultural programming aimed at preserving South Asian heritage through education and entertainment than the ACA. As a result, Jasbir has added to the multicultural contours of the City Beautiful, especially for an immigrant group that today ranks among the top ten largest immigrant populations in Orlando \u2013 a drastic shift from when Mehta first arrived in 1989.<\/p>\n
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Shally Wong (middle, seated) and Anne Tsoi (middle, top) with China Garden customers in 2003. Courtesy of Shally Wong.<\/p>\n
Sisters Anne Tsoi and Shally Wong<\/p>\n
Sisters Lai Fai \u201cAnne\u201d Tsoi and Shally Wong also carved out their own spaces in Orlando as immigrants from Hong Kong, preserving their cultural heritage while embracing new life in America.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Born in 1958, Tsoi was the eldest child in a single-mother household and assumed the role of financially supporting the family. She emigrated to Orlando in 1980 to earn more money for her family and found work at Jin Ho, one of the area\u2019s few Chinese restaurants at the time. She and her husband leveraged this scarcity and opened their own restaurant, China Chef, in 1985 at the corner of Goldenrod Road and University Boulevard. Her husband worked as a cook, and she managed the business.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The birth of her son a few years earlier made it difficult to run the business full time. Yet, she had no other choice \u2013 she needed to make a living both for her family here and her family back in Hong Kong. Every morning she went to the restaurant to plan the day\u2019s work, she recalled. \u201cI have to buy ingredients because [it was] not a big restaurant. It was about twelve tables, and it was 2000 square feet.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When people would ask Tsoi why she had to keep working when she had her son to raise, she would tell them, \u201cWhen something [is] facing you, you have to overcome the difficulty. You have to do it. So we worked very hard for the restaurant.\u201d The hard work paid off \u2013 she and her husband achieved the American dream of social and economic mobility by buying a house in Orlando and filing paperwork to bring their families, including her younger sister Shally Wong, to the United States.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI remember my sister send every month 400 [U.S. dollars] to us in Hong Kong, and that 400 meant a lot,\u201d reflected Wong. \u201cShe had been working, working, working, so we know we need to work. . . . If you work, you will make a living.\u201d Wong was born in 1969, and with Tsoi\u2019s sponsorship, she emigrated to the United States in 1991. She permanently settled in Orlando in 1999, around the same time that her sister and brother-in-law opened a new, larger Chinese restaurant called China Garden at the intersection of University and Semoran boulevards.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Both Wong\u2019s and Tsoi\u2019s time at China Garden broadly reflected the immigrant experience in Central Florida of finding innovative ways to contribute to local society through culture. Managing a large-scale restaurant with over a hundred seats required Tsoi to host cultural events to attract more customers. \u201cWe [thought], \u2018what is the way to attract more people?\u2019 We have to do a celebration. . . . If we have some kind of Chinese festival, we would put a little celebration. Like Chinese New Year, we [put] a special menu to attract people, let them book the table, and we even have a performance there in the restaurant,\u201d Tsoi explained.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This transformation of China Garden into an explicit cultural space also placed Wong, who helped her sister manage the restaurant, in conversations with patrons that revealed a lack of understanding of Asian people and heritage. She was able to observe \u201ckind of how little people [knew] about Asian American[s],\u201d she recalled. During her work at the restaurant, she found that many people \u201ctend to ask you a lot of questions that you kind of surprised that they did not know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As a result, in 2005, Wong and her husband created Asia Trend, a nonprofit online magazine that promotes Asian American culture by circulating information about Asian American happenings across the state. It remains the first statewide magazine in Florida focused on this community. \u201cThat was the time that the population was growing. People want to know more . . . especially with the internet,\u201d explained Wong.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The online magazine\u2019s success contributed to the rise of the Asian American population in Central Florida, according to Wong. One New York couple cited it as the reason for their move to Orlando, for example. \u201cThey called me and said they really think that Orlando is really vibrant, especially in the Asian community,\u201d she said. \u201cThey really want to move down here because of the magazine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Asia Trend has also supported local Asian businesses through advertisements placed throughout the publication. \u201cI have an example that people from California got to buy a business from one of our advertisers,\u201d said Wong.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Her role as a special assistant to Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, a position she began in 2019, has allowed her to further expand Asia Trend\u2019s cultural outreach. \u201cIt is like a dream job for me,\u201d Shally recounted; \u201cI got over 800 contacts in my email list, and many of them are community leaders who have members in their organization.\u201d Through her work in the mayor\u2019s office, her goal is to work closely with more than 30 organizations \u2013 work that\u2019s greatly needed, she said, because \u201cthere is a lack of Asian American representation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wong\u2019s sister Anne Tsoi joined Asia Trend after she retired in 2017 and currently serves as its president. She remains proud of what her family has\u00a0 accomplished. \u201cI can tell now [that] more people know Asian culture,\u201d she said. \u201cEven when I talked to some of the American[s], . . . they can say Zaoshang, which means \u2018good morning\u2019 in Chinese. I feel very happy.\u201d She also describes feeling a greater sense of belonging in Orlando.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Shally Wong (middle left) and Anne Tsoi (middle right) hold a proclamation celebrating the 20th anniversary of Asia Trend in 2025. Courtesy of Shally Wong.<\/p>\n
Janmabhumi and Karmabumi<\/p>\n
The life stories of Jasbir Mehta, Anne Tsoi, Shally Wong, and the others in the FHS Oral History Project give us a more holistic mosaic of the varied people who have shaped Central Florida since the late 20th century. Taken together, they embody America\u2019s melting pot. As Mehta eloquently put it, \u201cAmerica gave me the confidence that I could do what I wanted to do. . . . In our culture, we have janmabhumi and karmabumi. Janmabhumi is the earth, the place where you are born. And karmabumi is the one where destiny takes you, where you do all your workings in that. So we always say that India may be my janmabhumi, but America is my karmabumi. This is where I work.
This is where I live. This is where my destiny is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thus, during the time of national remembrance that will come with our nation\u2019s 250th anniversary, we must not view Orlando as a vacation destination or a departure from everyday reality, but as a place that reflects the multicultural and multiethnic lived experience that has shaped America\u2019s history and identity.<\/p>\n
Note: To learn more about Jasbir Mehta, Anne Tsoi, Shally Wong, and others, please visit the Florida Historical Society Oral History Project at MyFloridaHistory.org\/library\/oral-history. The project preserves the life stories of 50 individuals from across 25 countries who have called Central Florida home and have shaped the region\u2019s culture, economy, and politics since the mid-to-late 20th century.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Sebastian Garcia, from the Spring 2026 edition of Reflections magazine As the United States approaches its 250th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,141,140],"class_list":["post-268751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}