40 Under Forty 2022: Boa Newgate
Photo | Erika Sidor
Boa Newgate
Photo | Erika Sidor
40 Under Forty, Class of 2022 winners (from left): Leah Motsis, Nathan Lanier, Amanda White, and Boa Newgate at Tree House Brewery in Charlton (special thanks to Leeanne Lawrence)
- Title Executive director deputy
- Company Southeast Asian Coalition, in Worcester
- Residence Auburn
- Birthplace Vietnam
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Throughout his 14 years at SEACMA, Newgate has been a beacon for Central Mass. youth.
Newgate’s family fled Vietnam in the 1980s, and he spent much of his childhood in refugee camps in Cambodia and Thailand. After eventually moving to Lowell as a teenager, his family was forced to move again – to Worcester – when gang violence came too close to home. With this understanding of hardship and poverty, Newgate began volunteering at SEACMA and soon founded the Lion Dance program. The program, which trains young people in the Chinese-Vietnamese tradition of lion dancing, aims to keep kids away from gang activities and in school, all while improving mental and physical fitness. Newgate registered the Lion Dance team in competitions at colleges, inspiring more than 30 of the program participants to attend higher education at universities like Harvard, Yale, and Cornell.
His second initiative, Youth Effect International, focuses on instilling a sense of pride and identity among young Asian Americans. In this program, he takes youth back to their former homes, villages, and refugee camps to provide aid for the people there. Newgate’s leadership has directly helped keep more than 300 Southeast Asian youths away from gang violence.
What movie best encapsulates your personality? I don’t think any movies best encapsulates my personality, but my favorite movie is “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”.
What Central Mass. restaurant should everyone try? Bar One & Sushi Restaurant, in Auburn
What keys to business success do most people not know? Having mentors that inspire you. Most importantly, you have to build trust. It doesn’t matter what degree or what title you have, if you don’t build trust, you can’t be successful.
Outside of your career and family, what has been your marquee life experience? I am an adrenaline rush junkie. I love rock climbing, skydiving, and motorcycle racing.
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