Lao Roots magazine was launched during the recent Lao New Year festival in San Diego, CA.

Lao Roots, a brand new English magazine about Laotian-American communities, just hit the market in April 2007. Editor-in-chief Paul Oudom, an attorney, talked to VOA about what inspired him to launch Lao Roots:

“One day I was at a market with a friend, and I saw many other communities’ magazines, but none from the Lao community. And we asked ourselves why don’t we create one? So Lao Roots magazine was born.”

Lao Roots was established by a group of 5-6 young Laotian-Americans in San Diego, California, who help run the magazine. Their main goal is to be a resource base and an exchange forum for young Laotian-Americans who grew up in this country. This magazine will focus mainly on members of the younger generation, aged from 15 to 40 years old, who speak and read English.

Paul said, “We want them to learn about their roots, about where their

Lao Roots founders and staffers

parents came from. We want young Laotian-Americans to be proud of themselves, learning our great heritage and beautiful traditions and proud to be of Laotian descents.”

The premier edition of Lao Roots features many successful Laotian-Americans. One of them is Chloe Dao, the winner of Project Runway. Several Lao-American university football players are also featured.

Listen to our audio files for more details.

For more information and subscription, please contact Lao Roots’ website at www.laoroots.com