The last time Ernabel Demillo won an Emmy, she accepted it during the pandemic in sweatpants. This time, the Filipino American journalist stood onstage with colleague Susan Jhun, able to thank the team behind a program that has spent years telling Asian American stories.
“It’s an honor to be nominated, and even better to win,” Demillo wrote in a Facebook post announcing the recognition. Her previous acceptance outfit, she added, had been “cute sweats.”
Demillo said CUNY TV’s “Asian American Life” earned its first program-level Emmy win for “What’s Old Is New: Chinatown’s Next Generation” at the Oct. 10 New York Emmy Awards ceremony.
According to Demillo, the victory came with the show’s 13th nomination — a milestone she framed as recognition of the people and communities it has covered, not simply one production.
“While this award was for our special,” she wrote, “it is also a win for our 13 years of telling stories about our community.”
The special, which first aired June 10, 2025, examines a neighborhood navigating change. As gentrification reshapes Manhattan’s Chinatown, younger generations are staying connected to the community while transforming their families’ businesses.
Its subject is both economic and personal: how to move a business forward without losing the history that gives it meaning. CUNY TV’s nomination announcement listed the special in the Business/Consumer — Short or Long Form Content category. It also received a Bronze Telly Award for business and entrepreneurship coverage in 2026.
In her post, Demillo thanked Maria Yip Lord, Kyung B. Yoon, Jhun, Vivian Lee and Rayner Ramirez, along with the production’s photographers, editors and interns. She credited CUNY TV with providing a platform for their reporting.
Demillo’s career bridges television news and the classroom. Before her work at CUNY TV, she was a reporter and anchor on Fox’s “Good Day New York,” following reporting positions in California.
At Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City, she is a tenured journalism professor and chair of the Department of Communication and Media Culture. She founded the university’s journalism program in 2008 and created its public relations minor in 2022.
Her reporting has examined Asian American political participation, anti-Asian violence and representation in entertainment, business and literature. Those interests also shape “Asian American Life,” a monthly half-hour program covering communities, leaders and issues across the New York metropolitan area.
For Demillo, the celebration was a shared one. The opportunity to thank colleagues onstage turned an award for a Chinatown special into an acknowledgment of the sustained work behind the show.
Demillo received a President Biden Lifetime Achievement Award through TOFA in New York in 2023. The recognition was presented at the Triad Theater in Manhattan for her volunteer service and community contributions.
