I founded LORD Advisory to help mission-driven organizations reach audiences they haven't reached before. Widening the aperture of who pays attention. Building coalitions across lines that most people treat as walls.

I am old enough to remember when people could sit across a table from someone they disagreed with, have a real argument, and still walk out to dinner together afterward. That's not nostalgia. That's the only way anything actually changes. My hope for these photographs is that they start exactly those kinds of conversations. Not with people who already agree. With people who don't. Because those are the conversations that matter.

That belief didn't come from my career. It came from my parents.

My father, Winston Lord, was a witness to history and a key architect of some of the most consequential moments in American diplomacy. He was in the room at the Paris Peace talks that ended the Vietnam War. He was on the secret trip to China with Kissinger that opened the country to the world under Nixon. He helped negotiate the SALT treaties that defined the nuclear relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. He knew in those moments that he was present for something the world would never forget. It wasn't until Eva encouraged me to share these photographs that I realized I could do my small part. Not to be a witness to history. But to make sure history wasn't forgotten.

My mother, Bette Bao Lord, bore witness differently. She reported from Tiananmen Square for CBS News while a government tried to erase what was happening in real time. She wrote Legacies: A Chinese Mosaic, giving voice to ordinary Chinese people who had survived extraordinary historical trauma but could not speak publicly. Her gift was putting you inside a room you had never entered. Reading her, you didn't learn about history. You were present for it.

I am not my mother. I cannot put you in a room with words the way she could. The closest I can do is put the room on your wall.

I was born and raised in Washington D.C., a proud Chinese American with deep roots in this city. I co-chair the revitalization of D.C.'s Chinatown, working to honor its Asian American heritage while building it into a dynamic hub of art, commerce, and community. A place where history lives and new energy thrives.

I led the effort that returned Major League Baseball to Washington after a 34 year absence, working alongside General Colin Powell and civic leaders across the city. I co-founded Venga, a hospitality tech firm acquired by Booking Holdings, and served as OpenTable's inaugural Chief Evangelist. I have served on the boards of DC Central Kitchen, The Washington Ballet, Urban Alliance, and E.L. Haynes Public Charter School, and currently serve on the board of the Novella Center for Entrepreneurship.

Stephanie and I have five children. Levi, Winston, Xavion, Tyson, and Alvin. Stephanie is VP of Strategic Partnerships at Vital Voices. Our kids and every child their age are the reason I picked up a camera at Gorée Island and the reason these photographs needed to exist beyond my phone.