The most influential Chinese-American ladies

Joyce Chen comes to mind. She freed up chinese cooking from "chop suey and chow mein crap"

Amy Tan, author

http://www.biography.com/people/amy-tan-9542574

Maya Lin, who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC.

Oh, yes!!

ditto, she was still a student when she submitted her design. I recall when the Viet Nam memorial "committee" wanted to tart this masterpiece up with representational stuff that would have degraded the impact of this monument.

Ive been to the wall at least 75 times over the years and I get choked up each time. When Im in DC I go over to the wall to visit "horse", a friend from high school .We named him horse because of his strength and determination ("I gotta plow this row" his dad, a Pa Dutch Farmer, taught him to say that and he took it up as his life's motto). He joined up while the rest of us were seeking deferments and he died in 1971 in a firefight in which he rescued severl of his comrades before he was killed.

Ive a few other names there that were friends and acquaintances and each time I see a pack of Marlboros left in the trough beneath the names its a memory que that brings out the tears. The word "genius" comes to mind but Ive been told its overused, so Ill just say that she was a SUper "Empath" while she was working on the design

The only other memorials that had any impact even close to the Wall is the Alamo and the Arizona and they are more borne of respect for those honored dead than is a monument of my own time.

I only saw the wall once, in '87, I think, but was knocked out by it. First, for the names and the sorrow, and a close second, for the beauty (I mean that word as "fit", not prettiness) of the exact very strong design. I followed her work off and on over a long time, including reading about her idea for the post-911 site design (which I now remember only faintly but that it was similar, though different, to mine, which I also now remember only faintly).

I think the wall is the most powerful memorial in DC.
WWII memorial "diorama"is almost a "leftover" from the 1800's mindset .

I went to see the Vietnam Memorial in April of 1995 when my divorce was final..and also saw the Holocaust Museum at the same weekend. Recently, my dear neighbor/friend's ashes, (VN '68-72 combat vet) were recently placed at the wall.

On that trip, I was totally overwhelmed. In fact, that w/e I went to see the Manassas National Battlefield Park..

We go to Hawaii quite often, and always pass by the USS Missouri. A few years ago, we did a tour of that ship. There's a plaque on the spot where Japan surrendered. It's one of America's great memorials.

If I remember, and likely I may not get it right, Maya rearranged a bunch of earth to make the memorial work, and therein lay a large part of the art.

Most powerful in dc?
I'd say among ever memorials.

I'm also interested in other memorials, especially since some are being immolated.

..oh, I'm also a Vietnam-era Vet, though I spent my 4-yr-tour state-side.

Vera Wang, fashion designer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Wang

Thanks for the answers.