LEADING LADY. MaiVue Xiong, an Eau Claire nonprofit leader and law counselor, is just the fifth local to be included in Madison365's statewide annual listing of influential Asian American leaders – and the only Eau Clairian in the 2026 roundup.

Since 2015, Madison 365, a journalistic nonprofit, has collated and published its popular “Most Influential” roundups. These annual lists act as spotlights to recognize and celebrate some of Wisconsin’s key leaders across any number of career paths and backgrounds.

Over the years, those “Most Influential” lists have expanded to include more groups of people – it started, in 2015, with its “Most Influential Black Leaders” list – including Indigenous, Latino and Asian American individuals.

Now in its seventh year, the 2026 “Most Influential Asian Americans” list was released by Madison365 in four parts, beginning on June 29. A total 22 people were named and among them, a familiar face: MaiVue Xiong.

Eau Claire’s own, MaiVue is the only person in the Chippewa Valley to be named to Madison365’s list since 2023 (when Caitlin Lee was the single Eau Clairian spotlighted).

In Madison365’s writeup on MaiVue, they pointed to her current role as the executive director of the grant making nonprofit, Pablo Foundation. She’s held that role since 2020, overseeing the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually awarded to local and regional organizations.

”

MAIVUE IS JUST THE FIFTH EAU CLAIRIAN TO BE SPOTLIGHTED IN THE STATEWIDE "MOST INFLUENTIAL" ROUNDUP –

over the past seven iterations, Eau Claire's Caitlin Lee, Dr. Kaying Xiong Vue, Dang Yang and Mai Xiong have been named – an earned accolade, including and far beyond those roles named by Madison365.

Growing up in Eau Claire – and as part of the “1.5 generation” of Hmong folks, who first arrived in the U.S. following The Secret War and Vietnam War as political refugees – MaiVue’s family were small business owners.

When she graduated from high school and went to UW-Madison for college – where she would graduate with a law degree – she hadn’t imagined returning to the place she grew up. Her youth, here, was not a chapter she was overly eager to re-open.

But her parents were here; her family is perhaps the single most important part of her life, as she shared with Volume One during the creation of the documentary and editorial project, “A Half Century Home: 50 Years of Hmong Resettlement in Eau Claire.”

When she returned to Eau Claire in 2010, she practiced law at Bakke Norman – becoming the first Hmong woman attorney in the city. She continues to serve in a counsel role at the local firm.

Arguably, MaiVue's life has been one of sleeves-rolled-up, community-focused efforts. Growing up in Eau Claire, that included working at the former Ameriental Foods shop, her family's small business; as a young adult, graduating from UW-Madison with a law degree; then becoming Eau Claire's first female Hmong lawyer; heading Pablo Foundation through the COVID-19 pandemic, a role she continues in today. (Leader-Telegram clipping pictured)

Madison365 also notes her community involvement through Downtown Eau Claire, Inc.’s Jumpstart Downtown business competition and as a faculty judge and presenter for the University of Wisconsin Law School.

MaiVue is just the fifth Eau Clairian to be spotlighted in the statewide “Most Influential” roundup – over the past seven iterations, Eau Claire's Caitlin Lee, Dr. Kaying Xiong Vue, Dang Yang and Mai Xiong have been named – an earned accolade, including and far beyond those roles named by Madison365.

View Madison365's complete 2026 "Most Influential Asian Americans" list online, alongside the rest of its annual "Most Influential" roundups.