Well, we couldn't let the lunar New
Year go by without talking to our
good friend who sparked a movement
celebrating all things hashtag very Asian,
former King 5 anchor Michelle Lee
gained support from all around the
world after sharing a viewer's
racist voicemail on social media.
And she's joining us now from Saint Louis,
where she's been living for the past year.
Michelle, it's cold, great to see you.
Thanks so much for joining us.
Oh my gosh, she's so good to see you.
I feel like I see you all the time.
'cause I'm stalking you constantly.
It's like I'm talking to you.
But happy New Year to you.
I feel like people are really talking
about Lunar New Year this year,
more so than ever because of you
because of you and because of this.
Because of the very Asian movement.
So you get all the Chrome my God.
I don't deserve any of the credit,
but how? Yeah I well,
I'm talking about it more for sure.
It's been really I can't even I
said this a million times but I
really can't put it into words.
What is happening?
You know we, I just went to like a
little cycle bar in Saint Louis,
not a little one but we they
did like a lunar New Year ride.
You know I mean all these
things are happening.
We're probably going to do like
a little a dumpling thing with.
Many area restaurants in Saint Louis
and then all these like makers of
like jewelry makers and T shirt
makers and artists and illustrators.
They're putting out very Asian artwork
for the Lunar New Year, so it's just.
It's been really amazing.
Really cool. I'm
so excited about that and I want to
talk to you more about the jewelry
makers later, 'cause I think I
know what you're talking about,
but we would have talked about
your merch OK, the hashtag?
Very Asian T shirts selling like hotcakes?
Look at, there's our executive producer.
I love all these pictures so
many people showing the love I
seen you kind of sharing this. How's that
going? What's what's happening?
Oh my gosh. So we had this first round
of T shirts that we sold when this
all happened and it was mostly because
of one of our colleagues GEOVANE in
Minneapolis like she was like OK,
I'm gonna design T shirts.
I mean she we went back and forth
but but she really took care of all
that and then her partner is in that
space so he got all the T shirts out.
We did something called print on demand.
If anyone wants to know.
And so that's how we were able
to get out the shirt so fast.
And now we've closed that pop up
and we did like a kind of like
a a new shirt that just ended.
And so we're going to bring
back some of the old stuff too.
So we're just trying to figure out,
like our sweet spot,
you know who's buying shirts?
What kind of shirts do they want?
Where are people buying shirts?
It's crazy we've had shirts show up in
Holland and Germany and Korea and Australia,
Canada, you know?
So it's it's really amazing, yeah?
And you've been really busy because
you also started a new foundation
called the Very Asian Foundation.
So talk a little bit about
what your foundation does.
Oh my gosh. OK, so right now you know
we're like I said, we're we're evolving,
but we put this together pretty quickly,
but very intentionally.
And our goal is to amplify diverse API and
Native Hawaiian voices in the country. Well,
I shouldn't even say the country really,
because there are people all
around the world, we know.
So, you know, we want to amplify our
stories because we're not a monolith.
We are not the model minority.
We have very different stories to share.
And so many people you know responded
who might be a transracial adoptee like
myself or might be in a in a mixed race
family or might be in the LGBTQ community.
There were so many people who
reached out and said, you know,
I wasn't ever confident enough to
be very Asian, but this, you know,
movement for lack of a better word has
given me an opportunity to feel very Asian.
So I take that to heart and feel
like we really need to normalize
all of our experiences.
Because they're all different,
and they're all unique and all,
and they're all special.
I actually learned
that term from you.
Michelle, model minority.
I learned a lot from you about
some of the misconceptions of
preconceptions about what has happened,
but you're also teaching
now on a larger scale.
You went before a national audience
with Ellen DeGeneres when she
invited you on the show. And Speaking
of the foundation,
she gave you a big fat check.
Yes, Oh my gosh, she gave me $15,000.
I will say the check has not been cashed.
It has not made its way to Mr.
You can't walk in with a big cardboard check.
That's not how it works unfortunately.
But but when the money comes, you know.
I'm hoping that maybe we can find some
sort of match or something like that.
And then we will put that money to good
use rate by raising money and giving
money to other organizations always
doing already doing the great work.
Right, this first round went to AJ.
We're also supporting stop AAPI Hate
and then my dream would be to create,
you know, grants and scholarships
to people who you know might not
be able to find resources for doing
the things that they want to do,
whether they're creators or,
you know makers.
Or for me, there are a lot of folks
who are like transracial adoptees who
want to go back to their birth country,
but might not want to do it through
an agency you know.
So there are just those.
Are the ideas floating around in my head?
So we'll see if they can.
We'll see if we can actually do it under
the legal bounds of owning a nonprofit.
I mean real quick.
Before we let you go.
So OK can we talk about what it was
like to meet Alan and be on Alan?
Was that crazy?
I'm just gonna say she's beautiful.
I did if you wanna watch the whole interview,
that's what fan grilling looks like
because first of all she is gorgeous.
Like her eyes are like crystal blue.
They're just so blue.
And then she's got the smoothest,
most beautiful skin.
And then I'm just telling you all
the producers, they hype you up.
So like you're already nervous 'cause
you know you're going to meet Ellen,
you know you're gonna go out on that stage.
You gonna see Twitch all these
things and then right before we
went on the segment producer goes.
Hey, if there's a surprise, just go with it.
Now pressure Oh my gosh, I'm I am honestly
so glad that you got that national stage
to talk about the very Asian movement
and that Ellen gave that to you.
So thank you so much,
Michelle for joining us here on new day.
Great to see you. I miss you guys.
Thank you. Thank you.
We can't wait. Love you.