It’s hard to work in a male-dominated field as a chick.
And it’s even harder to work in a male-dominated field
as a chick who isn’t white.
My name is Jeannie Park.
I am a first-generation Korean-American activist
and model and founder of Sanitation Nation.
I see myself as a bit of a disruptor,
disrupting whiteness and ultimately white-dominated spaces
that we all exist in.
To see how women who look like me and my mother are targeted,
I think really provided a unique lens for the first time in my life
on why intersectionality is so integral
in every single social justice movement.
Personally,
I have only really started to come into my own Asian joy, as we call it,
for the first time doing this work.
My name is Masami.
I am a hairstylist at Vacancy Project.
I think working as an Asian hairstylist,
people have the image [of]
Asian people working [in the] beauty industry,
but I wanted to be an artist.
But it was really hard not speaking English
and coming from Japan.
I also wanted to be the stylist for queer people, young to old,
not just typical type of Asian hairstylist.
I think I’m very lucky
because I get inspired by clients all the time.
I’m trying to do the haircut that really fits who you are.
I need to know about the people:
personality, lifestyle, gender identity, everything.
It’s very important for me to talk and know about them
before I do the haircut.
That inspires me a lot.
I’m Danny Bowien,
chef and co-founder of Mission Restaurant in Bushwick.
I grew up as an adoptee in Oklahoma, and my parents are Caucasian.
I’m Korean. I was adopted when I was three months old.
So it was never top-line priority list
for me to find out who I was
because in many ways, I just thought I knew who I was.
But after my son was born, I was like, you know,
maybe I should look into that.
The more I go to Korea,
and living in New York and just being in the community,
I’m like a sponge that absorbs all these flavor experiences,
and then that’s what translates.
I think that I’m always trying to chase down authenticity
and find out what is the heart of this thing first,
pay respect to that, and then how does it make sense to me?
Like, there’s always a part of everything I make
where it’s like I want my dad in Oklahoma to taste this
and be like, “Wow, that’s great.
I don’t know what it is, but it tastes good to me.”
My name is Gia. I’m a creative director based in New York,
and I run my own creative business and team that is part community
and part creative advertising.
One of the things that I’ve always really been interested in
is giving back to my community.
I did not have a lot growing up,
so really the way that I was able to experience life
was through the community opportunities that were given to me.
I think that's why it's so important for agencies in general,
big or small, to really recognize that the company they are today
is because of the community that built them.
We provide opportunities with other young creatives
and give them access to be able to create these campaigns
even if they don’t have the resources.
I think that our Asian sisters and brothers
and everyone outside of the Asian community as well
has really done a lot to support us.
And I’m excited to see all of these raffles and charity organizations
really coming to the forefront for us.
But my thing is more like
I question the longevity of a lot of things, right?
How do we continue to support the elders
or to support the children in our communities
regardless of race or even gender?
You know, how do we continue to give free access to education,
how do we protect them physically, emotionally, mentally?
Like, I’m curious what the next steps in terms of sustaining this
is going to be, right?
My name is Lumia Nocito.
I’m from New York City, and I’m an artist,
and I work primarily as a photographer.
I feel, like, growing up,
Asian-Americans weren’t really represented in the media,
and especially not as photographers, especially women.
One time, this girl came up to me on the street,
and she actually told me
that she started doing photography because of me.
And I had no idea that I had that influence over anyone,
so it really inspired me to continue with working as a photographer,
especially not being someone who’s cookie-cutter for that typical job.
I would love to continue creating space for any young girls
who would want to be artists or photographers.
If I could get one other Asian-American person
to learn how to love themselves,
then I’ve done my job.