Quick, can you name five Asian American & Pacific Islander leaders on the top of your head?

5 min readMar 21, 2020

This was originally posted in October 2017 on LinkedIn

It is not as easy as you would think…

Growing up as an individual who identifies as an Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), I found it challenging to name more than five Asian-American influencers and leaders who are well-represented in media. This led me as a young girl feeling like I was incapable of dreaming, not because I was incapable of dreaming but I was afraid to.

I was surrounded by the stereotypical “Asian” standard of dreamers… parents who dreamed that I would attend a prestigious university, friends who dreamed of becoming successful doctors, teachers who dreamed for us to ace every exam, and society that dreamed for their own success. Their dreams are what I felt pressured into dreaming.

So, I continued doing things in an “Asian way” — laughed alongside those who ridiculed me on who I was, struggled through my math classes quietly, shrugged off those questioning my intentions on wanting to grow as a leader, and let my inner frustrations be told it’s not worth it. It’s not worth to speak up, take a stand, and put myself out there; just be silent.

Then over the years and all the chaos of 2017, the silence became unbearably suffocating… and I realized it was not only me who felt like this. We decided that it was time for us to breathe.

November 2016, AAPI BeSpoken Handcrafted With Care

The project that initially sparked the concept of AAPI BeSpoken was led by fellow UW student, Raphael Gaultier who launched UW Black Excellence. His project showcased UW African-American students as leaders in their community. Check out Raphael’s beautiful project here.

Sharing his project with my friend, John Kim we wanted to create a project addressing AAPI’s lack of representation in U.S. mainstream media for AAPI Heritage month.

Together, we outlined everything BeSpoken is today, working after class and over the weekends. Wanting just 20–30 UW students to join our project, we ended up reaching out to friends attending other colleges around the nation and passionately shared our vision. Communicating primarily through the inter web, we created a movement with the main goal to spark further conversation on AAPI related issues, topics, and achievements. It’s time for our nation of AAPI’s to stay spoke.

May 2017, AAPI BeSpoken Officially Launched

AAPI BeSpoken is the next generation of Asian-American & Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) in our nation that can and will be spoken. This nation-wide movement is an opportunity for our generation of AAPI’s to have a platform to express ourselves proudly, confidently, and genuinely on who we are and strive to become. Through this project our mission is to bring light to the past and present AAPI leaders who have shattered the bamboo ceiling from generalizations to stereotypes, and set standards normalized throughout our nation — it is time for us to recognize these individuals as they have shown us that we CAN and are CAPABLE of dreaming our own dream.

one idea, two co-creators, nine colleges, 15 college leads, and 83 students participating.

Our partnered colleges: University of Washington Bothell & Seattle campuses, Seattle University, University of Southern California, Chapman University, Baruch College, Drexel University, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, and New York University.

What AAPI BeSpoken’s Platform Looks Like

We built our website with one goal: make it as dynamic as possible. We wanted users to explore stories, learn something new, and leave with known AAPI leaders. This was our opportunity to create a platform to not only educate, but spread awareness on how important this issue is.

Our AAPI Heritage Month In History Timeline

On our website, we built an interactive timeline to showcase AAPI History starting from the mid-1800’s. Every Tuesday, we highlighted facts on our social media platforms to increase awareness to how far our AAPI community has come. Interact with our timeline here.

What Is Next For AAPI BeSpoken?

This is just the beginning of our journey. With our one year anniversary of AAPI BeSpoken just around the corner, we are in the works to continue growing this movement for May 2018. Our next steps is to revamp our website to incorporate ways more students and individuals are able to highlight their AAPI leaders and stories. Then go full speed with our outreach to bring more college partners and sponsors on board.

We thank everyone who has joined our journey so far, and can not wait to see what the next year will hold.

If you are interested on joining our movement for the 2017–2018 year, please contact us through our Interest Form.

Got Questions? Contact: Leah Shin (leahshin96@gmail.com) OR John Kim (jj61397@gmail.com).

See more at: www.aapibespoken.com

Like Us: https://www.facebook.com/aapibespoken/