Asian people have been underrepresented and misrepresented in media for far too long. In honor of Asian Heritage Month, pocstock and Asians in Advertising (AIA) partnered to present "Asian Creator Spotlight Series" amplifying Asian artists across multiple disciplines. We stand with you in solidarity in your struggle for better and more representation and more positive depictions in the main stream media. We hope that spotlighting these nine artists, photographers, filmmakers, videographers and illustrators will help to increase representation and enrich the lives of all global citizens.
Multicultural
Art Director, Photographer, Videographer
How has your culture inspired and informed your work?
My culture is multicultural: Korean, Black, Italian-American cultures are the stories that fill my narratives. Multicultural friendships, romance and family dynamics are the sources of my creative writings and films. For work I focus on the client, their needs and communication goals come first. But in my personal work, I strive to create bridges between communities and spread truth and love.
Anything else about yourself and your culture that you’d like to share? I have 5 beautiful half Korean and half black children. Which I call the “Blackoreans” which is also my tik tok handle
Tag a fellow creative! Who are some fellow Asian creators that inspire you? I like watching the videos made by Future, he’s pretty smart when it comes to the creative business, I also love the work of Justin Lin, and various K-Dramas.
See my work: https://nickbosco2.wixsite.com/website
Chinese-American
Photographer
How has your culture inspired and informed your work?
How has your culture inspired and informed your work? I am a third-generation Chinese-American New Yorker. With the deeply disturbing, continuing rise in anti-Asian Pacific Islander (API) hate, violence, and bias, layered with a multitude of other troubling social injustices, I have struggled to come to terms with current realities. I certainly view the world with more open eyes, and I see myself and others from ever-evolving perspectives.
Anything else about yourself and your culture that you’d like to share?
I have worked in health marketing/advertising/communications at Omnicom for nearly 15 years, currently as part of our global health leadership team based in NYC. In mid-2021, I became Co-Chair of our recently formed, company-wide API ERG, Asian Leaders Circle. In parallel, I am also a photographer with over 22 years of experience
Born and raised in the US, I lived in Asia and Europe for 6 years before returning to NYC in 2019. Through my photography and ERG leadership, I am more fully exploring and reshaping my perspectives on humanity, cultures, and issues tied to social injustices.
See my work: https://www.debfong.com/proud-to-be-asian
Filipino
Cinematographer & Photographer
How has your culture inspired and informed your work? Man this is a heavy conversation, but please watch my vlog on YouTube/chadthefilipino. Basically it has caused me to pursue the authenticity of life in my biased gastronomic culture space. I moved suddenly to the Philippines to pursue something larger than myself, to tell stories no one has heard, and to rocket my culture into a space they are unfamiliar with.This has resulted in me willing to go to the ends of the Earth to tell a story about people - about culture - about whatever it is that makes something real and genuine.
Anything else about yourself and your culture that you’d like to share? I am vehemently proud to be Filipino, but there is much more to learn and understand. I am not formally trained or educated, and have been gifted opportunities by those that trust me. Because of them, I am able to convey these stories.
Tag a fellow creative! Who are some fellow Asian creators that inspire you? Ziqian Liu
See my work: https://chadsantotomas.myportfolio.com/
Vietnamese
Graphic Designer, Digital Artist, Art Director
How has your culture inspired and informed the work that you do? I realize the importance of using my voice to challenge negativity and to make a positive impact.
See my work: https://www.denanguyen.com/this-is-america
FilipinX, They/Them, LGBTQ
Commercial Film Director
How has your culture inspired and informed the work that you do? I think it is impossible to walk through everyday life without being informed by our culture or seeing the world through the cultural lenses we are raised with. Through the years I have learned that many of the things I was trained to hide or politely not mention are actually assets in the creative world. Like many people working in the image-making space, I am also in the process of pushing the value of our pre-colonial cultures to the forefront. This includes diversity in body type, skin tones, and non-gender conforming aesthetics. This gives me a greater sense of connection to why it's important to ask for someone's pronouns when I interview them, or to make sure a hair artist knows how to work with the hair texture of the people on set. Remaining informed by my own culture also creates a space where I'm always encouraging my peers to recognize the deep and wide breadth of what the Asian American and Pacific Islander American experience is.
Anything else about yourself and/or your culture that you would like to share? As a queer non-binary person, I find myself going through the "coming out" process constantly. Not only with strangers and new spaces, but even with myself. Even as I get older I still discover nuanced elements of my identity, and the same goes for my FilipinX identity as well. I'm always thirsty to learn more about who I am, who my ancestors were and where we came from. Being from a heavily colonized country can make that very difficult as Eurocentric values and ideals erased much of our indigenous culture. However, the more I dig, the more I see reflections of myself and discover that many of my beliefs and ways of being have been instinctively preserved somehow across oceans and centuries, and I find a great deal of comfort and purpose in that.
Who are some fellow Asian creators that inspire you? Please include their social media handles and/or link to their portfolio? Felisha Tolentino has been a great collaborator https://felishatolentino.com and Drew Manares is an amazing trans model, and campaign stylist I have collaborated with on many projects.
See my work: www.rhibergado.com/reel
Indonesian born and raised in Canada
Photographer & Filmmaker
How has your culture inspired and informed the work that you do? My culture inspires and informs my work through the experiences I've had. Growing up as an Indonesian-Chinese girl born and raised in Vancouver, BC, I had a lot of issues with my cultural identity (often, being embarrassed to own up to my Asian side). However, as I grew older, I believe that I became very much more in tune with my Indonesian heritage, and now, I am very proud to express this side of my identity. Thus, I believe that my culture has inspired my work in the sense that I hope to make strides for Asians born in Western society in the creative industry. I also hope to share a sense of pride, courage, and freedom with my work.
Who are some fellow Asian creators that inspire you? Please include their social media handles and/or link to their portfolio?
Jenn Im, Ryan Higa, Wong Fu Productions
See my work: https://andreakuntjoro.portfoliobox.net/
Indian
Designer & Illustrator
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shantanu.sharma/
Who are some fellow Asian creators that inspire you? Please include their social media handles and/or link to their portfolio? https://www.instagram.com/taraanandart/
See my work: https://shantanu.work/
Chinese-American
Photographer
How has your culture inspired and informed the work that you do? My culture has allowed me to really explore the difference in space between private emotions and public perceptions.
Anything else about yourself and/or your culture that you would like to share? I am born and raised in America from an uneducated immigrant chinese family and am deeply influenced by Chinatown and Chinese American Culture but also I am influenced by my time living and working in Tokyo Japan. Always I felt like an outsider and the camera gave me a voice to explore who I am.
Tag fellow creatives! Who are some fellow Asian creators that inspire you? So many, Jezz Chung and her liberated luxury page .. always the photographers araki and Tabaimo, Ai Wei Wei
See my work: beckyyee.com/personal-work
Filipino, Spanish + 3rd Generation American
Filmmaker - Film Producer
How has your culture inspired and informed the work that you do? As an Asian American girl growing up, I never related to any Actors or Actresses on screen. I got into the film industry to showcase diverse stories I believe in. I love to showcase Filipino and Spanish American stories, but I also take every opportunity to create films that are women, minority, LGBTQ+ led, not just Filipino/Spanish led - films that represent people like me and the people I grew up with to provide more representation.
Anything else about yourself and/or your culture that you would like to share? As an Asian American woman in the industry I greatly appreciate campaigns and projects that uplift diversity since there is such a great divide and lack of representation both on and behind the camera. I love that pocstock exists and is prioritizing diversity and inclusion! I recently found out about this platform and it’s very hard finding stock footage of people that look like me or my clients. Very excited to start using this.
Who are some fellow Asian creators that inspire you? Please include their social media handles and/or link to their portfolio?
Nina Yang Bongiovi - Instagram @nybongiovi
Diana Paragas - Instagram @paragasdiane,
Alice Wu - Instagram @subwayalice
See my work: https://roseraymedia.com
Help us celebrate AAPI creators this month, and every month. It's not enough to stand up against Anti-Asian Hate, we must also stand up for Asian Love.