Strands of Genius: Asian American History 101, We Need To Talk About Anti-Asian Hate, Are We Allies? Black Americans Vs Asian Americans | Middle Ground
Guest curated by Koi Hernandez
Each year we aim to highlight 50 creative thinkers that have inspired us by giving them the opportunity to guest curate this newsletter, Strands of Genius. This edition is guest curated by Koi Hernandez, Founder of APIWho.Design.
:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, KOI HERNANDEZ ::
LOCATION: Virginia, USA
PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: Slalom and APIWho.Design
Hello everyone, I'm Koi Hernandez. I am an Experience Design Consultant for Slalom, and on the side, I am the founder APIWho.Design. I strive to build a sense of community and a meaningful purpose within my work.
During the 2020 pandemic, I was inspired by sites such as Blacks Who Design, LatinX Who Design, Women Who Design, and the Queer Design Club, which highlighted members within their community. I created APIWho.Design to give light to Asian and Pacific Islander creatives within the design and tech industry. Going through the process of becoming a designer in my early years, I found it difficult to find designers who shared the same story or background as I did. APIWho.Design is that resource that connects, supports, and inspires API Designers of all levels.
We're about two years in since the launch of APIWho.Design and have experienced a slow but steady organic growth. Currently, we have 120+ members within our online directory and 680 members within our Slack community. In addition, we have a group of volunteers working on a rebranding effort and plan to launch an updated site in mid to late 2022.
Editor’s Note (Team Genius Steals): Congrats on the steady organic growth with APIWho.Design! We love what you're doing there, and we can't wait to see the updated site later this year. Thanks so much for being here, and for your insightful contributions below.
:: THE LINKS ::
ASIAN AMERICAN HISTORY 101
Hosted by a father and daughter team, Gen and Ted Lai cover overlooked moments and figures in Asian American History. The topics they cover include the impact of anti-miscegenation laws on AAPI communities, the history of Filipino food, the Hells Canyon Massacre, the Pacific Coast Race Riots, and many more. This is a great podcast to tune into to learn more about the untold history of Asian Americans. (Asian American History 101)
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT ANTI-ASIAN HATE
Unfortunately, attacks on the AAPI community are still happening today. This one-hour-long video, hosted by Eugene Lee Yang provides an in-depth conversation about the complex, often untold story of the Asian American community, and the unique struggles they face. (The Try Guys)
ARE WE ALLIES? BLACK AMERICANS VS ASIAN AMERICANS | MIDDLE GROUND
This video covers six strangers of East Asian and Black descent conversating and highlighting the conflict and underlying tension between East Asian Americans and Black Americans. (Jubilee)
Looking for more from Koi Hernandez? Those enrolled in The School of Stolen Genius will receive a deep dive from Koi in their inbox shortly! You can access all our expert interviews for SOSG here.
:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::
:: Game :: Currently, Pokemon: Legends of Arceus
:: Book :: Where The Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak
:: Podcast :: Race Chasers with Alaska & Willam
:: Album :: 19 by Adele
:: BETTER DISCUSSIONS, DECISIONS, AND OUTCOMES ::
Koi Hernandez
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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.
Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)