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- May 13
- 5 min read
Updated: May 19
Contributed by Nithya Kumar
Serica is proud to have kickstarted AAPI Heritage Month with a beautiful evening of fun, powerful speakers, and community! Held at 583 Park Ave, the iconic venue held change-makers and trailblazers, celebrating change and progress through leaders who have contributed to AAPI representation in unprecedented ways.
You can see all of our table sponsors, board members, and donors in attendance below – thank you so much for your support! Your contributions have directly aided to the programming we have and the work that we do daily.
The night began with a reception and cocktail hour in the arcade, where people took posed pictures, mingled, and perused our silent auction items.
The programming started off with an empowering sand art video by Aria, depicting the journey of Asian Americans in this country. This was followed by a stunning performance by the talented Jasmine Rice, a Juilliard-trained opera singer, Britain's Got Talent Finalist, and MET Opera performer, whose powerful voice moved the room. The night was to highlight our Trailblazer Honorees, whose work has made unforgettable changes. The change-making continued with our Rising Stars, who are all making important transformations in their respective industries.
Our Emcees for the night were the dynamic Sheryl WuDunn, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and writer, and Curtis Chin, a current Milken Institute Senior Fellow, Chair, and Senior Advisor. The two's playful and energetic dynamic made the room light up throughout the night, as they led us through the program's introduction, despite a rowdy crowd!
Serica's CEO and founder, Anla Cheng, took to the stage to thank all of our sponsors, donors, and supporters throughout the night. This included our board members, table sponsors, the attendees who had traveled far and wide to make it to the gala, and, of course, our esteemed honorees that were celebrated that evening.
Andrea Louie, Serica's Executive Director, continued the conversation by introducing our new initiative, the Serica AAPI Women's Mentorship Program, which has grown 50% thanks to all of the support we've received! One of our inspiring mentees, Rachel Huang's testimony shows how valuable the experience is:
"Beyond the 1:1 dynamic, the broader community is just equally amazing. Working here in New York, it’s so easy to get lost in the day-to-day grind, but this program really grounds me and deeply connects me to the AAPI community here."
With this new initiative introduced and reinforced to the crowd, the programming continued with the amazing Sheryl WuDunn and Curtis Chin continuing the programming and excitement, and introducing our Rising Stars, who received awards for their impactful work. Our Rising Star Awards celebrate AAPI individuals, 40 and under, being change-makers in their respective fields within non-profit work, corporate work, and entrepreneurship.
During the evening, we honored Moonlynn Tsai and Yin Chang, non-profit winners and founders of Heart of Dinner, Catherine Cai, the corporate winner and one of the founders and current Principal of Palm Drive Capital, and Louise Liu, the entrepreneur winner and CEO of Hill Research. They shared some deep personal stories about what motivates them to do their important work:
"The hunger & The loneliness is real. We do this for the Po's Po's, the Halmoni's, Ojichan's, for the Bà's and Lolo's who deserve to be remembered and nourished in culturally thoughtful ways." - Yin Chang
As the night progressed, it was time for our incredible trailblazer honorees to be awarded and celebrated. To start of the honoree ceremony was Sonia Cheng, the CEO of Rosewood Hotel Group. She was introduced by Fred Hu, founder of Primavera Capital, who also received the award on her behalf.
Zhang Xin, CEO of Closer Media and founder of SOHO China, and Gisela Kusakawa, AASF's Executive Director, took to the stage to introduce our next honorees, Yasheng Huang is currently the Epoch Foundation professor of global economics at MIT, and co-founder of AASF, the Asian American Scholar Forum. Kai Li is currently the Paul M. Wythes and Marcia R. Wythes Professor in Computer Science at Princeton University, and is a co-founder of AASF.
Hilda Fu entered the podium next to introduce Dr. Alexis Colvin, who was honored as our next trailblazer honoree. Dr. Alexis Colvin is a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Mount Sinai, and the Chief Medical Officer for the US Open.
Watch the videos honoring each individual and the rising stars to learn more about them on our Youtube Channel
Before moving to the rest of our honorees, the room took a quick pivot towards our live auction and paddle raise. Coco Li, our talented auctioneer from Bonhams Auction House, led our Live Auction and Paddle Raise as we went through our items. This included a beautiful week long excursion to Bhutan, and dinner with two of the most powerful women in the city, Barbara Corcoran and Carrie Chiang.
Our paddle raise was our most successful yet, with bidders in the room all donating levels from $15,000 to $100! Thanks to the help of the Ong foundation with a final push to the end, we were able to double our goal and raised $100,000. Our overall auction raised $200,000 a record breaking year!
Your support is the engine behind The Serica Initiative’s mission to empower the AAPI community. By donating today, you directly fund the Rising Star Awards, expand our AAPI Women’s Leadership Mentorship Program, and drive Serica Storytelling—amplifying AAPI voices through film and media nationwide. Together, we are ensuring that our leaders are recognized and our community’s stories are told with strength and visibility. Help amplify AAPI voices today!
As the honoree celebrations continued, legendary Yue-Sai Kan, known as the "most famous woman in China," introduced and accepted the trailblazer award on behalf of Steve Chen. Steve Chen is the ex-CTO and co-founder of YouTube, and co-founder of AVOS Systems.
Yue-Sai Kan then took the stage to introduce Ida Liu, the final honoree of the evening. She is an American Banking Executive, and current CEO of HSBC Private Bank. Ida Liu spoke of the importance of representation in the room, and ended the night with powerful words that resonated with the room.
"for me, leadership is not just about delivering financial results, it is equally important that we pay it forward to the future generations, that we pull up as many chairs as possible to that table."
Following the programming were desserts and more mingling as the evening came to a close. This beautiful celebration could not have happened without every single one of the attendees and supporters we had to help during the event. Thank you so much for your continuous support!
See all the rest of the photos and check our Socials for more video footage and update!
