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From the earliest days of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) immigration, discrimination, violence, and exclusionary acts on entry and citizenship marked the beginning of a long history of AAPIs struggling with their opportunity, identity, and belonging in the United States. In the face of these severe hostilities and limitations, collective leadership and community organizations enabled both the survival and success of AAPIs.
Now, new waves of Asian immigrants — and new policies and attitudes at their destination — are shaping how AAPIs live, work, and belong in this country. Since 2010, Asian Americans have been the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States. A global surge of interest in Asian pop culture has also created massive mainstream visibility of certain aspects of Asian American culture.
Recent "viral" sensations in Asian pop culture: KPop Demon Hunters, BTS, Pokemon. Image credit: KPop Demon Hunters, BTS, Cheng Feng Chiang
At the same time, the AAPI community continues to face a complex set of challenges that overlays this growth. Despite comprising 7% of the US population, Asian American causes receive a disproportionately low share of philanthropic dollars (often cited as only 0.34%). Asian Americans also experience the highest wealth disparity of any major racial or ethnic group. Despite distinct historical and economic disparities within the community, Asian Americans struggle to overcome limiting, blanketing portrayals, such as the “model minority” or “perpetual foreigner” myth.
Severe underrepresentation in leadership roles also contributes to a so-called “bamboo ceiling” for AAPIs seeking advancement across various sectors. And now, across the country, nonprofit and community organizations, including those that serve the AAPI community, are finding it increasingly difficult to secure critical funding.
In this new age of Asian America, it begs the question: Who is building the ecosystem for AAPI leaders to thrive?
How Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP) is Redefining AAPI Leadership
LEAP (Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics) is one of those organizations dedicated to empowering Asian American leadership. Founded in 1982, LEAP’s mission is to achieve full participation and equality for AAPI leaders through leadership, empowerment, and policy. They offer workshops and programs to develop AAPI leaders in entry-level, mid-level, senior-level, and executive roles across business, higher education, nonprofit, and more.
FARSIGHT Founder & CEO Farah Bala, who designed Serica’s inaugural AAPI Women’s Leadership Mentorship Program, has partnered with LEAP for more than a decade. This summer, she was invited to speak at LEAP’s 2026 Currents of Change Leadership Experience in Los Angeles.
At FARSIGHT, Farah works with leaders and organizations to build socially conscious leadership and workplace cultures in which people and businesses can thrive. Her work positions inclusion not as a separate initiative, but as a core leadership competency that shapes how leaders communicate, make decisions, exercise power and build culture. An executive coach, consultant and speaker, Farah has been featured in Forbes and is a member of the Forbes Coaches Council. She is also the co-creator of Wonder Women, FARSIGHT's invite-only leadership development community for executive women of color.
For Farah, what distinguishes LEAP is its ability to work across sectors while remaining deeply rooted in the AAPI community. Its investment in the next generation of leaders is not simply about increasing AAPI representation in positions of influence; it is about developing leaders who remain connected to community, culture, and the responsibility to create opportunities for those who follow.
When did you first become involved with LEAP? And what initially drew you to their work?
I was first introduced to LEAP more than 10 years ago when they were expanding their faculty of AAPI executive coaches. As I became more involved, LEAP became the first AAPI professional community where I felt fully welcomed. As an immigrant with a multi-hyphenated identity, I've had my share of experiences in spaces where some aspect of who you are becomes a reason to make you feel like the "other."
LEAP was different. There was no judgment about how you identified, where you came from, or which immigrant generation you belonged to. Their mission was—and remains—their north star. People who come through their doors are welcomed, embraced and invested in. In my experience, that is rare.
Professionally, I've also found a natural alignment between LEAP and FARSIGHT. We share a deep commitment to leadership development that evolves with the needs of leaders and organizations. Over the years, I've had the opportunity not only to deliver programs for LEAP and its clients, but also to help design learning experiences alongside them. Their curiosity, agility and willingness to keep evolving have made LEAP an extraordinary partner.
Why is it important to have organizations like LEAP dedicated to empowering AAPI leaders?
Like many organizations, LEAP has gone through its own challenges and braved the storm. What I've watched LEAP demonstrate repeatedly is that leadership and community care are not separate practices. This level of passion and commitment starts right at the top with their President and CEO, Linda Akutagawa. There is a conviction and determination about Linda that is indefatigable . At the start of the pandemic when every organization was having an existential moment, Linda was thinking about LEAP’s community and its well-being. Within a week LEAP had created its Tea Time series; a virtual space for anyone to join the conversation of the day - whether it was to discuss the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, to process the uptick of Anti-Asian hate, or offer leadership strategies needed during uncertain times. All of us coaches banded together to curate and lead these sessions. This is the magic of LEAP. There is a care that moves beyond the transactional space of a working relationship.
Many leadership development programs unintentionally ask people to compartmentalize who they are—to learn a model of leadership without examining how culture, identity and lived experience have already shaped the way they lead. LEAP takes a different approach. It draws upon the history, resilience and cultural values of the API community as sources of leadership strength.
LEAP isn't simply committed to building a bench of API leaders. It develops leaders who understand where they come from, the responsibility that accompanies influence, and the importance of creating opportunity for those who follow.
Organizations like LEAP do not sustain themselves on mission alone. At a time when community organizations and nonprofits are navigating extraordinary funding challenges, the infrastructure that develops, connects and advocates for future generations of leaders needs investment. If LEAP's mission resonates with you—or if there is another community organization whose work has shaped you—I hope you will consider supporting it. These institutions matter, and sustaining them is a collective responsibility.
With Gatekeeping and Power, Comes Great Responsibility
This summer, Farah was invited to speak at LEAP’s 2026 Leadership Experience and Celebration. The conference theme, “Currents of Change,” framed leadership in today’s context as an evolving practice that extends beyond professional settings, and emphasized the importance of human-centered leadership and authenticity. Bringing together leaders across various sectors and levels of seniority, the two-day series of curated experiences, talks, and workshops explored what human-centered leadership requires in a period of extraordinary change.
Farah’s talk, titled “Power & Gatekeeping: Agents of Change,” challenged participants to reconsider those two concepts that are often viewed negatively in the workplace: power and gatekeeping. Rather than treating either as inherently harmful, she asked leaders to examine how power operates within organizations, where they themselves hold influence, and how that influence can either restrict or expand access, opportunity and voice.
Why did you choose to focus your talk on “Power & Gatekeeping: Agents of Change Accountability”?
We are leading through a period of enormous organizational uncertainty. AI is reshaping how work gets done, organizations are under economic and political pressure, and many leaders are making difficult decisions about people, resources and priorities. In those environments, it’s easy to focus on the power we don’t have and lose sight of the power we do.
Power and gatekeeping are often spoken about critically, but both are realities of organizational life. Every leader has the ability to open or close a door for someone else. Who gets invited into a conversation? Whose idea gets amplified? Who gets access to information, sponsorship or opportunity? Who gets the benefit of the doubt?
I wanted leaders at LEAP to examine power not simply as hierarchy or title, but as a leadership responsibility. Power can come from expertise, relationships, access to information, proximity to decision-makers, cultural fluency, institutional knowledge, or the ability to influence whose voice gets heard. Once we recognize where we hold power, we have choices about how we use it.
A core part of my work is helping leaders become more conscious of those choices. When leaders understand the different ways power operates, they can become much more intentional about how they use their influence—to expand access and opportunity, increase accountability, and contribute to healthier, more inclusive workplace cultures.
What was the most important idea you wanted participants to leave with?
One of the things I love most about this work is watching people recognize forms of power they didn't realize they possessed. We tend to associate power with seniority, title or formal authority. When participants begin to understand the many ways power actually operates, they often discover that they have far more agency than they thought.
That realization is only useful if it leads to action. My goal is for participants to leave not simply feeling empowered, but able to identify the choices they can make differently the next day—how they speak up, whose voice they amplify, which doors they open, and how they navigate the systems around them.
After the session, a number of participants shared with me, 'My team needs this,' or 'Our executive leadership needs to hear this.' For me, that's when I know the conversation has moved beyond individual development and into organizational change.
Leadership That Thrives on Community
Under a vast bamboo ceiling, the world of AAPI leadership can sometimes still feel very small. But it also means that frequent encounters for those in that world can forge strong connections and collective empowerment. The Serica Initiative’s very own Executive Director, Andrea Louie, is herself a former LEAP member and honoree!
Andrea, what did you take away from your experience with LEAP that continues to influence your leadership today?
I’ve long been an admirer of LEAP and their work to support AAPIs in their career journeys across sectors! I was fortunate to participate in LEAP’s yearlong nonprofit executive director leadership program in 2011; it was a transformative opportunity to be in community with other AAPIs who were leading nonprofit organizations serving the AAPI communities across the country. There was a real fellowship in our shared histories and lived experiences.
The main thing that I took away from that experience was that it’s so important to have colleagues and friends to whom you can turn for advice and support when the going gets tough. No matter how long one has been a manager or leader, there are always new challenges–and possible learnings. So it’s important to have trusted folks who will listen and give their feedback when you need it most.
How has being recognized by LEAP as an AAPI leader been meaningful to you?
It was really a lovely surprise when LEAP reached out in 2016 and wanted to recognize me as a community honoree at their benefit! It’s especially meaningful to be cheered on by your peers. LEAP has worked hard to foster generations of leaders, and those of us who are “alumni” of their programs or members of their “faculty” like Farah feel a strong debt of gratitude to LEAP and the community they have forged. I’m still in touch with members of my cohort, and I’m so proud of everything they’ve achieved–as individuals and for AAPIs!
The shared commitment of organizations like LEAP, FARSIGHT, and Serica, reflect a historical and ever-evolving ecosystem of AAPI leadership, built by collective efforts: community organizations, cross-racial coalitions, affinity groups, networks, and more. That ecosystem reflects a larger truth: leadership development does not happen in isolation.
Each component of that ecosystem contributes differently. For example, for more than four decades, LEAP has built leadership capacity and community across generations and sectors of AAPI leaders. Through initiatives such as its AAPI Women’s Leadership Program, CINGS (China Institute x Next Gen Serica), and engagement with corporate employee resource groups (ERGs), Serica is creating cross-sector relationships and networks that help the next generation of leaders to thrive.
Through FARSIGHT, Farah's work spans leadership development, executive coaching and organizational culture, grounded in a central belief: healthy organizations require leaders who understand the power they hold and the responsibility that comes with it. How they exercise that power, communicate, make decisions, and create opportunity directly shapes whether their people, and ultimately, their businesses, can thrive. That philosophy is reflected in her decade-long partnership with LEAP and now in her work having designed and now leading Serica's AAPI Women's Leadership Mentorship Program.
Building the next generation of leaders requires all of us to invest in the organizations, communities and relationships that make their growth possible. There are many ways to contribute:
Support LEAP and help sustain its mission of developing and advancing AAPI leaders.
Apply to become a Serica Mentor and invest directly in the growth of the next generation of AAPI women leaders.
Learn more about the organizations featured in this article!
LEAP (Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics)
Farah Bala, CEO and Founder of FARSIGHT
The Serica Initiative and its AAPI Women’s Leadership Mentorship Program
