Gold House Hosts Inaugural Gold Gala With Major Launches and the Largest Gathering of Top Asian & Pacific Islander Leaders

By Jessel Thomas First Posted: May 24, 2022 06:32 AM EDT

Gold House-the leading Asian and Pacific Islander (API) changemaker community that unites, invests in, and promotes API creatives and companies- debuted its first-ever Gold Gala, a historic gathering of API leaders and allies, on May 21, 2022.

(Photo: GLOBE NEWSWIRE)

The Gala celebrated 2022's A100 List, the definitive honor that recognizes the 100 APIs who have most significantly impacted American culture and society in the last year. The evening was hosted in collaboration with Meta - to further a long-standing partnership with Gold House that honors and supports the API community through innovative programming, such as Meta Gold Talks, and convenes distinguished API voices in conversation as well as trains API-led start-ups in-depth.

500+ API celebrities, cultural leaders, and business executives rounded out the guest list, including: Mindy Kaling, Michelle Yeoh, Henry Golding, Daniel Dae Kim, Ashley Park, Stephanie Hsu, Auli'i Cravalho, Jimmy O. Yang, Kelly Marie Tran, Harry Shum Jr., Bella Poarch, Lisa Ling, Prabal Gurung, Jeannie Mai Jenkins, Phillip Lim, Musa Tariq, Chloe Kim, Jay Shetty, Versha Sharma, Michelle Phan, Andrew Yang, the casts of Never Have I Ever and Pachinko, the CEOs and founders of DoorDash, Match Group (Match/Tinder/Hinge), Hulu, Twitch, Classpass, Patreon, Airtable, Forbes, P&G, Brooks Brothers, Ancestry, Droga5, Publicis Groupe, Paramount, East West Bank, and more.

These guests are at the forefront of "The New Gold Age," the evening's theme, which represents unparalleled API brilliance and defiance amidst continued violence and racism against the community. The theme was embodied in the modern Asian couture attire, which featured several custom outfits created specifically for the gala.

A100 A1 honorees Henry Golding, Simu Liu, Chloe Kim, Michelle Wu, and Payal Kadakia were recognized for being the most impactful individuals in their respective industries over the past year.

A major highlight of the Gold Gala was Mindy Kaling accepting the A100 Legend award for her lifelong dedication to creating and embodying affirming API characters and content. Maitreyi Ramakrishnan presented the award to her mentor in a heartfelt speech.

To round out the historic evening, A100 Legend Michelle Yeoh was the first-ever recipient of the SeeHer award at the Gold Gala for defying gender stereotypes throughout her career. SeeHer, the leading global movement of media, marketing and entertainment leaders committed to the accurate depiction of women and girls in advertising and media, presented the award along with filmmakers Jon M. Chu, Destin Daniel Cretton, and Jonathan Wang.

The awards were custom designed by artist Maia Ruth Lee, an inaugural Gold Art Prize Awardee.

Gold House New Initiatives

Throughout the evening, Gold House unveiled a suite of new initiatives to further its focus on uniting, promoting, and investing in API creatives and companies including:

Unity March: in partnership with Asian Americans Advancing Justice, APIAVote, and a dozen other major nationwide organizations, Gold House announced a historic slate of policies and a convening event in Washington, D.C. on June 25, 2022.
Gold Storybook: Gold House launched the definitive guide and resource hub on authentic API portrayals in media, based on years of cultural consultation expertise with every major studio, streamer, and network. The guide was created with support from key partners like The Walt Disney Company and features additional resources through work with SeeHer, P&G, and more.
#WriteHerRight AAPI: SeeHer and Gold House also announced a major partnership to develop a guide focused on the importance of increasing accurate portrayals of AAPI women and girls in advertising and entertainment. A number of studios and networks, including AMC Networks and Paramount, are committed to participating in the guide, which will launch later this year.
Gold House Venture Network: on the heels of launching its $30M fund, Gold House Ventures, Gold House announced a new vehicle for executives, cultural leaders, and founders to invest in sought-after venture deals and procure prominent Board Director and Advisor positions.
Gold Rush Accelerator Food & Beverage and Women Tracks: as part of their community-leading accelerator, Gold Rush (whose alumni have raised $400 million+ in follow-on capital), presented two new tracks that provide funding, promotion, and distribution to culinary and women founders in partnership with Panda Express and Julia Gouw, respectively.

Gold House specially recognized Meta as a long-time supporter of advancing opportunity for all, and shared updates regarding their ongoing partnership to amplify, educate and grow influential voices across the Asian diaspora with a focus on unlocking economic opportunity. This included the launch of Meta's SMB-focused channel - Meta Prosper - a new program to empower and uplift AAPI small businesses.

"We are proud to partner with Gold House on inspiring a new generation of API voices. It's an honor to be a part of the inaugural Gold Gala and recognize some of the most influential change-makers in the community," said Cat Coddington, Head of North American Gaming Creator Partnerships at Meta.

Onsite experiences for attendees showcased an array of cross-industry excellence, featuring: an exclusive Super Bowl Vince Lombardi trophy viewing (generously loaned by the NFL in celebration with Taylor Rapp); crafted drinks, afterparty, and a towering ice bar hosted by Hennessy X.O; curated playlists spotlighting API artists by Spotify; interactive programming and special announcements with longtime partners like Disney; and meaningful resources to highlight the importance of API names from Procter & Gamble's pg.com/names campaign. Guests also got to watch the 2022 APAHM video featuring A100 honorees, produced by Gold House and Google as part of Google's efforts to put Asian community and culture in focus.

After the gala, guests stayed on for the afterparty, hosted in collaboration with Hennessy X.O, with a curated late-night bites menu from Panda Restaurant Group and custom boba drinks from Bopomofo Cafe.

Both the gala and the afterparty were held at the historic Vibiana in downtown Los Angeles. Accommodations for award recipients were provided by Hotel Indigo Los Angeles Downtown and exclusive rides by BMW. The gala partnered with We Can Do This to amplify their vaccine and booster resources, without which, an in-person event would have been impossible. The evening was also made possible by Nordstrom, East West Bank, Warner Bros. Discovery, AMC Networks, and other partners featured at goldhouse.org/goldgala.