Vivi Blog
August 28th, 2024 By Sophia Huang
“I can never say this without getting emotional,” the speaker on the stage said, “but shout out to the immigrant parents who came here with nothing and gave us everything.”
Sitting amongst a crowd of fellow Asian Americans, I couldn’t help but get a bit teary-eyed. You could feel the gravity of the heartfelt statement resonate with everyone —not just in acknowledgment of the sacrifices made that now allow us to gather in one room, but also the call to action: Now that we have these opportunities, what are we going to do with them?
A few months ago, I attended the Breaking Barriers Summit. And it was there that I got an idea.
Breaking Barriers Summit is hosted by Asians in Advertising, a community that seeks to empower AANHPI individuals through unity, meaningful representation, and personal growth. For the first time this year, the summit brought the community together online and in-person to address the specific challenges faced by Asian Americans in the industry: bias, imposter syndrome, and the delicate balance of multiple cultures.
As a strategist, I was grateful for the opportunity to attend and witness the conversations within my community. But when I look back on the sessions and valuable insights, my mind keeps returning to the quote that started this article.
Behind the support and gratitude of this simple shoutout lay another side—a unique tension felt by many not just in the room but across the Asian American community: the pressure to prove ourselves. This need is a constant tension, whether it’s honoring our immigrant parents’ sacrifices, fighting for a seat at the table in underrepresented industries, or battling imposter syndrome.
And, I work in an industry that demands tension. Advertising thrives on great stories and the unique voices that tell them. Stories without tension are less interesting and as the keynote speaker at Breaking Barriers emphatically stressed, “Creative tension is essential to better work.” She may have been talking about the tension surrounding the creative process and working through creative blocks, but I believe how we contend with our place in the community and our understanding of ourselves is one way through. In learning how to better verbalize our unique point of view, our value, and the uniqueness of our greater community, we are the voices the industry needs to create more interesting, authentic, and worthwhile work.
Tension demands that we lean into uncomfortable conversations and move away from the voices inside that doubt our worth and value. To authentically uplift both ourselves and our community, we need to step up – and we don’t need to do it alone.
How can we address this tension?
- When we are confident in our own North Star Metric (NSM), we can’t be wrong.
It is okay to disappoint people. What’s important is to know your personal NSM and have the skills to verbalize what you want. When we have the language to put our aspirations and dreams into words, it helps us advocate our value to ourselves and others.
- Know that you’re never alone—Tribe vs. Village
Whether it’s someone you know (your village) or someone you connect with who agrees with your worldview (your tribe), there is something to be learned from every person you meet. When we open up our strict understanding of who can be a “mentor” or a “sponsor,” we allow more perspectives through which we can better understand ourselves and our goals.
- Authenticity is the only way forward, and it’s inevitable.
No matter how long or to what degree we assimilate to better fit in, if we are not being our true authentic selves, there will come a time when it will be impossible to do so. Knowing this, it’s better to start practicing and mastering your authentic self now, aiming for practice, not perfection. When we recognize how our own human experiences make us unique, it allows us to foster trust and connection between our own experiences and those of others, uplifting everyone in the process.
To me, the enduring image of the Breaking Barriers Summit will be seeing how many of us were in that room. Like the laughs that followed when one speaker remarked, “I didn’t even know there were this many Asians IN advertising!” my feelings on seeing so many others like me made a lasting impression. And when I think about the turnout despite the sacrifices, the self-doubt, and the invisible powerful forces that may have pushed us out, I know that we have the courage to break down the barriers holding us back. The industry is hungry for authentic stories rife with the tensions that make them relatable and human—let’s give them what they want.