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| | Summer Highlights
This summer has been a whirlwind of exciting opportunities, from honoring journalistic trailblazers with the ICON Awards in Seattle to celebrating St. Louis community leaders during the St. Louis Cardinals’ AAPI Night. We' have also expanded our impact through partnerships and sponsorships. Read on for highlights from a season dedicated to uplifting AAPI voices and honoring those who make a difference. |
| | | Celebrating AAJA: An Iconic Gathering of
AANHPI Journalists
This year, the Asian American Journalists Association hosted its annual conference in Seattle, WA. VAF co-founders Michelle Li and Gia Vang, board member Chris Nguyen, advisory board members Sandy Lee and Christine Ni, and our wonderful summer intern Gabby Canning all represented the organization during the conference. |
| We also partnered with The Asian American Foundation and United Talent Agency to host Celebrating AAJA: An Iconic Gathering of AANHPI Journalists, a mixer for AAJA attendees and other AA & NHPI community members to connect and network. Three journalists were recognized as VAF ICON Honorees. Janice S. Gin, Curtiss Kim and Lloyd LaCuesta were honored for their decades-long careers, steadfast dedication to journalistic excellence, and their lasting influence on generations of AA & NHPI storytellers. Special thanks to the Edgewater Hotel for having us in their beautiful Olympic Ballroom. |
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| Community Champions Award Celebration
On August 10, we honored six extraordinary leaders with the Community Champions Award during the St. Louis Cardinals game on AAPI Night. The honorees have made lasting contributions to the AA & NHPI community in St. Louis while fostering connection and understanding across all communities in the region.
This years’ champions include Sara Yang Bosco, Don Ko, Kristina Le, Tracy Nguyen, Hemla Singaravelu, and Duane Reed. Together, they have united people through art, community service, literature, events, and corporate leadership. |
| We celebrated our honorees’ accomplishments with a pre-game celebration on Budweiser Terrace featuring music by DJ Black Sun and a tinikling demonstration and performance by the Phillipine United Student Organization of Washington University. The energy continued at the start of the game when Alex Lee, founding VAF board member and co-founder of the Asian American Chamber of Commerce, threw the first ceremonial pitch. The VAF community filled the stands in support of AAPI Night while sporting special edition Year of the Snake Cardinals baseball caps designed by Tracy Nguyen.
Thanks to a Nike Community Impact Grant, VAF brought dozens of kids to the game and gifted each a copy of Baseball Saved Us—a powerful book by journalist Ken Mochizuki, inspired by true events, that tells a moving story of hope and courage in a Japanese internment camp during World War II.
Click the link below to learn more about our honorees and their work. |
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| | | Asian American Ballet Project |
| In June we sponsored the Asian American Ballet Project’s third annual performance, Receding and Reemerging. The concert featured six original ballets that honored ancient folktales, confronted painful histories, and unraveled the complexities of Asian American identity. The company’s work showcases classic ballet infused with elements of contemporary dance. New work in the recital included La Spectre de la Rose (Beth Mochizuki), The Legend (Zhanat Baidaralin), Mended Vespers (Kunal Ranchod), Aigul (Azamat Asangul), Entwined Destinies (Destiny Kluck), and Gabi sa Gubat/Night Jungle (Alexa Capareda). Founded in 2022 by Beth Mochizuki, the Asian American Ballet Project is the nation's first ballet company centering Asian American voices. The organization provides a collaborative space for Asian American dancers, choreographers, and artists to share stories through their unique cultural lens. They feature new works and also reimagine classical ballets to reflect Asian American perspectives, carving out space for these narratives within the traditional ballet canon. Interested in supporting the Asian American Ballet Project? Visit our merchandise shop to purchase our AABP x VAF Very Asian Dancer T-Shirt!
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| | Red Lantern City Night Market The Very Asian Foundation proudly sponsored the fifth annual Red Lantern City Night Market in St. Louis’ Central West End. The event showcased 45 vendors offering food, drinks, handmade goods, original art, and more from local Asian-owned and small businesses. VAF’s own Development Director, Michelle Rigell was highlighted as a featured artist of the night. A full line-up of live performances included music, dance, ice carving and roaming magician Zi Wang, who wowed attendees with close-up magic. In a powerful show of support, several vendors donated a portion of their proceeds to aid St. Louis tornado relief efforts. |
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| Movie Screening: The Wedding Banquet |
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| We partnered with the St. Louis Pan Asian Collective and Washington University’s CDI-Spectrum office to present a screening of the 2025 remake of The Wedding Banquet. The reimagined film explores themes of chosen family, queer parenthood, and multicultural relationships through an Asian American lens. |
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| Sunday Funday Luncheon 2025 We are thrilled to announce that our third annual Sunday Funday benefit luncheon will be held on Sunday October 19th at the W Bellevue in Bellevue, Wash. The Very Asian Foundation Sunday Funday Luncheon celebrates our #VeryAsian community, recognizes our 2025 Creators Grant recipients, and celebrates our local Seattle community leaders. Proceeds from this fundraiser will go towards advancing VAFs mission to amplify AA and NHPI voices and stories to help grow our programs.
For more information about sponsorship opportunities and/or questions about the event, please contact Michelle Rigell at MRigell@veryasianfoundation.org. |
| Support our Artists
Also check out our new artist merch series, thanks to our creative director Claire Nipper. We’ll be highlighting them here and throughout the year. Support our Artists Series here. Chris W. Kim is an illustrator and cartoonist from Toronto, Canada. Chris’ clients include the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Hollywood Reporter and others.
When asked about the inspiration behind the design, Kim said, “I think of the word "Asian" as encompassing a wild, loosely connected cluster of ideas—and so I made the drawing in that spirit.” |
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Find us on social and check out our website and shop Want to volunteer? Reach out contact@veryasianfoundation.org
Every dollar counts! We are in unprecedented times, and we are still a startup non-profit run by immigrants, moms, refugees, and adoptees.
A $25 donation will buy one book for a school each month. Will you consider making an impact on our kids? Click here to donate! |
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