Kamala Harris, Chloé Zhao, Blackpink Among Gold House’s 100 Most Impactful Asians

Jazz Tangcay

May 3, 2021 at 9:00 AM·7 min read

Gold House has revealed its list of the 100 Most Impactful Asians of the Year. Vice President Kamala Harris, Oscar winners H.E.R. and Chloé Zhao, and the K-pop group Blackpink are among the list of politicians, entrepreneurs, athletes and entertainers honored.

The nonprofit, which seeks to elevate Asian voices and their cultural impact on society, is working to reshape public opinion through affirming media portrayals. Bob Iger, Daniel Dae Kim, George Takei, Lea Salonga, Lisa Ling, Michael B. Jordan and Michelle Yeoh served as the judges this year.

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Bing Chen, president and co-founder of Gold House said, “Our leaders can no longer just be great — they must be good. They can’t just represent us in celebration — they must also elevate us when we’re in pain. That’s why this year’s Gold House A100 List spotlights leaders who were excellent in achievement and eminent in activism. This is, in so many ways, the fight for our lives — and we need fighters who see that.”

Simu Liu, star of the upcoming “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and an impact list honoree, said, “It’s a tremendous honor to be recognized by my community. I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked on a number of definitive projects within the Asian diaspora, and have been a direct benefactor of the efforts of organizations like Gold House. I’m fiercely proud of my Asian American/Canadian heritage, and I’m extremely excited to continue showing the world what it means to be unapologetically Asian.”

He added, “I want an Asian American movie to break a billion dollars at the global box office. But just one is not enough. I want to see more; I want to see seconds, and thirds, and fourths, and fifths. We cannot settle for just ‘firsts.'”

Liu stressed the importance of uplifting BIPOC voices and artists in front of and behind the camera. The actor, who penned a guest column for Variety about AAPI hate crimes, reiterated the need to teach Asian history in classrooms. He said, “We need to raise awareness and help educate the world about the roots of anti-AAPI racism. From the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Internment of Japanese Americans to the Rock Springs massacre and the murder of Vincent Chin, important moments in Asian American history have been completely ignored in classroom curriculums and as a result many Americans (including those who identify as AAPI) simply don’t know about all of the injustices we have faced. When we look at what is happening to our community in the present day in the wake of COVID, the relationship is clear; we have been marginalized and discriminated against for over 150 years, and we must stand together if we are to affect change. Those in the public eye must lead the charge, but also learn to use their platforms to shed a spotlight on activists and community leaders working at a grassroots level.”

Oscar nominee Riz Ahmed said, “It feels great to be part of this list alongside all these incredible people. I’m excited to play my part alongside them in helping to stretch culture and take audiences with us to new places, both as an artist and through my company Lefthanded.”

See the full list below:

Activism, Advocacy & Politics

Andy Kim – U.S. Representative
Cathy Park Hong – Author, “Minor Feelings” finalist for the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Awards
Christine Chen – Executive Director, Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote APIAVote
Connie Wun – PhD Co-Founder, AAPI Women Lead
Cynthia Choi – Manjusha Kulkarni Dr. Russell Jeung – Co-Founders, Stop AAPI Hate
K-Pop Fandom – K-Pop fans who have mass mobilized for social and political activism
Kamala Harris – U.S. Vice President first female, Asian, and Black Vice President

Business & Finance

Alfred Lin – Partner, Sequoia Capital
Amrita Ahuja – Chief Financial Officer, Square
Anne Chow – CEO, AT&T Business
Baiju Bhatt – Co-Founder, Robinhood
Benjamin Ling – Founder & General Partner, Bling Capital
Christine Tsai – CEO and Founding Partner, 500 Startups
Dhivya Suryadevara – Chief Financial Officer, Stripe
Eric Kim & Chi-Hua Chien – Co-Founders, Goodwater Capital
Garry Tan – Managing Partner, Initialized Capital
George Ruan – Co-Founder, Honey – acquired by Paypal in 2020
Kenneth Lin – Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Credit Karma
Manny Maceda – Worldwide Managing Partner, Bain & Company
Maya Chorengel – Co-Managing Partner, The Rise Fund | TPG
Minjae Ormes & Miguel Quiroga – CMO & CEO, Visible
Rick Yang – General Partner, New Enterprise Associates
Wesley Chan – Managing Director, Felicis Ventures

Entertainment

Alice Wu – Writer, Director, Producer
Ally Maki – Actress & Founder of Asian American Girl Club
Anderson .Paak – Grammy Award-winning Artist and 2021 Grammy Nominee
Auli’i Cravalho – Actress
Bao Nguyen – Director
Bela Bajaria – Head of Global TV, Netflix
Blackpink – K-Pop Artists – highest-charting female K-pop act on both Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200
Bowen Yang – Comedian, Writer, & Actor
Caroline Yim – Partner and Co-Head of Hip-Hop/R&B, WME
Chloé Zhao – Director and Writer, “Nomadland” – Oscar-winning director
Christina Oh – Producer
Derek Hsu and Sean Miyashiro- CEO and COO, 88Rising
Destin Daniel Cretton- Director
Eric Wong – President & CMO, Warner Recorded Music
Gemma Chan – Actress
H.E.R. – Grammy Award-winning Artist, Oscar winner.
Ian Alexander – Actor
Jeannie Mai – Emmy-Award Winning Host & Activist
Joji – Musician
Kelly Marie Tran – Actor & Producer
Lee Isaac Chung – Writer & Director
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Poorna Jagannathan, Richa Moorjani – Actors
Olivia Munn – Actress & Activist
Olivia Rodrigo – Singer/Songwriter
Phillip Sun – Co-Founder & Managing Partner, M88
Ramsey Naito- President, Nickelodeon Animation
Riz Ahmed – Actor
Ronny Chieng – Comedian, Actor and Writer
Ryan Kaji – Highest-paid YouTuber at 9-years-old
Saweetie – Rapper/Songwriter, Actress, & Entrepreneur
Simu Liu – Actor, Author, & Activist
Theresa Kang-Lowe – Founder & CEO, Blue Marble Pictures
Vivek J. Tiwary- Producer, Author, and Founder of Tiwary Entertainment Group
Wendy Ong – President, TaP Music

Lifestyle

Andrew Toy – President & Chief Technology Officer, Clover Health
Chetan Pungaliya, Gautam Golwala, Manish Chandra, Tracy Sun – Co-Founders, Poshmark
Christine Ha – Chef, Author, and Restaurateur
Dariush Ajami and Sanjay C. Shah – Chief Innovation Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Beyond Meat
Jim Kwik – CEO Kwik Brain & New York Times Best-Selling Author
Joanne Kwong – President, Pearl River Mart
Kruti Patel – Goyal Chief Product Officer, Etsy
Padma Lakshmi – Author, Host, and Executive Producer
Patrick Starr – Beauty Guru, YouTube Personality, & ONE/SIZE Beauty Founder
Satish Mehta and Sumit Singh – CEO and Chief Technology Officer, Chewy.com
Shailesh G. Jejurikar – CEO, P&G Fabric and Home Care
Sonia Syngal – CEO, Gap Inc.
Vincent Kitirattragarn – Founder & CEO, Dang Foods

Media & Journalism

Benny Luo – Founder & CEO, NextShark
Carlo L. Katigbak – President & CEO, ABS-CBN Corporation
CeFaan Kim – Reporter, ABC7NY
Dion Lim – Anchor & Reporter, ABC7 KGO-TV
Helen Lin – Chief Digital Officer, Publicis Groupe
Kimmy Yam – Reporter, NBC Asian America
Michelle Ye Hee Lee – “Reporter, The Washington Post, President, Asian American Journalists Association”
Weijia Jiang – Senior White House Correspondent, CBS News

Sports & Health

Angela Hwang – Group President, Pfizer Biopharmaceuticals Group
Collin Morikawa – PGA Champion 2020 – One of the youngest PGA Champions in history at age 23
Dave Roberts – Manager, Los Angeles Dodgers
Dr. Shi Zhengli and Yong-Zhen Zhang – Senior Scientist & Professor, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Adjunct Professor of Shanghai Public Health Clinic Center, Adjunct Professor of School of Life Sciences of Fudan University”
Erik Spoelstra – Head Coach, NBA’s Miami Heat
Hisao Kushi and Yony Feng – Co-Founder & Chief Legal Officer, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer
Kim Ng – General Manager, Miami Marlins – first female manager in MLB history
Naomi Osaka – Tennis Champion
Weili Zhang – UFC Strawweight World Champion
Younghoe Koo Kicker – Atlanta Falcons – NFL’s leading scorer following Week 13 and selected to Pro Bowl in 2020

Technology & Innovation

Allen Shim – Chief Financial Officer, Slack
Andy Fang, Stanley Tang, Tony Xu – Co-Founders, Doordash
Anjali Sud – CEO, Vimeo
Deborah Liu – CEO, Ancestry
Eric S. Yuan – Founder & CEO Zoom
Eric Wu – CEO & Co-Founder, Opendoor
Jen Wong – COO, Reddit
Marvin Chow – VP Global Marketing, Google
Melanie Perkins – CEO & Co-Founder, Canva
Miriam Warren and Vivek Patel – “Chief Diversity Officer, Yelp, Chief Product Officer, Yelp”
Nick Tran – Head of Global Marketing, TikTok
Peter Tsai – Creator of N95 Mask

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