Every May since 1977, API history, culture, and achievements have been widely recognized and celebrated by millions across the United States during AAPIHM. In the past, creative achievements of the API community were often overshadowed, underestimated, and undersold. But this year, it really seemed like we were finally getting the recognition we deserved in Western media, from "Parasite" dominating the Academy Awards to Awkwafina winning the Golden Globe for Best Actress.

However, the rise and spread of COVID-19 turned everything upside down. Regardless if you were young or old, an immigrant or American-born, the API community was being unjustly targeted. The campaign "Our Roots. Our Sound" is about amplifying the rising API voices who are redefining culture. Not only Asian creators, but their fans across the globe. The final campaign featured 18 API music artists in global OOH placements, social videos, and the first AAPIHM hub on Spotify.

My Role was:

I was an Associate Creative Director on a creative team of three with Jill Menor leading messaging and Josephine Tansara leading design. We initiated Spotify’s first public-facing Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month(AAPIHM) campaign. While AAPIHM is celebrated every May by many in the Asian and Pacific Islander(API) community in North America, it became quite apparent how few people actually recognize it. With the rise and spread of COVID-19, anti-API hate crimes were at an all time high.

While walking in a park in New York, I personally was shoved to the floor and called racial slurs. When our team was briefed for AAPIHM, we were given an extremely small budget. We fought to create a beautiful campaign and pitched for funding internally and received a bunch of internal and external support after the work was pitched.