Mentorships matter
Fighting racism and creating change requires visible representation and leadership in the workforces of advertising and marketing companies. Katie Soo, senior VP and head of growth marketing for HBO Max, Warner Media, credited mentorships and sponsorship programs for helping create dialogue. She said other members of the Asian community encouraged her, saying, “You need to show up and you need to take space,” said Soo. “You need to be vocal and you need to lift up the communities, because if you don’t then who?”
Look past stereotypes—and at individuals
Asians already face an uphill battle because they are typecast as engineers, doctors or programmers, not as people who can thrive in advertising and marketing. “It’s tough to summarize what is one-billion-plus individual experiences," said Aisea Laungaue, partner and chief strategy officer, Anomaly LA.
Indrajit Majumdar, executive VP of Zee Network, said he confronts these stereotypes when he tells taxi or Uber drivers about his profession in marketing. “They have a strange look on their face,” says Majumdar. That typecasting also shows up in the workforce, Majumdar said. “[Asians] have to work extra hard, proving their worth or highlighting to companies and corporations that they have substance, and they have that intellect,” he said.
What helps, Majumdar said, is to see Asians not as a monolithic or stereotyped group, but as individuals. Helping change that perception can start with dialogue. “Once we make an effort to know people of Asian origin, their cultural nuances ... slowly things will improve.”