Gold House—the leading Asian and Pacific Islander (API) changemaker community that unites, invests in, and promotes API creatives and companies— debuted its first-ever Gold Gala, a historic gathering of API leaders and allies, on May 21, 2022.
The Gala celebrated 2022’s A100 List, the definitive honor that recognizes the 100 APIs who have most significantly impacted American culture and society in the last year. The evening was hosted in collaboration with Meta — to further a long-standing partnership with Gold House that honors and supports the API community through innovative programming, such as Meta Gold Talks, and convenes distinguished API voices in conversation as well as trains API-led start-ups in-depth.
500+ API celebrities, cultural leaders, and business executives rounded out the guest list, including: Mindy Kaling, Michelle Yeoh, Henry Golding, Daniel Dae Kim, Ashley Park, Stephanie Hsu, Auli’i Cravalho, Jimmy O. Yang, Kelly Marie Tran, Harry Shum Jr., Bella Poarch, Lisa Ling, Prabal Gurung, Jeannie Mai Jenkins, Phillip Lim, Musa Tariq, Chloe Kim, Jay Shetty, Versha Sharma, Michelle Phan, Andrew Yang, the casts of Never Have I Ever and Pachinko, the CEOs and founders of DoorDash, Match Group (Match/Tinder/Hinge), Hulu, Twitch, Classpass, Patreon, Airtable, Forbes, P&G, Brooks Brothers, Ancestry, Droga5, Publicis Groupe, Paramount, East West Bank, and more.
These guests are at the forefront of “The New Gold Age,” the evening’s theme, which represents unparalleled API brilliance and defiance amidst continued violence and racism against the community. The theme was embodied in the modern Asian couture attire, which featured several custom outfits created specifically for the gala.
A100 A1 honorees Henry Golding, Simu Liu, Chloe Kim, Michelle Wu, and Payal Kadakia were recognized for being the most impactful individuals in their respective industries over the past year.
A major highlight of the Gold Gala was Mindy Kaling accepting the A100 Legend award for her lifelong dedication to creating and embodying affirming API characters and content. Maitreyi Ramakrishnan presented the award to her mentor in a heartfelt speech.
To round out the historic evening, A100 Legend Michelle Yeoh was the first-ever recipient of the SeeHer award at the Gold Gala for defying gender stereotypes throughout her career. SeeHer, the leading global movement of media, marketing and entertainment leaders committed to the accurate depiction of women and girls in advertising and media, presented the award along with filmmakers Jon M. Chu, Destin Daniel Cretton, and Jonathan Wang.
The awards were custom designed by artist Maia Ruth Lee, an inaugural Gold Art Prize Awardee.
