The Ultimate 25 Under 25: Mochi’s List of Young Asian American Influencers

What about asian americans in business/tech? Tony Hsieh of Zappos, Steve Chen of Youtube?

It seems like this list is missing Tila Tequila. lol

Let’s be real – this list was extremely biased and shows the disconnect between the viewpoints of Asian American males and Asian American females.

The Asian man is probably the least sexy figure in America (as evidenced by Hangover 2, Ken Jeong vs. Jamie Chung) and a fraction of that is due to the fact that Asian American women do not stand-up for their brothers and fathers. Yes, many Asian American men are awkward in some regards, making it difficult for them to support? Yes, it’s not easy. But still damn, if the women can’t even stick up for the men then what hope is there for a concept even tougher – pan-Asian unity for example.

I’m not saying Asian American women don’t struggle, but actually – they generally struggle much less than their male counterparts in America (in America only, yes I know in Asia it’s extremely sexist and biased in favor of males).

Where is Bubzbeauty aka Lindy Tsang and AJ Rafael?

Putting percentages aside, I think it’s more important to consider who out of this list actually identifies themselves as Asian American. If we took a second look at the list with this in mind, it would be a little different. It’s hard to label them as Asian American influencers if they don’t see themselves as Asian American.

I would love to see people other than entertainers on the list. What about the influential young Asian Americans who are making a difference through public service in grassroots organizing, advocacy, and public policy? These people are inspirational and worthy of being role models!

@Diana

I doubt the ones who are making a difference with their righteous activities get to be noticed simply because there are so many activists regardless of race out there (so it’s difficult to stand out). The ones on this list have many followers (a lot more than those activists but if you scrolled through the list, Ryan Higa has donated to the Japanese earthquake victims, so in a way, he’s done public service too same Kevin Wu with his Kev Jumba fund youtube channel).

TAECYEOOOOONNNNN <3333333333 WHOOOAAAAAA I HAD NO IDEA HE WOULD BE ON THIS LIST
LOL of course Kevin and Ryan are on here
haha "self-depricating humor"

I had to comment because of this Honest Abe guy. As a Korean American (with a mixed family make-up of Korean and White), who has lived in both America and Korea, I found your comments offensive and self-absorbed.

To suggest that Asian women in America have it easier than Asian men is ridiculous. This shows that you are making statements that you cannot possibly have a foundation for. You are either a man or a woman and you cannot have personal experience being the other gender (with limitation, which I won’t discuss further since I see this is a site for teens, and I imagine they want to keep the content more PG 13 than R). Asian women, while perhaps considered attractive in America, are also turned into a fetish. While attitudes are certainly changing, the media has often portrayed Asian women as prostitutes and/or servants. I agree with you that Asian males are poorly depicted as unattractive, but I can say that I do not know any Asian women who do not, at least publicly, stand up for Asian men.

I also have to respond to your statement “And if we’re going to count Hapa’s (which experience a much different journey than full-Asians because of their ability to be accepted visually and play racially ambiguous roles)… .” Again you are either “Hapa” or not, so you can’t really know what the “Hapa” experience is. You speak about “pan-Asian unity,” but you denigrate a large number of Asians when you call one kind of Asian “Hapa,” or half, and another “full.” It is also offensive that you suggest that we should not even be counted. In your other comment, you speak of perceived attractiveness, and here you speak of visual acceptance. Perhaps you are too concerned with the surface of people. I have found that Hapas do have a unique experience, but ambiguity does not create ease. Living in a small town in the American south, I was lumped in with all minorities and treated as “not White.” Living in Korea, I was treated as “not Korean.” I don’t speak Korean as well as others may, which was mocked. Many Koreans disapproved of my family’s interracial marriage and my American citizenship. Americans told me they couldn’t remember my name because we “all look alike,” expected me to know every Asian in the community, and loved to rattle off made up Asian words at me. Those who acknowledge having a mixed background (because plenty of Asians have a mixed background regardless of whether they choose to acknowledge it) are treated as Asians in America and Americans in Asia.

You are perpetuating this with your self-centered comments and working against the “pan-Asian unity” that you are looking for.

I wrote a huge comment about the credibility of this article and it never got posted. It was constructive criticism but it never made it.

@Meanco

I don’t know what America you live in Meanco, but I grew up in China, the UK, and have lived in every time zone on the Continental US, and while I don’t subscribe to the veiled anger held by Honest Abe, I do agree that a large proportion of Asian women in the US would rather distance themselves from Asian guys than “stand up” for them. Personally, I think as men, it is our duty to stand up for ourselves. And this list is very telling of how Asian men and women are perceived differently in the US. All the guys, aside from the fact that here are only 5 full-blooded Asians, have had no real exposure in the public consciousness. Whereas several of the Asian women have meaningful roles in popular tv shows and a few movies.

I also agree with Abe in terms of the pan-Asian unity. A large portion of Asian American women have gone to great lengths to distance themselves from Asian men, so that they may more easily be considered “American”. It has gotten to the point where certain Asian women have discovered that forming political action groups for Asian people has become problematic because of the rampant and ingrained adversarial relationship between Asian men and women overall–it is hard for Asian men to want form ties or alliances with (or simply trust) people that don’t respect them as men, naturally. Most Asian American men will not talk about this as it is rather inflammatory and politically incorrect. But on the practical/realistic level, a huge proportion of Asian men and women in the US do NOT consider each other to be of the same social group. The following link takes you to just the latest of the many articles written by Asian American women that trashes Asian men:

http://www.xojane.com/it-happened-to-me/asian-woman-dating-asian-men-jenny-an

Perceptions feeds reality, this is how the Cold War started, and I daresay that today we have a fair amount of simmering resentment between Asian men and women. Asian men are an inconvenient reminder and impediment to Asian women’s desire to assimilate with the white power base, and Asian men resent how we are portrayed in the American media and leadership.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/cws-100-adds-wise-guy-427642

For your consideration.
Thanks