Sometimes, you don’t recognize the ripple of a moment until years later, when you have the chance to reflect on just how far it carried you.
For me, it was a random evening during my senior year of high school. I was at home watching YouTube videos when the algorithm served me a series from the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE) called #IAm. The comedic shorts featured a who’s-who of Asian American talent—Randall Park, Steven Yeun, Harry Shum Jr., Carrie Ann Inaba, Brian Tee, Michelle Phan, Ryan Higa, Jessica Gomes and Jeremy Lin among them.
I had never heard of CAPE. I Googled the organization afterward and remember thinking, How cool would it be to work for an organization like this someday?
That little spark never quite went away.
Years later, after covering multicultural student organizations for my university newspaper, I found my way into Asian American journalism at NextShark. I eventually crossed paths with CAPE President and CEO Michelle K. Sugihara at an event, where she told me she appreciated my coverage of CAPE. Then she said something that has stayed with me ever since: I would always have a seat at the table at CAPE events. I would be invited because they loved having me there.
At the time, I was still a burgeoning journalist trying to find my place within the AAPI community. Hearing that from someone of Michelle’s caliber and character was profoundly validating. It was a small gesture, but it made me feel seen and gave me a push to keep pursuing this because maybe I was doing something right.
So while I wasn’t able to be there in person for CAPE’s 35th anniversary gala in Los Angeles this weekend, watching the celebration unfold from afar felt surprisingly full-circle.
The milestone gala, presented by Lexus, brought together generations of Asian and Pacific Islander talent to celebrate three and a half decades of CAPE’s work in entertainment. Among the evening’s honorees were Randall Park and Manny Jacinto, with Street Fighter filmmaker Kitao Sakurai receiving the Visionary Award and The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping star Ben Wang receiving the Rising Star Award. The women of The Pitt were recognized with the Radiance Award, while Netflix’s Jinny Howe received the Decision Maker Award and Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Kalikolehua Hurley received the Changemaker Award.
And, naturally, there were plenty of looks worthy of a best-dressed list.
But what makes a night like this resonate beyond the gowns and glamor is the work underneath it all. CAPE has spent 35 years creating opportunities for Asian and Pacific Islander storytellers to not simply enter the entertainment industry, but to shape it.
I’ve been fortunate enough to interview many of the people CAPE has honored over the years—including a couple of the talents from that original #IAm series that first introduced me to the organization. That journey has made me appreciate even more what CAPE does so well: It nourishes and cultivates people to become their best selves. It empowers them as creatives, storytellers and advocates for their communities.
You can see waves of that everywhere.
It’s in filmmakers like Lizzie Sargent, whose gorgeous and deeply affecting film Take Me Home hit especially close to home for me as a disabled Asian adoptee with aging parents. The film confronted a reality I sometimes find difficult to look at directly, which is precisely what made its existence feel so meaningful.
This work feels especially important in an entertainment industry that can feel increasingly tumultuous and uncertain. In a moment when budgets tighten, doors close and the path forward seems difficult to see, CAPE remains a stronghold.
Timid’s theme this year is Currents, and we asked talents on the carpet what wave they’ve been riding. But the more I think about CAPE, the more I believe its greatest achievement is the current it has helped create—a collective movement where one person’s opportunity can become another person’s inspiration, and where the tide really does have a way of lifting all boats.
So many of the people celebrated throughout CAPE’s 35th anniversary gala have also become part of Timid’s own story. The women of The Pitt, Randall Park, Manny Jacinto, Harry Shum Jr., Ali Ahn, Sherry Cola, Asif Ali, and Ben Wang, are among the many talents we’ve had the privilege of featuring, with more coming soon. Seeing so many familiar faces among CAPE’s honorees and presenters is a reminder that the current runs both ways: The organizations creating space for AAPI storytellers make publications like ours possible, and the stories we tell help carry that work forward.
That is the current I keep coming back to. I think back to that kid sitting at home watching #IAm on YouTube, not yet knowing where journalism would take me or whether I would ever have a place in the community I was so fascinated by.
CAPE helped show me that possibility and gave me the confidence to dive deeper.
#IAm the journalist I am today, in part, because of the stories and projects they have helped create and bolster. I’m proud to know so many of the people CAPE has championed, and even prouder to be known by CAPE.
That feels like real radiance worth celebrating.
So here’s to all the gorgeous looks from CAPE’s 35th anniversary gala—and to the artists, storytellers, decision-makers and changemakers who have made the last 35 years so resplendent.
Happy 35th anniversary, CAPE.
Here’s to 35 more.
