Power in Unity: 7 Ways to Honor AAPI Heritage Month at Work This May
Here's something most organizations get wrong about AAPI Heritage Month: they treat it like a calendar obligation.
A Slack message goes out May 1st. Someone shares a few facts about Jeremy Lin or Michelle Yeoh. There's maybe a potluck. And then May ends, AAPI voices return to the margins, and nothing actually changes.
As an Asian-owned business, CultureAlly knows this pattern well and we also know what meaningful celebration looks like. It starts with understanding the real stakes. According to a 2025 survey by AAPI Data and AP-NORC, 77% of AAPI adults say they have experienced discrimination at some point. Whether applying for jobs, dealing with systems, or seeking healthcare. That's not a statistic from decades past. That's now.
The workplace is no exception. One in four Asian workers says their employer is not doing enough to address diversity and representation in leadership roles, compared to 17% of workers overall. And despite making up 9% of the U.S. professional workforce, Asian Americans hold just 2% of CEO positions (Bain & Company).
Here's how to celebrate AAPI Heritage Month at work in a way that's genuine, impactful, and lasting, especially relevant this year, as 2026 marks America's 250th anniversary and the AAPI community's ongoing role in shaping that story..
In this article, we will discuss:
What is AAPI Heritage Month?
What Is Its Significance in 2026?
Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month is a time to celebrate the diverse cultures, histories, and contributions of people from across the Asian continent and the Pacific Islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. It’s not just a celebration—it’s an opportunity for education, community, and reflection.
The AAPI umbrella is enormous. It spans more than 50 ethnic groups, 100+ languages, and an extraordinary range of lived experiences. Indian, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Mongolian, and Fijian individuals are all part of this community — each with distinct traditions, histories, and stories.
This year's official 2026 theme is 'Power in Unity: Strengthening Communities Together' — a call to collective action, storytelling, and bridge-building across AAPI communities. It's a theme with direct workplace relevance: AAPI employees bring enormous value when they feel empowered, supported, and truly included.
🗓️ Why May?
This month was chosen to commemorate two important historical milestones:
May 7, 1843: The first Japanese immigrants arrived in the U.S.
May 10, 1869: The completion of the transcontinental railroad—a massive feat of engineering made possible largely by Chinese immigrant labor.
What began as a week-long observance signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1978 became a full month by 1990. It's been a permanent May observance since 1992. Note: in 2025, federal recognition of the month was briefly rescinded by executive action before ultimately being issued. It’s a reminder of how AAPI recognition cannot be taken for granted.
Key Events the Shaped AAPI Month
To truly honor AAPI Heritage Month, it’s important to recognize the complex, often painful history of Asian and Pacific Islander peoples in North America. These movements highlight not just challenges, but the resilience, activism, and contributions that shaped the world we live in today.
The People v. Hall
In 1854, the California Supreme Court presided over the People v. Hall case. A Chinese man witnessed a murder committed by a White man. However, his testimony was ruled inadmissible because Chinese people were seen as an inferior race with no right to participate in the U.S. government.
This discriminatory ruling set a dangerous precedent: an Asian person could not testify against a White person in court.
1882 - The Chinese Exclusion Act
In 1882, the United States Congress and President Chester A. Arthur pushed forward a law that banned Chinese labor immigration for 10 years and declared Chinese immigrants ineligible for naturalization.
1923 - Thind V. United States
A Sikh man, Bhagat Singh Thind, applied for U.S. citizenship. In response, the Supreme Court ruled that he was “not white” and therefore ineligible for citizenship. This ruling led to many individuals of South Asian descent having their ruling revoked.
1942 - World War II and Japanese Internment Camps
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. This order came during World War II, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It forced Japanese people into camps where they would be forced to live for the next four years.
1965 - Immigration and Nationality Act
This landmark legislation overturned decades of racist quotas and opened the door for a major wave of Asian immigration. Many AAPI families trace their migration stories to this policy shift.
1990 - Native Hawaiian Sovereignty Movement
An Indigenous-led movement that calls for the cultural and political recognition of Native Hawaiians as well as conversations surrounding their challenges and histories.
2020 - COVID-19
As COVID-19 spread globally, so did xenophobic rhetoric and violence targeting AAPI communities. The Stop AAPI Hate coalition was launched in March 2020 to track and respond to the surge in incidents. According to a 2025 AP-NORC survey, one in four AAPI adults has experienced a hate crime or incident.
2021 - Atlanta Spa Shootings
Eight people — six of them Asian women — were killed in a series of shootings in Atlanta. The tragedy sparked national conversations about anti-Asian violence, the intersection of race and gender, and the vulnerability of AAPI workers.
2021 - Rise of AAPI Mental Health Advocacy
AAPI individuals and organizations have begun to break long-standing stigmas around mental health. Groups like Asian Mental Health Collective and Brown Girl Therapy.
2023 - Everything Everywhere All At Once
The emotional, genre-spanning film has a majority Asian cast and was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, winning seven of them, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Support Actor for Ke Huy Quan, and Best Original Screenplay. Additionally, Michelle Yeoh won the Academy Award for Best Actress, making her the first Asian woman ever to win.
The Bamboo Ceiling: A Workplace Reality HR Leaders Can't Ignore
Here's what often gets left out of AAPI Month conversations at work: what's happening to AAPI employees inside organizations in your industry, possibly on your team.
The bamboo ceiling is a term coined by author and coach Jane Hyun to describe the invisible barriers that prevent AAPI professionals from advancing into leadership. Not because of lack of ability, but because of how leadership itself is defined. Most Western organizations reward a specific archetype: vocal, assertive, visibly self-promotional. Cultural values common in many AAPI communities — humility, deference to seniority, a preference for action over self-advocacy — can be misread as a lack of ambition or executive presence. The result is a talent pipeline that fills at the bottom and narrows sharply at the top.
The data backs this up from multiple directions.
Bain & Company's research found that Asian employees feel the least included of any demographic group in the workplace, with only 16% of Asian men and 20% of Asian women saying they feel fully included at work. That's lower than every other group surveyed, including Black, Hispanic, and white employees. And yet Asian Americans make up 9% of the U.S. professional workforce while holding just 2% of CEO positions. In Silicon Valley — often held up as a meritocracy — Asian Americans are the largest group of entry-level professionals but are half as likely as white men or white women to hold executive roles.
The picture is even sharper when you look at who sees a path forward. According to a 2023 AAPI Data survey of nearly 20,000 U.S. adults, only 26% of Asian Americans strongly agreed that there are others like them in leadership at their workplace. And only 26% strongly agreed they have support to take on leadership opportunities — with East Asian respondents (21%) reporting significantly less support than South Asian respondents (37%). Asian American women faced the steepest gap: just 21% saw people like them in leadership, compared to 31% of Asian American men.
What makes this a leadership problem is what happens when AAPI employees don't see a path up. Many disengage quietly rather than speaking out, because raising concerns doesn't always feel safe. The same AAPI Data survey found that 20% of Asian American workers have felt excluded from diversity and inclusion discussions at their own workplace. They're part of the workforce, but not always part of the conversation about its future.
None of this is inevitable. But it doesn't fix itself through a heritage month post, either. It requires HR leaders and managers to look honestly at their own systems: who gets sponsored, who gets nominated for high-visibility projects, whose leadership style gets rewarded, and make deliberate changes.
8 Ways to Celebrate AAPI Month at Work
1. Educate Yourself 📖
Skip the surface-level "fun facts" email. Host a lunch-and-learn or facilitated session that actually covers history, the bamboo ceiling, common misconceptions, and the diversity within the AAPI community. Remember: Indian, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, and Pacific Islander experiences are not interchangeable. Treating AAPI as a monolith is itself a form of erasure.
AAPI identities also intersect with queerness, gender, class, and ability. Allyship means honoring those complexities.
CultureAlly's Inclusive Workplace Training can be designed to include AAPI-specific programming that builds real cultural competency, not just awareness.
2. 🎞️ Watch and Discuss First-Voice Films
Film is one of the most accessible entry points into another culture's experience. Consider organizing a watch-and-discuss event in May — pick one film and create space for conversation after.
Some excellent options spanning recent releases and established favourites:
The Wedding Banquet (2025) — Director Andrew Ahn's modernized remake of Ang Lee's classic, starring Lily Gladstone and Bowen Yang. Explores identity, family expectations, and belonging with warmth and humour
A Nice Indian Boy (2025) — A South Asian queer love story that brings a perspective often underrepresented even within AAPI conversations
Past Lives (2023) — Written and directed by Celine Song; a quietly devastating story about immigration, identity, and what it means to belong
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2023) — Seven Academy Awards including Best Picture. A genre-defying meditation on the immigrant experience and intergenerational pressure
The Farewell (2019) — A multigenerational family story about cultural duty, identity, and what we owe each other across borders
Minari (2020) — A Korean American family navigating belonging in rural America; semi-autobiographical and deeply human
3. Support AAPI Businesses 🛍️
Contributing to AAPI-led organizations, especially post-COVID, is a meaningful way to demonstrate support during AAPI Heritage Month and beyond.
4. Donate to an AAPI Related Cause 💵
Donating to the cause is an excellent way to show your support for AAPI individuals and celebrate AAPI Heritage Month. Below are several foundations that deserve the support of your company.
AAPI Civic Engagement Fund: Provides support, research, recognition, and funding to AAPI organizations.
Asian Pacific Community Fund:Founded in 1990 by AAPI community leaders, this Los Angeles-based nonprofit serves AAPI communities with funding, events, and scholarships.
Asian Pacific Fund:They work to amplify, uplift, and drive positive change for the Bay Area Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders.
Hawai’i People’s Fund:By providing funding, support, and resources to Indigenous groups of Hawai’i, they are able to create and implement critical resources to individuals and communities alike.
Korean American Community Foundation:The foundation was born from a simple idea of providing philanthropic services to the community. In particular, the goal was to address the chronic underinvestment in the Korean immigrant community.
5. Practice Allyship 🚀
Allyship doesn't end when May does. In practice, that means:
Calling out microaggressions in the moment, including comments about accents, assumptions about countries of origin, or backhanded compliments about being "so articulate"
Amplifying AAPI colleagues in meetings, especially if they're frequently interrupted or talked over
Coaching managers on how inclusive leadership applies specifically to AAPI team dynamics
Our civility and respect resources can help your team develop the language and confidence to intervene in these moments.
6. 📚 Commit to Year-Round Learning
Here's the uncomfortable truth about heritage months: one month of awareness doesn't change a culture. What does? Consistent, intentional learning.
Challenge your team to keep going after the month ends:
Assign a book for your next leadership offsite from the AAPI authors list below
Add an AAPI podcast to your team's standing resource list
Schedule a quarterly lunch-and-learn on a rotating cultural competency topic — not just in May
Include AAPI perspectives in your onboarding materials, not just your heritage month calendar
The organizations and communities that build real cultural competency are the ones that treat it as an ongoing practice, not an annual checkbox.
7. Attend an Event or Workshop 🏟️
Whether virtual or in-person, attending an event or workshop that celebrates AAPI culture is an eye-opening experience. It’s an engaging opportunity to expand cultural understanding and build community.
Additional Resources
AAPI Books to Read
Fairest by Meredith Talusan
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Heart and Seoul by Jen Frederick
Interior Chinatownby Charles Yu
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
AAPI Articles to Read
AAPI Heritage Month: History and Origins — History.com
Despite Major Contributions, AAPIs Remain "Invisible" and Underestimated — Northwest Asian Weekly (2026 STAATUS Index findings)
Asian American Experiences in the Workplace — AAPI Data
AAPI Podcasts to Listen to
Final Thoughts
AAPI Heritage Month 2026 — themed "Power in Unity: Strengthening Communities Together" — is an invitation to go beyond token recognition and build workplaces where AAPI employees genuinely belong.
That means honoring history, yes. But it also means auditing your leadership pipeline, coaching your managers, listening to your ERGs, and making structural changes that outlast May.
The research is clear: when AAPI employees feel included and supported, they don't just stay — they drive innovation, deepen team trust, and contribute to cultures where everyone can lead.
