Now that the internet dust has settled on the annual “it’s gonna be May” meme tradition courtesy of *NSYNC’s ramen-haired Justin Timberlake, let us acknowledge that is it NOW May and what that means here at dorkaholics. May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. If you’ve paid attention to the subtle elements of the dorkaholics brand or have Googled us recently, you will see that we’ve decided to highlight, celebrate, and represent our status as a predominantly Asian-American group of people. Our tagline is now “Asian-Americans on Comics, Games, & Pop Culture.” Our website description expands on that by stating how we are “A collection of Asian-American voices adding to the discussion on comic books, video games, and pop culture.”
The Push for Representation in Media
We felt this shift in our persona was appropriate given the recent successes in the campaign for further Asian American representation in the mainstream media, including Crazy Rich Asians selling out theaters last years, Marvel’s developing plans for a Shang-Chi film in the next phase of the MCU, and Blackpink’s appearance this year at Coachella as the festival’s first female K-pop group to perform.
Please note: we are still an inclusive organization; we will not be focused solely on content that resonates with Asian-American audiences or only welcome Asian American writers to contribute to dorkaholics. We will continue to accept people of all different backgrounds to be part of the dorkaholics family, and we will focus on the topics that matter to dorks all over the multiverse. What this rebranding adds is the opportunity for us to identify, address, and explore relevant themes and topics that pertain to being Asian-American.
Celebrating Asian American Talent with the Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling Awards
In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we’ve decided to launch our inaugural “Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling” award series. Author Jane Hyun describes the bamboo ceiling as “a combination of individual, cultural, and organizational factors that impede Asian Americans’ career progress inside organizations.” It is no secret that Asian Americans not only face challenges in the workplace but in the creative fields as well. However, despite these challenges, we’ve found a number of Asian American individuals succeeding in their craft. From time to time, we will be featuring in-depth profile pieces on these individuals in different parts of the entertainment world including:
Music
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- Artist
Comics
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- Writer
- Artist
- Character
Film
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- In front of the Camera
- Behind the Camera
- Movie
- Television Series
The recipients of the Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling award will have their images on dorkaholics.com featured with our custom designed awards graphic.
We hope by highlighting these individuals, our readers will become inspired to achieve greatness of their own.
Thank you for taking the time to read this month’s newsletter and showing your support for the work we do each and every day. Our team hopes this rebrand resonates with you in a meaningful way.
We’ve never been more proud to be Asian Americans! Please subscribe to our newsletter for notifications on when our next articles come out.
