Diversity Digest: Looking Back at AAPI Heritage Month
Welcome to another edition of the WBD Diversity Digest. In this edition, we look back at and shine a light on content, events, and initiatives across the WBD portfolio that celebrated the richness and diversity of Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) culture during AAPI Heritage Month.
Embracing Every Dimension of Us
To celebrate AAPI Heritage Month, Max’s Multicultural Marketing team created a campaign to spotlight Max AAPI talent and celebrate the multidimensional portrayals of the AAPI community. Under the banner ‘Dimensions of Us’ and the tagline ‘Celebrate AAPI Voices: Embrace Every Dimension of Us,’ the campaign included a 30-second spot, which highlighted stories that authentically explored the emotional and complex range of Asian and Pacific Islanders and stories that break the mold.
The Max team also curated an immersive tea house experience at Tea at Shiloh in downtown Los Angeles to authentically engage and strengthen brand connections with key community members. Max transformed the tea house into an intimate experience themed to ‘Dimensions of Us,’ with hands-on workshops, tea and food tastings, and a special musical performance. Influential AAPI creators including David Suh, Drew Afualo, Ashley Yi, and Adrian Per were invited to attend, share their experiences, and encourage their audiences to check out the AAPI Voices Collection on Max.
Celebrating AAPI Executives
Cultural heritage months provide not only an opportunity to showcase our on-air content and talent, but also spotlight our employees and executives behind the scenes who are creating on-screen magic. For AAPI Heritage Month, we shine a light on Howard Lee, President of Discovery Networks and TLC, who oversees all creative and business operations including programming, production, and development for Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science Channel, and Travel Channel.
Under Lee’s stewardship, TLC has broken multiple performance records, and his leadership is the driving force behind the network’s ongoing evolution as the leading destination for female audiences. Among numerous hit series to his credit, he developed and greenlit the ratings juggernaut “90 Day Fiancé” franchise, which propelled TLC to rank as the #1 cable network without sports for women on Sunday nights over the past 5 years and has garnered over 7 billion hours of consumed content. Under the first year of Howard’s leadership of Discovery Channel in 2023, the network had a record-breaking year of ratings success including maintaining the #1 primetime cable network spot among men, excluding sports and news. For the first time in the 35-year history of “Shark Week,” the network's tentpole programming event, all seven nights outperformed or matched the previous year and well-known series “Deadliest Catch,” “Naked and Afraid,” “Gold Rush,” and “Expedition Unknown” remain top performers.
Lee was just named in May to Gold House’s A100 list, honoring the 100 most impactful Asian Pacific leaders in culture and society over the past year. Gold House’s mission is to be a cultural ecosystem that unites, invests in, and champions Asian Pacific leaders to power tomorrow for all. Congrats, Howard!
Stacking Up AAPI Content
WBD’s US Networks highlighted AAPI talent and stories throughout AAPI Heritage Month, through featured programming stacks and other new and returning series, including:
Adult Swim aired a marathon of their hit new anime series "Ninja Kamui" on May 11 and May 18 during the action/anime block Toonami. Adult Swim also shared new details about the forthcoming “Rick and Morty” spinoff series from Japanese creator/director Takashi Sano entitled “Rick and Morty: The Anime.”
Food Network brought back returning series "Ready Jet Cook" with Jet Tila (who recently received a James Beard Award nomination and a Daytime Emmy nomination) and "Girl Meets Farm" with Molly Yeh. Food Network also launched a new digital series on Food Network social, “Maneet Eats,” featuring Indian Chef Maneet Chauhan and ran in-program messages within AAPI programming stacks that celebrated AAPI inventors and innovators in the food space.
TBS aired an AAPI Heritage Month movie marathon including “Birds of Prey,” “Crazy Rich Asians,” and “Ocean’s Eight.” TBS also aired a “Big Bang Theory” marathon featuring favorite episodes of Kunal Nayyar, the actor who plays the character Raj Koothrappali in the sitcom.
TNT aired an AAPI Heritage Month movie marathon including “Ocean’s Eight,” “Birds of Prey,” and “Aquaman.”
Supporting the Next Generation of AAPI Filmmakers
Ishana Night Shyamalan, daughter of M. Night Shyamalan, made her directorial debut with WB Pictures’ “The Watchers” on June 7. As part of the campaign around the film, the WB Pictures Multicultural Marketing team partnered with several AAPI community organizations, including Gold House, CAPE, Product of Culture, The Salon, and South Asians in Entertainment, to support the young filmmaker. The team held a meet-and-greet with Ishana and leaders from these organizations when the trailer launched, followed by inviting the organizations to join the worldwide premiere event in New York City on June 2. On the same night, the Multicultural Marketing team held a reception and screening at NeueHouse Hollywood where various AAPI tastemakers and leaders were invited to enjoy an advanced screening of the film, which featured a recorded message from Ishana.
Uplifting and Connecting WBD’s AAPI Voices
During AAPI Heritage Month, WBD’s DEI team worked with the WAVE (Warner Asian Voices Elevated) Business Resource Group (BRG) to host a variety of events. At the end of May, they held a panel discussion and screening in the WB Studio Tour Hollywood building in Burbank of HBO/Max’s “The Sympathizer” (season 1, episode 4) for WBD employees. The panel included the original author and Executive Producer of “The Sympathizer,” Viet Thanh Nguyen; the show's Vietnamese dialogue consultant, Jenni Trang Lê; and “The Vietnamese” podcast host, Kenneth Nguyen, who discussed the creative process of moving the story from page to screen, nuances of cultural consulting, and the history and current landscape of Vietnamese representation in entertainment and media. WBD’s DEI North America team, the WAVE BRG, and Food Network also partnered to host a cooking demonstration for WBD employees with Esther Choi of Food Network’s “24 in 24: Last Chef Standing.” During the demo, Choi showed employees how to make her special Halmoni Mandu (grandma’s dumplings) in the Food Network kitchen in WBD’s New York office. Check out the recipe here!
WBD’s Diversity Outreach and Employer Branding teams also partnered together on a social media and talent community campaign to engage WBD’s workforce and talent networks in celebrating AAPI Heritage Month. The campaign recognized and celebrated some of the driven and trailblazing leaders in tech, news, and WBD’s international business who are actively contributing to advancements and innovations across the company. See sample spotlights here and here.
Out and About
Throughout the month of May, WBD curated and participated in various events to celebrate AAPI Heritage Month. Warner Bros. Television (WBTV) Group hosted an intimate dinner at Yangban Restaurant in Los Angeles, celebrating individuals who help drive conversations about AAPI inclusion and representation on screen and behind the screens.
WBD and Max brands also showed up at the VC FILM FEST (Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival), CAAMFest, and Asian Pacific Filmmakers Experience (APFE). Max ran their 30-second spot celebrating AAPI Heritage Month at CAAMFest and VC FILM FEST, while WBD Access, the umbrella organization for WBD’s suite of pipeline programs, had activation and branding opportunities at both of the festivals as well. At CAAMFest, WBD Access also hosted a fireside chat about pipeline programs and breaking into the industry with a WBTV Director Workshop alum, Charissa Sanjarernsuithikul, and moderated by Jamie Hernandez, Manager, DEI Pipeline Programs at WBD. In addition to the fireside chat, Jamie and Charissa participated in the Festival's "office hours" during the Filmmaker Summit.
And while not squarely in AAPI Heritage Month, WBD is proud to support the 2024 OCA National Convention this summer in Philadelphia, PA. The conference, organized by OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates and in partnership with the Japanese American Citizens League and APIAVote, empowers the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities.