Awkwafina Tells ‘Angsty Teenagers’ to Watch Indie Movies to Help ‘Figure Themselves Out’

variety.com:

Michaela Zee editor At the 2023 Asia Society Southern California Gala, Awkwafina shared a personal anecdote about her time with the organization while accepting the Culture Visionary honor.  “I first went to the Asia Society when I was in high school.

My dad was an avid supporter and we’d always go to shows and talks there together,” Awkwafina said on Sunday night at the Skirball Cultural Center. “It was a resource for us Ramones-, Joan Didion- and Jay-Z-loving Asian Americans growing up to learn more about our own cultural identities.

And I think that it’s that kind of self-motivation to curate and cultivate our identities as Asian people, is where cultural vision is born.”  The “Awkwafina is Nora From Queens” co-creator and star also advised young Asian Americans to “achieve things more exorbitant than we are shown by being themselves, asking the world questions and demanding answers from the world.”  “And I wanna encourage all of you today — in the case that you are the parents of angsty teenagers trying to figure themselves out,” she continued. “I want you to encourage them to love things, to watch indie movies, to seek out their favorite authors and to exist in the world in uniquely their own space.”  The Asia Society Southern California’s annual gala recognizes leading figures in business, culture, entertainment and sports from the Southern California region, the U.S.

and Asia. Along with Awkwafina, the night’s honorees included Palo Alto Networks chairman and CEO Nikesh Arora, Bespoke Beauty Brands CEO and founder Toni Ko, Rosewood Hotel Group CEO Sonia Cheng and Capital Group equity portfolio manager Noriko Honda Chen.