The K-pop fandom and K-pop girl group BLACKPINK have been chosen as honorees of Gold House’s 2021 A100 List of the “most impactful Asians and Asian American & Pacific Islanders (APIs)” to celebrate the Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this month.
“This year, we honor both excellence in achievement and eminence in activism. In the face of hate, we fight back. We’re stronger than what meets us. And we’re still here,” according to the website.
The collective K-pop fandom has been chosen as honoree in the Activism, Advocacy and Politics category along with US Vice President Kamala Harris.
“K-Pop Fans Who Mass Mobilized for Social & Political Activism. Deriving inspiration from countless styles and genres of music, K-pop or Korean pop music has taken the world by storm and only continues to expand its reach. In 2020, K-Pop experienced a record-breaking year when it experienced a 44.8 percent growth and positioned itself as the fastest-growing major market of the year,” according to Gold House.
It added, “With fans from almost every country, the K-pop fandom as a whole has continued to use its influence for social good solely through the power of digital platforms. From raising money for charitable causes to quickly spreading the word on important issues, fans are no stranger to navigating the ups and downs of the Internet.”
BLACKPINK is an honoree under the Entertainment category along with artists like H.E.R. and Olivia Rodrigo.
“Blackpink is a South Korean girl group formed by YG Entertainment, consisting of members Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa. The group debuted on August 8, 2016, with their single album Square One, which spawned “Whistle”, their first number-one song in South Korea, as well as “Boombayah”, their first number-one hit on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart. With the group’s early commercial success, they were hailed as the New Artist of the Year at the 31st Golden Disc Awards and the 26th Seoul Music Awards,” according to Gold House.
It added, “The group is the highest-charting female Korean act on the Billboard Hot 100 and most recently peaked at number 13 on those charts with “Ice Cream” in 2020. They are also the first and only K-pop girl group to enter and top Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart. They are also the first female K-pop group to have four number-one singles on Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales chart. Blackpink continues to shatter records with their music video views, streams, and fan engagement. They remain to be the number one most subscribed YouTube channel.”
Here are Gold House’s A100 List of the most impactful Asians and Asian American & Pacific Islanders (APIs) in 2021:
Activism, Advocacy and Politics
Kamala Harris - US. Vice President
Andy Kim - US Representative
Christine Chen – Executive Director, Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote
Connie Wun - Co-founder, AAPI Women Lead
Cynthia Choi, Manjusha Kulkarni and Dr. Russell Jeung - Co-founders, Stop AAPI Hate
K-Pop Fandom – K-pop fans who have mass mobilized for social and political activism
Business and Finance
Amrita Ahuja - Chief Financial Officer, Square
Alfred Lin - Partner, Sequoia Capital
Anne Chow - CEO, AT&T Business
Baiju Bhatt – Co-founder, Robinhood
Benjamin Ling – Founder and general partner, Bling Capital
Chi-Hua Chien and Eric Kim - Founders and manager partners, Goodwater Capital
Christine Tsai – CEO and founding partner, 500 Startups
Dhivya Suryadevara – Chief Financial Officer, Stripe
Garry Tan – Managing Partner, Initialized Capital
George Ruan – Co-founder, Honey
Kenneth Lin – Founder and CEO, Credit Karma
Manny Maceda – Worldwide Managing Partner, Bain & Company
Maya Chorengel – Co-Managing Partner, The Rise Fund | TPG
Minjae Ormes and Miguel Quiroga – CMO & CEO, Visible
Rick Yang – General Partner, New Enterprise Associates
Wesley Chan – Managing Director, Felicis Ventures
Entertainment
Chloé Zhao – Oscar Best Director, “Nomadland”
Alice Wu – Writer, Director and Producer
Ally Maki – Actress and founder, Asian American Girl Club
Anderson .Paak – Grammy Award-winning Musician
Auli’i Cravalho – Actress
Bao Nguyen – Director and Producer
Bela Bajaria – Head of Global TV, Netflix
Blackpink – K-pop Artists
Bowen Yang – Comedian, Writer and Actor
Caroline Yim – Partner and co-head of Hip-Hop/R&B, WME
Christina Oh – Producer
Derek Hsu and Sean Miyashiro - President and CEO, 88Rising
Destin Daniel Cretton- Director
Eric Wong – President and CMO, Warner Recorded Music
Gemma Chan – Actress
H.E.R. – Grammy and Oscar Winning Musician
Ian Alexander – Actor
Jeannie Mai – Emmy-Award Winning Host & Activist
Joji – Musician
Kelly Marie Tran – Actor and Producer
Lee Isaac Chung - Writer and Director
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Poorna Jagannathan and Richa Moorjani – Actresses
Olivia Munn – Actress and Activist
Olivia Rodrigo – Singer/Songwriter
Phillip Sun – Co-founder and managing partner, M88
Ramsey Naito- President, Nickelodeon Animation
Riz Ahmed – Actor, Rapper, Musician and Activist
Ronny Chieng – Comedian, Actor and Writer
Ryan Kaji – Kid Creator and Star, “Ryan’s World”
Saweetie – Rapper/Songwriter, Actress and Entrepreneur
Simu Liu – Actor, Author and Activist
Theresa Kang-Lowe – Founder and CEO, Blue Marble Pictures
Vivek J. Tiwary- Producer, Author and Founder of Tiwary Entertainment Group
Wendy Ong – President, TaP Music
Lifestyle
Padma Lakshmi – Author, Host and Executive Producer
Andrew Toy – President and Chief Technology Officer, Clover Health
Cathy Park Hong – Author, “Minor Feelings”
Chetan Pungaliya, Gautam Golwala, Manish Chandra and Tracy Sun - Co-founders, Poshmark
Christine Ha – Chef, Author and Restaurateur
Dariush Ajami and Sanjay C. Shah – Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Operating Officer, Beyond Meat
Jim Kwik - CEO, Kwik Brain & New York Times Best-Selling Author
Joanne Kwong – President, Pearl River Mart
Kruti Patel Goyal – Chief Product Officer, Etsy
Patrick Starr – Beauty Guru, YouTube Personality and ONE/SIZE Beauty Founder
Satish Mehta and Sumit Singh - CTO and CEO, Chewy
Shailesh G. Jejurikar – CEO, P&G Fabric and Home Care
Sonia Syngal – CEO, Gap Inc.
Vincent Kitirattragarn – Founder and CEO, Dang Foods
Media & Journalism
Benny Luo – Founder and CEO, NextShark
Carlo Katigbak – President and CEO, ABS-CBN Corp.
CeFaan Kim – Reporter, ABC7NY
Dion Lim – Anchor and Reporter, ABC7 KGO-TV
Helen Lin – Chief Digital Officer, Publicis Groupe
Kimmy Yam – Reporter, NBC Asian America
Michelle Ye Hee Lee – “Reporter, The Washington Post and president, Asian American Journalists Association”
Weijia Jiang – Senior White House Correspondent, CBS News
Sports and Health
Angela Hwang – Group President, Pfizer Biopharmaceuticals Group
Collin Morikawa – PGA Champion 2020
Dave Roberts – Manager, Los Angeles Dodgers
Erik Spoelstra – Head Coach, Miami Heat
Hisao Kushi and Yony Feng – Chief Legal Officer and CTO, Peloton
Kim Ng – General Manager, Miami Marlins
Shi Zhengli and Yong-Zhen Zhang – Chinese Virologists
Naomi Osaka – Tennis Champion
Weili Zhang – UFC Strawweight World Champion
Younghoe Koo - Kicker, Atlanta Falcons
Technology & Innovation
Allen Shim – Chief Financial Officer, Slack
Andy Fang, Stanley Tang and Tony Xu – Co-founders, Doordash
Anjali Sud – CEO, Vimeo
Deborah Liu – CEO, Ancestry
Eric S. Yuan – Founder and CEO, Zoom
Eric Wu – CEO & co-founder, Opendoor
Jen Wong – COO, Reddit
Marvin Chow – VP Global Marketing, Google
Melanie Perkins – CEO and co-founder, Canva
Miriam Warren and Vivek Patel - Chief Diversity Officer and Chief Product Officer, Yelp
Nick Tran – Head of Global Marketing, TikTok
Peter Tsai – Creator of N95 Mask