5 Questions with Prosekians in Honor of AAPI Month
Ambika Gogna, Megan Lehrer, Shravani Yalsangikar, Joshua "JJ" Lee
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In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, our colleagues answered five questions about where they grew up, their culture, their path to Prosek, and how to support the #AAPI community year-round. Here’s what our fellow Prosekians had to say…
Ambika Gogna, Senior Account Executive
1. Tell us about your background. Where did you grow up? What would you like others to know about your upbringing, culture or heritage?
My story takes places in many locales. I was born in New Delhi, India, but moved to Singapore shortly after where I spent the first two years of my life—before moving to Jakarta, Indonesia, for another five. My family then moved back to Singapore where I attended elementary through high school. I also spent two out of the four years of high school in Coimbatore, India. I then took a gap year before attending college at Boston University, where I also studied abroad in London to be closer to my sister, and I have lived in NYC ever since graduating.
My culture is a little hard to identify since, as you can tell, I have moved around quite a bit. I grew up in the international school system, where kids and teachers (from 70+ countries) were also expats and were also moving around the world a bunch. Expat kids who grow up this way are called “Third Culture Kids” – children who spend their formative years in places that are not their parents’ homeland. I grew up among a mix of cultures, and while I am Indian in ethnicity, a sense of belonging to one country has always been missing – a phenomenon common among TCKs. I feel at home among Indian, Singaporean, Indonesian, American and many, many other cultures, yet, none of these are my “home,” which is another paradox TCKs face. As such, it is hard to identify one culture as my “home” culture. To simplify: my answer has been shortened to Indian and Singaporean, even though in the traditional sense this may not be wholly true, and a more honest answer might be expat culture, if that exists.
2. What brought you to Prosek?
Communications has always been my passion, and I was a Journalism major in college. Being an international student within a competitive industry like Journalism, my chances of being hired over an American who did not require sponsorship were slim. I wanted to be able to exercise my love for writing and people, and PR was the perfect opportunity to do just that. I was attracted to Prosek for the job security an industry like Finance provides, and over two years in, I am consistently fulfilled with the amount of growth and learning I’ve been able to accomplish within the industry, while being among some of the most savvy colleagues I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting to know.
3. What are you best known for amongst friends and family, and what do you want to be known for at Prosek?
I would say my friends and family know me first and foremost for being a kind and empathetic person. I reenergize and charge myself from meaningfully connecting with people. I think this translates within Prosek not only with my direct teammates and clients, but also in the sense where I want to be a shoulder to lean on for other diverse/international employees, and an international resource for Prosek’s growing global presence. My core friends in life are expats from India, Singapore, Macedonia, France, Belgium, Dubai, Indonesia, to name a few, where we all have the shared experience of attending an international school in Singapore. I want to leverage my ability to relate to many cultures to help create business impact at Prosek.
4. What's a “fun fact” about you?
A fun fact about me is that ever since I was a baby, I have always traveled to more countries than my age. I won’t name the number of countries, cause then you might guess my age! I was also trilingual from ages 1-10. I spoke English, Hindi, and Bahasa Indonesia, sometimes in one big meshed up language of my own. I also learned Mandarin and French in school, and I can read and write in Hindi. I have since only been able to retain my literacy in Hindi, with very basic knowledge of French and Mandarin.
5. What’s one thing you wish people would know, and/or one thing you recommend readers engage with (i.e., one movie, one newsletter, one podcast, etc.), in observance of AAPI Heritage Month?
One thing I would recommend people do more of is to ask your teammates and colleagues where they grew up. It’s an easy question to overlook if someone has an American accent, but you might be surprised by the results once you ask.
My recommendation for people interested in observing AAPI Heritage Month would be to engage with the movies and Netflix, Hulu, etc. shows that feature diverse people as the main characters. While much more representation is being shown, we are still a ways away. Although already popular, a few good places to start might be Crazy Rich Asians, Bridgerton’s second season and Everything Everywhere All at Once.
If you’re interested in diving deeper, (you will need subtitles for these) one of my favorite Bollywood movies to show my non-Indian friends is called Queen, and my favorite K-drama is Crash Landing on You (both are on Netflix). Enjoy and please let me know if you end up watching!
Joshua Lee, Apprentice
1. Tell us about your background. Where did you grow up? What would you like others to know about your upbringing, culture or heritage?
I grew up in Hacienda Heights, an LA suburb that claims to host one of the largest Buddhist temples in the western hemisphere. Born to a second generation Chinese American father and first generation Filipino mother, my childhood was spent ignoring my parents’ attempts to teach languages.
2. What brought you to Prosek?
I found Prosek Partners on a Forbes list! The firm’s reputation for scrappiness, flat teams and an excellent PA (graduate) program won me over.
3. What are you best known for amongst friends and family, and what do you want to be known for at Prosek?
I’m known as an organizer amongst friends and family. From banquets to weekend trips, I’ll be there with a spreadsheet and a plan. One of my favorite memories was organizing my alma mater’s largest multicultural event. My committee was tasked with celebrating our campus’ cultural diversity during the pandemic. We transformed what was an indoor banquet into an outdoor, open-market experience!
As a Prosekian, I want to be known for my enthusiasm. ZDs (that’s Prosek’s internal term for proofreading to ensure materials have “Zero Defects”) and first passes will all be treated with fresh eyes and an open mind.
4. What's a “fun fact” about you?
My childhood was spent in the San Gabriel Valley, known for its vibrant Asian American communities. You can enjoy Cantonese dim sum for lunch, hit up a Vietnamese bakery for dessert, then wrap up with an evening at a Korean spa.
5. What’s one thing you wish people would know, and/or one thing you recommend readers engage with (i.e., one movie, one newsletter, one podcast, etc.), in observance of AAPI Heritage Month?
Recognize the nuance in the AAPI community’s makeup. Like any group, approaching us as a monolithic entity isn’t the best approach. Identifying someone of Korean descent as Chinese would be similar to confusing someone of German descent as French!
Cuisine is how I stay connected with my heritage. I would encourage those who can to support local AAPI restaurants. Bonus points if you try Filipino Siopao (steamed buns) or Chinese Char Siu (BBQ pork)!
Megan Lehrer, Senior Account Executive
1. Tell us about your background. Where did you grow up? What would you like others to know about your upbringing, culture or heritage?
My mom is Filipino and my dad is of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. My mom moved to Los Angeles from Manila ten years before I was born. She raised me as a single mom with the help of my grandmother and Titas (aunts) in LA until I was eight, when my parents and I moved to Scottsdale, AZ. It was quite an adjustment for me and my mom—coming from a diverse, supportive community in LA to suddenly being the only POC in our neighborhood in Scottsdale.
From then on, I spent most of my life in predominantly white spaces and I soon learned how to shapeshift and suppress my Filipino side. Now that I’m an adult, I’ve realized how much of myself I have lost over the years of constant code-switching. I’m now trying to make up for lost time and embrace the Pinay (Filipina).
2. What brought you to Prosek?
I came to Prosek in November 2019 from a boutique entertainment and lifestyle PR agency. I was seeking a change of pace, and I was immediately drawn to Prosek’s impressive roster of clients and welcoming culture. The leap from Hollywood to Wall Street had a bit of a learning curve, but I have been so grateful for the growth opportunities presented at Prosek.
3. What are you best known for amongst friends and family, and what do you want to be known for at Prosek?
Among friends and family, I am known for making everyone laugh, living for pop culture, and being a bit of a tsismosa, or queen of gossip.
At Prosek—and everywhere—I’d like to be known for being kind and empathetic. From a work perspective, I would like to be known for helping our clients capture new audience segments in exciting and creative ways.
4. What's a “fun fact” about you?
My mom’s family had limited means in Manila and could not afford a record player of their own, so their only way to listen to music was to listen to whatever their neighbor happened to be blasting. Thankfully, their neighbor had decent taste in music, as that ended up shaping my mom’s taste in music. My mom, in turn, pushed all of her music on to me. So naturally, the first concert I ever went to with my mom was Cher when I was about four years old. Most recently, my mom and I went to a Stevie Nicks concert last fall and we’re going to see Madonna together early next year!
5. What’s one thing you wish people would know, and/or one thing you recommend readers engage with (i.e., one movie, one newsletter, one podcast, etc.), in observance of AAPI Heritage Month?
There is so much about the AAPI experience Prosekians and anyone who’s reading this should engage with. There is great work to be done to dismantle the model minority myth and white supremacy.
That said, this month is about much more than recognizing our collective trauma – it is about celebrating our heritage and our cultural contributions. In recent years, we have benefitted from much overdue #representAsian. Just seeing ordinary Asian American girlhood on the screen has been so special—think the To All The Boys I Loved Before trilogy, “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” “Never Have I Ever,” and my all-time favorite, “Pen15.”
If you only have five minutes to spare, you need to watch this ICONIC lip sync battle between the first Native Hawaiian winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Sasha Colby and Filipinx-Japanese runner-up Anetra. Across the country, our trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming siblings are under attack and intersectionality needs to be at the forefront of the conversation during AAPI Heritage Month. And this clip is just sheer AAPI joy.
Shravani Yalsangikar, Junior Brand Strategist
1. Tell us about your background. Where did you grow up? What would you like others to know about your upbringing, culture or heritage?
I grew up in Pune, India. For those who don’t know where it is, it is a town that is a 3 hour drive from Mumbai. I went to high school in Pune and then moved to Atlanta, GA to go to school at Savannah College of Art and Design. I studied Advertising and Branding there with a focus on Creative Tech and Art Direction.
2. What brought you to Prosek?
After graduation, I was unsure about what specifically I wanted to do in Marketing, so I took up a job as a Project Manager to work with all different departments. I quickly realized that it was not for me, and I started looking for new opportunities. What drove me to Prosek was the fact that is woman-owned. That just instantly created this sense of comfort and motivation for me. Then I had my very first calls with Prosek’s Jen LaFiura and Madeline Monaco and that is all it took for me to join. I saw that I have an opportunity to grow, learn and create an impact here.
3. What are you best known for amongst friends and family, and what do you want to be known for at Prosek?
I would say I’m known for being the person who knows their food and restaurants. And in the spirit of AAPI month, I would like to be known at Prosek for my organization AQIA (Asian Queens In Animation). Back in 2020, my friend from college and I started a nonprofit to empower underrepresented gender identities in Animation and Visual Effects. We host panels, workshops, mixers, and various other networking and educational opportunities—check out the AQIA Instagram, which is where post updates and news. You can also read and support the Asian Queens in Animation website here.
4. What's a “fun fact” about you?
My best fun fact is that my name means “a good listener.” Shravan in Sanskrit stands for “ear,” so my name means a good listener.
5. What’s one thing you wish people would know, and/or one thing you recommend readers engage with (i.e., one movie, one newsletter, one podcast, etc.), in observance of AAPI Heritage Month?
Besides checking out AQIA, I would recommend participating in Stop Asian Hate and checking out some books by Asian authors. Below are some recommendations:
- Displacement by Kiku Hughes: A historical graphic novel about a teenager who is pulled back in time to witness her grandmother’s experience in World War II–era Japanese internment camps.
- Jukebox by Nidhi Chanani: A colorful graphic novel about a mysterious jukebox, old vinyl records, and cryptic notes on music history are Sasheen’s only clues to her father’s abrupt disappearance. She looks to her cousin, Tannaz who seems just as perplexed, before they both turn to the jukebox which starts glowing.
- Himawari House by Harmony Becker: A young adult graphic novel about three foreign exchange students and the pleasures and difficulties of adjusting to living in Japan.
