This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s spring editorial intern Kelly Xiong. Find her on Instagram at @k.3lly. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. To celebrate this month, we will be highlighting some smaller Asian American and Pacific Islander creators and brands to support. Asian-owned brands such as Glow Recipe and creators like Patrick Ta have become extremely popular and mainstream in recent years. However, not every Asian-owned brand got as lucky with their success. There are many lesser-known AAPI brands and creators that make wonderful products and content. I’m here to share some with you today. But remember, we would support AAPI businesses and creators year-round, not just in the month of May.
Creators
Beauty Within
Beauty Within is mainly known for its YouTube videos surrounding health and beauty. The channel is run by co-hosts Rowena Tsai and Felicia Lee. Their content explores the world of skincare, beauty and personal wellness. A lot of their videos talk about Asian skincare and makeup, and sometimes hair care. However, they are also avid buyers of Sephora and Ulta so they mention a lot of American products in their channel as well. The whole channel’s message is about taking care of yourself, and that sometimes means going beyond the surface layer of just doing skin care. It also means taking care of your mental health and body. The girls have also made a few videos here and there about foods and teas that are good for your body. These foods and beverages are meant to help your body and create beauty from within that will reflect on the outside.
Glow With Ava
Glow With Ava is a Korean American creator that primarily talks about beauty. She has also recently come out with her brand byAVA, which is rooted in holistic wellness. Ava’s content primarily focuses on skincare and reviews. Many of her videos show her going to hair salons and skin spas and getting some sort of treatment done. She tells her audience about the process and her experience at those places. Many of Ava’s Instagram Reels and YouTube videos also contain her talking about the newest or hottest Korean skincare or makeup. She tries the products out on camera and is very transparent about her thoughts on them.
Soogia
Soogia is a content creator on TikTok that talks a lot about social and ongoing issues. She also sheds a lot of light on the racism Asian Americans face and educates her audience on the matter. This is usually done through stitches on TikTok where another creator is being problematic and racist — whether it’s intentional or out of ignorance. Soogia also comments on social news. She recently made a video talking about Harrison Butker’s commencement speech. She is also very vocal about her support for Palestine and uses her platform to help those in Gaza. But don’t worry, not all of her content is political. Soogia also has plenty of TikToks about non-serious topics such as National Boba Day, market hauls and food reviews.
David Suh
If you want good pictures for Instagram, David Suh is the person to follow. His whole TikTok is about teaching you how to pose in ways that make an ordinary Instagram picture exceptional. He has posing videos for all types of settings, situations and even outfits so you can always know how to pose in a way that makes you pop in your own pictures. David also makes plenty of videos teaching the photographer — most notably being the boyfriend — how to take good pictures, because what good will all the posing be without the right angles and lighting?
Brands
Krave Beauty
Krave Beauty is a Korean skincare brand founded by the creator Liah Yoo in 2017. Liah started out by making beauty videos on YouTube. She created this skincare line with simple but effective ingredients because everything out on the market overwhelmed her when she was trying to fix her skin. She wanted her customers to know and understand what they were putting on their faces the way that she wasn’t able to before. One of Krave Beauty’s most popular items is the Kale-Lalu-yAHA cleanser. This is a gentle cleanser formulated with glycolic acid and hyaluronic acid. It is supposed to help with skin texture and hyperpigmentation without ruining your skin barrier. Not only are their products super gentle and well formulated, but it is also done at an affordable price so you won’t have to break the bank.
Lanshin
Lanshin is a high-quality Gua Sha tool brand created by Sandra Chiu. The brand symbolizes her return to her roots and traditional Chinese medicine. She wanted to reclaim her family name and also her Chinese heritage, something that she, like many other Asian Americans, had felt ashamed of when growing up. Lanshin offers Gua Shas and massagers in many different shapes and sizes. They are all carefully curated to suit specific needs and body parts. The brand also offers creams, oils and sprays — something to make the Gua Sha experience more relaxing and beneficial to your body and health.
Popflex Active
Popflex is an activewear brand created by Blogilates — aka Cassey Ho. With a whopping 9.8 million subscribers on YouTube, Cassey has certainly made a name for herself in the fitness world in the early days of YouTube and she has now moved on to make a name for herself in fashion. I used to watch and follow along to her workout videos religiously so for me, I’m very much invested in her journey. In recent years, Cassey has taken a break from posting as many follow-along workout videos and is focusing more on her clothing brand, Popflex. Cassey is the lead designer for Popflex and all her pieces are super cute, while also being workout-friendly. The brand is also extremely size-inclusive, ranging from XXS to 3X. While the price point is definitely on the higher side, you can tell that everything is made out of the highest quality fabrics. These pieces are meant to last.
These are some of the AAPI businesses to support this May. Whether it’s a creator or brand, we want to highlight their work.
Let us know in the comments below if you’ve ever heard of any of these brands or creators. Have you bought from them before, if so, let us know your thoughts!
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