Gold House’s Inaugural Gold Gala Celebrated the A100 List With a Gathering of API Leaders

At the historic St. Vibiana in downtown Los Angeles, Gold House, in partnership with Meta, hosted its inaugural Gold Gala—a night to celebrate the 2022 A100 List, which honors the most influential Asian and Pacific Islander figures of the past year, including celebrities, cultural leaders, politicians, and business executives. Such an event warranted an impressive guest list of more than 500, including Mindy Kaling, Michelle Yeoh, Henry Golding, Daniel Dae Kim, Ashley Park, Chloe Kim, and more.

Founded by Bing Chen in 2017, Gold House is a non-profit collective of changemakers—founders, artists, and leaders—aimed at unifying the API community and championing greater representation and socioeconomic equity. Chen himself headed the night’s program, opening first with a moving speech of his own that concluded in an uproar of applause.

Uniquely, as most galas tend to dive headfirst into monologues and dinners, Chen kicked off the evening with an interactive game he called Give and Get, which encouraged the powerful inhabitants of the room to share their resources: One guest’s ask was to receive a book deal to write about Gold House’s initiative; another, a mentorship in screenwriting; another, more support for API trans youth.

The night’s theme, “The New Gold Age,” brought on a dress code inspired by modern Asian couture. Embellishments, bling, embroidery, and general over-the-top-ness were all fair game. Fittingly, fashion designers on the guestlist even dressed a few of the attendees: Lisa Wu, Yeoh, and others arrived in Prabal Gurung while Taylor Rapp wore a custom tang-style Phillip Lim suit.  

Throughout the gala, guests floated to and fro, and an open ice bar hosted by Hennessy X.O towered above. All the while, everyone enjoyed a Spotify playlist highlighting API music artists in between award acceptances and excited chatter.

High energy and chatter buzzed all around; attendees were congratulating one another, catching up, or meeting for the first time. During Give and Get, Gurung’s ask, jokingly, was for the back of the room to be quiet, but the most hushed moments came when the honorees of the night, Yeoh and Kaling, took the stage with heartfelt anecdotes.

Then, prepped with crafted drinks, light bights from Panda Restaurant Group, custom boba drinks, and an eagerness to keep the celebration going, the after-party commenced. \