Toward A More Inclusive, Representative Media: Meet The 14 Rising Stars Enrolled In The ‘Gold Journalism Accelerator’

Forbes is committed to bringing new voices to the table in our journalism and in our newsroom. We’re honored that Gold House, a nonprofit collective of API founders, leaders and creators, chose to partner with us (along with Madison Wells and Rotten Tomatoes) in piloting a training program to help an incredible roster of mid-career API journalists and writers rise to leadership positions in journalism, business and entertainment. Here’s why we think this initiative is critical to building trust and great journalism nationwide.

In a survey conducted by nonprofit LAAUNCH in 2021, 42% of respondents couldn’t name a single prominent Asian American, demonstrating both a lack of representation and gaps of understanding about the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) experience. What’s more, when thinking about who is Asian American, monolithic perceptions persist. In a 2023 Pew survey on Asian American identity, 60% believed that most people would simply describe them as “Asian” while walking past them on the street, indicating that most Asians feel seen by others as a single group, despite Asia’s rich diversity.

Gaps in newsroom representation fuel these misinformed perceptions of Asian Americans, especially considering that news is white America’s number one source of information about AAPI. A 2023 study indicated that 61% of white Americans named news as a primary source of information about the AAPI community. With Asian American reporters representing around 4% of business/economic beat reporters, and just 3% of entertainment beat reporters, the stories that white Americans rely upon to understand the AAPI community are told by non Asian Americans.

Kristian Fanene Schmidt

Kristian Fanene Schmidt, a member of the inaugural Gold Journalism Accelerator, is the cofounder and executive director of nonprofit Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti. As such, he has first-hand experience with feeling unseen and misunderstood in the news. “Pasifika journalists – and just our community in general – contend with erasure when it comes to anything Pasifika-related,” Fanene Schmidt says.

“When professional media presence doesn’t reflect the breadth of the artistry represented, this has damaging consequences. Our stories don’t just get lost in translation,” he adds, “They get neglected altogether. And when they do receive attention, they are quite often misunderstood or treated without attention to inherent cultural, social, and political nuance.”

A Fulbright scholar who earned Master of Education and law degrees before landing his first journalism gig as an MTV VJ in Australia, Fanene Schmidt feels that public discourse continues to default to the dominant perspective because those voices have been granted the most access and leverage. “As they take the lead on what becomes the most widespread narratives, their ignorances and prejudices go relatively unchecked. This is how you come to have creative gems ignored and problematic trash exalted. Every year we are seeing more and more TV and film centering Pasifika talent and creatives so it's crucial that we have a variety of Pasifika opinions featured at every level.” Reflecting this feeling of exclusion from mainstream media, almost 80% of Asian Americans feel a sense of disbelonging and non-acceptance in the U.S., according to the Asian American Foundation’s study.

Alex Chester-Iwata

As a multi-racial Asian American in the entertainment industry, Alex Chester-Iwata had grown frustrated by mainstream media’s failure to give space for Asian Pacific Islanders of mixed racial backgrounds —so she created a new platform to fill that gap. Through op-ed pieces, celebrity interviews and other articles, Mixed Asian Media provides a platform that gives voice to a large and growing segment of the API community that embraces their diverse backgrounds.

“The mixed-Asian experience, and the aspects of intersectionality that come with it, are very much missing from mainstream newsrooms… When a mixed-Asian celebrity is interviewed, they rarely get to discuss their mixed heritage and how it has affected their life and career,” Chester-Iwata, now editor-in-chief of the platform, explained.

Nimarta Narang

Nimarta Narang first found her way to journalism when she was an international student from Thailand studying at Tufts University in Massachusetts. There she began writing a column for the student paper, chronicling her experiences as a newcomer to American culture. Now a full-time freelance journalist for national publications such as Brown Girl Magazine and Teen Vogue, Narang says, “there is diversity and nuance within API stories that mainstream newsrooms are still figuring out how to cover. As a Punjabi woman who grew up in Bangkok, I have seen how differences in and within the diaspora influence and shape how a story is told.”

At the forefront of efforts to support AAPI journalists and improve representation in U.S. newsrooms, Naomi Tacuyan Underwood, executive director of the Asian American Journalists Association says while she is heartened by the ways AAPI producers, editors and talent are getting AAPI stories done, “there aren't enough stories, and stories that get it right— with context, nuance, and free from stereotypes and implicit biases. AAPI [journalists] still face newsroom resistance and inertia. The question is how we can institutionalize the leadership and support for more?”

It is with this backdrop of a mainstream media that often ignores or misrepresents the nuances that make up the AAPI experience, that Christine Yi, general manager of Gold House Futures, and Sophie-Marie Prime, critic community manager at Rotten Tomatoes, thought up a new journalism training program during a candid conversation at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Continuing this conversation with the team at Forbes, the Gold Journalism Accelerator grew into a multi-partner collaboration to support and grow a pipeline of Asian Pacific journalists across business and entertainment news.

Kristian Fanene Schmidt, Alex Chester-Iwata, and Nimarta Narang are just three members of our terrific inaugural group of journalists selected to participate in the four-month training ground, aimed at supporting mid-career professionals interested in gaining better access within the media landscape where they can tell more culturally nuanced business stories and interpret and critique movies. (See the full roster of students below).

Through the program, which kicked off just last week, writers will receive one-on-one mentorship sessions and immersive masterclasses covering topics required for success in today’s multi-platform media landscape, including Personal Branding, Navigating Media Relationships, and Building an Online Presence. Selected writers will also be included in a prestigious directory of preferred Asian Pacific writers and will have special access to major community moments and narratives.

“We're hoping this is just one of the many ways we can work towards a transformative shift in the media industry for a more inclusive and representative journalism landscape, where Asian Pacific writers play an integral role in shaping narratives that define our present and future,” Yi says.

Check out the full roster of Gold Journalism Accelerator students below:

Alex Chester-Iwata: Founder and CEO, Mixed Asian Media

Erica Gonzales: Senior Culture Editor, Elle

Ernestine Siu: Producer, CNBC

Iris Kim: Freelance Writer, New York Times, Slate, Harper’s Bazaar, and TIME

Kristian Fanene Schmidt: Cofounder and Executive Director of Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti; Freelance Writer, Host and Consultant

Michelle Eigenheer: Freelance Writer, Business Insider, VICE, Marie Claire, Salon; Scriptwriter, AdWeek Podcast Network

Nancy Uddin: Freelance Writer and Creative Producer, Vogue, HuffPost, Dazed

Nguyen Le: Journalist and Credentialed Critic, FANGORIA

Nic Cha Kim: Senior Producer, PBS SoCal, KCET

Nimarta Narang: Freelance Writer, Teen Vogue, Vice, Harvard Asian American Policy Review, Brown Girl Magazine, Oprah Daily

Rasha Goel: Host and Producer, HBO Asia

Sindhya Valloppillil: Contributor, Techcrunch, Crunchbase, BeautyMatter

Stephanie Kim: Senior Producer, WBEZ’s Reset

Zachary Lee: Online Editorial Assistant, Sojourners