Why we are raising $1M to support Asian-led small businesses
Hi there,
We’re Tammy, Michelle and Bryan, the three co-founders of #HATEISAVIRUS, a movement to combat the xenophobia and racism against Asian Americans fueled by COVID-19.
How We Started
We started #HATEISAVIRUS because these issues are personal to us. Not only have we experienced racism growing up and in recent times, but we were seeing story after story about the hate crimes against our Asian American community fueled by the fears and misinformation around Coronavirus. We were seeing 6, 7, 8-year-olds getting bullied by their peers and the elderly getting brutally attacked in broad daylight. So much so that the FBI issued a warning to law enforcement about a rise in hate crimes. On top of these hate crimes, Asian-led small businesses were being impacted by the xenophobia perpetuated by the fears and misinformation around Coronavirus too.
In fact, businesses were reporting up to an 80 percent drop in business months before the government even mandated shelter-in-place.
Seeing all of this, none of us could stay quiet and stand back. We had to do something. Then fate brought us together. Bryan and Tammy each came across Michelle’s social media post about wanting to rally the community and reached out to see how we could help via social media.
Since the shelter-in-place mandates were already in place, we couldn’t meet in person, but we immediately hopped on a call together to introduce ourselves and brainstorm. Turns out, we had the perfect start to a team.
Michelle Hanabusa is the founder of UPRISERS, a community-driven clothing brand making a large-scale impact. She could bring the creative direction and branding of the movement to life.
Bryan Pham is the founder of Asian Hustle Network, a community of over 50,000 Asian leaders and entrepreneurs, and could bring his experience with partnerships and community.
Tammy Cho founded BetterBrave, a nonprofit which helps empower workers with the knowledge they need to navigate toxic workplaces and was a highly-shared resource throughout the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. I could share my nonprofit and campaign experience.
Within days, we officially joined forces and launched #HATEISAVIRUS with three primary goals:
- Raise awareness of these issues across our Asian American community and stand in solidarity with communities beyond,
- Educate and equip our community with tactical strategies on how to respond to the hate and racism,
- And raise money to provide relief to small, Asian-led businesses that have been impacted by COVID-19.
Campaign Progress
Since launching our movement last month, we’ve reached over 5 million impressions through the efforts our community advocates and leaders, including Megan Lee, Leonard Lim, SUCH, Sara Benincasa, Tim Chiou, Adrienne Lawrence.
We’ve seen thousands of posts from supporters posting with #HATEISAVIRUS and what this movement means to them.
And we’ve seen artists, illustrators, and musicians creating encouraging and healing art to capture how many of us feel about the rising hate and racism.
Our team has also grown to something much larger than the three of us.
What’s Coming Up Next
- We’re forming a nonprofit organization to do more for the cause
After launching our grassroots campaign, we heard from our community all the different additional ways we could be a resource during this time. Knowing that we could do so much more and with the support of our community, we have started our process to becoming a nonprofit.
As we await our 501(c)(3) status, we have set up a nonprofit fund under Philanthropic Ventures Foundation so that all donations to Hate Is A Virus are fully tax-deductible and we can continue to allocate these funds to serve our mission of tackling xenophobia and racism.
2. We’re raising $1M for Asian-led small businesses through a virtual rally and event series
We are hosting Raise A Million, a virtual rally and event series, that will kick off on May 23rd in an effort to bring our communities to rally against these issues and raise $1 million in support of Asian-led small businesses. Rally with us by posting photos with a homemade rally poster, tweeting about their learnings from our speakers and panelists, and standing in solidarity together during the event. RSVP at hateisavirus.world.
Our first kick-off event will feature keynote speakers, panelists and performers including:
- Mike Murase, co-founder of GIDRA, one of the early Asian-American movements
- Ludi Lin, actor known for roles including Black Mirror and Aquaman
- Renee Tajima-Pena, producer of the acclaimed new PBS documentary, Asian Americans
- Apolo Ohno, eight-time Olympic medalist
- Amanda Nguyen, Nobel Peace Prize nominee and activist
- Baron Davis, former NBA player and studio analyst for the NBA on TNT
- Chris Pan, Founder of MyIntent.org
- Mari Takahashi, ballerina, gamer and YouTuber
- YOONJ, social impact correspondent at MTV News
- YOX, artist
- MILCK, artist
- …and more
Every $15,000 we raise for this fund will help support another Asian-led business keep the lights on for an additional month. Funds raised from this event will go towards Asian-led small businesses and initiatives in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York, including:
Sushi Kiyosuzo in Arcadia, CA
Sushi Kiyosuzo is a restaurant started by Olympian Mirai Nagasu’s parents. Read more about Mirai’s fight to support keeping her family restaurant open in the LA Times.
Sons of Thunder in Manhattan, NYC
James Kim is the co-owner of Sons of Thunder, based in Manhattan. As part of their response to COVID-19, the Sons of Thunder team has been allowing the public to donate meals to frontline hospital workers in NYC through the #FeedTheFrontlines campaign.
Little Tokyo Community Center in Los Angeles, CA
The Little Tokyo Community Center launched the Community Feeding Community program to provide meals for hospitality workers whose jobs were impacted by COVID-19. Meals are purchased from a rotating list of small businesses in Little Tokyo and the Arts District.
We will continue to add more small businesses to support and continue to fundraise during our consequent Raise A Million events as well. Learn more about the businesses we are supporting and their stories on our Instagram @hateisavirus_.
How You Can Join the Movement and Take Action
Our movement is truly a reflection of how the community has come together during this time. We hope that you continue to join our efforts. Here are a few different ways you can join the movement and take action:
- RSVP to our kick-off Raise A Million virtual rally on May 23rd
- Spread the word about our movement on social media and tag #HATEISAVIRUS and @hateisavirus_
- Make a tax-deductible donation to our campaign in support of Asian-led small businesses impacted by COVID-19.
- Learn about different ways you can be an ally in the movement
We hope you’re as excited about these efforts as we are. Looking forward to seeing you at our next event!
With love,
Tammy, Michelle and Bryan
Founders of #HATEISAVIRUS
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Special Thanks:
To our team who have helped take our movement to the next level:
Kari Okubo, Saul Lopez, Jessica Stafford from JSLA Events, Jason Chu, Angela Kim, Tony Kim, Briana Frapart, Kelly Hanabusa, Justin Choe, Riya Che
To our community advocates, mentors, and partners:
Dion Lim, Maxwell Davidson, Selina Guo, Xiaohwa Ng, Dan Matthews, Patrick Lee, Calista Wu, Benny Luo, Amy Lew, Alice Han, Leonard Wu, Esther Choo, Stephanie Ng, Khaled Sierafi, Adrienne Lawrence, Tutram Nguyen, Mari Takahashi, Steven Lim, Megan Lee, Nan Wang, Amanda Nguyen, Baron Davis, Ludi Lin, May Lee, YOONJ, Connie Lim, Year of the Ox, Grant Kimura, Andy Lee, LJ Kim, Transparent Arts, Kevin Lin, Twitter ERG, Docusign ERG, Frontline Foods, and more.
To other campaigns who have been working tirelessly to amplify these messages alongside us:
#WashTheHate, #RacismIsAVirus, #IAmNotAVirus, #AllAmericans, among others
Our movement is what it is today because of each and every one of your roles. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.
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Say hello@hateisavirus.world
