Big Asian Energy The Truth About Raising An Asian Kid in North America
Sep 30, 2025
Ann Kono, corporate leader turned education activist; Renee Yang, strategic marketing veteran turned curriculum designer. They discuss how childhood racism during COVID sparked a shift from C-suite careers to building year-round AAPI representation in schools. They cover mobilizing parents, empowering educators with peer networks and scalable curriculum, and a bold mission to reach millions of students.
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Parents Plus Educators Built Practical Curriculum
- TeachAAPI combined passionate parents with educator feedback to create usable school programming.
- They used outside-in corporate experience to design teacher-friendly resources that felt supportive, not tokenistic.
Fifth Grader's Zoom Defense Sparked TeachAAPI
- Ann Kono described her fifth grader hearing racist Zoom comments during a Renaissance lesson and bravely defending his heritage in class.
- The moment — teacher called after he turned camera off — sparked Ann to mobilize parents into lasting change.
Repeated Zoom Joke Led To Year Round Programming
- Renee Yang shared her son's third grade Zoom experience where classmates repeated a racist joke about Chinese people and bats.
- That incident plus parental meetings during COVID led to founding a program emphasizing year-round identity and pride, not single Lunar New Year events.