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Following his breakout role in the queer hockey sensation Heated Rivalry, Hudson Williams is proving that the future of Hollywood is both diverse and defiant.

Korean Canadian actor Hudson Williams broke through as the co-lead in the 2025 Crave and HBO Max series Heated Rivalry.  Centered on the electric romance between two competing professional hockey players, the series has been hailed as a pillar of the modern queer landscape. 

Heated Rivalry has garnered critical acclaim with a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 9.1 IMBD rating.  A second season has already been confirmed.

Williams revealed that the show prompted closeted professional athletes from American sports leagues to reach out privately to share how much the story resonates with their lives.

The 24-year-old officially hit the mainstream at the 2026 Golden Globes in which Williams appeared as a presenter alongside his co-star.  His meteoric rise has translated into a surge in his Instagram following from just 10,000 in October to 2 million today.

His previous appearances include supporting roles in the 2025 CBS action-drama Tracker, the 2024 CBC series Allegiance and Hallmark’s 2024 TV movie All I Need for Christmas.

Williams has joined the elite ensemble of the upcoming Netflix limited series The Altruists, which dramatizes the rise and fall of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

The British Columbia native was born to a Korean mother and father of European descent. 

Williams’ recent success defies Hollywood norms in a media landscape in which Asians still secure only 3% of leading roles, even less for Asian males in romantic contexts.   His success reflects an increasingly multicultural society opening slowly to the full spectrum of human experience.

Melanie Perkins’ yearbook start up became Canva, earning her a top spot on Forbes’ list of World’s Richest Self-Made Women.

One of the world’s most influential tech CEOs is a young Filipina-Sri Lankan-Australian woman whose simple idea became Canva, a design platform with over 240 million users.

Meet Melanie Perkins. Born in 1987 to an Australian mother and Filipino-Sri Lankan father, Perkins began her entrepreneurial legacy early, selling handmade scarves as a teen. It wasn’t until she was a college student at the University of Western Australia where she tutored students in softwares like Photoshop and InDesign. Perkins watched her peers struggle to learn basic design skills and functions leading her to realize design wasn’t difficult, the tools were.

With a vision to create a software that would make digital design more accessible and user-friendly, Perkins and her partner and now husband, Cliff Obrecht, developed Fusion Books, a platform that helped students create their school’s yearbooks. Fusion Books was just a small look into what Canva would actually become as the business grew quickly in Australia, proving that people do want design tools that were easier to use.

Perkins pushed to expand her vision globally, so she looked to investors for help and after getting over 100 rejections, she met Chinese investor Bill Tai. He connected Perkins and Obrecht with a team that helped build the very first version of Canva which launched in 2013. In just a few months through word of mouth, millions of users were logging into the platform because it truly made design simple.

To stay ahead Canva expanded to presentation tools, website building, and video editing, providing entire template libraries for users. By 2018 Canva was declared “unicorn status” and in 2021 a $200 million funding round valued the platform at $40 billion, making it one of the most valuable private software companies and one of the most valuable companies led by a woman.

As of August 2025 Canva has a valuation of $42 billion with over 240 million people using it, including 95% of the Fortune 500. Perkins has been recognized on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in 2016 and their Power Women and World’s Richest Self-Made Women lists in 2025.

While Perkins and Obrecht both own 18% of Canva, the couple has pledged 30% of their equity to the Canva Foundation for charitable causes. Through this foundation, Canva has helped fund humanitarian projects, disaster relief support, and global education access. Free Canva access to nonprofits and schools gives millions of teachers, students, and community leaders the luxury of useful design tools at no cost.

Melanie Perkins went from tutoring her classmates to running a $42 billion powerhouse as one of the most influential women in tech. She built a company for the next generation of innovators, putting creativity in the hands of anyone around the world.

Thes 5 Asian Instagram celebrities shape digital culture for hundreds of millions around the globe.

This lineup reflects the cultural power, global influence, and massive reach of Asian names across the world. Here are the most followed Asian celebrities on Instagram as of January 2026.

Starting this list off strong is Priyanka Chopra with 94 million followers. She is currently India’s highest paid actress and has been one of the country's most recognized stars since she was crowned Miss World in 2000. Her feed consists of her own personal film and fashion projects, philanthropy, and her daughter, whom she shares with husband Nick Jonas.

Next up is another Bollywood actress, Shraddha Kapoor with 95 million Instagram followers. She has proven to be a triple threat through her acting, dancing, and singing skills demonstrated in multiple blockbuster films. Kapoor blends promotional content with relatable posts like candid selfies and family moments that keep her audience connected and wanting more.

At number three we have India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi with 99.5 million followers, holding the title as the most-followed Asian political figure as well. His massive digital following reflects how government leaders can benefit by reaching global audiences as his feed functions as a direct communication platform, sharing his international visits, speeches, and national updates.

Our runner up is Lisa from K-Pop group BLACKPINK with 106 million followers. She is currently also the most followed K-pop figure on Instagram and has made a name as one of the most influential artists of this generation. Her viral editorial photoshoots and luxury brand campaigns allow Lisa’s reach to span across Asia, Europe, and the United States, showing just how much of a global icon she really is.

And finally topping this list is Virat Kohli, a cricket legend with 274 million Instagram followers, making him the most followed Asian on the platform. Beyond cricket, his feed depicts training videos, brand partnerships, and lifestyle moments, giving his followers a peek into his personal life and off-field personality. His fanbase reaches across every continent and his level of engagement emphasizes just how powerful his presence is.

From self-taught coder to the head of a $1 trillion portfolio, Tan is refocusing the world’s most elite accelerator on the rapid expansion of AI.

Since Garry Tan assumed the role of President and CEO of Y Combinator in January 2023 he has led a structural transformation to return the world’s most prominent startup accelerator back to its fundamental model: focusing on early-stage tech founders while fostering the rapid growth of the AI sector.

Tan pulled the plug on the YC Continuity growth fund, opting to invest in seed-stage companies rather than those seeking Series B or later funding rounds.

This strategy has delivered exponential results with YC-backed startups achieving weekly revenue growth of 10% by late 2025, exceeding targets of 5-7%, and up from 2-4% pre-AI.

Y Combinator’s portfolio has been estimated to be as high as $1 trillion.

Prior to heading YC Tan served as Managing Partner to Initialized Capital, which he founded in 2012, and remains a Board Partner.  There he took early stake in companies that have grown into multi-billion-dollar operations, including Coinbase, Instacart and Flexport.  Such investments have yielded the bulk of his net worth which is estimated by Forbes to be $300 million.

Tan’s first ride at Y Combinator from 2010 to 2015 was as a Partner and Designer-in-residence impacting over 700 startups.  He also co-founded the blogging platform Posterous which was acquired by Twitter in 2012 and was the 10th employee at Palantir, where he designed the company’s logo.

Tan has influenced national policy by providing testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, urging lawmakers to enforce antitrust laws in advocacy for “little tech.”  Locally, he’s also criticized Bay Area politicians for their unfriendly business policies, entrenched NIMBYism, and failure to prosecute violent anti-Asian crime effectively.

Of Chinese and Burmese heritage, the 45-year-old was born in Winnipeg, Canada and raised in Fremont, California.  “If I wanted a future, I had to build it myself,” he has said.  A self-taught coder at a young age, Tan drummed up business by cold-calling local shops to design their websites. 

He earned a bachelor of science in computer systems engineering from Stanford in 2003.

Toni Ko’s experience working at her parents' beauty store gave her the knowledge and confidence to create a $500 million brand that would disrupt the industry.

Toni Ko built a makeup brand that would force change throughout the entire beauty industry.

Born in Daegu, South Korea, Toni Ko immigrated to Los Angeles with her family when she was 13. When she arrived, she learned English quickly working at her parent’s cosmetics store after school where she developed an early understanding of the beauty market. By the time Ko was 20, she made the conclusion that high-end and brand name cosmetics were too expensive for most people and drugstore dupes were low quality.

In 1999 Ko took a step that would democratize quality beauty products. With $250,000 loaned to Ko by her parents, she founded NYX Professional Makeup, personally creating and managing every part of her business. NYX launched with 18 different eyeliners and lip pencils which were long lasting, pigmented, and priced far below brand name competitors. Immediately NYX sold out and generated millions during its first year proving that Ko’s approach was working and it was something the industry hadn't seen before.

But what really put NYX in everyone’s makeup bags was how Ko marketed. She didn’t rely on traditional advertising and instead perfected influencer marketing before influencers were even a thing. Ko sent products to YouTubers, makeup artists, and bloggers hoping that authenticity would outperform actual paid campaigns and she was right.

NYX became one of the first beauty brands to dominate digitally and consumers realized that quality makeup doesn’t always have to break the bank. Ko closed deals which got NYX into major retailers such as CVS Pharmacy and Target making it one of the fastest growing cosmetic brands in the country. In 2014 NYX was acquired by L’Oréal for a whopping $500 million, one of the most notable exits for an Asian American founder in beauty.

Ko didn’t stop there as she began exploring other entrepreneurial paths, launching Perverse Sunglasses in 2016 and Bespoke Beauty Brands, a platform that partners with creators to develop their own cosmetic lines, in 2019.

Through BBB, Ko helped launch viral beauty brands like KimChi Beauty and Jason Wu Beauty, strengthening her legacy in the cosmetics industry. Toni Ko chose to understand consumers, redefining what “affordable beauty” can really look like and opening the door for Asian American representation in a space where it was limited.

Following the success of her debut mixtape, Sailorr is carving a unique lane by pairing “it-girl” style with the vulnerability of modern soul.

R&B artist Sailorr is carving out her lane in the contemporary soul scene, anchored in bittersweet vocals with a high-gloss “it-girl” aesthetic.

Her 2025 debut mixtape From Florida’s Finest solidified her as a breakout force.

The lead single “Pookie’s Requiem” is Sailorr’s most popular track with over 33 million plays on Spotify.  Its lyrics pack a punch of sharp, relatable toxicity that replaces the affectionate term “pookie” with a sarcastic catchphrase for a “crash out.”

“Cut Up” follows suit with jagged confidence and a nostalgic bass-heavy rhythm.

Conversely “Down Bad” opts for longing and vulnerability accompanied by a soft melody filled with booming 808s.

Sailorr’s aesthetic commonly honors her heritage, including her wardrobe of áo dài dresses, an appearance highlighted by a troupe performing a traditional Vietnamese fan dance and her black grill – both a nod to her southern culture and one to the ancient Vietnamese beauty tradition of teeth blackening. 

The 27-year-old also said her stage name pays respect to her family who were among the many Vietnamese refugees who fled by boat as sailors.

The Jacksonville-native’s rapid ascent has yielded 2 million monthly Spotify listeners.

Toronto follows the Dodgers’ blueprint in signing 6x NBP All-Star 3B Kazuma Okamoto to bolster World Series ambitions.

After falling just one game short of a World Series title against the Dodgers’ Japanese-led trio, the Toronto Blue Jays are adopting a similar strategy.  The team has officially signed six-time NPB All-Star third baseman Kazuma Okamoto.

The 29-year-old infielder officially agreed to a four-year, $60 million contract to join the reigning American League champions.  The deal is backloaded with a $5 million signing bonus and a $7 million salary for 2026 before escalating to $16 million annually through 2029.

Okamoto’s signing is backed by stellar credentials.  Though his 2025 season was limited due to a left elbow injury he recorded career bests for batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage.  From 2018 to 2023 the 6-1 220 pound thumper hit at least 30 home runs in each season as a member of the Yomiuri Giants.

Under the MLB-NPB posting agreement the Blue Jays must pay a near $11 million transfer fee to the Giants.

Having seen their dreams crushed by Ohtani and Yamamoto, the Jays are now banking on their own Japanese hero to be the missing piece of a championship puzzle.

Okamoto is no stranger to international success.  His homerun clinched the 2023 World Baseball Classic Championship win over the United States.

Casinos have built entire ecosystems around Asian clientele, blending cultural symbolism and familiarity to keep them engaged longer and exploit the community's high rates of problem gambling.

Have you ever wondered why casino advertising is heavily directed towards Asians? Well, casinos don’t leave anything to chance, especially when it comes to marketing and one of the most strategically targeted demographic is the Asian community. Let’s take a look at why the industry has built an ecosystem with Asian customers in mind.

The first thing casinos look at is spending behavior in order to maximize the value of each customer. According to the most recent report from the National Council on Problem Gambling, Asian Americans and Native Americans experience higher rates of problem gambling, around 2.3% in comparison to White Americans who stand at 1.2%. Asians may not be gambling the most, but gambling issues occur more often in Asian communities, like in Illinois.

A 2021 study found that 13.6% of Asian residents in Illinois were frequent gamblers and 5% met the criteria for having an actual gambling problem. Casinos have to pay attention to these numbers because they show potential for repeat spenders, not just visitors.

Social factors are another component that plays into why casinos want to attract Asian customers. Patrons are more likely to participate in casino visits because they function as safe, comfortable, and familiar spaces. Many Asian traditions include games like pai gow or bầu cua, which include low stake gambling, especially during the Lunar New Year to celebrate and bond with one another. These games are played in association to luck and togetherness and winning always symbolizes good fortune.

Casinos have taken note of this. They take familiar elements of Asian culture and recreate them in a new environment. Tables are often lined with red and gold decor, the layouts are designed deliberately to align with feng-shui, and lanterns and money trees are strategically placed throughout the venue. Food familiarity also keeps customers from leaving as it creates a full cultural environment rather than just a place to gamble, so casinos make sure there are dim sum deals, congee stations, and Asian buffets only a few steps away from the gaming floors.

During the Lunar New Year, casinos invest heavily in their Asian clientele with aspects like red envelope invitations and zodiac themed displays, making it one of their most profitable times of the year.

Another way casinos directly target the Asian community is with multilingual advertising through billboards, printed mail, and digital ads. There are also shuttle buses that run through Asian neighborhoods, helping reduce transportation issues and making casinos feel more accessible for the community.

While all of these elements can be labeled as cultural inclusion, some find it concerning and believe casinos should not be exploiting cultural traditions for profit. Casinos understand the numbers and the cultural symbolism, meaning they know how to create an environment where Asian customers feel both welcome and encouraged to stay which leaves the line between cultural appreciation and targeted exploitation blurred. Whether your perspective sees this as inclusive or predatory, it is clear that the relationship between casinos and the Asian community is far from accidental.

This Taiwanese chain has won over the Asian American community with fresh brewed coffee and quality pastries at affordable prices.

When you walk into 85°C Bakery Cafe, the nostalgic smell instantly feels like home and for many Asian Americans, this is the best place to start the morning with freshly brewed coffee and warm pastries.

It all started when a Taiwanese man, Mr. Cheng-Hsueh Wu stayed at a 5-star hotel. While eating at the hotel cafe, he realized how much he had really just spent on coffee and a treat, so he began to envision a cafe that offered premium pastries and beverages at an affordable price. And from there 85°C Bakery Cafe was born in 2004 with its first location in Taipei, Taiwan. The name 85°C was intentional as it referred to Wu’s belief that this is the optimal temperature to serve a cup of coffee.

This bakery quickly became a local phenomenon as locals were drawn to the cafe’s welcoming atmosphere and wide variety of food and drinks, which were all freshly made in house. 85°C offered an open bakery concept, where individually wrapped breads, cakes, and pastries were baked and added throughout the day, keeping a delicious scent trapped inside at all times.

By 2006 the first overseas store was opened in Sydney, Australia and one year later, the first cafe in China was unveiled, expanding the company’s brand. In 2008 85°C made its way to the United States with a location in Irvine, California, a city where Asians Americans now make up 45% of the population. Lines were wrapped around the block, word spread rapidly through other Asian communities, and it was clear that people were not just visiting 85°C for their espresso, but for an experience in a space that feels modern, yet still familiar.

Today there are over 1,000 85°C Bakeries worldwide, with 59 stores in the United States. The brand recently added their first East Coast location in 2025 in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, which is home to the very first 85°C drive through. Each location features handcrafted drinks made to order and a selection of over 50 pastries that are baked by the hour.

85°C blossomed from the simple realization that coffee and pastries shouldn’t be a luxury, making it so much more than just a bakery. It’s also a peaceful study spot, a post-dinner stop, and a reminder of home, proving Asian-founded brands can be successful globally without losing authenticity and their identity.

After orbiting the Earth 3,920 times, decorated Navy SEAL and Harvard MD Jonny Kim successfully concluded his mission aboard NASA Expedition 73.

Astronaut and flight engineer Dr. Jonathan Kim concluded a historic eight-month mission aboard the International Space Station by returning to Earth on December 9, 2025.

As part of NASA Expedition 73 Kim spent 245 days in space, orbiting the Earth 3,920 times and traveling nearly 104 million miles.

The crew’s mission centered on scientific research on human health in microgravity.  Kim investigated the physiological effects of spaceflight and observed the behavior of super-cold fluids in weightlessness.  On the ISS he also configured robotic Astrobee free-flying assistants that allow scientists to manage tasks from Earth so astronauts can focus on complex research.

Kim joined NASA in 2017 as part of Astronaut Group 22, making him the first Korean American astronaut.

Although he maintained straight A’s in high school, Kim felt that traditional college wasn’t for him.  Instead, he answered the strongest calling he had at the time and became a Navy SEAL.  In 2002 at 18 years old, he enlisted in the United States Navy.

During two Middle East deployments he completed more than 100 combat missions while serving in multiple high-stakes roles including navigator, combat medic and sniper.

Kim was the recipient of the Bronze Star Medal and the Silver Star, the latter of which was awarded for his valor in rescuing multiple wounded soldiers in the face of enemy fire and providing life-saving combat trauma care.

To honor fallen comrades and serve a greater cause Kim earned an MD from Harvard Medical School in 2016 after earning a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of San Diego. 

Meeting astronaut physician Dr. Scott Parazynski while in med school inspired Kim to consider a career with NASA.

The 41-year-old Santa Monica native is the son of Korean American immigrants.  His vast achievements are rooted in a resilience developed from a tumultuous childhood.