May is AAPI Heritage Month! Inspire and educate your team with these Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month quotes for work.
In this list, you’ll find 45+ quotes from AAPI leaders, authors, musicians, activists, business leaders, athletes, and more.
As a result, your team can start each day of AAPI Heritage Month with a thought-provoking or encouraging quote. Plus, read on for more ideas and activities to honor AAPI Heritage Month together.
Did you know: Unexpected Virtual Tours & Training is an Asian American-founded company!
At Unexpected Virtual Tours & Training, we create all of our virtual programming through a lens of intersectionality and historical accuracy. AAPI History Month is especially near and dear to our hearts.
Check out the AAPI History Month: Being American team building session, which celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander history from the 1800s through the present. Your team will learn about leaders like Fred Korematsu and Bhagat Singh Thind, take a virtual field trip to San Francisco’s Chinatown, and learn how Asian Americans have impacted every aspect of American life.
Or, if you want to explore the stories of Asian American women, try the AAPI History Month: The American Dream session, which shares the story of incredible intersectional women who fought for inclusion, including Queen Lili’uokalani, Indra Nooyi, and Patsy Mink. Then, take a virtual field trip through artwork important to Asian American women in San Francisco and play trivia associated with Asian American women in the armed forces.
In this post, you’ll find:
- AAPI Heritage Month quotes for work
- Quotes on a wide variety of topics to inspire everyone in your workplace
- Noteworthy quotes from Asian inventors, authors, and leaders
- Ways to celebrate AAPI Heritage Month at work
How to Share Inspiring Messages for AAPI Month with Your Team
Send a Daily Email
Each morning of AAPI Heritage Month, you can send your team an email with one of the quotes from this list to help everyone start their day feeling inspired and energized.
To deepen the connection with this activity, encourage employees to “reply all” to quotes that resonate with them. Then, team members can share their thoughts or offer background information they have on the quote’s author.
Another idea is to assign other people on your team to take turns sharing quotes each day. This helps to ensure team engagement all month long. Simply have everyone pick a favorite quote by an AAPI author, leader, athlete, or historical figure and share their words along with some information about their life and impact. Be sure to communicate in advance which day of the month each employee should share.
Start a Slack Channel
Create an #aapiheritagemonth Slack channel to inspire connection, dialogue, and insight on your team. In the chat, you can share quotes along with miscellaneous AAPI Heritage Month trivia or history. Furthermore, a Slack channel is a great place to involve everyone on your team in the conversation and encourage their own ideas and reactions.
With endless discussion topics, you can engage your team with a variety of APPI history and influences along with your quotes.
AAPI Month discussion topics:
- Japanese immigrants’ role in the building of the transcontinental railroad
- Asian and Pacific Islander representation in media
- Chinese immigration to the west coast during the California Gold Rush
- Hawaiian and Pacific Islander influence during World War II
- South Asian people’s influence on public law and anti-hate laws
- Native Hawaiian and Pacific people’s influence on social and climate justice movements
Begin Team Meetings with a Quote
Incorporate AAPI Heritage Month into your virtual team meetings. To do this, start your departmental meetings with a quote from this list highlighting someone who is Asian American. Dedicate the first section of your meeting to going around and hearing everyone’s reflections about the quote.
Furthermore, delve into an APPI Heritage Month topic together as a team. You can take turns each preparing a mini presentation on a topic of your choice to start off meetings. Everyone will learn something new together while honoring this occasion.
Find More AAPI Month Ideas for Work
Watch the short video below for even more inspiring ideas to engage your team around AAPI Month. Then, continue reading this post for meaningful AAPI Month quotes, team building sessions, and more!
AAPI Month Quotes About the Power of Identity
“Good things will come from self-expression.”
– John Cho
“I’m so proud to be an Asian and just knowing that if we think of something, we’re gonna have the opportunity to be the best version of ourselves and be the best.”
– Liu Yifei
“I am what I talk about in my music. I am Pinay, I’m powerful, I’m fearless, I’m unfiltered. And I like to hope that there’s young women out there who feel the same way. Or even if they don’t feel the same way, I hope to inspire young women out there to want to use their voice, to claim who they are and to embrace their identity.”
– Ruby Ibarra
Quotes About Success
“What I like to share about myself is my story, my art and my creative process. I guess messing up doesn’t take away from that. It’s still something, it’s still a story. A bad story is still a story, and I think that’s beautiful. There’s no way to lose.”
– Alysa Liu
“Success isn’t about the end result, it’s about what you learn along the way.”
– Vera Wang
“I always try to start out with some type of goal. Then I work backward and think of what I need to do to get there, and give myself smaller goals that are more immediate.”
– Kristi Yamaguchi
“Success is a collection of problems solved.”
– I.M. Pei
“Do not be bound by this age; aim to create a new age that will delight people throughout the world.”
– Masayoshi Son
“Choose the positive. You have choice, you are the master of your attitude, choose the positive, the constructive. Optimism is a faith that leads to success.”
– Bruce Lee
AAPI Month Quotes on Courage, Persistence, and Determination
“Winning is not always the barometer of getting better.”
– Tiger Woods
“Life isn’t perfect, any failures you have are actually learning moments. They teach us how to grow and evolve.”
-Phillipa Soo
“I intend to live life, not just exist.”
– George Takei
“The pursuit of excellence is a continuous process through life. Enjoy the pursuit.”
– Elaine Chao
“The harder the work, the greater satisfaction in accomplishing it.”
– Anna May Wong
Quotes About Personal Development & Growth
“Sometimes, you have to get angry to get things done.”
– Ang Lee
“Life is not what you alone make it. Life is the input of everyone who touched your life and every experience that entered it. We are all part of one another.”
– Yuri Kochiyama
“In a time of destruction, create something.”
– Maxine Hong Kingston
“I’m not going to say it wasn’t hard. But I had to let go. And I learned that when you not only let go, but open your arms wide and learn the lessons, that an experience — no matter how bad — can teach you. That’s when you rise.”
– Ann Curry
“Being a fish out of water is tough, but that’s how you evolve.”
– Kumail Nanjiani
“The things that go unsaid are often the things that eat at you.”
– Celeste Ng
“Anger can teach us forgiveness, hate can teach us love, and war can teach us peace.”
– Le Ly Hayslip
“The one who wins all the time is great and powerful, but the one who has been trampled on and fallen is who I admire most.”
– Michelle Kwan
AAPI Heritage Month Quotes About Justice & Civil Rights
“No one is truly equal and free until everyone is equal and free.”
– Helen Zia
“Our ultimate objective in learning about anything is to try to create and develop a more just society.”
– Yuri Kochiyama
“For no nation can ever make real and lasting progress in civilization unless its women are following close to its men if not actually abreast with them.”
– Dr. Mabel Ping Hua Lee
“To live an ethical life is to be held accountable for history.”
– Cathy Park Hong
“If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don’t be afraid to speak up.”
– Fred Korematsu
“We have to build things that we want to see accomplished, in life and in our country, based on our own personal experiences … to make sure that others … do not have to suffer the same discrimination.”
– Patsy Mink
Quotes About Being Brave
“Actually being able to exercise your own choice can bring about greater opportunity. I think it’s just as important what you say no to as what you say yes to.”
-Sandra Oh
“There have been moments where I didn’t say things, and I always felt like I should have said something. But the times that I did speak up and tried to do something, to the best of my ability, those I think were the things I could say I’m proud of.”
– Helen Zia
“A single seed can turn into a forest. A single heart can transform a nation.”
– Bryan Thao Worra
“If you can’t change your fate, change your attitude.”
– Amy Tan
Quotes About Visibility & Owning Your Culture
“[It’s our job,] from the littlest person to the oldest person everywhere, to say, ‘We treasure this, this is our home, this is what gives us sustenance, this is what gives us meaning.'”
– Yo-Yo Ma
“The power of visibility can never be underestimated.”
– Margaret Cho
“I need to talk about Chinese culture. We have deep, strong philosophy and culture. I want to share some information, tell the worldwide audience.”
– Jet Li
“A lot of times, people think of Asian culture as some mythical world instead of modern people with modern occupations with modern problems, modern tools. Like, we’re not all just talking Taoism and kung fu – some people are just trying to get over their breakup with their boyfriend, and they’re Facebook-stalking.”
– Constance Wu
“Chinese culture has a lot of virtues that are tremendously valuable to not only us as Asian-Americans, but also the world in general.”
– Martin Yan
“My heritage is something that I have always been aware of, however, some would say that there is a disproportionately low number of Asians as professional athletes. I take pride in trying my best to be a role model to show young Asian American boys and girls that they are only limited by the size of their dreams.”
– Nathan Adrian
“To finally recognize our own invisibility is to finally be on the path toward visibility. Invisibility is not a natural state for anyone.”
– Mitsuye Yamada
AAPI History Month Quotes About Believing in Yourself
“Well, I’m not here to live up to anyone else’s expectations – I’m here to live to mine.”
– Jeremy Lin
“Education and imagination will carry you to places which we won’t believe possible. Make your life count – and the world will be a better place because you tried.”
– Ellison Onizuka
“Dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourself in a way that others might not see you, simply because they’ve never seen it before.”
– Kamala Harris
“Do something because you really want to do it. If you’re doing it just for the goal and don’t enjoy the path, then I think you’re cheating yourself.”
– Kalpana Chawla
“If people think you are this amazing, own it.”
– David Chang
“Don’t ever think that just because you do things differently, you’re wrong.”
– Gail Tsukiyama
“Absorb what is useful. Discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own.”
– Bruce Lee
FAQs About Honoring AAPI Heritage Month at Work
What is AAPI Heritage Month?
AAPI Heritage Month is a month to celebrate the history and influence of Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans. Additionally, this is a time to recognize the unjust treatment of Asian immigrants in the United States throughout history as well as the anti-Asian hate that persists today in America.
With this in mind, AAPI Heritage Month is an opportune time to demonstrate your company’s commitment to creating an inclusive environment. Utilize AAPI Heritage Month as a time for your team to learn and grow together through meaningful conversation and action.
Honor the annual occasion with a team-building activity, a thought-provoking dialogue, or a volunteer project with a nonprofit focused on helping AAPI people and communities.
How can I celebrate AAPI Heritage Month at Work?
We wrote a blog post on this exact topic! Read the guide: 12+ AAPI Heritage Month Activities. Additionally, Unexpected Virtual Tours & Training offers an immersive AAPI Heritage Month team building experience for remote teams. Learn more and book your spot – offered for a limited time during the month of May!
Celebrate AAPI Heritage Month with Unexpected Virtual Tours & Training
Experience our AAPI History Month: Being American team building session, which celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander leaders from the 1800s through the present. During this experience, your team will take a virtual field trip to San Francisco’s Chinatown and learn how Asian Americans have impacted every aspect of American life. As an optional add-on, you can have themed Treat Boxes shipped directly to each member of your team including 5+ treats created by Asian-American businesses that reflect Asian-inspired flavors.
Or, your team can delve into the stories of Asian American women with the AAPI History Month: The American Dream session. This live, virtual program shares the story of incredible AAPI women who fought for inclusion, including Queen Lili’uokalani, Indra Nooyi, and Patsy Mink. During this session, your team will take a virtual trip to San Francisco to explore artwork that was important to Asian American women. Plus, spark friendly competitions with trivia games associated with Asian American women in the armed forces.
Next Steps for Your Team
Discover memorable, engaging team programming all year long with Unexpected Virtual Tours & Training. From thoughtfully curated Women’s History Month and Indigenous and Native American heritage sessions to creative, one-of-a-kind holiday celebrations, our top-rated experiences bring learning and connection to every season. To learn more, fill out the brief form below, and a member of our team will be in touch!
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