WKOW (MADISON) — A local realtor was tired of going to networking events and seeing hardly any fellow Asians. So, she created her own meetup group Amasian.
“I’ve been a part of the business network in Dane County for the past 15 years,” Laura Lahti, founder of Amasian, said.
Lahti grew up in the suburbs of St. Paul Minnesota after being adopted from South Korea at five months old. Her adoptive family is white and so were most of the people she met when she moved to Madison over a decade ago.
“I was going to networking events, and I saw there was a need,” Lahti said. “Or a lack of Asian Americans or other Asians there.”
Knowing that there had to be more Asian American professionals and Asian-owned businesses to support in the area, Lahti created Amasian a year ago to provide a supportive and inclusive space for Asian Americans and people wanting to learn more about the Asian American community.
“There’s a lot of educational groups that you can join, or specific [groups] like the Hmong chamber or the Filipino chamber,” Lahti said. “But there wasn’t one for Korean and I’m adopted from Korea. So, there wasn’t anything I could join.”
Lahti says she’s proud of the growth, connection and education she’s seen take place over the last year of Amasian.
“We’ve had so much great feedback and support,” Lahti said. “We’ve had people wanting to come back and saying that they feel a sense of belonging and connectedness, which is great. And I feel the same way too.”
With one year under her belt, Lahti says she has big goals for the future of Amasian. She says eventually they’d like to host an AAPI restaurant week around Madison, an eggroll and dumpling fest and organize educational classes on different AAPI culture.
While the sky’s the limit for new Amasian opportunities, Wednesday’s focus was celebrating what can change in just a year.
“It’s just really nice to feel belonging and connectedness with my Asian heritage,” Lahti said.
Amasian meets at World of Beer in Middleton on the third Wednesday of each month.
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