What is Bridge the Gap?
Bridge the Gap is a creative community and platform for the children of Asian immigrants to have an open dialogue about the struggles of our cultural duality, the racism we have to deal with as an Asian minority, and learn from and interact with our Asian American community.
How is Bridge the Gap able to achieve its goals?
Bridge the Gap’s curriculum is inclusive, featuring panel discussions with our Asian role models. We offer trade-specific workshops, events, and a Bridge the Gap docuseries. We want to celebrate the achievements of our people while providing guidance, experience, and information to our youth.
How did this project start?
When I was growing up as one of the only Asian kids in my neighbourhood, I always felt like I had to deal with cultural issues on my own. I didn’t have anyone around me who could relate, so I internalized a lot of things that happened to me because I was Asian and had to bear the weight of those experiences alone. Once I started meeting other second-generation Asians in North America, it broadened my perspective on my cultural duality and how shared that experience was. I finally had people who could understand my view, and as we stood on that common ground sharing our stories, I felt the weight I used to bear start to fall off of me. We looked around at each other, a bunch of Asian creatives, and felt a responsibility to create something that could offer a sense of community to our peers and youth. In that thought, we decided to film the first episode of Bridge the Gap, and our partners have helped us grow BTG into an educational program over the last couple of years.
Bridge the Gap Trailer
What do you hope to achieve with BTG and the community?
Eventually, I would love BTG to scale into a festival that could showcase our community members’ music, film, art, food, and fashion. We are also working towards a BTG scholarship fund to give community members a chance to pitch their projects to our BTG board of advisors, selecting a winner to allocate the scholarship fund. The real hope is to provide support, community, and guidance to our BTG youth and watch them on their journey to shake up the world.
What are your favourite fashion brands right now?
I might live in LA now, but I’m a Toronto kid born and raised, and I always try to support my Toronto family where I can. I love vintage, and the only place I go for vintage in Toronto is In Vintage We Trust in Parkdale. They’ve always treated me like family in there, and there are very few times I walk out without buying something.
Legends League is always a staple for me. The perspective and product coming out of that brand is something I admire. The people I’ve met in the LL community have helped me grow as an individual. I’m forever thankful to Bry, Andrew, Adrian, Addy, and the LL fam.
Watching Joey and his team build Mr.Saturday into a unique brand has been fun and inspiring. The approach is refreshing, the details are flawless, and the execution is always progressive. I’ll always be rooting for that team, and I’ll keep collecting my Mr.Saturday items while I do so.
Lastly, I grew up always loving anything coming from Jerry Lorenzo. His creative palette and taste have always aligned with things I prioritize when it comes to style. Fear of God and ESSENTIALS is always a staple in my closet for those reasons, and I’m super excited to see the things coming from Jerry and adidas.
How has the community you grew up in influenced your sense of style and how you dress today?
My boy Gianfranc introduced me to the sneakerhead world early on, so I always had insight into which brands to look for or which sneakers we should have. That piqued my interest in fashion when we were young, and it remains a big interest in my life. My mom has also worked for Holt Renfrew for over a decade now. She has always kept me up to date on designer brands and luxury fashion. The mix of those two things has influenced my style growing up, but I still like keeping it super casual with subtle hints of designer items.
Any final words?
Yes! Join our community and acquire a BTG flower on our website for exclusive access to our curriculum and docuseries.
Trailer | Bridge the Gap Website | @bridgethegap.btg| @bridgethegapBTG
