Asian American and Pacific Islander Experiences in Tech and Beyond

Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month! It’s more important than ever to raise awareness around and celebrate AAPI perspectives in the tech field and beyond.

In an effort to honor and bring together the AAPI community and its allies, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center created 'Bravespace, a compilation of original songs, sounds, and meditations created by Asian American women and non-binary artists and musicians.' The compilation offers listeners a sweet reprieve from stress and trauma so they can reflect, grieve, heal, and grow.

Beyond sharing these creative works, and to properly mark AAPI Heritage, Automox’s Liz Ozust is here to chat about what it's like to work at a company advocating for diversity and inclusion in a distributed work environment.

Liz Ozust: Liz manages the People Business Partner team at Automox. Her team works closely with different parts of the business to build and support People solutions that engage employees to do their best work and empower a collaborative and fun distributed culture.

Now, without further ado, let's dig in.

What’s your backstory? What brought you to Automox?

When I was a kid, everything I ‘wanted to be when I grew up’ was related to science. But I wasn’t encouraged to pursue a scientific career. Instead, I ended up studying business in college.

My first taste of corporate life was an internship in International Finance. I quickly learned that wasn’t for me, and I grew interested in how an HR team could help companies engage, motivate, and support people in accomplishing their business goals. That’s when I changed majors. I came to Automox because I believe this place is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, where I could directly impact the way we approach all things people-related while we build our success story as a company.

What does Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) Heritage Month mean to you?

AAPI Heritage Month is important because it brings awareness to the cultures, customs, and heritages that shape the AAPI experience. It is especially important today, in the wake of blatant violence toward AAPI individuals. According to NBC News, “Anti-Asian hate crime increased by 339% last year compared to 2020, the height of the pandemic.”

The fact that there is an AAPI Heritage Month means so much to me. Representation of all people and cultures is important because diversity is inherent to this country’s foundational principles. So many people come to the United States from Asian cultures and have played significant roles in our nation’s history.

What does it mean to see representation for AAPI professionals in the workplace?

I can’t believe I’m about to share this, but recently I broke down in happy tears seeing my kids role-playing as Asian characters from movies with reverence – not as jokes. They played Raya and the Last Dragon, Shang Chi, and Over the Moon. I can tell you as a kid, I never said to myself, “I want to play [insert Asian character here]," especially when playing with my White friends. And if I had, my friends would likely have asked, ‘Who is that?!”

While it’s getting better, we’re so far from diverse characters as regular heroes in our stories. That kind of representation makes AAPI families feel truly included, even at school or in the workplace.

Diversity, especially in leadership, leads to stronger and more successful decision-making, innovation, employee engagement, and financial outcomes. Diversity and inclusion across all roles and levels has shown increased productivity, engagement, and retention. If these are the outcomes, why wouldn’t we do it? And why wouldn’t this be every business’s imperative?

Can you share some of your personal experiences as AAPI women that have shaped your perspectives today?

I grew up in Minnesota, in a city where I’ve always been ‘one of a few’ at school, even in college. The same goes for most of the places I’ve worked, too.

Most of my life, I’ve felt like an ‘other.’ I’ve always worked hard and kept my head down. I can clearly recount numerous experiences, through all the stages of my life, in which I’ve experienced bias as an Asian female. In the last year, I’ve heard more stories from friends and family that have experienced similar prejudice. Even with each other, we haven’t talked about it much.

However, the last year has galvanized me to embrace my full self and confront AAPI racism. Many of us were taught to cope by brushing it off. We learned to not draw any attention to ourselves. Those coping mechanisms have profoundly affected who I am, how I see the world, and even limited who I thought I could be. Now, though, I see the importance of sharing my experiences so others can better understand our collective experience. I hope my kids will never feel like they don’t belong because of their ethnicity and heritage.

Can you share stories to exemplify AAPI representation in tech or general workforce?

It’s tough. When you look across the tech industry, there’s a clear lack of diversity – at every level. According to U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) data, 63% of the tech workforce is comprised of non-minority employees and a 83% of tech executives are non-minority too. This stat indicates a lack of opportunity for minority team members. The EEOC report also notes a study of diversity across a group of Silicon Valley tech companies, where Asians represented about 50% of professional jobs but only 36% of management positions. Conversely, White employees represented 41% of professional jobs and 57% of management positions.

Stereotypes about Asians in the workplace contribute to the gap in support for Asians to experience career growth and recognition in the same way that their peers receive. It’s widely not talked about. Many AAPI workers are made to feel like they’re complaining when they ‘have it so good,’ even when they don’t.

Have you noticed specific biases towards AAPI individuals in the workplace? What do you want non-AAPI individuals to understand about your experience?

I’ve approached things in the same way, Amanda. I believe much of our behavior at work was taught or learned. Sometimes it feels like it’s just easier to get by if you go unnoticed. Work hard, don’t complain, don’t talk about the challenges (even within your cultural community).

Invisibility is effectively acceptance in society. As an Asian female, the stereotype is that we’re demure, seen and not heard. Growing up, and in parts of my career, I have been frequently dismissed or second-guessed, or worse made to feel shame for speaking up. As I write this, I still feel that old twinge of shame for seemingly ‘complaining’ and drawing unnecessary attention to myself.

Without an environment that creates psychological safety, it’s impossible to be vulnerable and have confidence that sharing vulnerability is acceptable. I am grateful to have it at Automox.

Who is your AAPI hero and why?

My parents were also refugees, who were separated and arrived in the US four years apart with nothing but what was on their backs. They sacrificed everything for us to have a chance to be free and live a good life. I can’t – and haven’t – wasted that opportunity.

What work do we still have to uplift AAPI voices?

We still have a lot of work to do to understand the different challenges and experiences across different groups within AAPI people. In addition to what you said about leadership representation, there generally needs to be more openness to consider and discuss why and how even ‘positive’ stereotypes are hurtful along with the history of underlying racism towards this community will support our voices.