SEATTLE — If you think about Asian Americans in entertainment or media, you'll often find them in stereotypical roles, portrayed as nerdy or hardworking, a martial artist or an exotic woman.
But what if you saw more Asians in roles that showed them as strong, funny and hip? That's what JoySauce is hoping to accomplish as the first multimedia platform featuring Asian Americans.
Jonathan Sposato, co-founder and chairman of GeekWire, launched the site to showcase what he likes to call American Asians in a different light -- in entertainment, lifestyle, food, travel and comedy.
"I always felt like there was room to have, quite frankly, a more joyful interpretation of the American Asian experience, that stories can be more uplifting. Stories can be more humorous and irreverent," said Sposato.
You can find a reality TV series about 23-year-old Samantha Tan, a professional race car driver who is breaking barriers as an Asian and a woman. There's a show called "Mixed Six" about mixed-race couples who talk about their relationships, and a film about an Asian actor who's trying to break into mainstream Hollywood.
Viewers can also see unscripted and scripted streaming shows, licensed movies, stand-up comedy specials and listen to podcasts.
"And when I think about things like anti-Asian hate crimes, of course we all know that they are born out of a lot of bad things, and some of those bad things have to do with the fact that we're seen as other or foreign. But if we show our full spectrum of selves, not just that we're successful at the jobs that we do or that model minority trope," said Sposato. "But if we show ourselves as goofy and irreverent and doing unusual and unconventional things, and being badasses, I think that that is another way that we can put ourselves forth."
Growing up as a Korean-Chinese American, Sposato hardly saw anyone who looked like him in the media When he did, it was usually an Asian man cast as a martial artist.
"When you don't see yourself reflected in media, you feel like you're not important, that you don't exist, that you're invisible and you don't have a place at the table," said Sposato. "You almost lose a sense of your own identity."
That's why JoySauce challenges the stereotypes of Asian Americans and how they're typically portrayed.
“What if it's not about if you're a woman, (you’re) ineffably exotic all the time, or if you're a man, that you have some extraordinary power?” said Sposato. "I think it's only when we show our fuller spectrum of who we are as Americans that we participate more fully.”
Sposato encourages filmmakers, writers, producers and actors who need a platform for their projects will find a home in JoySauce to continue growing and expanding the platform.