In honor of AAPI Heritage Month, Luce President and CEO Mariko Silver discussed the importance of learning about different perspectives and experiences and supporting efforts that benefit all communities in this interview with the National Academy of Public Administration.

What does AAPI Heritage Month mean to you? Why do you think it is important?

Mariko Silver: I think, particularly now, it’s important for us to be reminded collectively and individually about the importance of learning our entire American history, learning about not only our own communities, but all of the communities that make up the American fabric. Different perspectives bring additional value, and those different perspectives woven together are what make America. So I hope that people will take the opportunity of not just Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, but all year long, and not just African American History Month, but all year long, and not just Women’s History Month, but all year long, to seek out perspectives that they may not share experientially and to understand how the range of American lives, together, make America possible.

And I think particularly for public affairs professionals, having the designated month reminds us to really try to understand something new about the experience of those in the world to whom we as public affairs professionals have some significant sense of responsibility to. So I think it’s a really exciting opportunity. And I hope that people will take advantage of it.

For me, personally, as someone of Asian American descent, it’s also an opportunity for me—I’m of Japanese American descent—to understand more, not just about the Japanese American story, but about the incredibly diverse Asian American and Pacific Islander story. And we do say AAPI, or Asian American Pacific Islander, and that is a statement of solidarity, a chosen identity. And also, within that, are many different ethnic groups, many different types of experiences, many different ways in which people came to the United States, or in the case of Native Hawaiians, were here before the rest of us got here, and not to treat Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders as a monolith, but to really use it as an opportunity to understand nuance. And of course, it’s also an opportunity just to be proud and be seen. I have two small children, so for them to feel that their heritage is recognized and important, and to have it, in some very specific ways, in a sense on display, for them to be proud of, particularly during AAPI Heritage Month, but hopefully far beyond.

Read the full interview