Celebrating AAPI Excellence — 5 Entrepreneurs Empowering SF’s Filipino Cultural District + Beyond
The Tagalog term Hiraya means the “realization of one’s hopes and dreams” — a feat that Kultivate Labs is excited to kick off with a fundraiser event of the same name Friday, August 2, 2024, from 5:30-8:30pm, atop the Salesforce Tower. This celebration is meant to economically empower and transform Mission St into a Filipino Cultural Corridor, as well as inspire, empower, and delight with entertainment, drinks, and small bites.
Although attendees at this exclusive, invite-only fundraising soirée are surrounded by panoramic sunset views of San Francisco, this event is not simply a “party above the clouds.”
It’s also a preview to a horizon of change, ushered in by attendees’ own illustrious contributions as local creatives, cultural allies, and members of partner organization who have collaborated with and supported Kultivate Labs.
As a non-profit economic development and arts organization, we create thriving commercial ecosystems by accelerating businesses that preserve culture and community. We provide space and opportunities for the arts to flourish so that commercial activities are activated and reflect the community at large.
Kultivating the Future
Let’s take a deeper dive into highlighting the work of key figures who have helped shape our dynamic, growing cultural and economic hub, and with whom we’ve had the opportunity to cultivate synergy and momentum.
Jenn Ban
Sacred Skin Adornments | Bituin Studios
Photo courtesy: Melisa Mendez
As a queer, Filipino-American multidisciplinary artist, community worker, educator, and energy healer – Jenn Ban integrates transcendence and though-provoking imagery to generate healing through art. Jenn illustrates the ways in which learning and unlearning are an art by balancing vulnerability, comfort, and provocation in her pieces. They employ an array of mediums including ink, acrylic paint, wood, found objects, repurposed material, textiles, printing, and more – to create art inspired by Filipino culture and natural building. Jenn also offers Sacred Skin Adornments, which are Reiki-infused tattoos.
“Jenn lives and breathes Reiki into their tattoo sessions as a powerful modality of healing and intention. As an artist and cultural practitioner, their work has been featured across the United States and internationally in numerous articles, galleries, exhibits and museums in the Philippines and Europe. Jenn is a Teaching Artist with Raizes Collective, co-organizer of Warriors Grace Austronesian Gatherings, co-founder of Commune Artist, a Resident Artist at Balay Kreative Studios and at Fibershed Learning Center and a recipient of the 2022 San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist Grant” (Creative Sonoma, Cultural Kultivators).
Jenn launched a “multisensory art installation” entitled Dito Lang with Balay Kreative at UNDSCVRD in October 2023, during Filipino-American History Month (Balay Kreative).
Photo courtesy: @markyenriquez
She also secured a 5-year retail space through SEED Network's ACE Collective with Jerome Noveras and Thank You Saint for their collective, Bituin Studios. Their studio is located in San Francisco’s SOMA Pilipinas and functions as a San Francisco-based, Filipino-American owned and operated body art studio.
“Araw ng Kalayaan,” Art Exhibition exploring Filipino/a/x liberation, resistance, resilience and reclamation of freedom at Bituin Studios, June 8th 2024, Photo Courtesy: Jy Jimmie Gabiola
Stay connected with Jenn:
Check out the Cultural Kultivators podcast to hear about Jenn’s journey.
Deanna Sison
Victory Hall | Lady Victory | Little Skillet | Mestiza
Photo courtesy: Mestiza
Mural by Cheyenne Randall titled “Vanilla Sky,” depicting Filipina singer Grace Nono
“I just want to be surrounded by good food, good people, and good vibes, so that’s how Mestiza was born: paying homage to my Filipino roots, as well as the way that I grew up eating a mixture of different cultures and influences. Even the word ‘Mestiza’ traditionally, it's common Filipino slang to refer to a person of Spanish origin. But my interpretation of 'Mestiza' is its true meaning, which is mixed, and I feel like that’s what we’re about: this harmonious mixing of cultures… Mestiza speaks to a lot of people who grew up in the Bay Area, because everyone comes from a different background.”
Deanna Sison in 2017 write-up from the UNDSCVRD blog
Braised Pork Adobo Wrap
Photo courtesy: Melissa de Mata
Mushroom Tempeh Sisig Bowl
Photo courtesy: Melissa de Mata
Deanna Sison is an innovative visionary behind Victory Hall, Lady Victory, Little Skillet, and Mestiza. She made the difficult decision during the pandemic to permanently shut down Mestiza. However, she persevered with the reopening of her “passion project” on 214 Townsend St., San Francisco, CA near Oracle Park, appointing Chef Syl Mislang to lead the charge. Deanna’s culinary journey illustrates versatility and a desire to share the rich, overlapping influences of Black, Latinx, and Asian cuisine in the Bay Area. She is also an active collaborator in the Kultivate community with Lady Victory – an SF Top 100 Restaurants Recipient – as a branding client of Plinth Agency, a San Francisco-based creative agency led by Desi Danganan and Andre Sibayan.
“Deanna Sison is a culinary trailblazer, a custodian of Filipino tradition, and an influential force in San Francisco’s hospitality scene. Sison’s passion for authentic flavors and top-notch hospitality has been heavily influenced by her Filipino roots, European upbringing, and time spent in the kitchen alongside her mother. Deanna brings more than a decade of excellence to Little Skillet, the wildly successful lunch spot that's been serving up homespun Southern classics and comfort dishes in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood since 2008. Her craft cocktail bar, Victory Hall, opened in 2013 as a gathering place and cornerstone of the community with handcrafted seasonal cocktails and fresh takes on bar fare favorites” (Mestiza SF).
Photo courtesy: @markyenriquez
Stay connected with Deanna:
Learn the full scoop about Mestiza’s comeback here:
Mestiza recently introduced reservation-only kamayan dinners to their menu in May, so make sure to RSVP and secure a spot here.
Chef Francis Ang
Abacá
Photo courtesy: Abacá
Photo courtesy: @markyenriquez
Photo courtesy: Melissa de Mata
“UNDISCOVERED is great exposure for Filipino culture. Because a lot of people have no idea where the Philippines is, let alone how to spell it! So that's going to be a wake-up call, and then they are going to realize how good Filipino food is, and everybody is going to go eat Filipino food more than any other cuisine. Just kidding!”
Chef Francis discussing the influence on visibility Kultivate ventures like UNDSCVRD have had on local Filipino American businesses
Photos courtesy: Melissa de Mata
San Francisco-born, Philippines-raised Chef Francis Ang is one of San Francisco’s top chefs, honing his craft at Gary Danko and Dirty Habit, as well as becoming a recipient of Food & Wine’s “People’s Best Pastry Chef” and Zagat's 30 under 30. In 2013, Francis and his wife Dian Kris – as Executive Chef, Director of Operations, and fellow owners of Abacá Filipino restaurant – started Pinoy Heritage to feed those impacted and stranded by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
Photos courtesy: Melissa de Mata
“By 2016, Ang and his wife decided to take a deep dive back into their culinary roots. The couple traveled to the Philippine islands for six months, studying the local cuisine from origin to evolution. As a result, Pinoy Heritage was born, a Filipino pop-up. In 2018, Pinoy Heritage won Eater SF’s “Pop-up of the Year” award as well as San Francisco Chronicle's Rising Star Chef. In 2019, Ang also won Starchef's Rising Star Chef. Ang also worked with Michelin-starred Taj Campton Place Hotel, where he created their dessert program. During the summer of 2021 Chef Ang's dream of opening a brick and mortar restaurant came to fruition with Restaurant Abacá, located inside the Hotel Alton of the Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. It has already garnered awards from Esquire’s America’s Best New Restaurant to James Beard Semi Finalist for best new restaurant to "Most Innovative Menu" from Eater SF and New York Times “50 best restaurants in America” (Restaurant Abacá).
Stay connected with Chef Francis:
Delve more into Abacá:
Susie Kagami
KOHO SF
Photo courtesy: Anoy Phuangsavath
Photo courtesy: Mark Shigenaga, KOHO SF
Susie Kagami has served as an Asian American arts and culture advocate and non-profit leader for nearly two decades, with her background in fundraising, strategic planning, and partnerships. As a local and a mother who raised her child in the educational, extracurricular, and cultural environment of San Francisco, she has poured back into Japantown through her outreach work as community organizer and non-profit staff.
Photo courtesy: @markyenriquez
“Susie Kagami is currently the Founding Executive Director at KOHO SF, where she focuses on creating immersive cultural experiences in San Francisco's Japantown. She leverages key opportunities & empowers teams to successfully build thriving cultural communities. She has held leadership roles in the AAPI non-profit space as former Executive Director of the Asian American Women Artists Association, Manager of the Japantown Cultural District, in Development at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California and Operations at the Oakland Asian Community Center” (KOHO SF, The Org).
Flier courtesy: KOHO SF
Be part of the celebration at BonPOP 2024, an “Obon festival [and] a reimagined Bon Odori event” by KOHO and Gardens of Golden Gate Park. It is an “inclusive event” meant to honor ancestors through “dance, song, and rituals” (KOHO SF).
Stay connected with Susie & KOHO SF:
Gayle Romasanta
Filipino American Development Foundation/Bayanihan Community Center | Larry the Musical: An American Journey
Photo courtesy: PapaLoDown Agency
BRAVA PRESENTS — Larry the Musical: An American Journey (3/16-4/14)
Photo courtesy: Rudi T. Cruz
Gayle Romasanta is a writer, musician, composer, dramaturg, community organizer, and proud Stockton, CA native, where she still resides. Gayle’s work – which has been featured by the New York Times, Time, Smithsonian Magazine, Harvard University’s Education Next Journal, KQED’s The Forum, ABS-CBN and more – empowers the cultural representation of Filipino-Americans in the arts. She co-authored the children's book Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong with late historian and academic, Dr. Dawn Mabalon about Larry Itliong. Gayle wrote and executive produced Larry the Musical: An American Journey during her artist-in-residence at Brava! For Women in the Arts, to further highlight the importance of Larry Itliong’s life and legacy as a Filipino American leader.
In addition to her accomplishments as a Filipino-American storyteller and BIPOC community activist, Gayle is the founder of Bridge and Delta Publishing, a “publishing house dedicated to immigrant stories that are American at their core.” Her career as a businesswoman and multi-faceted creative places emphasis on documenting Filipino American civil rights history for generations to come, especially “Why every Filipino should know about Larry Itliong” (Bridge + Delta Publishing, Smithsonian Folklife).
Photo courtesy: @markyenriquez
“Gayle is the former artistic director of San Francisco’s Bindlestiff Studio, the only theater space in the U.S. devoted to Filipino American storytelling. Currently, she serves as executive director of San Francisco's Filipino American Development Foundation. She is also on the board of directors for the Yerba Buena Gardens Conservancy in San Francisco. As a violinist, she co-composed the first Google Philippines campaign commercial and has performed widely, such as at the San Francisco Asian American Jazz Festival 20th Anniversary and the Cultural Center of the Philippines” (Filipino American Development Foundation, PapaLoDown Agency).
Stay connected with Gayle:
@grromassanta | Gayle Romasanta LinkedIn
Find out more about Gayle’s work and Larry the Musical with this Client Success feature by Art of Hustle, as well as this video interview for the Smithsonian.
RELATED ARTICLES
