Pinterest Announces New Initiatives to Celebrate Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is being held in May, and Pinterest has announced a range of new events and initiatives to help mark the occassion, and highlight API creators.

First off, Pinterest will feature a range of API creators on the Today tab in the app, which will also include resources for the community and allies in support of #StopAsianHate.

Pinterest is specifically commissioning work from WEAREUPRISERS, Nadya Okamoto, and Kim Saira, who will each share Story Pins and content to help spark inspiration in the app.

Pinterest will also look to highlight API-owned businesses in its May shopping spotlight, while it’s also hosting Instagram Live sessions with influential voices in the creator community.  

• Join us on May 21st as Pinterest hosts an Instagram Live session with Interior Designer Noz Nozawa and Fashion photographer Anthony Gomes. Join us @PinterestCreators Instagram to catch the conversation live! 
• Don’t miss Pinterest’s very own Head of Content and Creator Partnerships Aya Kanai’s IG live on May 14 with Jenny Wang, PhD, Asians for Mental Health

I mean, it seems a little odd that Pinterest is using Instagram Live for this, and not hosting the content in its own app – but then again, Pinterest doesn’t have its own live-streaming option, and Instagram does have more users and reach.

Pinterest doesn’t really see itself as a competitor to Instagram anyway, given the latter’s focus on social networking, and the former’s increasing emergence as an eCommerce platform. But Instagram is making a bigger push into Pinterest’s territory with its own eCommerce tools.

Seems a little strange, but that’s where it is.

Finally, Pinterest says that it will also support a range of API-related foundations and organizations through a two to one employee donation matching program, including Asian Pacific Fund, Hollaback and the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum​.

The Asian community has been subjected to increasing, and unjustified, tension in recent months, with race-based violence on the rise, seemingly linked back to the outbreak of COVID-19. Given this, Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month takes on even more significance this year, and it’s important to see social platforms like Pinterest looking to highlight the API community, as a means to facilitate increased connection and support.

You can read more about Pinterest’s Asian Pacific Islander Heritage month programming here.