Interview: Alice Tsui, Actor, Writer, Photographer

By Angela Tai

You mentioned that you were hesitant to participate in Forever 21’s very first Pride campaign since the company has a history of silence in regards to LGBTQ+ issues. What were some of your concerns that you discussed with Forever 21’s Creative Director to change that perception? 

Their creative director actually reached out to me on Instagram, so I didn’t have to go through a casting process or anything. She explained it was Forever 21’s first ever Pride campaign. Whenever a new company participates in Pride, I always have to ask why-- and with this company in particular, I was extra wary since I knew they had quite a homophobic history and that their business had suffered recently. I needed to make sure I wasn’t participating in a for-profit Pride campaign, first of all, and I also wanted to ensure it wouldn’t be exploitative of the queer community purely for the sake of increasing business and saving face. In Forever 21’s case in particular, I was also concerned about their sustainability and labor practices. As my career and platform has grown, I’ve had to think more about who I am and what I represent, as the companies and products I promote inevitably serve as a direct reflection of what I value. My platform is small, but I think my followers trust what I share, and I don’t want to break that. I had asked my agent for advice, and they told me to not worry about those things and to say yes to the campaign because I’m still young in my career and could benefit from an expanded portfolio. It didn’t entirely sit well with me to just blindly say yes, even though I agreed with the latter part of their advice. I ended up realizing that I wanted to honor my own integrity and think about how I felt about everything, regardless of how others would take it. So I did what I thought would be the scary thing and opened up a conversation with the creative director who had contacted me. I listed out all of my concerns, expecting them to tell me point blank that they no longer wanted to work with me, and I was ready for that rejection. Surprisingly, that didn’t happen. I found out that the company’s new owner is prioritizing sustainability and implementing long term plans to overhaul the existing unethical and unsustainable practices, and that the old homophobic founders no longer controlled the company. They explained that the campaign was in collaboration with The Trevor Project, that 100% of profits would be donated to that organization, and they’d even already directly donated 85% of the marketing budget for the campaign. In the end, it was the best possible outcome; I didn’t have to compromise my values and still was able to participate. It really taught me that speaking up in the midst of discomfort is the best thing to do.

What advice do you have for other individuals who want to ‘come out’ to their families but are nervous about it? 

Your safety is of the utmost importance - make sure you have a safety net and have people to reach out to if things go awry. Some people are living in countries or environments where the dangers of being out of the closet are actually worse than the pain of staying in it, which is unfortunate, but an important factor to consider. You also have to think about who and where your big “milestone” coming out is: your family, your friends, your work environment, your online space. They all come with different challenges. Coming out to family in particular can be difficult. My relationship with my family, for example, has never been particularly supportive, and I had to prepare myself for pretty intense blowback. Ask yourself why you want to come out - is it for yourself or for other people? As with anything else in life, hope for the best but be prepared for the worst; people’s reactions are hard to anticipate. Your parents may take things at their own pace. For me, understanding my parents’ upbringings was crucial in helping me overcome some of the hurt and anger from the lack of support. If you’re really ready, you have to be prepared to walk the road alone if ‘coming out’ doesn’t go well. There’s a time and place for everything - prioritize what feels good versus what doesn’t feel good and consider every factor before coming out. 

In Vantage Points, you play one of the lead LGBTQ+ characters. What do you hope viewers take away from this piece? 

It was a huge honor to participate; I’d been watching Wong Fu Productions since I was maybe thirteen or fourteen, and this was their first short film with queer leads. That role was an intersection of both of my identities: Asian & LGBTQIA+, and finally being able to represent both of those parts of myself in one character was amazing. I also think that in Asian culture specifically, queer experiences are so taboo that they’re scarcely talked about, so showing that it’s possible to be proudly out as an Asian American child of immigrants is important to me. It was wonderful to gain a small audience of fellow Asian queers.

I find that racial microaggression is often presumed as not applicable to Asians because we're considered as model minorities, which is a racist assumption (especially to the other POC) in and of itself. Have you ever experienced racial microaggression either in the workplace or on a personal level?

Definitely. I grew up in the Bay Area, where Asians were the majority, so I didn’t realize I was a racial minority among greater America until I moved away from home for college. My school was predominantly white, and I remember it hit me one day that every day, something or someone reminded me that I was Asian. People assumed that I had good grades and ate certain kinds of food. It was jarring to be made aware of my ethnicity so frequently after I’d been raised pretty much never thinking about it. I’ve definitely worried that anti-Asian microaggressions (or even full aggressions) will increase in the era of COVID-19; hate crimes have already gone up exponentially. Aside from the pandemic though, I think being Asian, and Chinese in particular, is what’s called a “model minority” role, meaning that people expect more from me in certain situations because I’m Asian. I remember researching about college admissions when I was younger, and many schools actually had higher grade and test score expectations from Asian American applicants, which is unfair. But at the same time, Asians float in this strange middle ground on the racial totem pole. I’m not basking in the privilege of whiteness, but I’m also not being shot in the street for the color of my skin. I would appreciate it if the microaggressions stopped, but I’m fully aware that other populations have it a lot worse. I try to put my energy into focusing on those when I can.

How have you been celebrating Pride 2020 despite COVID-19 limitations? 

I haven’t had the chance to properly celebrate the way I imagined I would; I’ve been actually surprisingly busy. LA Pride was replaced with a solidarity march for Black Lives Matter, which I really wanted to be a part of, but I ended up being out of town on the day of. I’ve been representing online, but I’d love to get together with my queer friends and do a socially distanced dance party or something. I’ve been going out to protests instead, which I guess fulfills that desire to be in a crowd, but it feels like a better use of my energy right now. My celebration will be more intimate this year, but that’s okay.

Do you have any current and/or future projects in the works? 

My best friend has been involved in the fight against police brutality for a while now, and recently we’ve been talking about putting together a podcast or teach-in curriculum of some kind to help people who want to learn how to be better allies - educating about the history of police brutality, informing the younger generation, providing them with information so that they can question systems, corporations, all of their surroundings. Normally I’d probably share about a creative project or new acting role that I’m working on, but this takes precedence right now, I think. I don’t want it to come off like my friend and I are perfect allies to be modeled after; we’re constantly learning more. But I think it’s a good way for us to help educate people who want to learn, because that shouldn’t be the job of BIPOC. They’re already exhausted.

What are some of the trends you’re following now? 

I don’t usually follow “trends,” I don’t think? Honestly the first things that come to mind are the trends I’m NOT following, like TikTok and Quibi. Content form is getting shorter and shorter as time goes on and I think it’s destroying our attention spans and critical thinking skills. That scares me. I’ve been trying to dive into more books lately, and take the time to watch long-form content.

What advice do you have for women who want to use social media for the greater good of society but don't know where to start?

Know your audience and think about your goals. If your audience is largely supportive and believes in the same things you do, are you truly pushing boundaries to try and educate people, or are you wanting a platform more for personal validation? I highly discourage people from using social media just to exempt yourself from looking racist, or like you might be part of the problem. Be ready for some pushback, especially if you have friends or family whose values differ from yours. People will always have their own opinions, and you have to remember not to take that stuff personally if a comment comes out of left field. It’s a fine balance between knowing when and how to take critique, and recognizing when something is a personal attack. Social media can be difficult to navigate mentally, but I truly believe there’s benefit to stretching your mind in any case. There’s no class on emotional literacy; we’re all taught to turn away from discomfort. If you’re going to engage with social media, just remember that discomfort is one of the great tools of life-- when you inevitably encounter something uncomfortable, let it teach you about something new, or even yourself. Take your ego out of it. It’s not about us in the end, even if a constructed profile makes us think it is