The Cost of Being an ‘Interchangeable Asian’
At some top companies, Asian Americans are overrepresented in midlevel roles and underrepresented in leadership. The root of this workplace inequality could stem from the all-too-common experience of being confused for someone else.
This image is a composite of 100 portraits made of Chinese, Japanese and Korean men by the artist Atta Kim as part of his series “Self Portrait.” Credit... Atta Kim
About three years ago, JC Lau, a game developer, was one of a handful of women of Asian descent working at Bungie, a large video game studio in Bellevue, Wash. At the office, which had an open-floor plan and a staff of predominantly white men, co-workers regularly mistook her for one of the other Asian employees sitting in another row nearby.
On one occasion, multiple colleagues congratulated Dr. Lau, who identifies as Chinese Australian, on a presentation led by a colleague of Korean heritage. “These were people I worked with on a daily basis,” she said.
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