DIRECTORY SPOTLIGHT: Great ExpectAsians Greeting cards for the rest of us. By Ramon Gil for AIA, November 2003 'Funny Faces.' An image on one of the greeting cards from Great ExpectAsians. Photo by Rosa Urmaza. Have you ever walked into a Hallmark store and found the perfect greeting card you need except for the fact that the people pictured in the card don't look like you at all? If so, then you should check out Great ExpectAsians. A new company offering a line of greeting cards geared specifically for Asian Americans. "Mainstream greeting cards feature mostly Caucasians. There are greeting card lines for African Americans and the Latino community but nothing for us." exclaims Glenda Villajuan, founder and president of Great ExpectAsians. "Like a typical parent, I went crazy with the digital camera when our daughter was born last year. Next thing I know, I had over 3,000 pictures of her. So I started making calendars and greeting cards for our friends and relatives." she explained. It was soon after that when Glenda realized the potential for greeting cards. "I printed out a 'try-out' set using one of those online digital photo places and all our friends loved them!" Glenda then read everything she could about the greeting card industry and after six months of reasearch all that was needed was to finalize the name. Glenda Villajuan displaying some samples. "The most popular card was the one with a picture of our daughter in a sack of rice, so the first name we came up with was 'Rice Kids' but some people thought it may not be too PC." Glenda admits. So after much brainstorming, 'Great ExpectAsians' was born. "Besides, the website name for 'ricekids.com' was already taken by some family actually named 'Rice'". She adds. At first, Glenda wanted to simply use all the cute pictures of her daughter. But her husband convinced her that if this was going to really work, they would need more images other than their daughter. They tried an open call for interesting images of Asian Americans but nothing seemed really appropriate. Luckily one of the people who answered the open call was a talented young photographer named Rosa Urmaza who was willing to do a photoshoot. After a few phone calls to friends who had children, they went to Central Park and spent the afternoon with 5 kids and a bunch of props. "The kids were great! They enjoyed putting on the the costumes and I just took the shots," says Rosa. In fact, most of the imagery used on the cards are of cute Asian and Amerasian kids of varying ethnicities. "We want our cards to be accessible for all Asian Americans. On our first shoot, we had a Chinese girl, a South Asian boy, two kids of Chinese/Irish descent, and of course, our daughter who is Filipina." Glenda states. "We are planning to shoot Korean, Japanese, and South East Asian kids as soon as our budget allows. And we're still accepting images that people send us...if it's something we can use." Being active in New York's APA nonprofit community, Glenda donated cards to The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families' (CACF) benefit gala in late October. "I think they were a big hit! Someone was just in the office today and said she was so excited to go visit the website." e-mailed Jessica Lee, executive director for CACF. According to Glenda, "That was our debut night, and the very next day we had 200 hits on the website and our very first sale!" The picture that started it all - 'Rice Baby'. In the next few weeks, Glenda plans to visit Asian themed museums and specialty stores. "We're just starting out but I hope this takes off." A chidren's advocate all her adult life, Glenda has been a board member for Filipino American Human Services, Inc. and a mentor with Asian Professional Extension. In 2001, she received the 'Caring for Children' award from CACF. "Asian Americans are at a disadvantage when it comes to services and products and we're greatly underepresented in many areas. This is just another way for me to try to change that." But Great ExpectAsians isn't the first company to try to make that change. An online search easily revealed other sources for Asian themed greeting cards. But most of them use 'traditonal' imagery like brush paintings, calligraphy, and people in native outfits. "We made a conscious effort to target Asians who grew up in America." Glenda says. But is there a big enough target market for Asian American greeting cards? According to the 2002 U.S. Asian Americans number less than 6% of the total U.S. population. And within that number, are various ethnic groups who don't speak a common language and are at different levels of assimilation into American society. "Some people identify themselves as Asian rather than Asian American and prefer "in-language" materials while those who identify themselves as Asian American tend to buy "mainstream" products. But Glenda isn't deterred. "Afterall, six percent of the U.S. population is still 14 million potential customers!" Great ExpectAsians New York, NY info@greatexpectasians.com email http://www.greatexpectasians.com website		DIRECTORY: Organizations Geographically based organizations, institutions, associations, projects, agencies, educational programs, etc: - New York - California - Washington, DC - Hawai'i - Illinois - Massachussets - Texas - Washington State Media Resources Print periodicals, electronic media, online communities, internet publications, books, films, plays, videos, etc. Commerical Retail products, online stores and other for-profit resources. Non-APA Links Other related organizations, government agenncies, advocacy groups, social services and immigration resources. By State Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachussetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Wyoming By Ethnicity Bangladeshi, Burmese, Cambodian, Chinese, Fiji, Filipino, Guamanian/Chamorro, Hmong, Hawai'ian, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Malaysian, Mongolian, Multi-racial, Nepalese, Pacific Islander, Pakistani, Samoan, Singaporean, South Asian, South East Asian, Sri Lankan, Tahitian, Taiwanese, Thai, Tibetan, Tongan, Vietnamese MORE SPOTLIGHTS From previous issues of AIA. OCTOBER 2003 Asians for Miracle Matches Giving hope and life to APAs with Lukemia. SEPTEMBER 2003 Thai American Young Professionals Assoc. A new organization for a new generation. AUGUST 2003 The Waianae Project Youths farm organic produce while learning about culture. JULY 2003 The 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors Raising controversial issues with their wacky brand of humor. JUNE 2003 Asian Professional Extension, Inc. Reaching out to the Asian American youth. MAY 2003 Hyphen Magazine A new print publication dares to go deeper. APRIL 2003 The Asian Art Museum A lovely new face for San Francisco's old Main Library MARCH 2003 Asian Family Services Helping Asian Immigrants in Connecticut BACK TO TOP SUBMIT AN ITEM