The fifth annual Gold House Gold Gala returned to The Music Center in Los Angeles on May 9, bringing together more than 650 leaders across entertainment, business, technology, sports, fashion, and social impact to celebrate the newly unveiled 2026 Gold100 List. Formerly known as the A100, the rebranded Gold100 recognizes the Asian Pacific leaders shaping global culture and the future of the modern economy.
Gold House celebrates the leaders shaping global culture
Gold House continues to build spaces and initiatives that uplift and invest in Asian Pacific communities across industries. One of the organization’s signature initiatives is the annual Gold100 List, which honors the leaders, creatives, founders, athletes, and changemakers whose work has significantly impacted culture and society over the past year.
“In a year marked by fragmentation across industries, institutions, and communities, one force continues to unify and shape the future: culture.” Gold House shared in its announcement of the 2026 Gold100 honorees.
This year’s Gold Gala theme, “A New Gold World,” reflected a broader vision of collective abundance, creativity, and cultural influence at a time when Asian Pacific stories continue to redefine what mainstream leadership and representation look like globally.
“We are entering an era where culture is not just expression, it is infrastructure,” says Gold House Co-Founders, CEO Bing Chen and COO Jeremy Tran. “The leaders in the Gold100 are proving that the ability to shape culture is the ability to shape markets, movements, and the future itself.”
2026 Gold100 honorees across industries
Entertainment & media
This year’s entertainment and media honorees reflected the growing global influence of Asian Pacific storytelling and creative leadership.
Honorees included the teams behind BEEF Season 2, Chief of War, The Pitt, Wicked: For Good, KPop Demon Hunters, and Sinners, alongside creatives and artists such as Bruno Mars, Jenny Han, Kehlani, Laufey, Chloé Zhao, Destin Daniel Cretton, Daniel Chong, Maggie Kang, Michelle Wong, Arden Cho, Audrey Nuna, REI AMI, Lucy Liu, Lola Tung, and Jon M. Chu.
Business & technology
Leaders in business and technology included executives and innovators from some of the world’s most influential companies and platforms.
Honorees included Alexandr Wang of Meta, Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind, Melanie Perkins and Cameron Adams of Canva, Morris Chang and Dr. C.C. Wei of TSMC, Jason Kwon of OpenAI, Rahul Patil of Anthropic, executives from Adobe, TikTok, Etsy, Figma, Waymo, and Apple, as well as entrepreneur and investor Theresia Gouw.
Sports & gaming
The sports and gaming category celebrated athletes, gamers, and industry leaders continuing to reshape global entertainment and competition.
Honorees included Olympic athletes Alysa Liu and Eileen Gu, Team USA Paralympic sled hockey gold medalists Kayden Beasley, Jen Lee, and Brett Bolton, Seattle Seahawks players Brandon Pili, George Holani, Leonard Williams, Jason Myers, Ty Okada, and Zach Charbonnet, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa, Tetris CEO Maya Rogers, and gaming icons Hideo Kojima and FAKER.
Fashion & lifestyle
Honorees in fashion and lifestyle highlighted the impact Asian Pacific creatives continue to have across food, beauty, wellness, and fashion.
This year’s list included designer Sandy Liang, Sacai founder Chitose Abe, Public School New York co-founder Dao-Yi Chow, Hypebeast founder Kevin Ma, SharkNinja executive Neil Shah, HUMAN MADE leaders Rei Matsunuma and Rehito Hatoyama, Erewhon executives Josephine Antoci and Kabir Jain, and New York Times critics Tejal Rao and Ligaya Mishan.
Social impact
The social impact category recognized civic leaders, journalists, nonprofit executives, and advocates creating change across communities.
Honorees included New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, NBC News correspondent Vicky Nguyen, journalist Michael Luo, Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani, and the Walk for Peace Venerables.
New Gold
The New Gold category spotlighted rising leaders and emerging voices shaping the future of culture and innovation.
This year’s honorees included music group KATSEYE, actor Hudson Williams, Carolina Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, Ro co-founder Saman Rahmanian, TIME Kid of the Year Tejasvi Manoj, and designer duo Phan Huy and Steven Đoàn.
The evening also brought together a wide range of artists, actors, athletes, creators, executives, and cultural leaders from across the Asian Pacific diaspora and beyond.
See also: Asian Pacific leaders to be honored in Gold House 2024 A100 List at Gold Gala
Cold Tea Collective captures Gold Gala red carpet highlights, culture, and community
Beyond the Gold100 celebrations, this year’s Gold Gala red carpet also came alive through Cold Tea Collective’s coverage and interview moments captured throughout the evening. Coverage featured interviews by Jane Lee, camera work by Alex Mockridge, and editing by Samantha Sito with Natasha Jung.
Actors, musicians, athletes, founders, and creators spoke with Cold Tea Collective about what it means to see Asian Pacific communities celebrated across different industries at a global stage. The coverage highlighted reflections on culture, visibility, creativity, identity, and community during one of the biggest nights celebrating Asian Pacific excellence.
Many attendees reflected on the significance of gathering in a space that continues uplifting Asian Pacific creatives and leaders across industries.
Actor Kal Penn reflected on the power of storytelling and creativity, speaking about the “beauty of art” and its ability to bring people together across cultures and communities.
“But people got together to watch a comedy, or watch a series like Beef, right? Like, it doesn’t matter what your walk of life is. You’re in tuning into that. I don’t know your views. I know they might differ from mine,” says Penn. “That’s the beauty of art. It’s the beauty of comedy or streaming. You’re just bringing people.”
Penn also encouraged Asian Pacific creatives to continue creating their own work and not wait for permission from traditional systems.“We got to create it ourselves. You can’t wait around for somebody else to do that.”
Olympic gold medalist Eileen Gu shared thoughts on ambition, growth, and representation while navigating scrutiny on a global stage. “You don’t have to value everybody’s opinion equally,” shares Gu in our interview with her, emphasizing the importance of focusing on constructive feedback while letting negativity “run off your back.”
On empathy and perspective, Gu says, “Not everyone has to get everything. That’s what makes us unique. We all have different perspectives.”
Actress Tia Carrere reflected on the evolution of Asian Pacific representation in Hollywood and how meaningful it was to witness the growth of Asian Pacific creatives across entertainment over the years.
“I love seeing this beautiful carpet full of people that have come up in the wake of work like General Hospital or Wayne’s World, a time when they wouldn’t have anybody that looked like us in a movie, mostly,” shares Carrere.
On the importance of Asian Pacific creatives creating and championing their own stories rather than waiting for permission from traditional systems, Carrere says, “If you’re creative and you can create your own stories, you can write and direct and produce your own projects, then you don’t have to wait for permission from anyone else.”
Celebrating mothers, family, and intergenerational support
As the Gold Gala took place during Mother’s Day weekend, many of the evening’s most heartfelt moments centered around celebrating mothers, family, and the people who supported attendees throughout their journeys. Through Cold Tea Collective’s Mother’s Day coverage, Thuy, Kelly Mi Li, Ken Kirby, Jon Moon, and David Suh reflected on the sacrifices, encouragement, and unconditional support their mothers and loved ones provided behind the scenes.
Singer-songwriter Thuy reflected on the realities of balancing motherhood and creative work while expressing appreciation for mothers everywhere. “Now that I’m a mom, I’m like, ‘I’m so sorry to all my mom friends out there. I see you. I love you. You guys are killing it,” says Thuy.
Kelly Mi Li also reflected on balancing entrepreneurship and motherhood, encouraging mothers trying to “do it all” to continue pushing forward.“Be resilient, be strong, keep moving forward,” says Mi Li. “I’ve always respected moms, but after becoming one, it’s a whole other level of respect.”
Actor Ken Kirby shared hopes that Asian Pacific communities continue uplifting emerging creatives and talent while also sharing a heartfelt Mother’s Day message. “There’s a lot of talented people out here,” shares Kirby. “I think the AAPI community does a great job of pushing out newer talent, up-and-coming Asian Americans.” He adds, “Ma, thank you. I love you.”
Jon Moon reflected on the importance of original storytelling and supporting independent film as Asian Pacific culture continues to grow globally. “Original stories are still so important,” says Moon, who also shared that he was wearing jade gifted by his mother during the event.
Photographer and creative David Suh reflected on the growth of Asian Pacific communities across fashion, arts, and culture, sharing how meaningful it has been witnessing greater visibility and representation across industries. “It’s a rising tide that raises all boats, so I’m excited for every excellence and every success,” says Suh.
Together, the reflections added an emotional layer to the evening, highlighting how creativity, success, and cultural pride are often deeply rooted in family and community.
Looking toward the future of culture and community
In our interview with Gold House CEO Bing Chen, Chen reflected on the continued evolution of Gold House and the broader vision behind the Gold Gala.
“We are focused on using culture to bring us closer together so we can be more productive and further,” says Chen, emphasizing how culture shapes the way people collaborate, build relationships, and create change.
Looking ahead, Chen also emphasized the importance of maintaining a global perspective during a time of rapid technological, economic, and political change, sharing that many of today’s challenges require more holistic and collaborative solutions beyond individual communities or nations.
“It is less about what individual nations or individual communities can do, it is about what we can holistically do to solve these things,” says Chen. “We have just started with creativity and economics.”
As Gold House celebrated its fifth annual Gold Gala, the evening reflected the continued growth and visibility of Asian Pacific communities across industries and generations. From entertainment and technology to sports, journalism, fashion, and social advocacy, the night underscored how Asian Pacific voices are not simply participating in culture, they are helping shape its future.
See also: Identity, culture and business converge at the 2024 Gold Gala
