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by Allan Hoffman
[ More Job Q&As ]
Gilbert Cheah, 38, is senior vice president of marketing at New York-based aMedia Inc., a company targeting the Asian American market with "aMagazine: Inside Asian America" and a Web site, aOnline. A native of Singapore, Cheah came to the United States in 1982 to attend Boston University, where he was the first Asian and foreign student to give the valedictory address. Cheah, who joined aMedia in October 1994, sees a number of challenges for Asians working in the U.S. "The prevailing philosophy in Asia is: Don't stick your neck out," he notes. "I found that the exact opposite is what succeeds in America."
Monster.com: What were some of the initial challenges in coming to the US?
Gilbert Cheah: I think navigating the entire bureaucracies, both the school bureaucracy and the local bureaucracy, in terms of everything from getting a license to figuring out how many levels of bureaucracy there were in this country. In Singapore, things are very centralized; you go to one place and you get everything. In the US, you have local jurisdiction, state jurisdiction, federal jurisdiction, and then you have the university jurisdiction. That took getting used to.
The language itself was surprisingly a bit of a problem, even though I had grown up studying English; American English is really quite different. There are a lot of words in the English-speaking world that Americans don't use. My accent at that time was more Asian and more British. People had difficulty understanding me. Understanding the way Americans relate to each other was also something new for me -- the sort of ease with which Americans just chat up strangers and talk to strangers. In Asia, people are more reserved. I found that refreshing, but it took getting used to.
Mc: What do you do in your job?
GC: When I first started, there was just the magazine, aMagazine: Inside Asian America. I was the associate publisher, basically overseeing the marketing and circulation and part of the advertising efforts. Last year we expanded and became a media company, launching aOnline.com, which is the Asian American site. My position as senior vice president of marketing is mainly to oversee the marketing, branding, promotion and publicity efforts for the entire company. That includes the magazine, which is ten years old now, the online site, as well as special events and what we called the aRROW program, for aRapid Route Onto the Web, which is a proprietary software and Web development program which we use to create sites for Asian American organizations.
Mc: What have been some of the challenges for you in the workplace?
GC: There was a whole set of challenges I faced as a student, but what was even larger was when I started working. In the university environment, people are very progressive -- I really didn't feel like I was treated differently. But I did feel like I was treated differently when I started working. I think I was the only minority person in the companies I worked for in Boston. My boss introduced me to the company by saying, "Gilbert's Asian, he's a very hard worker, I'm sure, because Asians work very hard. We need to hire more Orientals" -- as she put it -- "because they're all very hard-working." eek!how un-PC! I wouldn't really say it was racism, but I think it was certainly a stereotyping. I do believe the glass ceiling is alive and well for Asian Americans. Many Asians come from Asia to the U.S. believing in the opportunities of this country, which are there, but the reality of the glass ceiling is there as well. The federal commission on the glass ceiling actually talked about how Asian Americans seem to be stuck in middle management. The perception is they're very hard working, but they're not leaders, they're not visionaries, so they can't be given high responsibilities.
Mc: Is that part of why you chose to work where you're working?
GC: Yes, because I feel here at aMedia we're not just another magazine, not just another Web site. We are actually an advocacy, activist company and media organization, and that sets us apart. I feel that what we do here has great repercussions and benefits for the national community of Asian Americans. Workers are not really supposed to toot their own horns in Asia. You're supposed to work quietly and let the boss recognize you. In an American organization, you have to speak out. You have to let your superiors know what you're doing. At meetings, you can not be that sort of shy, meek person, as might be the case in a place like Japan where you just work and you don't speak out. In American culture, it's really the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. The saying in Asia is completely different: "The nail that stands out is the one that's hammered down." The prevailing philosophy is don't stick your neck out. I found that the exact opposite is what succeeds in America.