Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is in May, and Pinterest announced a range of new events and initiatives to celebrate the month and shine a light on API creators.

The first is that the app's Today tab will feature a range of API creators while also providing resources for the community and allies supporting #StopAsianHate.

It's commissioning work from WEAREUPRISERS, Nadya Okamoto, and Kim Saira, who share their Story Pins and content on the app to inspire its users.
API-owned businesses will be featured in Pinterest's May shopping spotlight, and the platform will host Instagram Live sessions with the most influential voices in the creator community.

Join us on May 21st as Pinterest hosts an Instagram Live with Interior Designer Noz Nozawa & Fashion Photographer Anthony Gomes. Join the conversation LIVE! @PinterestCreators Instagram. Catch Pinterest's Head of Content and Creator Partnerships Aya Kanai's IG live on May 14, where she discusses mental health with Jenny Wang, PhD, Asians for Mental Health.
That's a little weird, though - that Pinterest is sending this off on Instagram Live, versus hosting the content natively in its own app - and yet, of course it doesn't host live content natively anyway, and Instagram has a whole lot more users and reach.

Of course, Pinterest isn't really thinking of itself as much in direct competition with Instagram anyway since Instagram is so focused on social networking and Pinterest seems to be coming up more and more as a pure eCommerce platform. But Instagram is taking an awful lot more space into Pinterest's space with their own eCommerce tools.
A little creepy, but that's where it sits.

Finally, Pinterest says that it will also support a range of API-related foundations and organizations through a two to one employee donation matching program, including Asian Pacific Fund, Hollaback and the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum​.

The Asian community has endured rising, and unjustified, tension for months now, with race-based violence on the rise and apparently traceable all the way back to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. Considering this, Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month means so much more this year, and it's worthwhile seeing that social platforms like Pinterest seek to highlight the API community, as a means of facilitating increased connection and support.