Yolk magazine
Encyclopedia
YOLK was a quarterly magazine for young Asian Americans founded in 1994 by Tommy Tam, Tin Yen, and Amy Lee Tu. Tommy was in charge of operations, Tin was the graphic designer/art director, and Amy oversaw the financial aspects of the magazine.
Based in Los Angeles, YOLK's reflection of its generation combines sections on fashion, entertainment and music, book reviews, with occasional in-your-face attacks on our society's misunderstandings of Asian culture. The magazine's premise is that there is something common to Japanese, Korean and Chinese Americans, as well as Vietnamese, Filipinos, Indians and other Asian American groups.
YOLK's first editor was Philip Chung, but managing editor, Larry Tazuma, came up with the magazine's name. "An egg yolk is yellow," he said," and so is the nominal color of Asian people's skin, regardless of nationality." "YOLK draws a strong reaction. But it simply stands for the color of our skin," he says. "It's what connects all Asians."
As the business grew, operations expanded into the clothing business. YOLK was well known for producing its line of Got Rice?
t-shirts under the Brand Fury name. Popular sellers included phrases such as Got Rice?, Got Sushi?, Got Adobo? and Got Pho?
Circulation reached a high of 50,000 in 2000 and targeted English-fluent college-educated Asian Americans coming from various cultures. In 2001, Stanley Lim came in as the new publisher of the magazine. He proposed a new formula heavy on "guy stuff" -- reviews of video games and tech gadgets, interviews with models and more bikini-clad women, both on the cover and throughout the pages. However, YOLK was not able to turn the corner and folded in 2004 after its 10-year, 31-issue run.
Tommy Tam is currently the VP of Marketing at Dream Tube Entertainment. Tin Yen is still involved with graphic design today and has taught at UCLA Extension in the graphic design program. He founded creative agency TYS Creative, Inc. Amy Lee Tu is currently the Head of Marketing at Indomina Releasing.
Based in Los Angeles, YOLK's reflection of its generation combines sections on fashion, entertainment and music, book reviews, with occasional in-your-face attacks on our society's misunderstandings of Asian culture. The magazine's premise is that there is something common to Japanese, Korean and Chinese Americans, as well as Vietnamese, Filipinos, Indians and other Asian American groups.
YOLK's first editor was Philip Chung, but managing editor, Larry Tazuma, came up with the magazine's name. "An egg yolk is yellow," he said," and so is the nominal color of Asian people's skin, regardless of nationality." "YOLK draws a strong reaction. But it simply stands for the color of our skin," he says. "It's what connects all Asians."
As the business grew, operations expanded into the clothing business. YOLK was well known for producing its line of Got Rice?
Got Rice?
The phrase "Got Rice?" is a term that was coined by Asian American youth in the 1990s shortly after the original "Got Milk?" advertising campaign for the California Milk Board in 1993. The phrase has since come to be used as a symbol for the cohesiveness of Asian American cultural identity and...
t-shirts under the Brand Fury name. Popular sellers included phrases such as Got Rice?, Got Sushi?, Got Adobo? and Got Pho?
Circulation reached a high of 50,000 in 2000 and targeted English-fluent college-educated Asian Americans coming from various cultures. In 2001, Stanley Lim came in as the new publisher of the magazine. He proposed a new formula heavy on "guy stuff" -- reviews of video games and tech gadgets, interviews with models and more bikini-clad women, both on the cover and throughout the pages. However, YOLK was not able to turn the corner and folded in 2004 after its 10-year, 31-issue run.
Tommy Tam is currently the VP of Marketing at Dream Tube Entertainment. Tin Yen is still involved with graphic design today and has taught at UCLA Extension in the graphic design program. He founded creative agency TYS Creative, Inc. Amy Lee Tu is currently the Head of Marketing at Indomina Releasing.
Issues list
The cover subjects have been well-known celebrities and other notable Asian Americans in the Entertainment field.- No. 01 - Margaret ChoMargaret ChoMargaret Cho is an American comedian, fashion designer, actress, author, and recording artist. Cho is best known for her stand-up routines, through which she critiques social and political problems, especially those pertaining to race and sexuality. She has also directed and appeared in music...
- No. 02 - Russell WongRussell WongRussell Girard Wong is an American actor and photographer, as well as the brother of actor/model Michael Wong.-Biography:...
- No. 03 - Dean CainDean CainDean Cain is an American actor. He is most widely known for his role as Clark Kent/Superman in the popular American television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.-Early life:...
- No. 04 - Ming-Na Wen
- No. 05 - Kiana TomKiana TomKiana Tom is a television host, fitness expert, author, actress, and businesswoman.Kiana Tom is part Hawaiian, Chinese and Irish. Her name in Hawaiian means “calm water” or "moon goddess"....
- No. 06 - Michelle YeohMichelle YeohMichelle Yeoh Choo-Kheng is a Hong Kong-based Malaysian Chinese actress, well known for performing her own stunts in the action films that brought her to fame in the early 1990s....
- No. 07 - Jim LeeJim LeeJim Lee is a Korean-American comic book artist, writer, editor and publisher. He first broke into the industry in 1987 as an artist for Marvel Comics, illustrating titles such as Alpha Flight and Punisher War Journal, before gaining a great deal of popularity on The Uncanny X-Men...
- No. 08 - Shannon LeeShannon LeeShannon Emery Lee is an American actress. She is the daughter of martial artist and actor Bruce Lee and Linda Lee Cadwell, and the younger sister of Brandon Lee.-Personal life:...
- No. 09 - Sung Hi Lee
- No. 10 - Jet LiJet LiThe fame gained by his sports winnings led to a career as a martial arts film star, beginning in mainland China and then continuing into Hong Kong. Li acquired his screen name in 1982 in the Philippines when a publicity company thought his real name was too hard to pronounce...
- No. 11 - Adam Saruwatari
- No. 12 - Bai LingBai LingBai Ling is a Chinese actress known for her work in films such as The Crow, Red Corner and Wild Wild West, and in TV series such as Entourage and Lost. In 2011 she appeared in the fifth season of the VH1 reality television series Celebrity Rehab with Dr...
- No. 13 - Doug ChiangDoug ChiangDoug Chiang is an American film designer and artist. He was born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1962 and grew up in the United States.Chiang studied film at UCLA and industrial design at the College for Creative Studies. During the late 1980s he worked at various production studios including Rhythm and Hues...
- No. 14 - Sammo HungSammo HungSammo Hung is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and director, known for his work in many martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema...
- No. 15 - Audrey QuockAudrey QuockAudrey Quock is an Asian American model and actress.-Biography:Quock was born in New York, New York in Manhattan and is of Chinese descent. She is perhaps most famous for being a swimsuit model for Sports Illustrated. In addition, she has also modeled for Elle magazine and Cosmopolitan...
- No. 16 - Lauren TomLauren TomLauren Tom is an American actress and voice actress perhaps best known for her roles as Lena St Clair in The Joy Luck Club, Julie in the TV series Friends, and for providing the voices for both mother and daughter characters on two animated TV comedy series: on Futurama she voices Amy Wong and her...
- No. 17 - Kelly HuKelly HuKelly Ann Hu is an American actress and former fashion model. She was Miss Teen USA 1985 and Miss Hawaii USA 1993.-Early life:Hu was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the daughter of Juanita, an engineering drafter for Honolulu, and Herbert Hu, a salesman and exotic bird breeder; the two divorced during...
- No. 18 - Stacy KamanoStacy KamanoStacy Lee Kamano is an American television actress, best known for her role on Baywatch Hawaii.-Career:...
- No. 19 - Nicole BilderbackNicole BilderbackNicole Bilderback is an Korean-born American actress, known for her recurring guest roles on the television programs Dark Angel and Dawson's Creek, and the films Bring It On and Bad Girls From Valley High...
- No. 20 - Karen Kim
- No. 21 - Michelle KrusiecMichelle KrusiecMichelle J. Krusiec born October 2, 1974 in Fallon, Nevada, is an American actress of Taiwanese ancestry.Krusiec was recruited to be one of six globe-trotting travel reporters for the Discovery Channel new series called Travelers...
- No. 22 - Jodi Ann PatersonJodi Ann PatersonJodi Ann Paterson is an American model, actress and former beauty queen. She competed in the Miss Teen USA competition as Miss Oregon Teen USA in 1994; she was a Playboy Playmate in 1999, and was named Playmate of the Year in 2000...
- No. 23 - Marie MatikoMarie Matiko-Early life:Marie Matiko is of Chinese, Japanese and Filipino heritage.She endured a stern cultural upbringing, which ultimately fostered discipline and an inherent passion for the arts as a child, where she could freely express herself. "When I was in grade school, I wanted to become a concert...
- No. 24 - Dwayne Johnson aka “The Rock”
- No. 25 - Kiana TomKiana TomKiana Tom is a television host, fitness expert, author, actress, and businesswoman.Kiana Tom is part Hawaiian, Chinese and Irish. Her name in Hawaiian means “calm water” or "moon goddess"....
- No. 26 - Joy BiscoJoy BiscoJocelyn "Joy" Bisco is an American actress.A Filipino American, she graduated from University City High School in San Diego, California and is 5'2 tall...
- No. 27 - Linda Park
- No. 28 - Lexa DoigLexa DoigAlexandra L. "Lexa" Doig is a Canadian actress. She portrayed the role of Rommie in the science fiction TV series Andromeda, and had a recurring character on Stargate SG-1.-Career:...
- No. 29 - Jimi MistryJimi Mistry-Early life:Mistry, was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England to an Indian Hindu father and an Irish Roman Catholic mother. He was brought up a Roman Catholic and attended St. James' Catholic High in Cheadle Hulme before his family moved to Cardiff where he attended Radyr Comprehensive School...
- No. 30 - John ChoJohn ChoJohn Yohan Cho is an American actor and musician, best known for his roles in the American Pie films and the Harold & Kumar films . He also starred in the critically acclaimed hit film Better Luck Tomorrow...
- No. 31 - Sanoe LakeSanoe lakeSànoe Lake is an American actress of Hawaiian, Japanese and English descent.-Biography:She is best known for starring in the 2002 film Blue Crush, but she also wrote a book, Surfer Girl: A Guide To The Surfing Life. Her name "Sànoe" means "Mist of the Mountains." Lake appeared in the films...