The Month of May was AAPI or Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Over the past month, BeauGen has taken a closer look at breastfeeding in the AAPI community and beyond with the goal of identifying ways in which we can further support these specific communities. While May was AAPI Heritage Month, we are committed to investing in our heritage throughout the year, and throughout the entire life of BeauGen as a company.
Breastfeeding in the AAPI Community
Among minority communities, the Asian American community in the US has pretty high rates of breastfeeding. According to a study done in 2015 of minority communities, Asian Americans had the highest percentages of women intending to breastfeed, breastfeeding at six months, and even those hitting the one year milestones. We’re sure that there are many reasons for this success rate among our community, but at BeauGen we know that it takes a village to breastfeed.
Breastfeeding is hard work. It takes time, effort, and energy. It is an emotional aspect of motherhood that is often taken for granted. Family is very important for the AAPI community and we believe that proximity to older generations who can impart knowledge as well as help with raising children are a contributing factor to the higher rates of breastfeeding recorded in this study.
*BeauGen defines breastfeeding as nursing, pumping, or a combination of the two. Moms who need to or choose to supplement with formula are included.
What It Means to BeauGen to Be a Part of the AAPI Community
BeauGen was founded in 2015 by Tu-Hien Le, who has been joined by her fellow mom and cousin Anh-Thi Mouradov. Both women are Vietnamese American, passionate about entrepreneurialism, and positively impacting mothers. When speaking with Anh-Thi about her family’s heritage, she says,
“It means so much to me as an Asian American woman to be in a position to directly shape Team BeauGen and the direction of our mommy care start-up business. Family and entrepreneurism are strong tenets in the Vietnamese culture and in Vietnamese Americans, and I am proud to be carrying on that tradition.”
What Is Next for BeauGen
Good breastfeeding rates doesn’t mean that the leadership of BeauGen is ready to take it easy. It took us 40 plus iterations to come up with our innovative breast pump cushion design that makes pumping more comfortable. BeauGen cushions have helped over 90,000 beast pumping mothers worldwide in many countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and proudly our ancestral country of Viet Nam.
We are researching ways to help support moms in and out of the workplace find success. Our patent pending breast pump cushions is one way we plan to continue to impact mothers. We're always on the lookout for new partnerships to bring BeauGen cushions to even more mothers in more countries around the world.
In speaking with Anh-Thi about her experience as a mother in the corporate world before joining Tu-Hien at BeauGen, she shared the following:
“Before joining my cousin Tu-Hien at the helm of BeauGen, I had spent over a decade working in large corporations, and I had never felt as completely at ease about who I am as a mom in the workplace as I do now at BeauGen and with the team that has grown with us. It is my personal and professional goal to cultivate a welcoming and compassionate place to work for all people – including parents – who are looking for a place to maintain and develop career skills while also keeping a flexible schedule for when “life” comes up.”
We also have our sights set on working to normalize breastfeeding and change corporate culture to be more supportive of breastfeeding. By working to support and normalize breastfeeding for all mothers, we are confident that we will continue to make an impact in our Asian American community, in other minority communities, and beyond.