Celebrating nCino's Employee Resource Groups: The AAPI Alliance

About the AAPI Alliance

The AAI Alliance was founded by Roz Williams (Senior Content Marketing Specialist), Angie Vu (Senior Customer Success Manager) and Eric Byun (Senior Product Manager), who serve as its leadership team, along with Meghana Rozenfeld (Senior Software Engineer) and Casey Beal (Senior HRIS Analyst).

"We started the AAPI Alliance as a safe place where employees who identify as Asian or Pacific Islander can find community, encouragement and have open dialogue while also celebrating all the things we love about our culture," says Roz Williams, Senior Content Marketing Specialist. "The AAPI Alliance has allowed us to meet coworkers from across the globe that we would not necessarily get to interact with otherwise. It’s really special to see how we are making a difference at nCino and impacting the company’s vision and efforts when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion."

Inspired by the Stop AAPI Hate movement, the AAPI Alliance ERG was founded to help nCino employees connect, share resources and process violence against the Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Now, the group has moved from a place of fear to a place of celebrating their heritage and educating nCino’s executive team, fellow employees and decision makers within the organization. As with all nCino’s ERGs, the AAPI Alliance is centered around building a diverse community within the company and fostering a positive environment in which employees feel empowered and valued.

“We believe that it’s through spreading awareness and education that will evolve the human race to become a more accepting generation,” says Eric Byun, Senior Product Manager. “It’s our duty to prevent previous dark moments in history from repeating for generations to come.”

The AAPI Alliance hosts events to help educate and spread awareness within the nCino community about AAPI issues, including the impact of current events, cultural awareness and sharing about their heritage. Last October, they participated in Onigiri Action, a campaign with a mission to provide school meals to children in need. For every photo posted on social media of onigiri eating, five meals are donated to children around the world. Members of AAPI hosted an onigiri lunch in nCino’s Bitty and Beau’s café, inviting employees to enjoy a meal and share their posts.

To celebrate the Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rabbit, AAPI hosted a Lunar New Year lunch to eat together and learn how the holiday prioritizes looking forward with gratitude. “Chúc mừng năm mới” — Happy New Year in Vietnamese!

On March 29, the AAPI Alliance teamed up with the Veteran’s Network ERG to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the day the final US troops left Vietnam. The two ERGs hosted a lunch and learn with a video presentation, which featured interviews with Vietnam veterans and their families discussing the impacts of the war on their lives. Together, the groups raised funds for American-Vietnamese War Memorial Alliance, Honor Flight, Vietnam Battlefield Tours, and Wilmington Veterans of Foreign Wars.

This May, the group is celebrating AAPI Heritage Month with a number of events. The kickoff event was an nCino favorite volunteer activity, a cleanup at Wrightsville Beach. AAPI Alliance cross-hosted a Tai Chi session with our nPride ERG, led by Associate Support Engineer Bradley Huskins. Employees learned about the martial art of Tai Chi and practiced some movements and breathing techniques on the back lawn of nCino’s headquarters. Members of our Product Development and Engineering department invited employees to a Korean barbeque, where teams enjoyed barbeque cooked on-site by a local chef and catering from Pho Vanhley Noodle House in Wilmington. The final event is a fundraiser sushi-rolling class (and lunch!) where employees will learn easy techniques for rolling their own sushi, the proceeds of which will be donated to Stop AAPI Hate.

“The AAPI Alliance has opened the doors across the company to connect and learn from people of different life and cultural experiences that I may not have had the chance to do so without the ERGs bringing us together,” says Angie Vu, Senior Customer Success Manager. “The friendships and connections that I’ve made are one of the best parts of being a part of DE&I at nCino because I get to keep growing on all levels, personally and professionally. I look forward to continuing to be a part of The AAPI Alliance and an advocate for DE&I as a whole as we continue to grow, and I hope this group helps spread awareness, education and community across the company.”