Photograph courtesy of Thip Athakhanh
On Tuesday, March 16, the evening a man shot and killed eight people six of them Asian women at three different metro Atlanta spas, Thip Athakhanh, owner of Laotian restaurant Snackboxe Bistro, and Mia Orino, of Filipino pop-up Kamayan ATL, were at dinner. “We came home, saw the news, and were shocked about what happened. We knew we had to do something,” says Athakhanh.
They discussed it with other Asian women business owners, including Tina Nguyen of Ba Bellies and Jiyeon Lee of Heirloom Market. And together, they came up with an idea for a grazing box that women chefs across Atlanta’s Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community could contribute to. The full proceeds from the box, which retailed for $75, are being donated to a fund through Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta that directly benefits the families of the spa shooting victims.