NAAAP is the premier leadership organization for Asian professionals.

Our Mission

NAAAP inspires, cultivates, and empowers Asian and Pacific Islander leaders for professional excellence to make a meaningful impact in our workplace and community.

Our Core Values

Leadership: Develop, inspire, and connect leaders

Education: Excel at life-long learning

Accountability: Honor commitments to deliver value

Diversity: Embrace a culture of inclusion and innovation

Our History

What we now know as NAAAP, the National Association of Asian American Professionals, was founded 38 years ago, in 1982, in New York City. At first, the organization was called the National Association of Young Asian Professionals, the name was soon changed to embrace a broader range of Asian Pacific American (APA) professionals and to better reflect the rapidly changing demographic.

The brutal murder of Vincent Chin in 1982 had acutely raised awareness of the importance of activism, not only in the Chinese American community, but amongst all Asian Pacific Americans. Just as we needed civil rights activism, we also need to take our own professional destinies in our hands to overcome discrimination in the workplace and break the glass ceiling. 

To make NAAAP available to a wider audience, beginning in 1997, NAAAP National encouraged the development of chapter start-ups. While some ventures grew slowly, other chapters expanded to 500 members. Today, there are more than 30 chapters across the United States, Canada, and China.

In 2012, NAAAP turned 30 years old. We celebrated our 30th anniversary with the NAAAP National Convention and Diversity Career Fair presented by Macy’s in the city of both organizations’ birthplace, New York City. 

In 2017, NAAAP hired its first full time staff to organize administrative and standards for the national NAAAP programs and work with chapter leaders to do the same in respective 30 chapters that are proficient or refining their operations.

NAAAP’s ongoing commitment to professional and leadership development will help NAAAP and its partners continue to succeed in years to come. These successes do not happen without the enthusiasm, innovation and hard work of NAAAP’s members, stalwart volunteer leaders, and sponsors.

Be a part of NAAAP’s future as an active member, sponsor or officer, and help write the next chapter of NAAAP’s history!