Yolk was a quarterly magazine for young Asian Americans. It was published by InformAsian Media, Inc. (IAMI) between 1994 and 2004,"General Information." Yolk. February 3, 1999. Retrieved on September 25, 2012. and it was headquartered in Alhambra, California, in Greater Los Angeles."AsianWeek's Community Calendar ." AsianWeek. Thursday August 19, 1999. Volume 20, No. 51. Retrieved on September 25, 2012. "Yolk Magazine, 2005 Orange St., Suite A, Alhambra, CA 91803"Wan, William. "Pop Culture Asian American Magazine Falters." Los Angeles Times. December 8, 2003. Retrieved on September 25, 2012. "But the periodical never turned a profit, and now the Alhambra-based Yolk is the latest in a line of Asian American publications to fold." The later incarnations of the magazine were titled Yolk: GenerAsian Next 2.0.Wong, p. 134.

History and content It was founded in 1994 by Tommy Tam, Tin Yen, and Amy Lee Tu. Tommy Tam was in charge of operations, Tin Yen was the graphic designer/art director, and Amy Tu oversaw the financial aspects of the magazine.

Based in Los Angeles, Yolks 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.

Yolks first editor was Philip Chung, and 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."Hong, Peter Y. "Magazine Caters to Lifestyles of Young Asian Americans." Los Angeles Times. August 12, 1995. Retrieved on September 25, 2012. Alternate link "YOLK draws a strong reaction. But it simply stands for the color of our skin," he says. "It's what connects all Asians."Quintanilla, Michael. "Mixed Media : To Be Young, Hip and Asian." Los Angeles Times. October 4, 1994. Retrieved on September 25, 2012. Alternate Performance artist and professor Alex Luu served as its editor and graphic designer Max Medina/Mystery Parade served as the Art Designer of YOLK. Staff writers include XD Lim and Margaret Rhee.

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.A-Line Magazine: Wait, A-Line isn't the only Asian-interest magazine alive? 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. But Yolk was not able to sustain success, and folded in 2004 after a 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.

As Yolk was closing, Honda Motor Co. offered a four month advertising contract. Lim and the editorial staff changed the publication into a web publication, and asked Honda to provide online advertising banners in lieu of print advertisements. Honda agreed to the change, and Chopblock.com became active.

Issues list The cover subjects have been well-known celebrities and other notable Asian Americans in the Entertainment field.

No. 01 - Margaret Cho No. 02 - Russell Wong No. 03 - Dean Cain No. 04 - Ming-Na Wen No. 05 - Kiana Tom No. 06 - Michelle Yeoh No. 07 - Jim Lee No. 08 - Shannon Lee No. 09 - Sung Hi Lee No. 10 - Jet Li No. 11 - Adam Saruwatari No. 12 - Bai Ling No. 13 - Doug Chiang No. 14 - Sammo Hung No. 15 - Audrey Quock No. 16 - Lauren Tom No. 17 - Kelly Hu No. 18 - Stacy Kamano No. 19 - Nicole Bilderback No. 20 - Karen Kim No. 21 - Michelle Krusiec No. 22 - Jodi Ann Paterson No. 23 - Marie Matiko No. 24 - Dwayne Johnson aka "The Rock" No. 25 - Kiana Tom No. 26 - Joy Bisco No. 27 - Linda Park No. 28 - Lexa Doig No. 29 - Jimi Mistry No. 30 - John Cho No. 31 - Sanoe Lake

See also

Asian Pride Asian American A. Magazine Model Minority#Asian Americans

References Wong, Deborah. "GenerAsians Learn Chinese: The Asian American Youth Generation and New Class Formations." in DiMaggio, Paul and Patricia Fernandez-Kelly (editors). "Art in the Lives of Immigrant Communities in the United States." Rutgers University Press, November 18, 2010. , 9780813547572.

Notes

Further reading Cacas, Samuel R. and Gary Cach. "Yolk: A Sizzle of Fizzle for Twentysomething?." AsianWeek. October 7, 1994. Johnston, George. "YOLK-IT'S NO JOKE." The Rafu Shimpo. Wednesday September 28, 1994. Tazuma, Larry J. "Second Opinion / OTHER MEDIA : YOLK : How an Asian American Magazine Got Its Name." Los Angeles Times. October 17, 1994. From an editorial printed in the first issue of Yolk. Alternate link Song, Betty. "Asian Yolk takes crack at wider readership Ex-Bruin's magazine scrambles to move 'generAsians' into multiethnic culture." The Daily Bruin. University of California, Los Angeles. Monday January 5, 1995. "Ethnic 'Zine." Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management. May 1, 1995. "Mellow Yellow." USA Today. Thursday October 3, 1995. Life Section D. Section D Life. "'New generAsian' target of USC alum's magazine Yolk, brainchild of 1991 graduate Tommy Tam, bridges spectrum." Daily Trojan. October 3, 1994. "SLICKS FOR SLACKERS." The Oregonian. November 29, 1994.

External links New Amped Asia - Asian American magazine (successor) Yolk magazine (archive) Yolk Shop (archive) Informasian Media Group Chopblock.com, successor to Yolk Dream Tube Entertainment TYS Creative Indomina Releasing