Daily Inspiration Quote by Kiana Tom

There is an almost disarming bluntness to Kiana Tom's line, and that is the point: it refuses to treat representation as a “nice to have” and frames it as a public-health level necessity. Coming from a model whose career was built in the most image-obsessed parts of television culture, the sentence reads less like a slogan than an insider memo about what the camera teaches.

The intent is straightforward advocacy: put more Asians on TV, and make them visible in ways that expand what “success,” “attractive,” and “normal” can look like. The subtext is sharper. “More” implies scarcity in an industry that loves to pretend it’s a meritocracy. “Need” turns diversity from optional branding into responsibility. “Positive role model” signals how often Asian characters have been treated as punchlines, sidekicks, or hyper-competent stereotypes that are flattering on paper but flattening in practice. It’s a call not just for faces, but for narrative agency.

Context matters: a late-90s/early-2000s TV ecosystem where Asian Americans were present but routinely peripheral, and where a mixed-race public figure could be marketed as “exotic” while still being denied the range afforded to white counterparts. Tom’s phrasing carries the faint echo of someone who has watched doors open for her and remain closed for others.

It works because it’s pragmatic. Television is not a mirror; it’s a rehearsal space for social expectation. If the screen keeps casting Asians as exceptions, audiences keep treating them that way in real life.