Events & Happenings
This Month in Chinatown
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More than a chatbot: A hands-on AI workshop for small business owners
Whether you're running a business or want to start one, Text It. Done. is the hands-on AI workshop that meets you where you are.
If you've only just dipped your toes into AI — or haven't started yet — you're in the perfect place. This workshop opens up a whole new way of working most people don't even know exists yet.
Bring one thing you need to get done: a customer reply, a social post, a product description, a menu update, a vendor email, a checklist, a plan, or that tiny task that keeps getting pushed to tomorrow.
We’ll help you use AI to move it forward. And, when possible, turn it into a workflow you can use again.
Who should come
Small business owners. Small business staff and operators. Freelancers and service providers. People starting or thinking about starting a business.
In other works, this is a good fit if you:
used it to chat but not for real work yet
tried ChatGPT or Claude once and did not know what to do next/want to use it more effectively
You do not need technical experience. You do not need to know how to code.
Agenda
We’ll move through two hands-on working sessions:
1. How to talk to AI clearly
Learn how to give AI the right context, examples, tone, and goal so it can actually help with real work.
2. How to turn one task into a repeatable workflow
Take one prompt or output and shape it into something you can reuse for your business.
We’ll use live examples from everyday small business work, including customer replies, social posts, product descriptions, operations checklists, vendor emails, menu updates, and business planning.
What to bring
Please bring:
A laptop or phone.
One real task from your business or business idea.
It can be messy, unfinished, annoying, or something you have been putting off. That is perfect.
Schedule
6:00 — Welcome and check-in
6:10 — How to talk to AI so it actually helps
6:20 — Hands-on: work through one real business task
6:50 — Share what worked
7:00 — Turning one prompt into a reusable workflow
7:10 — Hands-on: build your workflow
7:40 — Support, polish, and next steps
7:50 — Share-outs
8:00 — Close
Getting in
Space is limited so we can keep the workshop hands-on and useful.
Please RSVP with a few details about your business, your comfort level with AI, and one task you might want to work on during the session. This helps us shape the workshop around the people in the room.
Intro To Mahjong by Green Tile Social Club: June Session
Join us and Green Tile Social Club for a night of Mahjong!
*Tickets for this event will be available starting 1 week before the event date on GTSC's website.*
Hong Kong mahjong, taught the gtsc way 🤝
The night will begin with a dedicated 1.5 hour mahjong lesson taught in groups of six. your gtsc teacher will run you through the complete basics — terminology, role recognition, core game constructs — before real-time instructing you thru an open hand game
Once you’ve graduated to closed hand, stay and enjoy your new playing chops till we get kicked out at 10 🫡
Squarespace 1:1 Consultations: Leveling Up Your Website
Join Squarespace and Welcome to Chinatown for 1:1 tailored website and e-commerce coaching!
Slant'd x EAT BITTER: No One Will Ever Read This
An evening of writing & community centered around the tenderness of personal excavation and fearlessly finding your voice, led by Lydia Pang and Jenn Lam.
Personal storytelling is transformative, but as creatives, we know it can be a tender process. How do you actually write like no one will ever read it?
Join us as we celebrate our friend and author Lydia Pang's debut memoir, "Eat Bitter," with an evening of connection, writing, and exploration into how to exhume and define your inner story.
Schedule: DOORS OPEN AT 7PM
7:15PM - Reading and Intro to "EAT BITTER" with Lydia Pang, hosted by Jenn Lam
8-9PM - Writing workshop facilitated by Slant'd
9-9:30PM - Close out & connection
Tickets include one copy of "EAT BITTER," generously contributed by Lydia Pang.
ABOUT LYDIA PANG
Lydia Pang is a Creative Director and entrepreneur shaping the biggest brands with cultural strategy and trend foresight. Her work has attracted a cult following and these pages are filled with her misfit creative energy. Bold, tender and witty in all the right places, Eat Bitter is a life-altering lesson in the power of food as a medium to process emotions.
ABOUT SLANT'D
Slant'd is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit independent publisher reimagining publishing to be more accessible, equitable, and joyful for AAPIs everywhere. Our dream is to become the creative home for AAPIs to experience personal growth, creative expansion, and meaningful connection. Jenn Lam is our Director of Programs, a founding Board Member, and a heart-led artist and brand marketing consultant that finds deep joy in the messy unknown. Here at Slant’d, she works to craft an abundant haven for Asian Americans to freely play, connect, and celebrate their personal stories.
EAT BITTER - OUT NOW - purchase here
A beautiful, fearless, dynamic exploration of food and feelings from a distinctive new voice – for fans of CRYING IN H MART, BUTTER and MIDNIGHT CHICKEN.
Eat bitter is a Chinese proverb meaning ‘endure hardship to taste sweetness’. For Lydia Pang, it embodies the struggles of her Hakka ancestors – a Chinese ethnic group subjected to forced migrations whose ingenuity produced a distinct food culture based around fermenting and foraging.
Pang develops the philosophy of eating bitter as a tool to reframe the most challenging moments of her life, from burning out and pushing her marriage to the brink to struggles with fertility and caring for a parent. As she plates up eight favourite recipes for us, we taste char siu pork her Gunggung cooked on Sundays, silly eggy noodles her father made when her sister was ill, bone broth she boiled in New York while desperately homesick, and homegrown courgettes in her current home in rural Wales as a means of marital reconnection.
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All ticket proceeds go directly toward supporting our mission of making publishing more accessible, equitable, and joyful for AAPIs everywhere.
Coffee & Canvass
Enjoy a coffee, meet like-minded community members, and canvass with us!
Open Office Hours
Book a free consultation with our team! Our open office hours are an opportunity to meet with the WtC team to chat through your challenges and support needs.
Rose's Pineapple Shorts Hub Takeover
Rose has played soccer her whole life- and every 4 years, World Cup fever hits different. Anyone else feel the same??
As one of our AAPI Women Incubator winners, Rose is back at the Hub and we're SUPER excited to announce @rosespineappleshorts World Cup Residency at The Hub every Friday 11am–5pm this summer!
Whether you're a local or just passing through, all are welcome to swing by for:
🆓 FREE World Cup viewing
🆓 FREE co-working w/ cafe atmosphere
🧋 Bake + Bev Combo: $10 pineapple short + tea/coffee service
🛍️ Souvenirs & gifts from @rosespineappleshorts + other local businesses
Featuring Tea + Coffee Friends!
📅 June 12: Grand Tea + Imports
📅 June 19: Of Tea
📅 June 26: Favor Coffee Co.
📅 July 3: Uju Studios
📅 July 10: Dae Tea
📅 July 17: Alcove Coffee Co.
Rose's Pineapple Shorts Hub Takeover
Rose has played soccer her whole life- and every 4 years, World Cup fever hits different. Anyone else feel the same??
As one of our AAPI Women Incubator winners, Rose is back at the Hub and we're SUPER excited to announce @rosespineappleshorts World Cup Residency at The Hub every Friday 11am–5pm this summer!
Whether you're a local or just passing through, all are welcome to swing by for:
🆓 FREE World Cup viewing
🆓 FREE co-working w/ cafe atmosphere
🧋 Bake + Bev Combo: $10 pineapple short + tea/coffee service
🛍️ Souvenirs & gifts from @rosespineappleshorts + other local businesses
Featuring Tea + Coffee Friends!
📅 June 12: Grand Tea + Imports
📅 June 19: Of Tea
📅 June 26: Favor Coffee Co.
📅 July 3: Uju Studios
📅 July 10: Dae Tea
📅 July 17: Alcove Coffee Co.
Rose's Pineapple Shorts Hub Takeover
Rose has played soccer her whole life- and every 4 years, World Cup fever hits different. Anyone else feel the same??
As one of our AAPI Women Incubator winners, Rose is back at the Hub and we're SUPER excited to announce @rosespineappleshorts World Cup Residency at The Hub every Friday 11am–5pm this summer!
Whether you're a local or just passing through, all are welcome to swing by for:
🆓 FREE World Cup viewing
🆓 FREE co-working w/ cafe atmosphere
🧋 Bake + Bev Combo: $10 pineapple short + tea/coffee service
🛍️ Souvenirs & gifts from @rosespineappleshorts + other local businesses
Featuring Tea + Coffee Friends!
📅 June 12: Grand Tea + Imports
📅 June 19: Of Tea
📅 June 26: Favor Coffee Co.
📅 July 3: Uju Studios
📅 July 10: Dae Tea
📅 July 17: Alcove Coffee Co.
Open Office Hours
Book a free consultation with our team! Our open office hours are an opportunity to meet with the WtC team to chat through your challenges and support needs.
1:1 Pro-bono Consultations: HR Without the Headaches with Danielle Chan
Get actionable advice from an HR professional for your workforce, both from the people and business perspective.
NYC BEST Small Business Concierge Hours
Get free, expert guidance on navigating city permits, violations, and regulations
Rose's Pineapple Shorts Hub Takeover
Rose has played soccer her whole life- and every 4 years, World Cup fever hits different. Anyone else feel the same??
As one of our AAPI Women Incubator winners, Rose is back at the Hub and we're SUPER excited to announce @rosespineappleshorts World Cup Residency at The Hub every Friday 11am–5pm this summer!
Whether you're a local or just passing through, all are welcome to swing by for:
🆓 FREE World Cup viewing
🆓 FREE co-working w/ cafe atmosphere
🧋 Bake + Bev Combo: $10 pineapple short + tea/coffee service
🛍️ Souvenirs & gifts from @rosespineappleshorts + other local businesses
Featuring Tea + Coffee Friends!
📅 June 12: Grand Tea + Imports
📅 June 19: Of Tea
📅 June 26: Favor Coffee Co.
📅 July 3: Uju Studios
📅 July 10: Dae Tea
📅 July 17: Alcove Coffee Co.
TTRPG Workshop: Becoming a DM
Interested in running tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons, but not sure where to start? Join Counterspell Games, Behind the Screen, and Alcove, for an interactive DM workshop!
Coffee & Canvass
Enjoy a coffee, meet like-minded community members, and canvass with us!
Open Office Hours
Book a free consultation with our team! Our open office hours are an opportunity to meet with the WtC team to chat through your challenges and support needs.
Portfolio + Vending Consultations with Jessica Lou (Looky Goods)
Learn how to put your best step forward when applying to events and navigate the world of vending in person.
Open Office Hours
Book a free consultation with our team! Our open office hours are an opportunity to meet with the WtC team to chat through your challenges and support needs.
Imagining Your Space: 1:1 Consultations with Bo Liu
Starting or planning a new design space? Bo Liu can help guide you through the ideas and potential of space designing.
Open Office Hours
Book a free consultation with our team! Our open office hours are an opportunity to meet with the WtC team to chat through your challenges and support needs.
Merchandising Masterclass: 1:1 Sessions with The Locavore
Book a session with Caroline for expert recommendations on signage, displays, storytelling and customer engagement.
NYC BEST Small Business Concierge Hours
Get free, expert guidance on navigating city permits, violations, and regulations
Open Office Hours
Book a free consultation with our team! Our open office hours are an opportunity to meet with the WtC team to chat through your challenges and support needs.
Open Office Hours
Book a free consultation with our team! Our open office hours are an opportunity to meet with the WtC team to chat through your challenges and support needs.
Open Office Hours
Book a free consultation with our team! Our open office hours are an opportunity to meet with the WtC team to chat through your challenges and support needs.
Open Office Hours
Book a free consultation with our team! Our open office hours are an opportunity to meet with the WtC team to chat through your challenges and support needs.
Ice Cream Social
Introducing Missus Softee! The 2nd feature by writer/director Cinder Chou. Come meet the team and celebrate pride at this ice cream social!
Join our Ice Cream Social fundraiser at The Welcome to Chinatown Hub to support production of Missus Softee, Cinder Chou's sophomore feature.
Set in 2005, Lincoln, a newly out Taiwanese-American teen, spends her last summer before college in the off-brand Missus Softee truck trying to outscoop ice cream rivals, work on her gaydar, and make enough money to escape Jersey.
The Ice Cream Social is "Sundae" June 21st from 1pm-4pm
Ticket admission includes one ice cream and one raffle ticket. Additional raffle tickets will be available to purchase. Short speeches by some of the production team and raffle drawing will be at 3pm. The playlist will be period appropriate, dress code: aughts optional!
Space is limited so get your tickets before your chance "melts" away!!
Gaysian Night Market hosted with Lauren Chan
Join us Friday, June 19th from 7–10pm at theHub for a night celebrating queer AAPI small businesses, art, food, community, and culture. hosted by ✨Mother✨ Lauren Chan @lcchan model, TV personality, and AAPI + LGBTQ+ advocate.
Rose's Pineapple Shorts Hub Takeover
Rose has played soccer her whole life- and every 4 years, World Cup fever hits different. Anyone else feel the same??
As one of our AAPI Women Incubator winners, Rose is back at the Hub and we're SUPER excited to announce @rosespineappleshorts World Cup Residency at The Hub every Friday 11am–5pm this summer!
Whether you're a local or just passing through, all are welcome to swing by for:
🆓 FREE World Cup viewing
🆓 FREE co-working w/ cafe atmosphere
🧋 Bake + Bev Combo: $10 pineapple short + tea/coffee service
🛍️ Souvenirs & gifts from @rosespineappleshorts + other local businesses
Featuring Tea + Coffee Friends!
📅 June 12: Grand Tea + Imports
📅 June 19: Of Tea
📅 June 26: Favor Coffee Co.
📅 July 3: Uju Studios
📅 July 10: Dae Tea
📅 July 17: Alcove Coffee Co.
Test Thursday: Three Dishes
Join us and 3 Dishes for a Taiwanese lunchbox pop-up! On Thursday, 6/18, 3 Dishes will bring everyday Taiwanese comfort food to The Hub. Choose your protein, and your lunchbox comes with three classic, veggie-forward Taiwanese sides. Boxes are first come, first served, so come early!
Bonus: We're teaming up with a guest chef for a limited run of handmade zongzi (sticky rice dumplings). Those are pre-order only, so reserve yours through the Google Form below!
NYC BEST Small Business Concierge Hours
Get free, expert guidance on navigating city permits, violations, and regulations
Architectural Design and Construction Consultations with Spaced Agency
Get guidance for architectural design, construction, and space development.
Rose's Pineapple Shorts Hub Takeover
Rose has played soccer her whole life- and every 4 years, World Cup fever hits different. Anyone else feel the same??
As one of our AAPI Women Incubator winners, Rose is back at the Hub and we're SUPER excited to announce @rosespineappleshorts World Cup Residency at The Hub every Friday 11am–5pm this summer!
Whether you're a local or just passing through, all are welcome to swing by for:
🆓 FREE World Cup viewing
🆓 FREE co-working w/ cafe atmosphere
🧋 Bake + Bev Combo: $10 pineapple short + tea/coffee service
🛍️ Souvenirs & gifts from @rosespineappleshorts + other local businesses
Featuring Tea + Coffee Friends!
📅 June 12: Grand Tea + Imports
📅 June 19: Of Tea
📅 June 26: Favor Coffee Co.
📅 July 3: Uju Studios
📅 July 10: Dae Tea
📅 July 17: Alcove Coffee Co.
Marketing and PR Consultations with Meesh PR
Get personalized tips on growing brand awareness & reaching your target audience
CitizensNYC Community Leaders and Small Business' Grant Info Session
Come learn about CitizensNYC’s grant opportunities for small businesses and community projects!
Open Office Hours
Book a free consultation with our team! Our open office hours are an opportunity to meet with the WtC team to chat through your challenges and support needs.
DAWANG NEW YORK Sample Sale at the Hub!
Find some discounted gems at the DAWANG NEW YORK sample sale!
DAWANG NEW YORK Sample Sale at the Hub!
Find some discounted gems at the DAWANG NEW YORK sample sale!
Unpacking AANHPI Grief: Demystifying and Making Space for Grief and Loss
Grief is the natural response to loss of all kinds, but we are rarely given space in our everyday lives to acknowledge it. As human beings with intersectional identities living in a grief-illiterate society, how do we make space for grief, individually and in community?
In this interactive talk with Chinese-American grief coach and author Charlene Lam, we will debunk myths about grief, and address cultural taboos about talking about grief, death and dying. Together, we will name what we’ve been carrying and create opportunities to engage with grief through personal reflection and community witnessing.
All participatory elements are optional. We will have time for Q&A and open discussion. A pop-up installation by The Grief Gallery will be on display. Attendees are invited to bring an object that represents who or what you’re grieving – for instance, a memento of a person, pet, place, identity, or anything else you’re mourning – to add to the collective display.
About Charlene:
Charlene Lam is a certified grief coach, speaker, and the author of Curating Grief: A Creative Guide to Choosing What to Keep After a Loved One Dies.
After her mother died suddenly in 2013, she started presenting exhibitions with her mother’s belongings, which became the foundation for her Curating Grief® framework. As curator of The Grief Gallery®, she presents international exhibitions featuring the belongings of loved ones lost, including installations in Los Angeles, Toronto, and London.
Her TEDx talk, “What Grief and Soy Sauce Taught Me About Life After Loss,” has been viewed more than 20,000 times.
A proud Chinese-American New Yorker like her late mother, Charlene is based in Lisbon, Portugal. She works with clients worldwide (and really wants you to ask her about the soy sauce in her mother’s kitchen.)
Open Office Hours
Book a free consultation with our team! Our open office hours are an opportunity to meet with the WtC team to chat through your challenges and support needs.
AI on Main Street: How Chinatown's Small Businesses Are Using AI - #NYTechWeek
Join us to learn how Chinatown's small business owners are adopting AI tools — and meet the people making it happen.
Welcome to Chinatown was designated by Governor Hochul as New York State's AI training hub for small businesses. We've been putting that mandate to work in Chinatown, training local shop owners, many of them immigrants running legacy businesses for decades, to actually use AI in their work.
Come hear from the owners about what they've been doing, talk with the technologists who worked with them, and grab some food and drinks with us.
This event is a part of #NYTechWeek—a week of events hosted by VCs and startups to bring together the tech ecosystem.
Learn more at www.tech-week.com
Coffee & Canvass
Enjoy a coffee, meet like-minded community members, and canvass with us!
Intro To Mahjong by Green Tile Social Club: May Session
Join us and Green Tile Social Club for a night of Mahjong!
*Tickets for this event will be available starting 1 week before the event date on GTSC's website.*
Hong Kong mahjong, taught the gtsc way 🤝
The night will begin with a dedicated 1.5 hour mahjong lesson taught in groups of six. your gtsc teacher will run you through the complete basics — terminology, role recognition, core game constructs — before real-time instructing you thru an open hand game
Once you’ve graduated to closed hand, stay and enjoy your new playing chops till we get kicked out at 10 🫡
Sip & Paint Minis
Join Counterspell Games at Welcome to Chinatown, as we teach you how to create and paint a new fantasy character, while you sip a selection of coffee from Alcove!
Pro-Bono Legal Consultations for Small Businesses
30 minute no-cost legal consultations for small business owners.
Saving Five: A Memoir of Hope
Astronaut Amanda Nguyen is coming to The Hub on her book tour!
New York Knicks & Rangers AAPI Month Youth Clinic
Join us for another year with New York Knicks, New York Rangers, Welcome to Chinatown and Grand Street Settlement to celebrate AAPI Month with a community celebration clinic!
Summer Youth Fair at Welcome to Chinatown
Come explore summer youth programs in and around Chinatown.
How to Build a Strong Legal Foundation: Workshop and Consultations with Legal Aid Society and NYC SBS (Hybrid event)
Join us at the Hub for a workshop on managing essential legal documents for your small business!
Entity Formation with Grow Brooklyn
Come with your business plan questions, Whether it's a Single Member LLC, S-Corp, C-Corp, or other partnerships, Grow Brooklyn can help you sort through the noise and weigh the pros and cons of each!
Serica Storytellers: Architecture Serving Neighborhoods & Memories - Community Discussion
Join Serica Initiative for an intimate evening exploring how architecture can serve people, preserve memory, and shape the future of our cities.
Open Office Hours
Book a free consultation with our team! Our open office hours are an opportunity to meet with the WtC team to chat through your challenges and support needs.
Open Office Hours
Book a free consultation with our team! Our open office hours are an opportunity to meet with the WtC team to chat through your challenges and support needs.
Social Media Consultations with Alice Yang
Master your audience, content, strategy, and partnerships to grow your social presence.