What’s a celebratory way to usher in the Year of the Snake? A glamorous event benefitting charity in New York City’s Chinatown is a good place to start. Last night, makeup artist and head of global artistry for Tatcha Daniel Martin and ELLE’s beauty director Kathleen Hou gathered with guests such as Lauren Graham, Lola Tung, Gretchel Mol, and Jenny Han for a family-style dinner at the cozy and artistic Cantonese restaurant Phoenix Palace. Over tables of traditional Chinese cuisine like chili crab noodles and shrimp puffs, everyone came together to raise funds for Apex for Youth, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering underserved Asian and immigrant youth from low-income families in New York City.
“We wanted to do something really meaningful,” Martin tells ELLE. With the goal of giving back to the AAPI community, the event, in collaboration with sponsors including OpenTable, Glow Recipe, Tatcha, The Wall Group, and more, raised a whopping $20,000 for the charity. Additionally, the creative marketing agency Prompt made donations to Los Angeles Wildfire relief efforts on behalf of each guest. “The year of the Snake is all about shedding, whether it be bad vibes or energy, so we invite you to do that tonight and celebrate being together,” Hou told guests. The hosts chose Phoenix Palace specifically as a venue because they were drawn to the founders’ story, as four childhood friends who wanted to give back to their community. “We wanted to build a place that celebrates our culture, and Chinatown,” co-owner Cory Ng says.
Click through the gallery below to see more moments from the evening.
Tasha Nicole Smith is ELLE Magazine's beauty assistant. She loves all things hair, makeup, and skincare so you’ll find her talking about it here. She enjoys romcoms, a good pair of vintage heels, and lemon drop martinis and also shares a birthday with Beyoncé, which is her go to fun fact.
