Changing This One Marketing Question Helped Her Build a Business That's Thrived for Over Three Decades

May 2, 2026 - 03:22

Julia Huang didn't set out to build a three-decade marketing empire. She just asked a better question.

As the founder and CEO of Intertrend Communications, Huang has watched her agency become a powerhouse in Asian American marketing. The firm now calls itself "the Most Award-Winning Result Driven Asian American" agency. But the real secret to its longevity, Huang says, came from a single shift in her thinking.

Early in her career, Huang noticed that most marketers asked, "How do we reach Asian Americans?" That question, she realized, assumed a one-size-fits-all approach. It treated a diverse community as a monolith. So she changed the question to something more specific: "How do we connect with the nuances of each Asian American community?"

That subtle reframe unlocked everything. Instead of lumping Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indian, and Filipino audiences together, Huang's team started digging into cultural specifics. They studied language preferences, generational differences, and the unique immigrant experiences that shape buying habits. They looked at how a first-generation Korean American in Los Angeles might respond differently than a second-generation Chinese American in New York.

The results spoke for themselves. Intertrend grew from a small shop into a firm that has won hundreds of awards over three decades. Huang's approach proved that in marketing, the right question matters more than the right answer. By refusing to treat Asian Americans as a single block, she built a business that adapted as the community itself evolved. New waves of immigration, changing media habits, and shifting cultural identities all became opportunities rather than obstacles.

Huang's lesson is simple but powerful: don't ask how to reach a group. Ask how to understand it.