New York City is a paradox in that it is ethnically diverse but defined by its distinct enclaves. Within that global melting pot, communities gravitate towards the familiar, as evidenced by its three Chinatowns in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn.

But culture has a habit of breaching these invisible borders in some surprising ways.

Eva Sam Chiok-va, for instance, became an honorary member of influential rap collective A$AP Mob from Harlem after she connected with black musicians 20 years her junior.

Over the past 38 years, Sam has turned her goldsmith shop, Popular Jewelry, in Manhattan’s Chinatown, into an unassuming hip-hop mecca. When she opened the business in October 1988 with funds borrowed from her family, she intentionally broke away from the rigid business models of her male relatives.

“They catered exclusively to Chinese people,” Sam, now 64, says.

Born and raised in Macau, Sam had reluctantly migrated to New York City in 1982, at age 21, to join her family. She spent her first six months working at a garment factory, then worked for six years as an employee at her older brother’s Chinatown gold jewellery shop.