About Me

Myer's Briggs Personality: ISFJ (Introverted + Sensing + Feeling + Judging) - The Defender

Top Clifton StrengthFinder Strengths: Learner, Context, Harmony, Empathy, Connectedness

Thank you for visiting my e-portfolio. I am an immigrant, first-generation, graduate student of color who was born in Seoul, South Korea, but mostly raised in sunny Southern California. I am the daughter of working-class Korean parents - a mother who ran a dry cleaner and a father who worked as a rideshare driver to make ends meet. I am the granddaughter of a refugee from North Korea. In everything I do, I think about my elders and ancestors - their strength, tenacity, and resilience.

For my undergraduate education, I attended Occidental College, a small liberal arts college in Los Angeles. At Occidental, I double majored in History and East Asian Studies. It was during my undergraduate years that I discovered my passion for justice and equity by getting involved in various student organizations and community nonprofits that served communities of color. In my career before higher education, I worked at an Asian & Pacific Islander (API) serving nonprofit that focused on DEI advocacy and leadership development workshops for the API community.

Currently, I am the Student Equity Specialist at Orange Coast College. In my role, I work with a caseload of approximately 300 students from historically minoritized and disproportionately impacted population groups while also coordinating campus-wide equity initiatives. As a student affairs professional, I ground myself in Paulo Freire's words that education is “the practice of freedom" (Freire, 1970, p. 81). I hope to create an educational experience for my students that is both empowering and liberating. I am excited to learn the skills and knowledge necessary to accomplish this goal through the MSHE program at Cal State Fullerton!