The line of young Asian Americans who owe their Wall Street jobs to Mike Joo’s mentorship could wrap around a city block. Last year, KED Global reported that Mike Joo was the highest ranking Korean American banker on Wall Street, and over the years, he has quietly earned a reputation as a godfather figure for…
“People think I’ve achieved quick success through luck, but I’ve always believed that you make your own luck.” – Peggy Gou Peggy Gou’s smash hit “(It Goes Like) Nanana” stormed UK’s top 5 to take its place alongside Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish. Long known to electro house music lovers as an A-List…
Private equity billionaire Michael ByungJu Kim is on top of this year’s Forbes 50 Richest Koreans list. With a personal net worth of $9.7 billion, Kim manages more than $26 billion in assets through his company MBK Partners. Forbes reported that only a few on the list of 50 richest saw their wealth rise last…
Twelve years ago, Ann Kim had an epiphany. At a crossroads in life, she knew she wanted to open her own restaurant but was terrified of failure. Opening her own restaurant seemed far too daunting so she decided to settle for a franchise. Ann Kim stared at the contract she was about to sign for…
27-year-old Korean American Stephen Song has won the 2022 World Poker Tour Prime Championship in Las Vegas, a win that has pushed him to the top of the global poker rankings. He defeated runner-up Lara Eisenberg, a radiologist from Maryland, while another Korean American, Young Eum, a former software engineer from Los Angeles, came in…
You can sense the passion when David Chung speaks about his life and his work. He’s an entrepreneur, and launching companies is a never-ending source of drive and energy. You may know his skincare brand Farmacy, which was acquired by Procter & Gamble (P&G) in December of 2021. His makeup-melting product “Green Clean” has become…
Korean American Michael B. Kim shares his love of books, chimaek, and the power of jeong at the workplace. According to Forbes, Michael B. Kim of MBK Partners jumped 10 places this year on their list of 50 Richest to become the third wealthiest person in Korea. But if you ask Kim, he might say…
A fireside chat with Min Jin Lee, author of “Pachinko”, for the Twin Cities Asian Executive Leadership Conference. I am so honored and delighted to have recently interviewed my friend and hero, Min Jin Lee. I first met Min Jin in May of 2017, three months after her best-selling novel “Pachinko” was published. I had…
Sometime in the early 2000s when investment banking was still a mystery to most of the immigrant community, a young Korean American named Dow Kim found a way to navigate the cutthroat ranks of traders and bankers to become one of the highest ranking executives on Wall Street. An understated man of few words, Kim…
In January 2022, Rose Lee was elected by Honeywell International to be the newest member of their board of directors, becoming the first Korean American woman to sit on the board of a Fortune 100 company. This news came on the heels of an even more impressive achievement when, in September 2021, Rose Lee became…