The Kick Astronauts

The Kick Astronauts is a small creative challenge my roommate and I set for ourselves before the end of our lease and we likely go our separate ways (he is sadly moving cities for work). It’s meant to be just for fun - a reason to slow down, learn something new, and make something together while we still share the same space. Our first 90-minute set is built around disco and funk EDM remixes. One of the ten categories of fulfillment I have identified is creativity - and this seeemed like an incredibly fun way to engage with creation and music in a way I had never done before.

1st Annual(?) Georgetown Student Oratory Competition

In the Spring of 2025 I reached out to Mary Kate Carey, who had organized the UVA Oratory Competition I had participated in (see below), with a simple idea: let's bring the tradition to Georgetown. Modeled after UVA's program, the competition was designed as a nonpartisan forum where students could engage foundational questions of American democracy with rigor, clarity, and conviction. What that looked like in practice was refreshingly straightforward. After partnering with Professor Joe Hartman, we sent out an open call to the student body, a single annual prompt, and eight finalists delivering memorized speeches before a public audience and a panel of distinguished judges for a grand prize of $1,000 and a chance to compete against the UVA finalists the following Spring. 

Hosting the inaugural finals in the historic Philodemic Room in Healy Hall felt like the right setting for what we were trying to do. We weren't manufacturing consensus, but rewarding thoughtful oratory and rhetoric. Watching students rise to that challenge made clear that this shouldn't be just a one-off event, but the beginning of a tradition. One that reinforces Georgetown’s commitment to civil discourse and creates space for the next generation of leaders to practice oratory as they think thoughtfull and honestly about our Republic.

The inaugural prompt was: "Describe an event from American history and explain how it illustrates a founding principle of the Declaration of Independence."

Men's Christian Fellowship

After moving to D.C., I found that it was easy to stay busy and hard to stay grounded. The Men’s Christian Fellowship grew out of that tension. What started as a small, monthly gathering of friends, mentors, mentees, and even some strangers became a consistent space for men to slow down, open Scripture, and talk honestly about what it means to be a man and a follower of Christ in this season of life. We meet once a month and focus less on having polished answers and more on asking real and good questions. The conversations range from faith and vocation to relationships, leadership, and failure. There’s no curriculum and no pressure to perform, just a shared commitment to show up, listen well, and take one another seriously. Over time, the group has become a source of accountability, encouragement, and quiet stability in a city that doesn’t always make room for the life part of work-life. 

Grand Old Asians (GOA)

When I moved to D.C., I was told (mostly jokingly, but not really) that it’s a city where every conversation is also a soft interview. Where people are friendly, impressive, and usually trying to figure out where you work before they decide how interested they are in being your friend. 

GOA was created for members of the Asian American conservative diaspora who were looking for something that felt less like networking and more like real community. What began with a holiday party in December 2024 turned into a year of monthly gatherings—trivia nights, cultural celebrations, museum tours, KBBQ-fests, sports days, and long conversations about politics, philosophy, and theology. As GOA has become more organized, that same spirit has expanded outward through partnerships with existing organizations to share opportunities with students, formal dinners with guest speakers and community leaders, and programming that now spans socials, professional events, and community service. In a city where relationships often revolve around proximity to power, GOA has been intentionally different: a place where people show up as themselves first, build trust, and let everything else follow naturally. 

Boys Nation 10-Year Reunion

In the summer of 2025, a group of us from the Boys Nation Class of 2015 came back together in Arlington to mark ten years since we first showed up in D.C. as ambitious seventeen-year-olds convinced we were all on a fast track to becoming president. The idea was simple: spend time together, reconnect with the program and meet future leaders, and share what the last decade has looked like. That meant small panels, long conversations, and sitting across from current Boys Nation senators who reminded us a lot of ourselves, sometimes uncannily so. What stood out wasn’t how successful people had become on paper, but how much the experience still mattered. It was encouraging to see that our friendships crossed political and geographic lines and many had pursued careers shaped by a deeper sense of responsibility, and a shared commitment to character over résumé lines. It was a strong reminder that Boys Nation isn’t just a week-long program, but something that can shape the rest of your life if you let it. Read more about the reunion here: ‘Truly a pivotal point in my life’ | The American Legion 

The Race

In the spring of 2024, as I was looking down the barrel of my imminent graduation from grad school, my friends and I suddenly became very committed to working out (probably as a way to distract ourselves from our looming entry into the real world). 

A group of us began doing "Murphs",  a crossfit workout consisting of a 1-mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats, and another 1-mile run. I hadn't really run since high school, but squash had gotten me into good cardio shape and I actually found myself doing better at the running portion than I would have thought - I averaged around the 6:30-7 minute mark. This led me to the question -can I run a 5-minute mile? 

With that seed planted, I put a hold on my calendar for the following year (June 28th, 2025) to run a mile as fast as I could. After moving to DC, my roommate thought it was a good challenge and so we made a bet of it. It wasn't not so much a race against each other as it is a race against time (if either of us failed to break the 5-minute mark we had to pay the other guy $100 - so there was a chance we both would fail and break even!). Training together led me to discover a love for running that I didn't know I had.

THE RESULT: My roommate ran a 4:57, and I ran a 5:02. I am still trying to break a 5-minute mile (and haven't drank since June 2025 as a challenge to myself until I accomplish this - even if my training has slowed down). 

The Entrepreneurs Roundtable

The Entrepreneurs Roundtable was a monthly gathering for entrepreneurially-minded leaders interested in meeting, collaborating, and developing relationships with peers committed to constant personal and professional improvement. Members included those working in venture capital, private equity, FAANG companies, commercial real estate, and as business and technical startup founders, small business owners, and search funders. Read more about the project here.

3rd Annual UVA Student Oratory Competition

In the Fall of 2023 the UVA Department of Politics hosted its third annual oratory competition. 8 finalists from the student body presented on the topic: what is the the greatest strength of American democracy?

I am really proud to have been able to share my family's story in this way. It was truly an honor to return to the Dome Room of the Rotunda and to compete for a final time.

ema.ai

In early April 2023, Daniel Eigler-Harding, a classmate of mine from Georgetown, reached out to me with a short text: "I have an idea."

That grew into us co-founding ema.ai, an AI-powered personal assistant company. We focused on applying conversational AI to consumer products. 

The National Korean Student Alliance

Growing out from the KAPS project I launched in Spring 2021, the National Korean Student Alliance was formed to serve as a national umbrella organization. With a team of 10 dedicated young alumni of various Korean student organizations across the country, we are working hard to develop an organization that connects Korean American students and Korean Student Associations across the United States of America, provides these students and organizations with resources and networking opportunities to succeed, and advances Korean American interests, culture, and excellence.

Fun Club

Law school is a notoriously soul crushing place. Hundreds of pages of reading every week, curved finals that count for 95%+ of your grade. Sometimes you're just straight up not having a good time.

I've been blessed and lucky in that my experience has been positively shaped by a great group of friends and almost an over-emphasis on balance that has kept my mind off school and me sane. After talking with a buddy we thought it would be good if a bit more "chaotic good" was brought into the law school and Fun Club was born. It was a new tradition where law students take on the challenge to attend at least one game of every sport that has a varsity team at UVA (there's 27 across men and women's sports!) before they graduate. We kicked off our events at the end of the 2022 spring semester with Women's Lacrosse and Men's Baseball. I worked on this project with Paul Patton (Co-Commissioner) and Chris Hamborsky (Silly Goose).

1st Annual UVA Student Oratory Competition

In the Spring of 2022 the UVA Department of Politics hosted its inaugural oratory competition. 8 finalists from the student body presented on the topic: what is the most important value to American democracy? 

We had the opportunity to speak to a panel of judges, students, and community members in the dome of the Rotunda, an iconic building standing in the heart of Grounds. This was a great learning opportunity both as as competitor and an observer of the other great speeches.

Korean Association Presidents' Summit

 In early 2021 I began planning an inaugural one-day virtual summit held for Presidents of collegiate Korean Student Associations and Organizations around the country. The goal of KAPS was to build a national Korean American student leader community and provide this community with access to a compilation of resources dedicated to Korean American students.

Building on this, a team of 4 recent college graduates organized 3 virtual summits and established the National Korean Student Alliance in order to help effectively collect and distribute resources to Korean American college students.

Young Asian Pacific American Leaders

In the summer of 2020, I launched YAPAL (pronounced yuh-pall) as a national fellowship and professional development organization for young Asian Pacific Americans located throughout the United States. The organization grew to over 200 members and hosted events with Members of Congress, leading political professionals, and dozens of aspiring leaders.

My Personal Mindfulness Exercise

In the Spring of 2021 I built a tool to help me approach my goals and aspirations with more awareness. After some conversations with great friends who I thought to be driven, motivated, and successful,  I realized what set them apart was their ability to critically analyze what they actually wanted to do, and to identify the steps that were necessary for them to achieve their goals. Based on these conversations I built out this template for an exercise that I try to do once or twice a year as a way to touch base and chart out a path to help me be more aware and productive in my daily life. 

Korean American Student Internships Database

In the Spring of 2019 I found myself bored at home over a longer-than-usual winter break. I was getting ready to study abroad at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea and the program didn't start until March. With a lot of time on my hands, I began looking for internships for the summer and realized that their had to be a better way. Poking through website after website I decided to compile my search and share my results with other Korean American students. The database is a little old now, but most of the internships are still relevant and the organizations offer great resources. Iterations of this project have made it into both YAPAL and KAPS, with the latter organization ultimately morphing into the N-KSA.

First attempt at "spoken word"

Watch my story, "Half-breed", where I talk about my experience growing up as a biracial American at the Council of Korean Americans Gala ROAR Story Slam. 

This was my first time getting to share my journey with a large group of Korean Americans and marked a shift in my attitude towards embracing my heritage. 

It also made me critically think about how we present ourselves and what we change about our stories to fit a more streamlined narrative. After this experience, I made a commitment to avoid retroactively editing my own experiences as much as possible.

Designing a more interesting Zoom background

Like most people in 2020 I spent way too much time behind a computer screen and in front of a webcam. I decided to upgrade my backdrop and started looking for posters that would make the blank wall of my apartment a little more interesting but couldn't find anything that matched what I specifically wanted - so I tried to make it myself.

Here's my attempt at wall art. I like a more minimalist style (convenient for someone with little-to-no artistic training). It's nothing earth-shattering or impressive, but it felt great to design something, print it out, and mount it on my wall. The ownership I felt over something I had created, the feeling that I had made something unique and meaningful to me, was great. 

The design is inspired by my background and family heritage, and each poster is signed in the relevant language for its design.

Building Korean American Community

In the summer of 2018 I was interning in New York City and spending excessive amounts of time in KTown, taking in the Korean BBQ restaurants and bustling nightlife. It was exciting to see so many other young Korean Americans and I decided to try my hand at bringing the community together by hosting an event for Korean college students who were in town for the summer.  The 2018 NYC Chimaek event had 8 schools co-sponsor and over 40 attendees. I didn't have much money at the time, and my classmate and co-host (Ryan Bae from Georgetown) and I ended up shelling out a couple hundred dollars each to help cover food. It felt like a huge expense at the time to a naive college kid, but we understood the power of bringing people together and were excited by the idea of building this community.