I was a South Korean adoptee in 1974 and came to the United States. This picture is, on the left is my sister, Halle. In the middle is my wife, and then I am on the right. We were in Seoul, Korea; this was last year, 2023. And we took a cooking class there.

I was working with goal to start my birth family search. And this was just one of the activities that we did while we were in Seoul. My sister, Halle, she set it up. And we were just cooking, doing traditional Korean cooking.

It's my wife, my sister and me, this is the main support that I have in my life right now. But it's interesting because there's food here. And it's really that having that supporting family nourishes us as individuals. Having this food here just becomes inspirational to me and it represents the idea of family.

I have an urban planning degree from UC, then a graduate degree from NKU in Integrated Studies—I did a blended program with public administration, and community literacy. I went back late last year, and enrolled into their graduate public history program, I'm looking to use that program to give me more academic ideas of history and research, and apply those to more of a community-based history program.

By having a better understanding of history, I think it roots us as individuals to something. You know, that you are important, that there have been impacts throughout Cincinnati history, that, as Asian Americans we are part of. It's a part of the history here that's really not spoken a lot.

It wasn't until understanding who I was as a person, around 10 years ago, it developed into the journey that I'm on now, career wise—a career of helping people.