Our Process and Team

See Our Process

  • In August 2021, Emerson College Los Angeles professor and sociologist, Dr. Soo Mee Kim, contacted KYCC's Koreatown Storytelling Program (KSP) to collaborate on a narrative-based project for her course about power-building among communities of color. Informed by discussions about gaps in the existing discourse about the LA 1992 Civil Unrest, KSP and ELA jointly developed the project's objectives, methodology, and ethics. Katherine Kim, KSP Program Director, guest lectured a class for Emerson students about the L.A. Civil Unrest through the lens of Koreatown.

  • From September - November 2021, storytellers were recruited from KYCC's Prevention Community Council: a council of parents who aim to reduce youth substance abuse in Koreatown, Pico-Union and Westlake. Deisy Gutierrez, Gennesis Jerez, Yancy Mauricio, and Gloria Figueroa provided immense support.

  • On November 8, 2021, storytellers gathered at Emerson College Los Angeles for a roundtable discussion about the 1992 Civil Unrest. Participants were interviewed in Spanish by KYCC Communications Associate Gloria Figueroa and Emerson College student Shivani Quijada from a predetermined list of trauma- informed questions, jointly prepared by Emerson students and KYCC staff. Real- time interpretation in English was provided by Javier H. Morrone. Storytellers were compensated with a $100 participatory stipend.

  • From November 2021 to March 2022, the film was edited and subtitles were inputted by Emerson College students and staff. KYCC staff supported in Spanish transcription and English translation review. Booklet presentation was designed by KSP Intern Sue Yun Park and KSP Program Associate Sarah Jho.

Meet Our Team

  • SOO MEE KIM, PH.D

    Faculty, Emerson College Los Angeles

    Soo Mee Kim is a sociologist who critically examines how marginalized communities can construct political power within the urban spaces they occupy and claim. She co-edited and published in Koreatowns: Exploring the Economics, Politics, and Identities of Korean Spatial Formations (Lexington 2020), co-authored "Undocumented Asians, Left in the Shadows" for Context (2018), and published in Companion to Korean American Studies (Brill 2018). She lectures and consults for various higher education institutions, including California State University, Los Angeles, Emerson College Los Angeles, UCLA's Asian American Studies Center, and more. She is currently working on a book manuscript focusing on immigrant, non-citizen politics, and racial and ethnic capitalism in Los Angeles.

  • KATHERINE YUNGMEE KIM

    KSP Program Director

    Katherine Yungmee Kim is a writer, journalist and educator based in Los Angeles, California. She is the author of Longitude (Datz Press, 2021) and Los Angeles’s Koreatown (Arcadia Publishing, 2010). Prior to her work at KYCC, Katherine was a reporter and editor at The Cambodia Daily, The Korea Herald, Yonhap News Agency, Far Eastern Economic Review and KoreAm Journal. She has worked extensively in immigrant communities and her community journalism projects have been funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Community Foundation, the Eisner Foundation, California Humanities and the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.

  • GLORIA FIGUEROA

    KYCC Spanish / Bilingual Communications Associate

    Born and raised in Los Angeles, Gloria founded and hosts the Salvadoran American culture podcast, Radio No Jodas, where she and her guests tackle topics such as Salvadoran representation, entrepreneurship, obstacles in the community and the advancement of the Salvadoran culture in this new generation.

  • SARAH JHO

    KSP Program Associate

    Sarah Se-Hyun Jho was born and raised in Koreatown, Los Angeles. She is a 2020 graduate of Yale College where she double-majored in the History of Medicine and Biology. She is entering medical school in fall 2022, and is interested in incorporating the medical humanities into her future career.

  • SUE PARK

    KSP Program Intern

    Sue (Sue Yun) Park was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Orange County. She moved out to Koreatown after graduating from UCLA, where she majored in Psychobiology and minored in Asian American Studies. Sue is currently working in clinical research on women's heart disease and scribing in the emergency department. She hopes to integrate her passion for the arts and community service into her future career as a doctor.

  • SCRIPT EDITORS

    Laura Betrand

    Mara Tatevosian

  • CINEMATOGRAPHERS

    Leon Zhi Wen Chen

    Daniel Mullen

  • MODERATORS

    Gloria Figueroa

    Shivani Quijada

  • EDITORS

    Anna Brosnihan

    Joseph Keefe

    Daniel Mullen

  • TRANSLATION

    Javier H. Morrone

  • TRANSCRIPTION/GRAPHICS

    Soleil Easton

    Emily Reiser

    Letao Chen

  • SOUND

    Thomas Chadwick