My intentional journey.

My journey started in South Korea. As a young girl, I was always observing and asking why. But over time, the Korean education system trained me out of questioning and into discipline. (I was pretty good at following rules, actually.)

But that began to change in college, when I started choosing unfamiliar rooms on purpose. I studied Business and French together, not because they formed an obvious path, but because I wanted to understand both systems and people. Business taught me how organizations make decisions. French taught me how language and culture shape the way people see the world. Studying abroad in France made that lesson real. Later, studying for the CPA exams on my own and failing taught me that curiosity alone is not enough. Growth also requires structure, patience, and the willingness to stay with difficult things.

Afterward, I worked as a Product Manager in Korean financial infrastructure, focusing on digital identity, biometric authentication, and payment systems. I entered with little technical background, but learned by working between engineers, banks, regulators, and users. Over time, I realized APIs, identity verification, and compliance requirements were not just technical details. They shaped whether people could move through systems securely, conveniently, and with trust.

That experience led me to the space between humans and technology, and eventually to a master’s program in Human-Centered Design and Engineering at the University of Washington.

Now, I am deep into AI. Not for the hype, but because I want to understand what this technology actually changes about how we live, decide, and trust.