2004 Executive Board

President: Jayne Jun

Jayne Jun had first heard of yKAN's presence when she was a high school student and decided to try out yKAN after she joined the labor force in 2001. She asked her friend who was familiar with yKAN to introduce her to the organization and attended her very first yKAN general meeting in March 2001. After having been exposed to the various community service opportunities that the organization had to offer, she took the challenge of a co-chairperson position of the Community Service Committee with Erica Kang, her friend since childhood, in January 2002. During her term, she contributed to establishing yKAN's working relationship with Korean Community Services of NY (KCS). In 2003, she served as Vice President under Kay Lee's administration.

Currently, Jayne's role in yKAN is that of President. It is a challenge for many Korean American young professionals to set aside the time to plan a networking or community service project, while having to manage their career, family, and social life under the "quite-unique" circumstances of being bicultural. Jayne views yKAN as a great gateway to the various Korean American and other minority networking and community service organizations and as a channel, in which the KA young professionals receive an opportunity to serve their community.

Jayne emigrated to the U.S. with her family, from Inchon, South Korea, at the age of 9 and grew up in Fort Lee, NJ. She graduated with a BA in Communication from University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, where she was actively involved with the Asian American student community, volunteer programs, and campus journalism. Currently, Jayne works as a media planner at a NYC ad agency. She was born in Seoul and presently resides in Palisades Park, NJ.

Vice President: Linda Choi

Linda Choi has been actively involved in yKAN as a General Secretary for 2 years. Currently she serves as the Vice President of yKAN. She has been having a fun and meaningful time in yKAN. She is glad to have met wonderful friends through yKAN.

She is currently a dentist working in a group practice in LIC. She attended SUNY Binghamton for college. After she graduated with Psychobiology major, she decided to pursue dentistry at Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine. Her 1 year residency brought her to St. Vincent Medical Centers in Queens/Brooklyn area.

She was very excited to have finished school after all those years. When she started working, she wanted to get involved in her community and to meet people. yKAN was the perfect choice. She appreciates meeting and working with people who are willing to volunteer and give something back to the community. She sees a bright future for yKAN and hopes to continue her relationship with yKAN.

Treasurer: Paul Kim

Since joining yKAN in December of 2002, Paul Kim has co-chaired the Community Service Committee with Erica Kang in 2003 and this year, he will be yKAN's Treasurer. What attracted Paul to yKAN is that yKAN is a non-profit organization focusing on community service activities to promote the well-being of those less fortunate. He had done community service work in the past and welcomed the opportunity to get actively involved again.

On a personal note, Paul is a consultant at IBM, specializing in business process reengineering for the financial services sector. He has a BA from the University of Chicago and an MBA from the University of Georgia Terry School of Business. He came to the U.S. in 1984 after having lived in Europe for ten years prior.

As long as yKAN continues to enhance its image and attracts those who are interested in promoting the Korean American community, Paul is certain that yKAN will grow and prosper in the years to come. In 5 years, Paul sees himself living the "Ozzie and Harriett" life. A loving wife, two adorable kids, a dog and a house with a white picket fence. Since Paul got married last year (another yKAN couple!) it looks like he's off to an excellent start.

General Secretary: Kristin Pak

Kristin Pak joined yKAN in October 2000. In 2001 and 2002, she co-chaired the Advancement Committee with Caroline Kim. In 2003, she served as the Treasurer.

She was motivated to attend her first meeting because the guest speaker's bio interested her. Kristin thinks that yKAN serves a unique and important role in the Korean American community as an organization of 1.5/2nd generation of Korean Americans who want to express their pride in their heritage and community by giving back and fulfilling the mission of advancing KA's in mainstream society. As an adoptee who wasn't raised in the Korean community, she was very impressed by the openness of yKAN and the welcome that she received. That, plus the late realization that she was a part of this "Korean" population, prompted her to want to be part of yKAN who does so much for high school students, seniors and other Korean Americans. Kristin thinks that Koreans should help redefine what "American" means in the 21st century and yKAN is an organization working towards that goal.

She attended American University where she majored in Eastern European Languages & Studies and International Relations. She came to United States in January 1977. Kristin lives with her husband, Vong, in Brooklyn.

Advancement: Jean Soo & Jin Lim

Jean Soo has Linda Choi to thank for joining yKAN. Thanks to Linda, Jean Soo was first introduced to yKAN when she participated in the 2003 Career Forum. She was very impressed with yKAN?s "spirit" and objectives. The fact that the e-board was very impressive and the members were very cool made the icing on the cake. Since returning to New York in the fall of 2002 after living in Washington, D.C. for two years, Jean Soo realized that she needed to "refamiliarize" herself with the "goings on" in New York, especially within the Korean American and Asian American communities. yKAN was a great resource for this. In 2004, she was a co-chair of the Advancement Committee. Currently Jean Soo is the Vice President of yKAN who is excited to be actively involved in serving yKAN and its members, as well as personally learning about the importance of the cultural, political and social advancement of Korean Americans.

Jean Soo was born in Brooklyn, New York, and received a B.A. from Wellesley College and a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School. She is currently clerking for a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the Brooklyn federal courthouse.

Jin Lim joined yKAN in January 2002 to learn about the Korean American community. She graduated from New York University with a B.S. in Information Systems and Finance. Now, she works as a business analyst.

Media / Web Chair: Ryan Choi & Erica Kang

Erica Kang joined yKAN to get involved in the community service (and to do other things besides work :-) ) In Jan 2002, she became a co-chair in the Community Service Committee with Jayne Jun, her childhood friend, and in 2003 with Paul Kim. Currently she serves as the co-chair in the Media & Web with Ryan Choi.

Erica likes yKAN since she get to be involved with the community and the members of yKAN. She'd like to see yKAN to continue to get involved in the Korean-American community and to expand to other states. She currently works as a Market Research Consultant. She graduated at Rutgers College. She came to United States in 1985.

Community Service Chair: Julie Cho & David Lee

Julie (Juhyun) Cho has been involved with yKAN since 2004. She first heard about yKAN when she came across an article about yKAN's active community service involvement in the Korean newspaper, and has been an active member ever since. She would like to carry on the yKAN mission and continue to expand the scope of yKAN's Community Service efforts within the Korean-American (KA) community. Julie personally enjoys being a part of yKAN because she loves being around her fellow generation of KA. She hopes that one day, she has the opportunity to make this world a better place by giving back to the community that has given her so much. Reflecting her love of the field of Public Health, she is currently working at the American Cancer Society, in Queens, as a Patient & Family Services Coordinator, serving cancer patients and families in the Queens region. Given that she is fluent in Korean, she is also working for the Korean Unit within the American Cancer Society. She has been an extremely active contributor to community service initiatives ever since high school.

Julie was born in Seoul, South Korea and emigrated to California at the age of 6. She lived there for a short period of time, went back to Korea and subsequently came back to the U.S. in 1995 and entered Wheatley High School in Old Westbury, New York. She graduated in 2002 with a B.S. in Health Sciences with a concentration in Public & Community Health from SUNY Stony Brook.  She continued her studies at SUNY Stony Brook and graduated with an M.S. in Healthcare Policy & Management in 2003. She presently resides in Long Island.

David Lee joined yKAN in September 2003. Although he was active in the past with other community service programs, he joined yKAN to become more involved with charity organizations that assist the Korean community. He co-chaired the Community Service Committee with Julie Cho in 2004.

Social Networking Chair: James Chung, Rob Oh, & Mike Shin

James Chung is one of the social/network committee co-chairs for yKAN. In the real world, he is the Director for the fashion industry, Turbo Holdings Inc. James has a Bachelors of Science degree in Computer Systems Engineering from Stanford University ('99).

Rob Oh is a graduate of New York University with a B.S. in Finance and Technology. He is currently working as a finance project manager. Rob's involvement with the social/networking committee stems from the energy and encouragement of fellow yKAN members. His commitment will continue to actuate yKAN to the next level.

Michael P. Shin joined yKAN several years ago before actively participating in the social/networking branch this year. His interest was sparked through yKAN's dedicated community service with the Korean-American community in NYC. He hopes that the current president will provide the inspiration to guide yKAN through the nascent 21st century. Michael studied English at Wesleyan University, CT and Public Health at Columbia University, NYC. He has worked in advertising and email marketing and is currently applying to graduate school.

Fundraising Chair: Jaz Park & Ryan Lee

Jaz Park is committed to garnering the resources for yKAN to expand its terrific programming initiatives. To do this, she seeks to establish beneficial relationships with corporate/private sponsors and foundations willing to foster yKAN's vision for the NYC Korean American professional community.

Jaz's past leadership track record include serving as the Founder of Brown's undergraduate Asian American Women's group, an Executive Board member of the Asian American Students Association, a member of the Washington Alliance of Korean American Women (WAKAW), VP of the Brown Alumni Club of NYC, and Chair of the Multicultural Alumni Committee.

Past highlights of events that she has produced include a fundraiser for domestic violence women's shelter, the Washington DC Korean Film Festival, undergraduate/alumni minority career forum, and most recently the APIA Gala in conjunction with the DNC in Boston.

Ryan Lee first joined yKAN in March of 2002. Ryan will chair the Fundraising Committee in 2004 and is committed in establishing channels for continuous sponsorships, both individual and corporate, for yKAN. Ryan is much traveled and has held a residence in Seoul, Houston, Philadelphia, Cambridge (MA), Palo Alto, and NY Metro area.

Membership Chair: Lisa Lim

Lisa Lim joined yKAN in December 2003. She has committed herself to revamping the membership committee chair in the name of cultivating yKAN's dedicated member base. She was raised in New Jersey and received her B.S. from Fashion Institute of Technology in 1999. Lisa currently works as a Merchandise Analyst in publishing.