THE 15TH ANNUAL GALA

Eric Kim is a New York Times food columnist and essayist born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. His debut cookbook, Korean American: Food That Tastes Like Home (Clarkson Potter, 2022), was an instant New York Times Best Seller. A former digital manager for the Food Network and contributing editor for Saveur magazine, he now hosts regular videos on NYT Cooking’s YouTube channel and writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine. His collection of essays, Spaghetti Junction, is forthcoming from Crown Publishing. He lives in New York City with his rescue dog, Q.

Photo Credit: Bobbi Lin

Soo Hugh is a television and film writer/producer, and showrunner of the critically acclaimed Apple TV+ series PACHINKO. She’s also set to make her feature directing debut with her adaptation of F. Scott Fitzerald’s TENDER IS THE NIGHT for Searchlight Pictures and Lucky Chapp. Previously, Soo was the co-showrunner for the first season of THE TERROR (AMC), produced by Ridley Scott. Other television credits include THE WHISPERS (ABC), THE KILLING (AMC), and UNDER THE DOME (CBS). Her Moonslinger Productions banner, which has a producing deal with Apple and Media Res, has set up numerous projects at studios and networks.

Photo Credit: Victoria Stephens

Kevin Woo is a Korean American actor, singer-songwriter, and producer best known
as the main vocalist of global K-pop group U-KISS. He has headlined international
tours and released chart-topping albums for over a decade. Kevin recently starred
in Broadway’s KPOP and appeared in Anderson .Paak’s directorial debut film
K-POPS! and Netflix’s animated film K-POP Demon Hunters.

Vivian Lee is an Emmy-winning TV journalist in New York. She has anchored and reported for NY1 and WNBC and currently works for CUNY-TV as a correspondent for Asian American Life. Born and raised in Toronto, Vivian joined the Korean American Story board in 2017 and lives in New York with her husband and two daughters.

Kathleen Kim is a Sesame Street puppeteer and an Emmy-nominated producer for her work on “See Us Coming Together,” a Sesame special on HBO Max addressing anti-Asian hate and celebrating AAPI diversity. She performs Ji-Young, the show’s first Asian American Muppet character in its 50+ seasons as well as Elena, the mother of Julia, a Muppet character with autism. Other performance credits include Helpsters on Apple TV+, SNL, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood with Tom Hanks and as ToeKnee on Awkwafina is Nora from Queens, and recently Kim’s narration of Jimin Han’s The Apology won the audiobook an Earphones Award.

Edward (he/him) is a two-time Emmy nominated Senior Writer/Producer at NBCUniversal. He is one of the co-founders of The Asian Comedy Fest and he has been touring his solo storytelling show, Case 84: Adopted in the U.S.A. all over the country!

Kathleen Kim (she/her) is an NYC based puppeteer and VO artist best known for her work on Sesame Street as Ji-Young, the first Asian American Muppet character who was introduced on the show’s AAPI special “See UsComing Together,” which Kim received an Emmy nomination for as consulting producer. Other puppetry credits include SNL, Helpsters on Apple TV+, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Awkwafina is Nora From Queens as ToeKnee. You can also hear her voice as the protagonist “Teen” in the recently released Annapurna video game “To a T,” as well as narrator of several audiobook titles. Most recently, Kim has begun to experiment in live stand up, performing with her “Dad in a Bear Suit” at Joe’s Pub, the UCB Theatre, Caveat NYC and Asian Comedy Fest.

Young Kim (he/him) is a Producer for the Emmy-award winning news program, CBS Sunday Morning. He travels all over the country with his camera and notepad to profile peculiar people and places. You can find him swing dancing, knitting at whiskey bars or coming up with recipes for a cookbook called “K-Pie.” He’s gotten into performing standup comedy, encouraged by the laughs he received from the 2023 ROAR Story Slam.

KHSS is a four member Korean-American performance group that is rewriting the possibility of kpop by showcasing the power of queer sisterhood. Kim, Henry, Snix, and Sammy prepared an intergenerational kpop medley, and like a smooch on your cheek, you’ll be left wanting more.

SungBeats (he/him) is a beatbox live-looping champion and content creator from NYC. A master of vocal instrumentation, Sung creates percussion, basslines, trumpets, strings, and other sound effects with the human voice without any backing tracks or instruments. He is the 2018 American Loopstation Beatbox Champion and the first-place winner of Apollo Night 2014 at the world-famous Apollo Theater. Sung’s viral series “Making Beats for Strangers” has earned over 800 million views across social platforms.