Jamie Issuh

​​Jamie Issuh born in 1991 in Champaign, IL, where she spent her early childhood; in the fourth grade, she and her family settled down in Irvine, California, after spending some time in Tennessee and Korea. As a queer Korean American Renaissance woman, she talks about grappling with parts of her identity which felt incongruous with one another—throughout her 20s, she grappled with finding spaces where her Korean heritage and her queer identity could coexist. Having always been an ally, she was surprised at how difficult it was to fully accept herself. She joined @queerasiansocialclub, a social collective focused on empowering the queer and trans Asian American community, in search of a place which could mediate her identities. After moving to Koreatown two years ago, she joined a Korean dance group comprised mostly of imo’s her mother’s age; though she is still finding the courage to be fully out, she has let herself be surprised at the kindness and grace which the imo’s have extended to her and her friends from QASC.