Joshua Hwang
Joshua Hwang was born and raised in Philadelphia as one of five boys in his family. His father was a pastor while his mother ran two dry cleaning businesses. Growing up, Joshua wanted to create an identity for himself as an American. He rebelled from the standard ideas of being a PK, or pastor’s Kid, and tried to avoid the Korean American community as much as possible. His parents eventually saw the recklessness and wanted to find an opportunity for him leave Philadelphia as soon as possible.
After quitting his job, his parents bought him a plane ticket to Korea while simultaneously booking a trip to Hawaii for ten days. They knew that if he took the trip to Hawaii, he would consider living out in Korea for three months with his brothers. While listening to his brother’s sermons, he felt the need to shift his mentality to be more open minded and felt a calling to stay in Korea. What could have been a three month trip turned out to be an opportunity to settle and become an entrepreneur in Korea for seven years. As Joshua continues his life in Korea, he hopes to continue to embrace who he is and walk with pride as a Korean American.