(light piano music)
- My name's Sukhee Kang.
42 years ago in 1977 I came to America
looking for an American dream.
And let me just begin by saying
that who would've thought that 23 year old young man
from Korea came to the United States
and could become the mayor of a major U.S. city.
42 years ago I was on a plane to a country
that I only knew from history books.
I had no plan, just got out of college.
Actually got married, graduated, and came to America.
I did not know what my goal would be then.
So I struggled quite a bit when I first came.
My wife Joanne completely relied on me
and decided to come here together.
And yet,
I felt like I was powerless.
I couldn't give her any comfort.
I couldn't meet anybody that I knew.
So we used to actually go to Newport Beach.
And saying to ourselves if we cross this Pacific Ocean,
that's our home.
Should I go back?
And I answered myself,
Joanne came with me
and respecting me as a husband.
And I here I give up and going back to Korea?
What a shame.
This is your struggle.
You have to overcome.
I had nobody who I can get advice from.
I had to really make my decision
and I had to really get used to
you know, what I live, what I do.
That was probably the loneliest moment
that I ever experienced since I came to the country.
I was desperate, I had no money in my pocket
other than my parents gave me
a couple thousand dollars at the time.
You know, it was a lot of money.
But you know, I didn't want to spend any money,
but I was running out of money.
So I was desperate.
So one guy called me up and wanted to have
an interview with me.
And I said, wow, finally somebody called me up.
So on my first interview
it wasn't going very well
so I said to myself,
well if I lose this opportunity
probably I won't have much for another
couple, three months.
So I said, well, sir, I don't really have experience
but I do have a passion.
And if you would allow me to work
for three months to show you what I can do
maybe you can fire me then.
He knew I was desperate.
And hearing that comment, he kind of smiled.
And he said, well when can you start?
I said, anytime!
I can start right now.
He said, no, no, no.
You have to go through the process.
So we'll put you on the next step.
And that's how I got hired.
And in 1977 I was 23 years old working at Circuit City.
That was my first job.
So I was the first Asian salesman in the whole company.
I still remember my first customer.
I was on the floor and somebody came up
so I said, good morning, how can I help you?
Oh I'm looking for a stove, oven.
And he said, eye-level oven.
Which I'd never even seen ever in my life.
So what's eye-level oven?
So he approached and we went over to the oven section.
He asked me, where's the vent?
And I had no idea what vent meant at the time.
So I was you know, kind of
I just didn't know how to answer.
And he knew I was new.
And he goes, what I meant vent is like (whooshing).
You know, he kind of showed it, right?
And my face was blushed and I was so embarrassed.
So by showing his gesture, I kind of got it.
And then of course my manager saw me struggling
so he came over.
Oh, Sukhee's on his first day on this job.
And you know, I want to help you
with what you're looking for.
So I ended up selling an eye-level stove on my first day.
And the customer patted on my back, "I understand.
You know, do the best you can."
And that was my first advice
and that advice I never forget.
So I said to myself, I will do whatever it takes
to be the number one sales in the company.
Number one, I have to keep my promise
that I made to my boss who hired me.
So I have to really make good on me
so that they know who Sukhee Kang is
and what potential that I can bring to the table.
I became top sales in four months.
Which means I kept my promise
to the person who hired me.
And through that, as a prize,
they sent me and my wife to Hawaii.
So wow, this is America!
This is the first time I felt, wow, this is a blessing!
And so that was my beginning of my career
back in the days.
I ended up spending 15 years with the company.
And back in 1992,
and I'm sure you all remember
the L.A. riot here really broke.
When I was watching TV that night
I saw the looting, all the destruction.
Out of the frames of destruction
came my personal inspiration to build.
To build coalition and build trust.
That personal inspiration has actually
navigated me to get involved with
the Korean American community.
Somehow I was involved with the founding
a Korean American democratic organization.
Because we felt that we need some political clout
to get our voice heard to the mainstream.
And I felt that that was my calling that I could do
using my actual selling experience.
So for 15 years, what I've learned in sales,
in management, running big stores.
I learned how to really connect people.
And how to navigate difficulties and find solutions.
And I just wanted to use my education,
what I learned in sales
and apply to a political arena.
Back in 2004, we're living in Irvine.
I wanted to run for public office.
So I ran for city council.
What it took to win was just walking door to door
and raising money so that you can send out
mailers to the voters
and actually have an accurate description
of who Sukhee Kang was.
So I started walking door to door.
You know, first maybe couple of months
it wasn't easy to get out there knocking on doors.
You get a lot of rejection.
In sales we get a lot of rejection, right?
People just, whatever you say and make a presentation,
they don't buy.
So they get a lot of rejection.
So I have a prior experience of handling the rejection.
So I think the people skill I was able to get myself
trained at Circuit City, that gave me a great foundation
of how I can represent myself in a public arena.
So I was first elected in 2004 as a city council member.
I earned two year term.
So I had to get re-elected in 2006,
and got a four year term.
And in 2008 I ran for mayor.
And I was walking also door to door,
another 10,000 doors and making sure that I go out
and continued the dialogue.
What I had been able to do as a city council member
for four years,
this is what I would do as mayor
and continuing commitment.
Just knocking on doors and talking to people.
Making sure that I earned their trust.
And you know, by all means, I was elected
as the first Korean American mayor in a major U.S. city.
As long as you aspire to be successful
then you can be somebody very special.
So that was my notion when I first decided to run.
I didn't have any money
I didn't have anything to really talk about.
However, well, like what I did in sales,
I worked twice as much as other people.
I was always successful.
So I had the conviction that if I work harder
run a harder campaign
possibly I can win.
So I attribute my success
in politics, business, and community service
having been focused on the people.
At the end of the day, people are the key to success.
So having the concept of building the people infrastructure.
Working with people, through people
and be straight forward,
I believe that was my key to success.
My father, he taught us the most important things in life.
If you don't try the hardest,
you're not gonna be succeed, right?
And also, don't ever lose the trust by people.
And that lesson that I learned
it's a lifelong learning experience for me.
And to this date, I thank
my father and my mother
to teach us the right things in life.
My name is Sukhee Kang and this is my Korean American story.
(light piano music)