(gentle music)
- Hi mom.
- Hi, Erin
- Can you start with your name and where you were born?
- My name is Judy Hong and I was born in Seoul, Korea.
- So did you grow up in Seoul, Korea?
- Yeah, so I grew up in Seoul till I was about 12 years old
so sixth grade in Elementary School,
and then the whole family immigrated to New York.
And we settled in Douglaston, which is in Queens.
- How was the transition from Korea to America
when you were only 12 years old?
- Yeah, I mean, it was difficult, right?
Because I didn't speak a word of English
and I had a lot of friends in Korea.
We were actually the first family to immigrate to New York.
So we didn't know anyone in New York.
In Korea I was very close to also my grandparents
and my aunts and my mom's side of the family.
So just leaving everyone that I was so close to
and moving to a new country where I didn't know the language
and I didn't know anybody.
So yeah, I would say that was kind of challenging.
And I remember crying a lot
the day that we were leaving Korea.
So we went to the airport and I just remember balling
(chuckles)
and we got onto the plane and my brother was younger.
So he was around eight or nine at the time.
And then my mom and I were just crying the whole flight.
Yeah.
- Did you resent your parents
at the time for making you move to Korea?
Like, were you very much against it?
- I mean, I don't know if I resented my parents,
you know, I think I was probably a little too young
to have a say in whether we moved to Korea
'cause I was 12 at the time.
I think I was just really sad about
leaving all my friends and my relatives.
- Do you think your Korea,
your childhood and upbringing in Korea,
did you want to raise Emily and I
in a more Korea household than what ended up being the case?
- When I first came from Korea to the US
and I would meet a lot of Korean American families
and they had young children and I would just surprise
that a lot of those kids didn't speak Korean, right?
They only spoke English and I felt like,
you know, the parents had to really put the effort
and make sure that they just spoke Korean.
So I wanted that for myself when I got married
and I didn't think I would marry someone,
I guess who didn't really speak Korean at that time too.
But I realized how challenging it is to be honest now
looking back and really only speaking Korean at home
if, you know, obviously dad doesn't speak Korean.
So I think in the beginning,
I kind of try to speak to you guys in Korean,
but English to dad, but it got a little bit too confusing.
Now, I do think that as you got older
you're embracing the Korean identity more about,
you know, like even Korean food
like you did not eat kimchi
when you're little and now you really like eating kimchi
and all the Korean food and so even though
it wasn't really, really Korean nice household
I think you are able to see glimpses of just,
you know, being Korean and growing up in a Korean household.
And especially with some of those traditions that we keep
when we visit palace (indistinct)
because they're very Korean highs
and I think they wanna keep those traditions for us.
- Can you tell me about
going to middle school and high school in America
what that transition was like and how school was?
- Yeah, so like I said before,
I mean, I had no friends here and I didn't speak English.
So I came here and we started,
so we started in sixth grade it's a public school in Queens.
I remember the only sentence
that I was practicing the first day was really,
I don't speak in English.
That was the only sentence that I kept practicing.
So anytime someone came near me, even before they spoke,
I just said, I don't speak English
'cause I didn't want to have any kind of conversation
or interaction with them.
So I think it was probably a little hard in the beginning.
There were a couple of other Korean kids who came from Korea
who had just come from Korea.
So there were probably two years younger than me.
So I would just hang out with them during recess
and we only speak Korean in the beginning.
And then, you know, when we would walk home
there were some other kids like making fun of us
for just speaking Korea, you know, those kinds of the usual,
like making fun of my name, like Judy Hong Kong,
that kind of thing.
And then the middle school actually,
'cause I grew up in Queens
and Queens has a lot of Korean American population there.
So in the middle school we actually had more Koreans.
And so I think I probably hung out with a lot of the Korean,
Koreans that had just come from Korea
or the Korean Americans.
So I think by the time I went to middle school
I spoke the language and I had friends.
So I think probably the first year
was the most difficult year.
- Can you tell me about your career path?
So, after college how you got to where you are.
- Yeah, so I majored in communication in college
and I actually always wanted to be a journalist.
So, even when I was in Korea or after I came here
I wanted to be a journalist
and so I majored in communication,
you know, unfortunately I wasn't able to really
find any work in that field when I graduated from college.
I ended up working for this Korean company.
It was called Daehan Investment Trust.
And essentially they needed someone
who spoke Korean and English.
So I got hired just to kind of help them set up the office,
help them translate things,
but it was an investment company.
And that's really when I first got exposure
to the world of finance, right?
'Cause I was a journalism or communications major.
I didn't have any courses in finance or anything like that.
So, when I started to work for Daehan,
like the whole world of finance was pretty interesting.
And so I wanted to stay in that field
and I decided to get an MBA
because I think the, you know,
'cause I didn't have any formal of training in finance
I thought getting an MBA would be the best way.
So I went to business school,
got my MBA and then got hired by Goldman Sachs
as an equity research associate.
And believe it or not, I was at Goldman for 20 plus years.
Yeah, I mean, I guess the bulk of my career
was really spent at Goldman analyzing beverage companies,
tobacco companies and the consumer land.
And then I think as you know,
I guess about now at 16, 17 months ago,
I decided to make a career transition
and joined the company called Canopy Growth,
which is a cannabis company.
And I am now the head of their investor relations.
So I guess a pretty big career change
and in a new industry, in new company.
- Did you like face any,
either racism or sexism in the work field?
- I definitely felt like there was some sense of unfairness,
whether it's a promotional,
you know, like a promotion process
or just even going to meetings and being the only woman
in a sea of white men and trying to adjust to that.
And I think part of me growing up in very Korean household
and my mom didn't work when I was growing up,
she was a housewife.
So I also didn't really have many role models
who are professional working women.
So I think just knowing how to act,
knowing how to act confident,
even if you have some insecurities inside I would say,
yeah, it was something that I wished that I had known more
or that I had a lot of role models
just to kind of bounce off ideas or get advices from.
- Who has been the kindest to you in your life?
- Kindest to me, I mean, I guess I have to say my mom,
even though she probably doesn't show it in like that way,
but I think she is my biggest supporter
and she like obviously same way that I will feel about you
that she would always have my back.
So I would say it's my mom, yeah.
(both chuckles)
- What are you proudest of in your life?
- What am I proudest?
I mean, well, of course like the family,
like you and Emily and just like
so proud of how you guys are becoming,
you know, just beautiful, both inside and outside.
And I guess I'm also just proud to have succeeded
in a career that is tough for an Asian American woman
who didn't speak a word of English
until she was 12 or 13, right?
And so I think I'm proud of that,
you know, the career success.
- Are there any words of wisdom
you would wanna pass on to me and Emily?
- I want you guys to just really take some chances
and take risks, right?
Don't be afraid to try things.
You know, you're not gonna know until you try things.
And I think rather than having regrets in the future,
I think you should go for whatever you think
that you want to go for I think you also,
again, like make this world a better place
than you found it, right?
So always thinking about the future,
always thinking how you wanna leave
your imprints in this world.
And don't give up,
you know, I think for me,
and I think I told you this though,
one of my favorite Korean saying is
(speaks in foreign language)
which means you get knocked out seven times
you get up eight times, right?
So don't give up, don't give up.
- Okay, thank you.
(both chuckles)
- My name is Judy Hong and this is my Korean American story.
(gentle music)