Meet Young Kim | Video Editor and Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Young Kim and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Young, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
Balance is something I’ve always struggled with. I thought “balanced” meant I wasn’t pushing myself to my limits or coming face-to-face against my deepest insecurities. “Balanced” meant I was bored. My life was a perpetual see-saw shifting from extreme pleasures to extreme pains. I felt things. It made me feel like I was alive.

Work was my identity. I lived to work. The task of picking up a camera or cutting a video together gave me a name and made me feel like I was enough. It meant that even if I was a cigarette-stoking, fat-collecting, sleepless son of a bitch, I was working in the big time which effectively made me big time. If anything, it was my way of feeling loved.

Everything that I was tapped into was viewed through the lens of my work, but slowly It became tough to convince myself that things like social media or blazing on the couch weren’t distractions. Inspiration, I called it.

In 2020, the pandemic rocked me in the best way possible. It stripped me of my so-called identity and left me an unpackaged specimen in the middle of Los Angeles with nothing to act as a mirror to view myself. I became shapeless.

Then I began to think about all the things I said I’d try and accomplish if I had the time. Time for me to get in shape. Time for me to quit smoking. Time for me to write a novel. Time for therapy. Time for me. Me. That’s when I realized I never knew how I was and was relying on everyone else’s perception of me to tell me who I was.

I did all the above and then some. I focused on my relationships, including my mind and body. I developed hobbies where I invested a considerable amount of time. Now, I ball up. I am fluent in Italian. I am more than my work.

It was tough to stand on that inverse Bosu Ball for the first thirty-some years of my life, but now I’ve strengthened that core–fundamental roots in my character that provide me some tranquility and security. I finally discovered that living my life outside of work aided my career, not the other way around.

I think everything must be in balance so we can be the best version of ourselves. Invest your time wisely. The grass isn’t greener on the other side, it’s greener where you water it. So many of us live out our days color-blind, overwatering the career lawn when the family lawn is browning to its final milliliter of chlorophyll. Pay attention to everything so that all of you flourishes, not just one extremity of your identity.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’d have to say I’m most excited about a novel I’m working on, which is a story about identity and whether or not we can choose who we become.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Murphy’s Ranch Norton Simon Museum
Huntington Botanical Gardens
Teragram Ballroom
Aikan Sushi
Heritage Square Museum
Quarters Korean BBQ

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Dale Campbell.

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