Meet Heejung Kim | Art Director & Designer

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

Hi Heejung, Let’s talk about principles and values – what matters to you most?
To take care of your people matters most to me. I would like to say I’m pretty loyal and I try to do my best to look out for my friends and my close peers. I only want the best for them and want to hype them up as much as I can as they have been supportive of my journey.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

Throughout my career, I’ve been extremely lucky, but only recently have I begun to enjoy my work and be proud of what I’ve been working on. At the present moment, I’m excited to be working on some projects in collaboration with an amazing friend and dream clients. It hasn’t been easy, but things I’m passionate about usually aren’t. As an immigrant creative, it’s taken a lot of patience and endurance to finally feel like I have the opportunity to work on some amazing projects. Two things that I confidently can say I’ve learned during my career are:

1. It’s not the outcome, but the process of great teamwork and collaboration with colleagues that share the same energy as you that matters most.
2. Everyone’s on their own timeline. In the time I’ve compared myself to others, I learned to remind myself that I share a unique voice that people want to hear!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
In SD/LA: 1. Part Time Lover Bar – SD
2. Shop Good – SD
3. Izakaya Masa – SD
4. Izola Bakery – SD
5. Han Bat Sul Lung Tang – LA
6. Hauser & Wirth Galleries / Arts District Galleries in general!- LA
7. Fugetsu-do Bakery Shop – LA
8. The Getty – LA
9. Ellie’s Table Bakery – SJC (small but fave shoutout!)

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
This is so hard! I’m entirely grateful for everyone who has helped me get to where I am… but one person that I’d like to give a shoutout to is Christine Kang. At the beginning of my career, Christine believed in me and gave me a chance to work under her guidance. I look up to her and am so grateful to have learned so much from her in the time I had a chance to work with her.

Website: heejungkimm.com

Instagram: instagram.com/heejungkimm

Image Credits
Profile Image by Hannah Schwob