Meet Jiwon Lee | Writer

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

Hi Jiwon, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I think pursuing a creative career has always been such an obvious choice for me that it’s hard to think about when this all started. I was always a kid who was extra sensitive, extra opinionated, and extra emotional about life. Like every other kid, I went through different phases of what I wanted to be when I grow up, but I think every single one of them was creative — ranging from wanting to be the next Taylor Swift, to journalist, to what I am today, writer for film and television. I think I’d also have to attribute my start in a creative career to my upbringing of moving across different countries and cities every few years. I was never familiar with what was “mainstream” in conversations amongst friends, and I always harbored a desire to be the leader of my own story, to tell my side of the story rather than desperately absorbing the culture around me just to fit in. I’d say I’m fairly happy with where I ended up!

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

As I’ve briefly mentioned before, I had a unique upbringing, which was growing up as a Third Culture Kid — a term to refer to those who have spent the majority of their developmental years outside of their passport country. I was born in South Korea, but was raised not only in Korea but in Malaysia, China, then moved to the United States to attend college. There were lots of back and forth moves across these countries as well, so college was the only educational institution I continuously attended for more than 3 years!

At first, my culturally ambiguous background made it difficult to label myself as a writer. I’m Korean, but I primarily write in English. I know Korean culture and Chinese culture and American culture, but I didn’t feel confident enough in any of them to proudly label myself as an expert in them. Yet, for fellowships or generals, people always expect a one-line description of you as a writer, most of which involves aligning yourself with one neighborhood/culture/etc.

After years of struggling with my identity, during the process of which I published a memoir titled ‘The Third Culture Teen’ — a book literally journaling my own struggles and questions at the time — I grew more comfortable in my identity as a globally nomadic Asian woman. I love writing about outsiders, expats, and immigrants — those who are constantly looking for a place to belong, and end up succeeding at it at times, at other times, not so much. Especially with prominent immigrant stories being recognized in the industry today, for instance, the Oscar-nominated film ‘Past Lives,’ I’ve gained the confidence that my stories are worth telling and that they can speak to audiences who have shared similar experiences with me.

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?
I am obviously biased as a Korean, but a foodie trip around Koreatown would be my first choice. You’d be surprised at how many different kinds of food/cuisine fall under the umbrella of Korean food!
Chinese/Korean style skewers at Feng Mao Lamb Kebab (where the servers speak English, Korean, and Chinese — just like me!), HanEum for kimchi stew, stop by Madang Plaza for Somisomi and/or Sul & Beans, King Donkatsu for Korean-style katsu, and me and my friend’s all-time favorite Korean-Chinese noodles, Young King. If you love drinking, I’d also suggest KBBQ places or pochas (which are usually street/low-key bars in Korea!) like Hanshin Pocha.
Top this off with karaoke, and you have the complete Los Angeles K-town experience!
Make sure to memorize a line or two of Korean to impress the ajummas.

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?

The first group of people I can immediately think of is my family, of course! Letting their daughter pursue a creative career in an Asian household — let alone pursuing it in a country halfway across the world — is such a wild decision to make for parents. The older I grow, the more I appreciate the faith they had, have, and will always have in my creative pursuits.

Besides my parents, so many friends and mentors have helped me out tremendously through this rocky, unpredictable journey in the film industry. I’d like to give a special shoutout to the organization Korean American Leaders in Hollywood! I was fortunate to represent them in their USC branch as the president back when I was still in school. Since then, the generous & immensely talented Korean American creative community has helped me find funding for my first big short film and also hosted networking sessions where I got my first full-time industry job. Highly recommend it to anyone with interests in supporting/hearing from Korean American creatives!

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jiwon-lee-854576b2/

Other: https://vimeo.com/user91199873