Meet Kristen Kim | Host and Producer, Culture Kids Podcast

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

Hi Kristen, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Culture Kids Media was created with this single question: If every child in the world felt accepted, included and celebrated for their differences, what kind of a world could we create?

This idea sprouted as a collaboration between my 6-year-old son, Asher, and me. We lived in the Financial District of New York City in the aftermath of the 2020 quarantine, amid the wave of Asian hate that swept across the city. At this time, I had just given birth to our second child, Arden, born at the peak of the pandemic. Witnessing the surge in Asian hate crimes and reflecting on my childhood experiences of bullying as a South Korean immigrant, I felt overwhelmed and saddened by the social injustices.

As an immigrant child, I spent most of my childhood concealing my cultural identity, yearning to be ‘more American’ and ‘less Korean.’ I was consistently embarrassed to eat the Korean food my mom packed for me and even changed my name from Sung Won (my legal Korean name) to Kristen.  Confronted with similar challenges years later, I recognized two options: to let the negative experiences consume and define me, passing it on to my children, or to channel it into creating something beautiful and making a positive impact. Opting for the latter, I decided to establish a platform that empowers children to celebrate their differences and appreciate the beauty in diversity and culture.

Reflecting now, I hope that through Culture Kids, children everywhere can listen and feel empowered to embrace their cultural identities, with the aspiration that their peers will take interest and curiosity in their differences.

Ensuring the inclusivity of every child, irrespective of their cultural background, is crucial to us. We engage in discussions and explorations of cultures with guests from around the world, striving to make every child feel part of the conversation. By encouraging them to learn more at home through projects or discussions with their grown-ups, we aim to foster a sense of connection and build bridges between communities. Additionally, for children who may not identify with a specific culture, we inspire them to initiate their own family traditions, drawing inspiration from various cultures, and fostering creativity during quality family time.

It is equally important to us that children feel comfortable engaging in conversations about their differences. For instance, in an episode where our Muslim guest shared about Ramadan, Asher openly mentioned that our family practices Christianity and doesn’t celebrate Ramadan. Despite the distinction, he expressed genuine interest and enthusiasm in learning more. We concluded the episode by asking our guest how we could support our friends during Ramadan and make the holiday more special for their family. Exposing our children to such conversations in a positive and supportive space from an early age is essential to us, helping them understand that it’s always okay to be different and fostering a culture of understanding and acceptance.

Since our launch, our audience has grown significantly, and we couldn’t be happier and more excited to produce more content. I firmly believe that if we educate every child to celebrate differences rather than fear them, many problems in our future world would cease to exist. Until the day arrives, we will continue producing weekly episodes and more!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I pursued my studies in Production Technology and Management at Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, with a parallel focus on Music Composition. Initially, I envisioned a lifelong career in TV and film production. Over the years, I worked with various departments for major networks such as CBS News, CBS Sports, Discovery Networks, Eurosport, and NBC Sports. Despite my diverse experiences, I struggled to pinpoint where I felt most authentic.

In addition, my husband’s unconventional schedule in healthcare made it increasingly challenging to sustain a career in TV, especially after becoming a parent to two children. I never identified myself as a full-time mom, and the desire to embark on a creative venture of my own constantly lingered over my head.

Culture Kids Podcast is the culmination of all of my diverse experiences in TV production. For example, hours spent observing editors at different networks became valuable as I applied those skills to produce this podcast. Drawing on my classical training in music composition, sound designing for every episode felt like a natural extension.

My journey to creating Culture Kids is a testament that every small experience in life is never wasted unless you choose to let it go to waste. It’s always within your power to rise, learn, and transform those experiences into something meaningful, regardless of how late it may be in life. I used to walk through the halls of the TV networks where I worked and noticed the Webby nominations and trophies on the walls. Never did I imagine that one day I would have the same Webby plaque bearing my own name and my son’s, a testament to a project we started from scratch. This experience has taught me that it is never too late to embark on a new project, and your greatest accomplishments are still waiting to unfold.

I am filled with excitement and passion when I think about connecting with more guests from around the world and celebrating their cultures and families. What truly motivates me is hearing from parents worldwide who share that their children are curious and asking where they can try kimchi or sample dishes from Malaysia that we discussed in our episodes. The joy in my work stems from knowing that children are opening their hearts to learn about other cultures, laying the foundation to grow up as open-minded global citizens of the world.

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?
Assuming that there are no young children to tend to (ha!), I would love to take my friend horseback riding in Malibu. We would grab an oceanfront early dinner nearby, and make our way home to get drinks at The Strand in Manhattan Beach. The next day, we’d get hotpot in Torrance and hit up the Korean saunas, where we can rest in the heated salt rooms and take a nap. We would get massages and acupuncture treatments there and eat a delicious Korean BBQ dinner after. The next day I’d love to visit Universal Studios and grab dinner at little Ethiopia (one of my favorite cuisines!). After a day of rest, I’d take my friend to go jet skiing to Catalina Islands (assuming the weather is okay!). After all this we will probably need a day to rest and I’d love to hit up a traditional Japanese spa in Torrance (Spa Relaken) for some hot stone room treatment.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to express my gratitude to my family—my husband John, Asher, and Arden. Culture Kids would not exist without their unwavering support, and the knowledge that my family firmly stands behind and believes in our core mission makes all of this possible.  Thank you John for talking about Culture Kids to almost every patient he sees, and for keeping Arden occupied during our recordings, which is sometimes an impossible task!  Asher, our co host and my 6 year old son, is a talented, creative and phenomenal producer and I can not ask for a better cohost.

A special thanks goes to my business partner, mentor and good friend Robin Lai, who has selflessly stood by my side, offering support not only in the creative and technical aspects of the business but opening doors to so many opportunities.  Thank you for making Culture Kids sound the way it does and for being my right hand.  I am also grateful for my extended family, my parents in Korea, my sister Ellen and her husband Mike for playing our podcast on every tablet that exists around the house.  I am also grateful for friends like Minji, who showed excitement and passion for our mission even before our first episode was aired.

Moreover, someone once mentioned that when starting a business, you quickly discover which individuals and organizations genuinely care about your mission and making a difference in the world, and they were right. We extend our thanks to businesses that partnered and invested in us, even when we were just starting out, simply because they believed in our work. Huge thanks goes to Ben Mathis at Airwave Media, Angela Hong at YouTube Kids, Yoto,  Kids Listen, Storitopia, KidsPod, New Kids on the Pod, Podcast Academy, and Podcast Movement.

Lastly, a heartfelt thank you to all our incredible and talented guests and our dedicated listeners. You are our guiding light on this journey. And thank you to the entire team at Voyage LA & Shoutout LA for this opportunity to feature our work!

Website: http://culturekidsmedia.com

Instagram: @culturekids

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/culturekidspodcast/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086100743611

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@culturekidsmedia

Image Credits
Photos by: Tiare Rush (Rush Studio) Hanbok That Day