I AM KOREAN AMERICAN

Own Words

Hi, I’m Janet Hope Choe.

Born May 31, 1985, three months premature, I took my first breath as a Korean child on American soil. Nourished by hope and nurtured by reality, I grew up to realize that I am a superhero.

Reality check: Okay, I’m not a superhero, but I am different, I am powerful, and I am here to save the world… one person at a time.

I am a social worker. Currently working on my MSW at Columbia University School of Social Work, I am an avid believer of living life to achieve your passions. I’ve always had a great fascination with differences and I’ve also taken personal responsibility for grappling with the concept of humanity existing in such a cruel but beautiful world. I can proudly say that being Korean-American plays a great role in who I am today and who I will work to become tomorrow.

Like many superheroes, I, as a non-superhero social worker, have a superpower. I’ve been endowed with the ability to read nonverbal cues and conjecture thoughts and feelings from behaviors and words. Hardly superhuman, you may think… but using these skills to understand how differences impact, shape, and influence one’s life is no easy task!

Being Korean-American has forced me to open my eyes and drink in the colorful, excruciating, aromatic sensations, values, attitudes, and ideals of being wholly human. The Korean culture is one I’ve hidden, ridiculed, ran away from, come back to try it on again for size, and now can proudly EMBRACE.

I love being Korean-American. My standards of passion achievement and expectations for a life filled with happiness would never have been so high and gratifying to fulfill if I wasn’t raised by amazing Korean immigrant parents who can never settle for anything less than the best.

I may never be a superhero, but I will always live out my dreams of changing and bettering the world… one person at a time…