Just as how our own KAs@Work series profiles Korean Americans across the country who are finding success in unconventional careers, a new exciting TV talk show is taking the next step by bringing these stories to your television screens.

The Portfolio has already begun to air on The Korean Channel every Sunday night, and the friendly, easy tone of the interviews has brought a new nuance to Korean heritage. We spoke with producer Sunah Kim and co-hosts Kevin Kim and So-Chung Shinn to learn about their prospects for the show and what viewers can expect to see on the program.

How did the concept for ‘The Portfolio’ come about?

Sunah: Kevin and So-Chung had a weekly show on Korea Radio Broadcast in Flushing for three months in 2010. The enthusiastic, positive feedback from the Korean American community made them realize that there was a need for an in-depth television talk show that profiles Korean Americans and their paths to success. I was brought in to provide some advice based on my experience in film and television production. When I met Kevin and So-Chung, I was overwhelmed by their passion and sincerity, and their mission statements appealed to me strongly, too. So, I decided on the spot to join the team and produce the show, and that’s how The Portfolio came about.

Kevin and So-Chung, both of you come from such different backgrounds. How would you describe each of your roles’ as co-hosts on the show?

Kevin: I believe that our personal and professional backgrounds complement each other extremely well.  So-Chung is the modern day “superwoman/renaissance woman.” She balances family with work, and then on top of that, philanthropy in a way that is truly amazing.  We definitely need to have her on as a guest because so many young women could learn so much from her.  Her expertise in opera, and the arts in general, with her accomplishments in the publishing world, allow her to bring in a perspective that I do not have based on my background. I see my role as the “lay person” in every interview who wants to ask the question on behalf of people who may not have the subject matter expertise of a particular guest’s industry.

So-Chung: Although we have different backgrounds, we share many similarities. We understand the challenges and rewards in balancing family and professional life. We want to promote healthy thinking and help the greater good. It is easy to say that we complement each other because we offer different perspectives, knowledge, and experiences from varying industries. This may be true, but our greater strength lies in our similar desire to help the community by sharing inspirational stories with our audience.

Of course, we find strength in our differences as well. Kevin’s experience in public service is a tremendous asset for The Portfolio. He is instantly likable and has a natural gift for identifying with others, which reassures our guests and makes them feel comfortable. He is very bright and has worked hard to achieve his own successful career, which is inspirational to our viewers. In other words, he fits the profile of our guests, and I look forward to interviewing him on the show someday!

Co-Hosts Kevin and So-Chung

Kevin, what challenges does co-hosting ‘The Portfolio’ bring that vary from your work in public service?

There are a lot more similarities than I originally thought between shooting a TV talk show and running for office.  You realize from the moment the camera turns on, you are in the public eye much in the same way when running for office; every movement or comment you make is being scrutinized by someone.  On the other hand, playing the role of a co-host is more challenging in some ways because you have to be much more multi-dimensional in expressing yourself to a television audience.  This entails asking questions sometimes that you may already know the answer to, but you want to make sure that the audience gets to hear the answer directly from the guest.  It’s also a challenge to learn about a new industry each time.  I think people generally don’t realize how much background research is done on the guest and his/her profession or industry prior to the guest arriving on the set.

So-Chung, You’ve had a lot of experience as a former editor and contributor for various publications. Now, you’re co-hosting a weekly television show. How does it feel to be in front of the camera?

Kevin and I are fortunate to have the support and guidance of our experienced and dedicated producer/director Sunah. Surprisingly, I feel comfortable during tapings and don’t think much about the camera, especially when the conversation starts to pick up momentum. Of course, I’ve been able to draw on my past experience as a writer/editor during the interview process. Whether I am writing for a magazine or taping an episode of The Portfolio, I need to know how to ask questions to learn about the subject and then share this information with readers. I trust our team completely (camera, editor, producer/director, co-host), which makes it easier to focus on the task at hand: making our guests feel welcome and facilitating a conversation that is natural, enlightening, enjoyable, and educational.

Episode 2: Greg Pak, Filmmaker / Comic Book Writer

What are your criteria for recruiting guests for the show?

Our guests are those who live their dreams and inspire others along the way. Success has many faces. Our focus is more on the pursuit of happiness and personal fulfillment rather than financial stardom. Our guests have overcome many obstacles and challenges and may have made many mistakes to get where they are. They have to be willing to share not only their success stories but also their vulnerable moments. They should come to our show to serve as role models for the next generation and not as a promotional tool. And most importantly, they have to share Korean heritage.

We’ll also introduce prominent Korean American organizations that are contributing for KA communities such as Korean American Community Foundation, Korean Cultural Center, Manhattan Korean School, Korean American Family Service Center, and of course, Korean Beacon! The power of community comes from working together! We hope to be a useful and informative source for our young generations when they try to find their paths in this world.

Why is it important for viewers to learn about successful Korean Americans from different industries?

To achieve personal fulfillment, one should not be forced into a line of work that does not feel natural or interesting to them. We want our viewers to understand and appreciate that there are many exciting professions available to them. Unfortunately, many Korean Americans have grown up believing that the only path to success was through medicine, business, or law. We hope to dispel this myth by presenting many different career choices so that they can appreciate their own interests and learn how to take it to the next level. Because our guests are diverse and passionate, our viewers will be able to find someone with whom they can identify and be encouraged to turn their passion into their career.

Episode 3: Hooni Kim, Chef & Owner of Danji

Who would you love to have as a dream guest on the show?

There are so many! We’d like to invite all the wonderful KAs from many different fields. That would include actors such as John Cho and Sandra Oh, LPGA golfer Christina Kim, MVP football player Hines Ward, award-winning author Chang Rae Lee, co-publisher of DC Comics Jim Lee, fashion designer Doo-Ri Chung, business consultant and bestselling author Jane Hyun – ah, the list goes on and on!

Are there any plans to expand the program’s reach to the entire nation? How can viewers who don’t live in the broadcast area gain access to the program’s episodes?

After we complete our first season run, we’ll reach out to other Korean stations in the U.S. and also possibly cable networks in South Korea. For further information, please visit our website.

The Portfolio
- Broadcast weekly at 9PM on Sunday evenings
- Available through The Korean Channel (TKC) through Time Warner Cable (76 & 531) and Cablevision (263) in the New York metropolitan area, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.

Episodes are also available online here. “Like” them on Facebook.

[Photos: The Portfolio]

The prestigious 2011 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Fiction was awarded to Chang-rae Lee, author of The Surrendered. One of our Summer Reading picks, The Surrendered transcends other war novels with its honest and brutal depiction of human interactions and relationships during the Korean War. Upon receiving the award, Lee, who was also a 2011 Pulitzer finalist, said:

History shows that all nations eventually decline, governments shall fall, great structures will crumble to dust; yet literature endures. Why? Because in order to thrive we need our own voices to tilt against intolerance, ignorance, callousness; to make ourselves vulnerable to the difficult and beautiful truths of our humanity; to remind us we are one. This is what the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation so rightly supports and celebrates; that my work has been thusly recognized is a deeply humbling — and inspiring — honor.

Chang-rae Lee is a multi-award author whose other well-known books are Native Speaker, Aloft, and A Gesture Life. He is currently a professor at Princeton University teaching in their Creative Writing Program.

[Photo of Chang-rae Lee: UCLA Asia Institute]

Here’s part two of our list of summer-perfect reads! As mentioned last week, our reading list is comprised of, either books penned by Korean American authors, or stories featuring Korean and/or Korean American characters. So, browse our picks, book a story (or two) and get reading! To see the first part, go here.
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Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin (Translated by Chi-Young Kim) | Buy

The children’s desperate search for their missing mother only makes clearer to them the indifference with which they had always treated her, and this heartbreaking tale serves as a warning to readers that family cannot be taken for granted.

Back cover: On a family visit to the city, Mom is right behind her husband when the train pulls out of Seoul Station without her, and she is lost, possibly forever. As her children argue over how to find her and her husband returns to their countryside home to wait for her, they each recall their lives with her, their memories often more surprising than comforting. Have they lived up to her expectations? Was she happy? Through the piercing voices of daughter, son, and husband, and through Mom’s own words in the novel’s shattering conclusion, we learn what happened that day, and explore an even deeper mystery—of motherhood itself. You will never think of your mother the same way again after you’ve read this book.

- Kyung Sook Shin is an award-winning South Korean author who is currently a visiting scholar at Columbia University. Please Look After Mom—a best-seller in both Korea and the U.S.— is her first novel available in translation.
- Chi-Young Kim is a literary translator based in Los Angeles. For more info, click here.

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Everything Asian by Sung J. Woo | Buy

With humor and dramatic discoveries, the novel captures the hopes and disappointments of immigrant life through the eyes of a young character.

Back cover: You’re twelve years old. A month has passed since your Korean Air flight landed at lovely Newark Airport. Your fifteen-year-old sister is miserable. Your mother isn’t exactly happy, either. You’re seeing your father for the first time in five years, and although he’s nice enough, he might be, well–how can you put this delicately?–a loser. You can’t speak English, but that doesn’t stop you from working at East Meets West, your father’s gift shop in a strip mall, where everything is new. Welcome to the wonderful world of David Kim.

Born in South Korea, Sung J. Woo immigrated to the U.S. when he was ten years old. He attended Cornell University and received his M.F.A. from NYU. He now lives in Washington, N.J. and blogs at http://www.sungjwoo.com/. His sophomore novel is currently in the works!

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The Surrendered by Chang-rae Lee | Buy

2011 Pulitzer finalist Chang-rae Lee tells of the lasting effects of the Korean War through his three main characters.

Back cover: June Han was only a girl when the Korean War left her orphaned; Hector Brennan was a young GI who fled the petty tragedies of his small town to serve his country. When the war ended, their lives collided at a Korean orphanage where they vied for the attentions of Sylvie Tanner, the beautiful yet deeply damaged missionary wife whose elusive love seemed to transform everything. Thirty years later and on the other side of the world, June and Hector are reunited in a plot that will force them to come to terms with the mysterious secrets of their past, and the shocking acts of love and violence that bind them together.

Chang-rae Lee is an award-winning author and teacher. Born in South Korea in 1965, Lee and his family immigrated to the U.S. in 1968. He received his B.A. in English from Yale University and his M.F.A. from the University of Oregon. He is currently a Professor of Creative Writing at Princeton University.

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Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart | Buy

Mentored by Chang-rae Lee, Shyteyngart’s portrayal of Korean and Korean American culture is quite interesting to read.

Back cover: In a very near future, a functionally illiterate America is about to collapse. But don’t tell that to poor Lenny Abramov—he totally loves books (or “printed, bound media artifacts,” as they’re now known), even though most of his peers find them smelly and annoying. But even more than books, Lenny loves Eunice Park, an impossibly cute and impossibly cruel twenty-four-year-old Korean American woman who just graduated from Elderbird College with a major in Images and a minor in Assertiveness. Could falling in love redeem a planet falling apart?

Gary Shteyngart was born in Leningrad in 1972 and came to the U.S. seven years later. He has been selected as one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists. He lives in NYC. Last year, he picked Lee’s Native Speaker as one of his favorite books.

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Miles from Nowwhere by Nami Mun | Buy

Mun’s first novel is a harrowing teenage runaway’s tale set in the streets of NYC during the 1980s.

Back cover: Joon is a teenager living in the Bronx. Her parents have crumbled under the weight of her father’s infidelity; he has left the family, and mental illness has rendered her mother nearly catatonic. So Joon, at the age of thirteen, decides she would be better off on her own, a choice that commences a harrowing and often tragic journey that exposes the painful difficulties of a life lived on the margins. Joon’s adolescent years take her from a homeless shelter to an escort club, through struggles with addiction, to jobs selling newspapers and cosmetics, committing petty crimes, and, finally, toward something resembling hope.

Nami Mun grew up in Seoul, South Korea and Bronx, New York. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing in Chicago. For more info, click here.

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My Korean Deli: Risking It All for a Convenience Store by Ben Ryder Howe | Buy

A story of how the characters stay afloat without losing sight of the love for family that bound them together in the first place.

Back cover: This sweet and funny tale of a preppy editor buying a Brooklyn deli with his Korean in-laws is about family, culture clash, and the quest for authentic experiences. It starts with a gift, when Howe’s wife, the daughter of Korean immigrants, decides to repay her parents’ self-sacrifice by buying them a store. Howe, an editor at the rarefied Paris Review, agrees to go along. Things soon become a lot more complicated. After the business struggles, Howe finds himself living in the basement of his in-laws’ Staten Island home, commuting to the Paris Review offices in George Plimpton’s UES townhouse by day, and heading to Brooklyn at night to slice cold cuts and peddle lottery tickets.

Ben Ryder Howe is a former editor at The Paris Review and has written for various publications, including The New Yorker and The Atlantic Monthly. He lives on Staten Island with his wife and two children.

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Happy Reading! And feel free to suggest your favorite books in the comments section below.

Mindy Gee and Mink Choi contributed to this list.

Korean-American author and Princeton Professor Chang Rae Lee published his fourth novel, “Surrendered.”  In USA Today’s review of Chang-Rae Lee’s latest novel, they describe it as a “beautifully brutal and sad novel.”

The Surrenderedopens with a harrowing scene at the start of the Korean War. But the book is less about war than its aftermath and the kind of scars that never heal.

It’s the fourth and most ambitious novel by Lee, 44, who emigrated from Korea when he was 3 and teaches at Princeton University. His 1995 debut, Native Speaker, about the struggles of a Korean-American to assimilate, won the PEN/Hemingway Award for first fiction.

The Surrendered, set in the USA, Korea, China and Europe, moves back and forth in time, slowly reconnecting the intersections of three ruined lives.

For the full review, go to USA Today.