My value system

Throughout my life and career I have proactively eschewed the comfort of the status quo, instead choosing paths that frequently come with steep learning curves. At critical junctures I have been willing to pull up roots and take risks. Seeking new challenges has enriched my life and enhanced my capacity to effect change. I have honed the ability to understand my immediate surroundings, relate them to a broader context, identify clear objectives, find my way forward, and push on. It excites me to reach outside myself, to explore new ideas, to take on new challenges, and to make a difference in something greater than myself.

Many of the qualities and values that I possess – open-mindedness, compassion, industriousness – were learned from my parents. Born into a Korean-Japanese family in Japan, I quickly became aware of explicit and implicit social biases against minorities. I am indebted to my parents for teaching me to understand the nature and outcome of prejudices and discrimination, to be open-minded and fair, yet strong in asserting my rights and those of other disadvantaged people. As I grew up, these seeds eventually developed into my lifetime goal of contributing to the alleviation of worldwide inequality in wealth and opportunity through new social initiatives.

Industriousness is an integral part of my ethic. My parents emphasized the necessity of hard work and encouraged me to always double my efforts to ensure success. When I feel exhausted, remembering their words and how hard they worked re-energizes me. My values come from my past, but I look toward the future.

My Korean heritage nurtured independence and resolution, whereas my Japanese upbringing taught me teamwork and harmony. I have lived, worked and studied in Japan, Korea, the U.S., Fiji, Myanmar, and Switzerland, in addition to traveling to 34 other countries. My professional experience cuts across private, nonprofit, and public boundaries. I have firsthand insight into the virtues and shortcomings of the respective sectors, which will allow me to examine, synthesize, and reinterpret new experience and learning from a unique perspective.