Mandy Hwang

Mandy Hwang was raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma by an American father and Korean mother. She grew up feeling “perfectly half-Korean” thanks to her parents’ efforts to help her feel comfortable in her own skin, especially her father. Mandy moved to Korea with the intention of working in the K-pop industry but after taking a teaching job, she realized this was the career she wanted to pursue. Living and working in Korea has helped her feel more in-tune with her Korean identity and recognize that Korean culture is very different from Korean American culture. For Mandy, being half-Korean is a significant part of her identity and means having the best of both American and Korean culture. She believes that it is important for future generations of Korean Americans to not only be familiar with their Korean heritage, but also to make it their own.