Jiwon Shin

Jiwon Shin is a New York-based nightlife and event performer. Born in Highland Park, a suburb of Chicago, she grew up between Kentucky and Los Angeles, following her mother after her parents’ divorce. In the years which she describes as “a crack in the mirror,” Jiwon found a lifeline in music and the precise, expressive choreography of imported K-pop VHS tapes such as SBS’ Inkigayo (인기가요) and MBC’s Show! Music Core (쇼! 음악중심). More than just play, these living-room dances were staged performances in which Jiwon would recruit her brothers to form their own little K-pop group, in which each sibling was cast as a particular member of a group.

With her mother’s encouragement, Jiwon would later move to New York City to pursue studies in fashion business management at FIT, which is where she began to step out of her comfort zone. She found that experimentation with how she presented herself proved to be the formula for getting invited to perform music and drag, with her debut happening in 2019 to outstanding success.

Since then, Jiwon has emerged as a breakout force in the Brooklyn queer community, using drag and K-pop performance art as tools for personal and collective affirmation; today, Jiwon champions a "chosen family" of fellow performers, viewing the stage as a sanctuary where the healing of an inner child and the celebration of modern queer culture converge to create something entirely new and electric. “You only have one life and you have to live it like your authentic self,” she tells us, “…if you don’t do that, you’re going to live for everybody else. And what kind of life is that?”