Annual Gala 2025

Gala

Aug 14

CELEBRATING 15 YEARS OF STORIES, COMMUNITY, AND CONNECTION

On Friday, October 17, 2025, we gathered to celebrate the 15th Annual Korean American Story Gala — an unforgettable evening honoring the voices and achievements that continue to shape our community.
This milestone year marked 15 years of preserving, sharing, and amplifying Korean American stories. We are deeply grateful to everyone who joined us — our sponsors, donors, honorees, volunteers, and attendees — for your continued support. Your generosity sustains our mission to ensure these stories live on for generations to come.

Our heartfelt thanks to our 2025 Trailblazer Honorees — Eric Kim, Soo Hugh, and Kevin Woo — for sharing their stories and inspiring us all through their words and work.

We also extend special thanks to our Emcee Vivian Lee, Auctioneer Kathy Kim, and performers Kathy Kim & Ed Pokropski, KHSS, Young Kim, and Sung Beats for bringing their talent, warmth, and energy to the stage.

We are sincerely grateful to our sponsors, whose generosity made this celebration possible, and to our dedicated staff and volunteers, whose hard work brought the evening to life. We also extend our appreciation to our in-kind sponsors, whose contributions helped make the night even more memorable.

We were especially honored to receive a New York State Assembly Proclamation, presented by Assembly Member Grace Lee, recognizing Korean American Story’s impact and contributions over the years.

Thank you for being part of this journey. Here’s to the next 15 years of storytelling, connection, and community.

Watch the highlights and honoree speeches above, and view portraits and event photos from the evening.

Portrait Photography by Janice Chung
Event Photography by Minnow Park

VIEW ALL PHOTOS: Portraits // Event Photos (or scroll to the bottom)

Playlist

Eric Kim

Food Columnist, The New York Times

Eric Kim (he/him) is a New York Times food columnist and essayist born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. His debut cookbook, Korean American: Food That Tastes Like Home (Clarkson Potter, 2022), was an instant New York Times Best Seller. A former digital manager for the Food Network and contributing editor for Saveur magazine, he now hosts regular videos on NYT Cooking’s YouTube channel and writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine. His collection of essays, Spaghetti Junction, is forthcoming from Crown Publishing. He lives in New York City with his rescue dog, Q.

Soo Hugh

Showrunner, Writer, Producer

Soo Hugh (she/her) is a television and film writer/producer, and showrunner of the critically acclaimed Apple TV+ series PACHINKO. She’s also set to make her feature directing debut with her adaptation of F. Scott Fitzerald’s TENDER IS THE NIGHT for Searchlight Pictures and Lucky Chapp. Previously, Soo was the co-showrunner for the first season of THE TERROR (AMC), produced by Ridley Scott. Other television credits include THE WHISPERS (ABC), THE KILLING (AMC), and UNDER THE DOME (CBS). Her Moonslinger Productions banner, which has a producing deal with Apple and Media Res, has set up numerous projects at studios and networks.

Kevin Woo

Actor/Singer

Kevin Woo (he/him) is a Korean American actor, singer-songwriter, and producer best known as the main vocalist of global K-pop group U-KISS. He has headlined international tours and released chart-topping albums for over a decade. Kevin recently starred in Broadway’s KPOP and appeared in Anderson .Paak’s directorial debut film K-POPS! and Netflix’s animated film K-POP Demon Hunters.