I experienced life as an immigrant when I lived in South Korea, and I remember the confusing anger I felt toward South Koreans when I experienced culture shock. I thought I was a good person and I couldn’t understand why I was so angry and frustrated. I was trying so hard to make Korean friends, but I didn’t feel comfortable talking to Koreans about certain questions about their culture that made me confused and frustrated. I had so many questions. Explain bowing. How do you know which verb tense to use with which people? How do I know if I did something offensive? Where can I go to learn more about Korean culture? I didn’t have a comfortable place to ask my questions, and I thought I should just ignore the confused feelings and keep trying.

I didn’t get any cultural orientation or training when I lived abroad. When I eventually returned home, I went through intense reverse culture shock. I questioned my values, my identity, and my cultural programming. That’s when I started studying cultural differences and cultural intelligence. From this moment, everything changed. I realized my struggle wasn't a personal failure. It was cultural misunderstanding.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t trying hard enough. It was that no one had explained the deeper rules shaping how people connect in South Korea.
That experience is why I care so deeply about helping immigrants feel comfortable and confident in the American workplace. They bring a great deal of skills and experience into our workplaces, and oftentimes team effectiveness is hampered by simple, predictable cultural misunderstandings.

Since returning from South Korea 20 years ago, I’ve intentionally built my life around cross-cultural engagement. I have worked, volunteered, or built friendships with people from more than 30 countries. I’ve seen patterns repeat across cultures. I've seen similar misunderstandings, similar frustrations. It’s not just theory to me, it’s personal and I’ve lived it. I don’t view cultural challenges as personality flaws. I see them as predictable outcomes when people are navigating invisible cultural rules without orientation.

I hold a Master of Public Administration (MPA), which trained me to think about cultural challenges inside larger systems, including universities, workplaces, and communities. Cultural struggles don’t happen in a vacuum. They happen inside places of work and within social norms that were not designed to explain themselves. This

I am certified by the Cultural Intelligence Center to debrief cultural intelligence assessments, and I am a doctoral student in the Communication Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

I help people understand cultural differences and how to connect across them. Because we won't be able to deal with our world's big problems without addressing our differences.