2019 CKA Empower Summit Recap

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For the past five years, CKA has assembled top Korean American thought leaders, executives, and innovators from across the country to discuss important issues that shape the Korean American community. Last year, we chose to reimagine our annual convenings in a new way.

On November 1-2, 2019, CKA welcomed over 400 leaders (from as far as Alaska and Hawaii) to attend our inaugural Empower Summit in Washington, DC. It was a groundbreaking opportunity to connect with and listen to Korean American leaders from across various sectors. We discussed a broad range of topics, from breaking the bamboo ceiling and empowering women leaders to destigmatizing mental health and elevating Korean Americans to public office. 

This year’s Empower Summit featured high-profile leaders from vastly diverse fields: innovative entrepreneurs, finance executives, top policy-makers, talented musicians and artists, technology leaders, humanitarian leaders, and more. The summit also included an opening & closing reception, plenary sessions, group breakout sessions, and an Emerging Leaders Program. With great success, we connected and listened to the inspirational and life-affirming stories of Korean American leaders from all across the country.

Please see below for a video recap of memorable highlights from the Empower Summit:

We also released a new 3-minute video detailing CKA’s mission.

Please enjoy the photo highlights of our Empower Summit below. For more photos as well as information on our program and speakers, visit empower.councilka.org

1. Opening Reception at Covington and Burling LLP

(Clockwise from Top-Right)

Charles Yoon, President of KAAGNY; Angella Ahn, Violinist of the Ahn Trio; Civil Discourse, Progress, and the Korean American Community in an Age of Hyper-Partisanship feat. Heseung Song, Chief Strategist of The Mighty Engine; HeeSun Lee, Hip Hop Musician; Song Richardson, Dean and Chancellor’s Professor of Law at UCI School of Law; Paul Kim, Board Chair of CKA; and Susan Jin Davis, Chief Sustainability Officer of Comcast NBCUniversal

2. Plenary Sessions at Jack Morton Auditorium, GWU

(Clockwise from Top-Right) Michelle Sing, Deputy Head of North America External Relations of McKinsey & Company; Eugene Cho, Founder of One Day’s Wages; Jane Hyun, author of Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling: Career Strategies for Asians; Audience at Jack Morton Auditorium; How Basketball Creates Better Leaders feat. (Left to Right) Steve Baik, Marshall Cho, and Mathew Park; and Alpin Hong, Concert Pianist and Empower Summit Emcee; Abraham Kim, Executive Director of CKA.

3. Emerging Leaders Program at Marvin Center, GWU

(Clockwise from Top-Right) West Point Cadets and Navy Midshipmen raise their hands; Steve Baik and Marshall Cho pose with Emerging Leaders; West Point Cadets listen intently; Rep. Sam Park, State Representative of Georgia’s 101 District; and Julia Park, Founder of Relationship 365.

4. Workshop Sessions at Marvin Center, GWU

(Clockwise from Top-Right) Leaning In: Asian American Women on Work, Life, and Leadership feat. (Left to Right) Catharina Min, Jocelyn Hong, Susan Kim, and Salle Yoo; The Insiders’ Perspective: Getting Korean Americans into Elected Office feat. (Left to Right) Daniel M. Cho, Mark Keam, David L. Kim, Sam Oh, and Patty Kim; The Entrepreneur’s Climb: From Start-up to Titans feat. (Left to Right) Michael Yang, Tim Hwang, Carol Choi, and Saeju Jeong; From Ideas to Action: The Entrepreneurial Mindset feat. (Left to Right) Jim Chung, David Choi, and Ji Mi Choi; Scott Wong, Senior Staff Writer at The Hill; Linda Lee, Executive Director of KCS NY; and Julian Ha, Partner at Heidrick and Struggles.

5. Closing Reception at FiscalNote

(Clockwise from Top-Right) Eunice Hur Song, Executive Director of Korean American Coalition – Los Angeles; Mathew Park and Julia Park; Alpin Hong, Concert Pianist and Empower Summit Emcee; CKA Staff (Left to Right) Paul Park, Jessica Lee, Abraham Kim, Yona Andrews, and Kevin Koo; CKA Board Members on the stairs; KOWIN feat. CKA member Lucy Nam (Second from Left) and CKA Board Member Suzanne Kim Doud Galli (Third from Left); and Tim Hwang, Founder, and CEO of FiscalNote.