Unpretty Truths: How the K-Pop Machine Taught Me to Become My Own Boss
A 20 minute presentation with 10 minutes of audience Q&A. This session follows one woman's journey through the entertainment machine - from idol trainee to solo artist to YouTube success to losing everything - and what she learned about ownership, trust, and becoming her own leader. At 13, I dreamed of being a K-pop star. By my early twenties, I spent two years in grueling idol group training, finally debuting in 2016 as a solo artist with a single that crossed 1 million views. I performed on the biggest music shows in Korea. I wore masks and hats on the subway and fans still found me, slipping handwritten notes into my hands. It was everything I had worked for. It was also the beginning of a three-year lawsuit with my agency that would drain everything I had. When I came back to the US, I had almost nothing. So I started over from zero: built two YouTube channels to over 1 million subscribers combined, reached up to $20K a month, and finally saved $200,000 - the first real money that was truly mine. Then someone I deeply trusted took it all. Now, almost two years self-managed, I have rebuilt entirely on my own terms. I have landed brand partnerships with companies like Samsung, D'ALBA, and MIXSOON. I have interviewed some of the biggest names in entertainment - from Jeon Ji Yeon to Justin Min, various K-pop idols. And for the first time in my life, I am not performing a role someone else wrote for me. I am living as myself! This session is the story of how the same industry that taught me to perform also taught me - the hard way - that no one will advocate for your worth if you don't learn to do it yourself. I will speak candidly about the red flags I missed in management relationships, what "being like family" really costs you when paperwork is vague, and the emotional work of rebuilding not just your bank account but your ability to trust your own judgment. We'll cover the arc from signed artist to self-managed creator: how I went from someone who had never filed her own taxes to running her own LLC, hiring a bookkeeper, checking every contract clause, and learning to ask the uncomfortable questions I was once gaslit for asking.
Speaker
Grace Eunmi Kim | Grazy Grace