While K-Beauty has taken social media by storm, most of the narrative targets Gen Z and Millennials. In this 20-minute session, I share my journey as a 50 Hispanic man individual navigating complex Korean skincare regimens while learning video editing and social media algorithms from scratch. I’ll unpack the real friction points—from overwhelming ingredient lists to fast-paced creator tools—alongside the massive market opportunity brands miss when ignoring mature consumers eager to adopt modern trends.
What happens when two strangers, connected only by a shared love of K-pop, choose to study somewhere neither of them speaks the language, instead of the well-trodden path most students take? In this session, we'll walk through our journey from fandom to friendship to career pivot, and the lessons in resilience and collaboration we picked up along the way.
Format: Presentation-style narrative walkthrough with photos, followed by open Q&A. 30 minutes total, structured as:
What brought us to Korea (3 min): how a shared interest in K-pop turned into a decision to study abroad somewhere unconventional, and why we chose the harder, less familiar option over an easier one.
How we met at Yonsei (4 min): photos and memories from meeting each other as strangers on the same path, and how that friendship formed fast, under pressure, without much shared context to start from.
Cultural & everyday challenges (6 min): the real, on-the-ground moments: language barriers, cultural misreads, and daily frictions of navigating a new country together, and how we worked through them as a team.
What we learned / takeaways (5 min): how trust gets built between people without a shared frame of reference, how to make decisions with incomplete information, and how discomfort became a source of growth rather than something to avoid.
How this shaped our careers (4 min): the direct throughline from that trip to where we are professionally now, and why we think unconventional experiences like this are underrated as career-building moments.
Q&A (8 min)
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.
45 min PowerPoint inspirational Ted Talk Presentation style. My parents immigrated to the United States by building a raft and escaping armed guards. They sacrificed their lives to give me opportunities for a new life and education. I grew up in government projects in NYC. Years later, I graduated Brown University and became a board-certified urologic surgeon practicing robotic surgery: an Asian woman in a field where people who looked like me were underrepresented (<1%).
Then I was fired while pregnant for asking for equal pay to the males in my program. I no longer fit the “mold” they were looking for. I was considered a “cage-rattler” and I was told to stay in my lane and know my place.
This 45 minute presentation follows my journey from my parents’ immigration story to a surgical career, an unexpected professional rupture, and the work of rebuilding as a physician entrepreneur and founder to multiple Million dollar companies.
I will speak candidly about ambition, identity, rejection, and the difference between achieving a prestigious title and building a life and business that reflect your purpose. I will also share how my reinvention led me to connect Korean beauty and medical innovation with American physicians, patients, and industry through clinical practice, education, community, and international conferences.
The session will include 35 minutes of personal storytelling and practical lessons and advice on how to grow in business, scale successfully and knowing your worth, followed by 10 minutes of audience discussion and Q&A. It is a conversation about what we carry from our families, what happens when our plans fall apart, and how we begin again.
This session explores how the Santos Bravos Dual community has grown from a shared passion for music into a multicultural community with its own sense of identity and belonging. We will discuss how Duals from different cultural backgrounds come together, connect through their shared love for Santos Bravos, celebrate their diverse identities, and create meaningful relationships beyond fandom.
The session will be an interactive conversation combining storytelling, real experiences, and audience participation. We will begin by introducing the Dual community and how it has grown, followed by a discussion about cultural identity, belonging, and the role of shared passions in bringing people together. We will also share examples of fan-led initiatives and community activities that demonstrate collaboration, creativity, and leadership.
The fans club Santos Bravos US
The 30-minute session :
• 5 minutes – Introduction to the Santos Bravos Dual community
• 10 minutes – Culture, identity, and belonging within the community
• 10 minutes – Real stories, community projects, and fan leadership
• 5 minutes – Audience reflection and discussion
The goal is to show how a fan community can become much more than fandom: a space where people from different backgrounds can connect, celebrate culture, build friendships, and create a shared identity.
Speakers : Mirella & Rosa
Why This Session Matters
Behind every fan community are people searching for connection, purpose, and a place to belong. This session explores how a shared passion for music can grow into something much bigger: a community that inspires leadership, meaningful friendships, creative collaboration, and positive social impact.
Session Description
When we founded Santos Bravos USA, we simply wanted to support an artist we admired. We never imagined that our shared passion would bring together people from across the United States and grow into a community built on trust, collaboration, and belonging. In this interactive talk, we’ll share our journey of building a fan community from scratch—the challenges we faced, the lessons we learned about leadership, and the friendships that became the foundation of our work. We’ll also explore how communities built around shared passions—whether in music, art, hobbies, or other interests—can create spaces where people feel connected, empowered, and inspired to make a difference together.
30-Minute Session Format & Time Breakdown
1. 8 min — From Fan Club to Community: How Santos Bravos USA Began
The story behind Santos Bravos USA, the vision that brought us together, and how a shared passion became the foundation for building a community.
2. 10 min — Building a Community Through Shared Passion
How a common interest can connect people across different places and backgrounds, creating meaningful relationships, trust, collaboration, and leadership opportunities.
3. 7 min — Beyond the Fan Club: Creating Real-World Impact
Real examples of community projects, volunteer efforts, creative collaborations, and initiatives that show how fan communities can create positive impact beyond music.
4. 5 min — Open Discussion & Q&A
Participants reflect on their own experiences and share ideas about how shared passions can bring people together and inspire stronger, more connected communities.
I was the first general counsel of Terra - the notorious Korean blockchain company - that wiped out over $40 billion in the cryptocurrency market overnight. I have also advised numerous startups in blockchain and AI spaces since then. I'd love to regale the stories of the two founders of Terra, how they achieved success, and the decisions they made along the way that snowballed into what Terra is today.
“이게 뭐예요?” means “What is this?” in Korean. It is also the title of an Ottiya children’s learning song I wrote that has generated more than 518 million streams.
The song began with a problem I encountered while teaching Korean heritage-language learners: many existing children’s songs were too wordy and complicated for beginners to grasp. Instead of trying to teach more, I built the song around one useful phrase, repeated it intentionally, and gave it music that felt fun and contemporary rather than overly childish.
Through the story behind the song, this session explores how simplicity, repetition, and emotional resonance can make an idea memorable. Drawing on my experience executive-producing more than 30 Ottiya learning songs, writing K-pop and J-pop, leading APAC culture and trends research for YouTube, and now building Ottiya World, I’ll share principles for creating work that respects its audience, makes people feel something, and sticks.
The session will combine a case-study presentation with guided reflection and audience Q&A. Participants will apply the principles to a message, product, learning experience, or piece of content they want their own audience to remember.
A 30-minute session with Elena Obukhova , founder of Supermoon and Supermoon Ventures, a leading tech and venture community in NYC with 47,000+ founders, investors, builders, and tech professionals .
Elena will share a practical playbook for expanding and growing your company in New York, from building the right community and network to finding customers, partners, talent, and capital .
Having lived in 9 countries , Elena brings an international perspective to the conversation, breaking down what it takes to enter the NYC and US market compared with expanding into other international markets. Drawing from Supermoon's experience helping startups and established companies unlock growth, the session will cover how to navigate NYC's ecosystem, build meaningful relationships, and turn local connections into real business opportunities.
As a founder, you need to be selling all the time. To investors, to your customers, and to attract top talents. During this session, we will do a live session how to perfect your pitch - whether that be to your investors or customers. Led by the co-founder & CEO of Baro, a16z SR007 company.
