We recently connected with Yoojoon Kang and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Yoojoon thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?

It was in May of 2024 when I suddenly got a DM from a brand called Pocket Dispo that sold these 3D-printed film camera lenses. As someone who had just entered the bigger picture of social media, I thought it was one of the coolest DMs I had ever gotten. I remember being kind of nervous thinking of ways to reply to the request to collaborate. But with a little bit of thinking and a bit of time, we had successfully scheduled a time to do a meeting to brief the collaboration and settle with the final plans. It was all good to go. I was so happy.

On the day of the meeting, I had been given a rundown of the expectations of the videos and how they wanted to execute the collaboration to help benefit the both sides of the party. Nervous yet excited, I was sharing all about how this was going to be my first ever collaboration I’ve experienced in my life which was exciting news for Pocket Dispo as well. The entire meeting was such a new thing that I couldn’t contain my excitement when talking about our deal. After an hour, we settled with a price that felt so big at the time and my excitement just only got bigger.

After a few weeks, I traveled to Yosemite with the lens and captured some fun, nostalgic-themed moments. I had the video edited and sent with a few rounds of revisions which then led to the final product being released on the @PocketDispo page (which the video is still there).

As someone who started creating without the intent of it possibly generating me revenue, this experience felt so surreal. I always thought my videos and my art lacked significantly to be able to make any money. Yet, this experience helped prove me wrong. I think the most important thing I learned from this experience was that we often undervalue ourselves as creatives and creators. We begin comparing ourselves to others doing similar, yet better work and think that it’s the end of the world and that we’d never get to reach that point. When in-reality, our work itself could already be something worth so much more than we can ever imagine. When I realized that my work was able to bring some sort of value to the world whether it be artistically or within business, it helped open my eyes to a whole new perspective. It really helped me understand that my work was worth and that my value was a lot more than I could have ever imagined it to be.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hello! My name is Yoojoon and I am a 22-year-old creator who loves filming and turning my moments into memories to be seen on the Internet. I work under the handle @yoojoonkang and it’s been about a year now that I’ve been creating as I got into the social media industry back in April of 2024. I create both long-form and short-form content, but have primarily been focusing on making shorter content on Instagram Reels, TikToks, and YouTube Shorts. I make cinematic travel videos with the intent of sharing my moments, my joys, and the scenery I catch into these videos that make people want to feel. The biggest thing I live up to when creating is to make my audience feel an emotion. Whether that be joy, sadness, anger, jealousy, or really anything, I want the viewer to watch and leave my video feeling something from it.

I’ve always been an emotional person. Whenever I’m watching a Korean drama, an A24 film, or any movies, when emotion is being heavily appealed from the scenes being played on the screen, I always try to feel the emotions that the characters are feeling within. As weird as it may sound, I feel that being able to express and feel these emotions provide me with a sense of comfort and joy that just can’t be described in words. I know they say men don’t cry, but I think I’m hugely against that statement.

I think it’s because of these type of films that I want to be able to create my own films that make people stir-up and feel these emotions deep-down from their hearts. Most to almost all of my videos are personalized in a way that helps people cheer up or feel motivated. I’ve been determined to be a sense of hope for those who feel lost or feel trapped within their lives. I want people to understand that there is more to life than they might be thinking within the moment and that small things must also be appreciated for you to enjoy the bigger picture later on.

The proudest thing for me is when I receive DMs, emails, or even messages from people all over the world telling me how my videos have led them to open their eyes and really understand that there is more to life than they might think. When they share their experiences and their gratitudes for the emotions that my videos have provided them with, my heart gets so full. Especially because I started creating without the intent of it growing so much to how it has become, there is just so much more meaning to creating for me and so much more purpose as to why I create.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

If there was one lesson I had to unlearn, it was that you need everyone to like you. When I first started creating, I thought my video had to cater towards everyone. I thought every comment telling me the wrongs of my videos and the things I should change should be my number one priority. When I saw comments telling me that my work sucked, I took that personally and sometimes even deleted/archived the videos out of my own insecurity. It was only later when I realized that you can’t satisfy everyone in the world. People will find anything and everything to judge you on. Those people will do all that they can to pull you down along with them to the depths of negativity. And a resolve to that? It’s simply to just be you and do what you think makes you, you. I truly believe that those who genuinely appreciates and likes your art, your work, or just your presence will stay and those that don’t will leave. Don’t let the people that drag you down be the reason why you quit. Let those people be the reason why you exist and the reason why you in-fact create.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative are the people you meet along the way. When I first got into social media, I never thought I’d be given the chance or even an opportunity to be connected to people I’ve been watching on the screen for years, yet here I am literally talking and befriending those exact people. It has been a genuine blessing and an honor to be surrounded by so many great, like-minded people out in the world who create with the intent of sharing their beautiful gifts and artistries. The same applies to those of my audience. I love when people personally send me DMs sharing their experiences, their lives, and just granting me the chance to be an online friend to them. The endless love and kindness being spread by those genuinely mean everything to me and those are the times that I feel that I’ve finally achieved a purpose in my life. Without my new friends, my audience, and even just those who are around for a video only to comment, my life would not be whole without you all. This is a reward that I’m forever and ever grateful for.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/yoojoonkang
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yoojoonkang
• Twitter: https://x.com/yoojoonkang
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@YOOJOONKANG
• Other: TikTok: @yoojoonkang

Image Credits

All by me.