Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Julie Kim. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Julie, appreciate you joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

Honestly, not really. I think this career came into my life at the perfect time. If it came any sooner, I definitely would have struggled with ego issues. I had a lot of shadow work and trauma healing to do before I got my confidence back. I was super insecure and very vulnerable. If it came later, I don’t think I would have been able to fully commit like I did. I probably would be working as an Athletic Trainer (ATC) in who knows where and wouldn’t have time or the mental capacity to dive into this career like I did a little over a year ago.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Julie Kim and my pronouns are she/her. I am a bisexual, first generation Korean America born and raised in the Bay Area, CA. I am a Dancer, Actor, Model, Acro Yogi, Content Creator, Lifestyle Influencer, and a Film Photographer. My values mainly encompasses mental health awareness and creating art to inspire and help others heal and just become their truest self. Being an artist to me means that you have the ability to create art to help yourself and others to release or feel any emotions needed. My life motto has always been “My love language is to remind you of your power.” The most powerful thing about being an artist that I have learned so far is that i am able to showcase what others may see as a flaw into something beautiful. It gives me the opportunity to remind everyone that there is beauty in everything, even the most simplest things, and to show that an insecurity can still be a powerful strength! I want to be able to showcase that there is light in any darkness. I am dedicated to fostering conversations around mental health, while my artistry serves as a beacon of empowerment.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Entering into this artist career about 1.5 years ago has to be the most pivotal point in my life. Growing up I had a lot of ups and downs, but what kept me going was dance. I have been dancing pretty much my whole life, competing and performing all throughout my life for as long as I can remember. Being a performer and artist was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life, but knew I wouldn’t be able to truly pursue it. Growing up in a predominately Asian city didn’t allow much hope in pursuing the arts. So, I gave in and decided to do the next best thing- work with performers instead! I had a knack for anatomy and was even a part of a Sports Medicine Outreach Program in high school. It just made sense to go that route and that is when I found Athletic Training. It was the perfect mixture of learning and healing the human body for athletes and in my case, dancers. And that’s exactly what I did. I graduated from University of Miami with a BS in Sports Medicine – Athletic Training. Of course, I still continued to dance and even coordinated and choreographed for a competitive dance crew. The year I graduated college was the same year COVID hit and that changed everything. I moved back home and worked at a grocery store for 6 months to finally move out to Atlanta with a job that agreed to hire me while I was studying to become a Certified Athletic Trainer. Unfortunately, I did not pass the Boards exam three times… and made the very hard decision to not retake it and rethink my whole career. Luckily, my job was kind enough to give me an administration role to help me stay afloat to stay in Atlanta. About 2-3 months later, a talent agent reaches out to me on Instagram. Fortunately, I knew who this agent was through some dance classes I took in his studio. We scheduled a time to meet in person and just chat, then he presented an opportunity to get signed into his agency. This was when I realized that this was my chance to finally pursue on becoming an artist and performer. Fast forward to now, I am proud to say that I am signed with an amazing talent agency and have been working as an artist ever since!

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist has to be when someone, anyone, comes up to me or messages me saying that I have helped them in any way. I really try to be open about being vulnerable, sharing my experiences on my own shadow work and share positive habits that have helped me become more and more true to myself. Being able to normalize taking care of our mental health as much as we do for our physical health is super important to me. Whether it be in my dancing, my acting, or my photography, I really try to create and perform with intrinsic motivations to help people relate, to feel, or release any emotions needed.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/juliekimster?igshid=MzMyNGUyNmU2YQ==
• Other: Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@juliekimster?_t=8hAZuiI2tHa&_r=1

Image Credits
personal photo: Celine @crtvleina additional photo 1. jade yi @jadedshots 2. reyna samms @thedancing_photographer 3. ariana reina @areinaphotographer 4. klark @the_klark_ 5. ariana reina @areinaphotographer 6. andrew agresta jr @agrestaphotography 7. andrew agresta jr