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

Hi Minji, thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

The main focus of my YouTube and my general online presence is costuming and sewing, so those are obviously very important skills for me!

I graduated from an MFA program in Costume Production during the pandemic when all the theatres and entertainment productions were shut down, so I didn’t really have many job prospects. I was making and selling masks to pay rent, but I’d always wanted to make YouTube videos so I figured that would be a good use for the extra time I had. I actually wanted to make travel videos originally but that definitely wasn’t happening in 2020, so I decided instead to make sewing videos. I thought I’d be able to share the knowledge that I’d just spent three years learning and help people who maybe weren’t able to afford to get a formal education in costuming or just didn’t have the time. This ended up being a really good way to start my YouTube channel because I had an area of expertise that’s pretty niche and it helped me grow fairly quickly.

Arguably the more important part of YouTube though is learning how to make your videos visually appealing and figuring out how to edit in a way that’s concise and interesting. I have some visual arts background from grad school and various photography, drawing, and painting classes before then, and that all really helped in knowing how to set up a shot. If you’re looking to get into YouTube, I would definitely recommend some photography classes to help with understanding composition and lighting!

My editing process however was entirely self-taught and I’m still always trying to learn more and experiment with different editing styles. I definitely still struggle with things like color-grading and animations, which I never had to do in my initial videos since they were pretty straightforward sewing vlogs and as long as I got the lighting right I didn’t need to do much correction. Now that I’m branching out more into monthly vlogs and fashion videos I’ve wanted to explore more creative edits so there’s always more to learn! I think the main thing it comes down to though is practice. You can learn the theory of editing, or filming, or sewing, or really anything, but it doesn’t matter how much you have it memorized, you’ll never get better until you’re actually doing it. Perfectionism was a big thing I had to let go of when I started making videos – the first few (or many) things you make are going to suck, and that’s ok! Eventually with intentional practice you’ll improve.

Minji, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m primarily a YouTuber but I also do some freelance costuming work for TV and theatre. This wasn’t really the career path I had imagined (the original plan was to be a doctor), but I absolutely love making costumes and dressing up, and it’s very surreal that this is what I get to do for a living.

While the main focus of my YouTube is sewing, I have a hard time sticking to one subject! So I also do other crafts like leather working and millinery, talk about fashion, and make monthly vlogs showing more of my personal life and some behind the scenes of photo meetups. I think that a lot of people see creators on Instagram and YouTube making this beautiful art and feel so removed and like it’s very unattainable for the “average” person. I hope that with my vlogs I can show that creators are also just normal people and making art is possible for anyone.

Finally, with everything I do, I try to focus on sustainable and ethical consumption in the fashion and costuming industry. I’m definitely not perfect with my consumption in either of those regards and I don’t think it’s possible to be! But I think both are extremely important and need to be talked about to push those industries in the right direction.

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

I think the most rewarding part of getting to work in a creative field is the sense of community. As we all know, the pandemic has been very isolating, but building up a community on YouTube has really helped me feel less alone. I know that if I post a video, there will be the same few people who always comment and I love getting to talk to them! Even though my channel focuses on sewing I’m able to talk to them about so many other things like books and movies.

Outside of YouTube, being involved in the fantasy costuming community has helped me make some great friendships, and it feels very gratifying to get to make really beautiful art and to get to do that with people who are fun to be around.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think for a lot of people it’s hard to understand why some people get to make a living playing or doing social media all day, and honestly it’s a little hard for me to wrap my head around sometimes too!

Let me get out of the way first – I feel so incredibly lucky to get to do this every day and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Even when the work is hard it’s still something I chose to do.

But I think a lot of people don’t understand that while being a content creator or an artist looks like it’s getting paid to mess around and just getting free things from brands, it’s still a lot of work! I definitely work longer hours and with more attention and focus than I ever have working a 9-5 type of job. Being self-employed is a big factor in that – since I don’t get paid hourly and my income is directly related to how much work I put out, I always feel guilty if I’m not using every minute of every day to be productive.

While I can’t speak for every creative out there, I also stake so much of my personal identity to my work that it’s hard to distance myself from it. When I’ve worked in restaurants, offices, or costume studios, I get to leave at the end of the day and forget about it, but now that I am solely responsible for ‘My Brand’ it follows me around with pretty much every decision I make.

I don’t want this to just sound like I’m making a bid for sympathy though! While it can be difficult (especially figuring out the taxes) and it’s a job with long hours, it fits better with how my brain works than any other job I’ve had. I think it’s really amazing that this kind of career is becoming a viable option for more neurodivergent people who have trouble in ‘standard’ jobs.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kumiho.minji/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MinjiLee

Image Credits
@mashix