We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Young Kim a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Young, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned in school and why that lesson is important to you?

“Never let the actions you take put anybody’s safety at risk.”

I graduated kindergarten feeling like a million bucks. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t part of the lowest class in grade school hierarchy. I had a full year of extra wisdom going into the first grade. I was taller. Older. Smarter.

I walked into my old kindergarten classroom with my other first grade classmates, ready to read, paint, and teach the latest batch of toddlers. Instead, I took that opportunity to brandish new-found status of “cooler kid” and thought it would be a great idea to throw a pencil into a pencil cup like it was a basketball and hoop. I missed and the possibility of the pencil bouncing off the plastic and into a kid’s eye was what my teacher saw and she sent me back into an empty classroom and ordered me to, “Put your head down on the desk until you get a ‘caught-being-good!” I hung my head in defeat and did as I was told.

Even then I knew what the lesson was. I wasn’t upset that I got caught or because I looked like a fool in front of everybody, I was upset because I knew she was right. No matter my ambition, no matter what happens to me in my own professional or personal life, I’ll do my damndest to make sure I’ll never put the well-being of others at stake. Too often people in leadership positions trample on the lives of their staff since they believe a job opportunity is a license to do however they please.

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

I got into this industry like a lot of people. It started as a hobby. My aunt gave me a DV camcorder when I was in 3rd grade, and I’d make little films with my sister and friends. I’d make my opening title sequences and scrolling credits in Microsoft PowerPoint, recording the CRT screens with the rolling bar with the camera and shooting everything in chronological order. I think that those years are really where I got my toes wet.

3DJ Pictures provides video editing services (as well as production design via my partner Kyung Jin Lee) and we focus mostly on commercial and corporate videos for clients like Live Nation, Skechers, Nintendo, Meta, and more. I think what sets us apart is that we’re below-the-line crew members who have been in the trenches and have the technical know-how to accomplish deliverables with fine attention to detail. As a former IATSE member working in audio and cinematography, all the on-set knowledge gained has been an essential guidebook to how I approach any video edit.

I’d say we are most proud of our fundamentals and our understanding of them. Fundamentals sometimes are easily overlooked for flash and flair, but there’s no hype or hoopla to what we do. We simply break everything down to its most fundamental core and work our way up from there.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I had no capital to start my business. I took out a $30,000 equipment loan and paid $2000 a month on camera and audio gear, hoping my monthly gigs would cover my payments along with my rent. It ended up being one of the best risks I’ve ever taken.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Binary thinking. It was always all or nothing or black or white thinking for me growing up. That kind of thinking is great for survival but it started to backfire in various aspects of my life. Grey is crucial and it took me a long time to realize two things could be true at once.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.3djpictures.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/3djpictures