At KCON New York 2016 presented by Toyota HanCinema had the privilege and the pleasure of being on two panels with some amazing colleagues: "The Return of the Secret Life of K-pop Fans Over 30" and "From K-pop Fan to K-pop Professional". These panels represented HanCinema's first panel experience at KCON and we felt so welcomed by our fellow panelists.
Hallyu professionals from all over the spectrum gathered to talk about their expertise, and their passion. The element of passion is what makes the Hallyu journalism one of the more unique subsets of journalism. It is also that passion that made the panels successful.
The "The Return of the Secret Life of K-pop Fans Over 30" panel was successful because of the five women from different walks of life and Hallyu journalism. It was moderated by entrepreneur, Youtuber, and all around life of the party, Multifacetedacg. She prepped music, games, giveaways, and kept the flow of the session moving while engaging the audience with questions and callouts. Young Ajummah, a Youtuber, podcaster, blogger, and pre-school teacher explained her very subtle way of sharing K-pop with the world as a working adult: play it during class and use it for learning about music and culture! I, Lisa Espinosa AKA Raine, talked about my trip to Korea with the Korea Joa program, and felt privileged to have the other over-30 ladies accept me into their fold. Leah Westbrook AKA Zombie Mama, writer, photographer, mother of four and lover of all things Korean, has gotten to do some amazing interviews while also being an involved mother and wife. Stephanie Kurtz from Kchat Jjigae, a writer and podcaster, despite being asked at a concert if she was a chaperone, continues to represent older K-pop lovers with gusto and verve!
As older fans of the Hallyu wave, we sometimes receive confused and ageist comments from an audience mostly comprised of teens and young twenty-somethings. Have any of you older HanCinema readers experienced this? As long as we love K-pop, Korean Drama, Korean Film, and Korean culture, there is nothing to stop us from loving and enjoying as much as anyone else.
And in the case of the panelists, we also make careers out of loving, knowing, and writing/photographing/Youtubeing/podcasting about Hallyu. This was discussed during HanCinema's second panel "From K-pop Fan to K-pop Professional" moderated by documentary maker and writer, Adrienne Stanley.Jeff Benjamin of Fuse, the man who paved the wave for K-pop journalism in the United States, was the lone man on the panel, but very much loved and well-received. Tamar Herman of Billboard and KultScene has made a career for herself writing, recently interviewing K-pop powerhouses like Tiffany and Jessica of Girl's Generation. Angie Mills, photographer for Kpopstarz captures amazing moments in Hallyu to share with the world and has photographed award ceremonies, K-pop concerts, conventions, and more. Multifacetedacg and I rounded out the panel. This panel traversed a number of topics ranging from light to more serious. On the happier side of things, Tamar was recently followed by Tiffany on social media, while Adrienne attended last year's MAMA awards in China. We also spoke about how we got started: Multifacetedacg started on her camera phone and I was contacted via Twitter.
Please check out the video below to have a taste of the awesome panels HanCinema got to sit on. Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Source:HanCinema
