Rosa Kim: A Woman of the World DOWNLOAD PDF

By Abigail Perdue

Almost fifty years ago, eight-year-old Rosa Kim embarked on a life-altering journey. She traveled with her mother and three older sisters from their birthplace in Seoul, South Korea, near-ly seven thousand miles away to West Orange, New Jersey, a small suburb twenty miles outside New York City. They were meeting her father, a retired Air Force Colonel, who had immigrated to the U.S. the year before to establish a better life for the family. Rosa still vividly remembers dragging her over-stuffed suitcase behind her through the busy airport and being shocked to see how dirty the streets of New York City looked.

Stepping into the Great Unknown, Rosa was initially giddy with excitement and anticipation, but life in the U.S. at first proved disappointing and was quite a “culture shock,” to say the least. Rosa’s parents worked six days a week to transform the “tiny, hole-in-the-wall” wig shop that her father had purchased into a profitable enterprise that eventually expanded to include a handful of stores and employees. Despite the success of her parents’ business, Rosa never felt as if she and her family fit in. Their shop was located in a predominantly African American neighborhood, and they lived in a mostly white suburb. Rosa “felt marginalized in both places.” Fortunately, Rosa and her sisters had each other.

Things were not any better at school. Rosa and her sisters were the only Asian Americans at the entire school, which often made them the targets of racial taunts and bullying. The cultural insensitivity of Rosa’s third grade teacher was particularly cruel, forcing Rosa to rapidly assimilate and learn English as quickly as possible. Like her parents, Rosa was determined, resilient, and highly motivated. She soon outpaced her classmates who were native English speakers, even winning her first spelling bee a couple of years later. But in junior high, Rosa’s academic achievements, introverted personality, and “cerebral” nature only provided more fodder for some of her stereotype-affirming classmates to otherize her. As a result, she often felt “invisible” and couldn’t help but wonder what her life might have been like had they never left Korea.

Things changed when Rosa transferred to Montclair Kimberly Academy, a private school where “it was cool to be smart and ok to be different.” Rosa flourished in this inclusive environment where individualism was appreciated and even fostered. As a result, high school was “a really positive experience” that helped her finally realize that her cultural roots and unique immigrant experience were “strength[s] she should embrace, not shy away from.” “Once I knew who I was, everything else fell into place and I felt stronger,” she explains.

That life-changing epiphany launched Rosa’s pursuit of meaningful opportunities for cultural immersion. A self-described globalist, throughout her life she has enjoyed learning about different cultures and has been able to “plug into different cultures pretty easily . . . because [she] had to switch cultures as a child.” A half-century after taking her first steps on U.S. soil, Rosa observes wistfully, “[o]ne decision by my parents completely changed the course of my life.”

But Rosa’s journey of self-discovery was just beginning. It continued during college when she double majored in International Relations and Spanish and then studied abroad in Spain with dreams of one day working at the UN or the Foreign Service. A dedicated lover of language, Rosa soon became bilingual in English and Korean, proficient in Spanish, and also studied Italian, Portuguese, and French. She also attained a Master’s degree at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, spending one year of that program in Bologna, Italy, and the other in D.C. “I was trying to see the world,” she explains. Still today, Rosa continues to combine her love of teaching with her love of travel whenever possible, teaching law students abroad in both Spain and Sweden, and serving as a Fulbright Specialist at a prestigious Korean law school.

Deciding to settle in Boston with her husband, Kiwon, Rosa attended law school and shifted her focus from international relations to civil litigation. After law school, Rosa practiced at the Attorney General’s Office, took time off to raise two beautiful daughters, Katherine and Julia, and then returned to work part-time at a small law firm. But the hurried rhythm of law firm life was ill-suited to motherhood. Rosa felt constantly conflicted as she strived to juggle the responsibilities of work and family. Although her family always came first, her mother had once advised her to “not give up your individual pursuits. Keep that for yourself.”

Rosa took that good advice. She applied to teach legal writing as an adjunct instructor at Boston University where she taught one course per semester for several years. When she ran into some law school classmates at a Legal Writing conference, they encouraged her to apply for a position at Suffolk University Law School, where she’s been teaching ever since. Academia appealed to Rosa because it provides a “constant source of growth and learning”—the kind of environment where she thrives. “I could see that it would be an evolution,” she says, “and I liked that.”

Rosa’s journey in Academia has brought her back to her passion for globalism and cultural immersion. Through her scholarship and leadership within the legal writing field, Rosa has advocated for globalizing U.S. legal education to better prepare law students for practice in an increasingly borderless world. She has also worked to expand diversity within the Legal Writing Academy and to amplify the voices of Asian American female faculty. Her cur-rent focus is to deepen her commitment to mentoring junior faculty of color and to have a positive impact on their careers.

Although Rosa loves being a teacher and scholar, she also finds fulfillment in her family life. She strives to equip her two daughters with the tools necessary to navigate the intricate complexities of their identities as first-generation Americans, namely inner strength, a strong sense of self, and the unconditional love and support they need to feel confident and self-assured.

Music is another one of Rosa’s lifelong passions, which her family shares. “Our house is always filled with music,” she says, smiling. “I can’t live without it.” She likes everything from R&B to musical theatre and K-Pop, but classical music is her favorite, especially chamber music. Not only was she an accomplished cellist as a child, but she also sang in several choral groups and even a law school a capella group—The Wand’ring Mistrials.

A true woman of the world, Rosa daily transcends cultural boundaries, challenges stereotypes, and continues to evolve, all while remaining true to herself.

You can visit Rosa’s faculty page at www.suffolk.edu/academics/faculty/r/k/rkim.