I earned my PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. My research focused on engineering education, a non-traditional path that allowed me to study motivation, resilience, and healthy learning mindsets. My work was centered on mental wellness long before I ever considered relationship coaching.

I taught at the university level for two years, but when COVID hit in 2020, I made the decision to leave academia. I realized that what mattered most to me wasn’t researching how to help people, it was helping people now. That’s when I pursued formal coach training through ACE and began focusing fully on relationships.

I was born in South Korea and immigrated to the U.S. at age four. When my parents moved back to Korea during my teenage years, my support system became my older brother and my friends. That experience shaped me deeply. To this day, friendships have been a central part of my life: I have close friends across different cities and countries, and those relationships have taught me how connection is built, maintained, and repaired over time.

I was also a late bloomer romantically. My first serious relationship didn’t happen until my early thirties. I share this because my experience with modern dating has actually been positive, far more than what I often hear from friends or read online. I believe that had less to do with timing or circumstances and more to do with the relationship skills I had developed through friendships and a willingness to be myself, even during uncertain periods of life. I’m now happily engaged.

I’m naturally more of a thinker than a feeler. Over time, I’ve learned to deeply appreciate emotions, not as something irrational, but as information. When you understand what people have been through, their reactions and defenses begin to make sense. Conflict becomes less frustrating and more understandable, and connection becomes possible again. Through coaching, we take a look at how you show up in your relationships.

What's it like working with me?

Relationship coaching with me is collaborative. We observe what’s happening in your relationships without judgment, pressure, or blame. I’m not here to fix you, take sides, or tell you what to say or do. Instead, we look at patterns, reactions, and what’s underneath the conflict. Then, you can decide how you would like to respond in ways that is aligned with who you are. People often leave sessions experiencing more clarity and ease than the frustration and exhaustion they may have started with.