Ewha Students and Council of Korean Americans (CKA) Hold 2026 CKA × EWHA Next Generation Session N
- 작성처
- Date2026.09.09
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Ewha's Next Generation Meets Global Korean American Leaders of the Council of Korean Americans (CKA)
Students' Questions on Careers, Leadership, and Global Opportunities Lead to Conversations and Networking with Korean American Leaders from Various Fields in the U.S.
Ewha Womans University held the 2026 CKA × EWHA Next Generation Session with a delegation from the Council of Korean Americans (CKA), the largest Korean American next-generation leadership organization in the United States, and Ewha students on September 1 (Tuesday) at Yoon Se Young Hall in the Graduate School Annex.
The event was organized to provide Ewha students with an opportunity to meet CKA leaders who have worked in various fields in the United States, including global business, social impact, public leadership, entrepreneurship, and innovation, and share their experiences and questions about career paths, careers, leadership, and global opportunities.
CKA is a nonprofit organization that connects Korean American leaders across the United States and supports the development of next-generation leadership and networks between Korea and the United States. Celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, CKA has continued to provide opportunities for Korean American leaders from diverse fields to connect across generations and areas of expertise and share their experiences and networks with the next generation. At the event, CKA representatives also emphasized their strong interest in "the concerns of the next generation and the kind of leaders they will become," adding that they "hope this meeting will serve as the starting point for conversations that continue in the future."
The event was prepared by students under the leadership of Professor Kang Minah (Department of Public Administration / Interdisciplinary Program of Social Economy), and was the result of a collaborative effort in which students in the Interdisciplinary Program of Social Economy planned the program while students in the Department of Public Administration took charge of its proceedings. Students from diverse academic backgrounds participated in the event, which included sessions designed to allow them to directly share their questions about career concerns, future planning, entrepreneurship, and global opportunities with CKA leaders.
The panel talk, held under the theme "Building Your Next: Leadership, Career & Global Opportunities," focused on "Finding My Path," "Seeking Opportunities," and "Advice from CKA." CKA leaders shared with students the choices and turning points they had experienced in their careers, unexpected opportunities and failures, and their experiences of forging their own paths in new environments.
CKA leaders shared personal stories of how experiences that did not go as planned and unexpected choices instead led to new careers and opportunities, conveying the message that careers can be shaped through multiple transitions and discoveries rather than by simply following the path initially chosen. As students continued to ask questions, the conversation became more specific. Key questions included how to change direction when an initial hypothesis or idea developed while preparing to launch a business is not accepted by the market, and how to confidently communicate one's abilities in a culture within Korean society that places importance on humility.
In response, CKA leaders described entrepreneurship and careers not as "finding the right answer" from the outset, but as a process of continuously learning and making adjustments by developing and testing hypotheses. In particular, they advised that in entrepreneurship, rather than becoming attached to the solution one has created, it is important to focus on the problem one is actually trying to solve and listen to people's voices, adopting the attitude of "Fall in love with the problem, not the solution." Along with the message that successful entrepreneurs are people who constantly listen and learn, they also shared that failure and fear should be accepted as part of the process leading to the next choice and stage of growth. A young CKA leader also shared an experience in which a small conversation about their interests naturally led to their first internship.
Following the panel talk and Q&A, a networking session was held, allowing students and CKA leaders to continue more individual conversations in a closer setting. CKA leaders also shared their LinkedIn profiles and expressed their intention to stay connected with students after the event.
Professor Kang Minah, who prepared the event together with the students, said, "The significance of this event lies in giving students the opportunity to meet leaders who have forged their own paths in diverse fields, hear their stories up close, and directly share the questions they have." She added, "I hope this meeting will be a valuable experience for students to discover new perspectives and possibilities and naturally expand their relationships with a diverse range of people."
The CKA × EWHA Next Generation Session went beyond being an occasion for students to passively listen to the experiences of global leaders. It became a platform for exchange where students began conversations with questions they were genuinely grappling with and connected those questions to new people, relationships, and possibilities.