Monica W. Cho '12

1. Please tell us a little about yourself!

Hi, my name is Monica and I graduated from Wellesley in 2012 with a major in Japanese Language & Literature and a minor in Chemistry. I was born and raised in Seoul for the earlier part of my life, then came to the US when I was 12 years old. I have been spending my time in both Korea and the US ever since and I consider myself to be extremely fortunate to do so. I am an East Coast transplant now based in Irvine, CA. I am a voracious foodie, dog lover, YouTube junkie, and wine enthusiast.

2. What are you doing now?

I am currently at the University of California Irvine as a PhD student in modern Korean literature.  Since graduating from Wellesley, I have been pursuing higher degrees in East Asian Studies, specifically concentrating on Korean studies, and have two master's degree in Korean Studies from Yonsei University and East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University respectively. My friends call me a "degree collector" for this reason. As a PhD student, I balance my time between my doctoral research project on postwar Korean literature and teaching undergraduate students. I am equally passionate about both research and teaching because they are both challenging but so worth it.

3. How has your Wellesley experience and your major influenced your life/career after college?

I have been lucky to have met two great mentors at Wellesley whom I keep in touch regularly. Both professors Eve Zimmerman and Sun-Hee Lee have been instrumental in guiding me towards the path I am on right now, and they continue to be supportive. I came to Wellesley as a premed, but I became intrigued by literature because I took Prof. Zimerman's seminar on postwar Japanese literature and ended up switching my major from Chemistry to Japanese. The thought of studying anything remotely related to Korea did not occur to me until I crossed paths with Prof. Lee my senior year fall semester, and I ultimately decided to spend three years pursuing a master's degree in Seoul thanks to her. In addition to academics, my interactions and experiences shared with close friends during and after Wellesley have inspired my views on race, women, and feminism, which I embrace on a daily basis and in my research. In short, Wellesley is where it all began for me.