What is this substack…about?

I started this substack because during the pandemic I saw a great disparity in Asian American life versus how it is portrayed by the media, even by other Asian Americans. I wanted to provide an independent Asian American voice unfettered by incentives to power structures that control many Asian American voices today.

My substack name comes from a film I made a few years ago: Just Doug. The name originally had a double meaning, that often times being Asian American especially in a subjective field like entertainment, feels like you’re by yourself. The other meaning comes from how hard it is trying to do the right thing and maintain one’s sense of justice and moral code, again in a subjective field like entertainment. It felt an apt description of how I feel today, especially in a subjective field, like writing. And the -ie comes from the original name, which I like better than the final, and verb-izes it.

This substack will be a variety of topics that interest me, with unique observations that come from the intersections of a myriad of experiences that I’ve had in life. I have a penchant for using philosophy, psychology and game theory to analyze topics. My general guiding principle is to follow the incentives and actions over rhetoric.

I am a Korean American who grew up in Westchester County, NY. Groomed from an early age to succeed as a white collar worker in America, I went to Duke University, where I studied Economics and minored in Computer Science. At various points in my youth, I had unhealthy obsessions with JRPGs, Jim Carrey, Starcraft, Metal Gear Solid, the Matrix, and emo music.

I was also a professional poker player in college, where I managed to make the final table of the World Series of Poker main event after graduation.

I worked as a management consultant until laid off during the financial crisis, after which I studied acting at the William Esper Studio in New York. I then moved out to Los Angeles in pursuit of an acting career, where I also wrote and produced narrative content.

More recent unhealthy obsessions: electronic dance music (EDM), cryptocurrency, political theory, Korean history, psychology and philosophy.