The Korea Society and Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) are delighted to present Building and Protecting Your K-Brand in the YouTube Era on July 22, 2020. Over the last two decades, YouTube has demonstrated its versatility, achieving far more than the launch of successful careers for the likes of Justin Bieber and BTS. Businesses of all sizes increasingly adopt this highly effective yet affordable advertising platform as part of their marketing strategy to attract audiences and drive sales. With this backdrop, our upcoming seminar will explore various legal and business aspects of managing content on YouTube while building your K-brand on this rapidly expanding channel.

Keri S. Bruce, Partner at Reed Smith LLP will lead our first session by examining relevant copyright, trademark and advertising law issues. She will also offer practical guidance on minimizing potential risks and seeking infringement remedies. In the second session, you will hear insightful perspectives and first-hand experiences from three prominent K-brand YouTuber panelists - (1) MJ Choi, founder of I Love Dance, a popular K-pop dance studio which also creates K-pop content featuring various groups of dancers; (2) Seonkyoung Longest, a prolific producer of K-food cooking videos; and (3) Liah Yoo, founder of KraveBeauty, who shares her makeup tutorials and product guides. Zena Kim, Director of Litigation & Legal Operations at A&E Networks, will be moderating the panel discussion.

Please join us for an intellectually stimulating and inspirational evening.

SESSION 1

Keri S. Bruce Partner Reed Smith LLP Keri is a Partner in the Entertainment and Media Industry Group. Keri represents national and multi-national clients and trade organizations in matters relating to advertising, marketing, media, promotions, trade practices, intellectual property and technology. She provides clients with transactional support, practical advice and training to develop policies and programs and make decisions to effectively market their products and services, while reducing risk and remaining competitive in today’s business world. She is a legal advisor to the Association of National Advertisers and also represents clients in a wide array of industries, including beauty, fashion, luxury-goods, retail, consumer packaged goods, restaurants, financial services, advertising, media, publishing, automotive, technology and sports. Keri’s experience covers a broad array of areas, including, talent agreements and celebrity endorsements; advertising and media agency agreements; vendor agreements; technology, sponsorship, licensing, and strategic alliance agreements; emerging technology platforms; intellectual property issues, including copyright, trademark and right of privacy and publicity; social media compliance; rights of advertisers pursuant to collective bargaining agreements with performing unions; commercial co-ventures and other charitable sales promotions; loyalty programs; claim substantiation; sweepstakes; contests; promotional incentives, such as gift cards, rebates and coupons; and general advertising review. Additionally, she has experience working with local counsel around the world to defend foreign false advertising investigations. Keri is a frequent speaker on advertising and marketing issues.

 

SESSION 2

MJ Choi Director & Founder I Love Dance MJ Choi is the founder of I LOVE DANCE, the biggest and K-pop dance school in East Coast U.S. MJ was born and raised in South Korea, and came to the U.S. when she was 22 to study English and later she received her bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design. Dance was always her passion, but due to heavy push back from her father, she wasn’t able to pursue dance as a profession until at a late age of 28. Starting late in life, sharing classrooms with peers half her age was mentally and physically draining. But undeterred, within a year and half of daily training, MJ opened the first class of her own to help beginners which she named I LOVE DANCE. Since its founding in 2006, I LOVE DANCE has expanded from its roots in Manhattan to Queens and New Jersey where more than 500 students come to dance together. It has become a vehicle for sharing the growing popularity of K-POP while exemplifying the unifying characteristic of dance as an art form. Despite the K-POP focus, over 90% of its membership is non-Korean. The classmates of various backgrounds meet not only to learn dance, but also to socialize and to embrace one another’s uniqueness. MJ’s passion has also extended into creating dance cover videos, organizing flash mobs, teaching workshops, and actively interacting within followers on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. I LOVE DANCE has garnered international recognition. MJ has conducted numerous workshops and performances at various venues in the U.S. and in Europe. She continues to extend its reach and influence today. MJ hopes that her experiences of overcoming fear and challenges serves as an inspiration to all that walks through the studio.

Seonkyoung Longest Asian at Home The Queen of Asian cuisine and self-made social media entrepreneur, Seonkyoung Longest is the founder of internet business Seonkyoung Longest Network. Her Network has 3.3M Facebook followers, 1.45M YouTube subscribers, 432K Instagram followers and 1M monthly website visits. Seonkyoung was born and raised in South Korea and has been living in the U.S. since 2009. She is an artist and expresses her creativity in the kitchen on a plate. This YouTube celebrity chef has been recognized by multiple world famous chefs for her talent, skill and authenticity. She was a top 40 competitor of Fox’s “Master Chef Season 4” hosted by Gordon Ramsay and the winner of Food Network’s “Restaurant Express” hosted by Rover Irvine. She launched her first restaurant at The M Resort Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas in 2013. She is a Taste Maker of a global entertainment company “Tastemade”, with 2B monthly views and 300M monthly user engagements. Seonkyoung proved that if you have passion and love for what you do, no matter what the circumstances, you can make it happen. She inspires people to live life to the fullest by following their dreams and spreading love while educating them on the importance of feeding their body and soul.

Liah Yoo CEO KraveBeauty Liah is a beauty influencer and the founder/CEO of KraveBeauty that's disrupting the beauty industry by bringing a refreshingly honest point of view by telling people to cleanse less. She's known on YouTube for sharing skincare tips with the knowledge and experience she gained while working at Korea's largest beauty conglomerate, AmorePacific, and beyond. She has a social media reach of over 1 million people across the globe and has built her credibility by helping hundreds of other women who have tried every other conventional regime to clearer and healthier skin through sharing her unconventional acne-fighting tips based on her own skincare journey.

Zena Kim Director of Litigation & Legal Operations A&E Networks Zena Kim is an in-house attorney specialized in Litigation and Legal Operations at A+E Networks—formerly known as A&E Television Networks, the home of The History Channel, A&E, Lifetime and Vice TV. As part of her entertainment practice, she manages claims and litigation matters and spearheads optimization of legal operations. In a prior role, she oversaw the rights management of programming and advised various internal business units on global exploitation and distribution strategies. In particular, she was integral in lining up A+E Networks for TV Everywhere and Over-the-Top initiatives in the changing television landscape. On the side, she also empowers the voice of the employees by heading up passion groups with a focus on wellness, inclusion and diversity. Prior to joining A+E, Zena dedicated her time to developing and spearheading the Foreclosure Prevention Project at the MinKwon Center for Community Action in Flushing. She worked closely with the Asian American community by representing homeowners in active foreclosure proceedings and advising them on foreclosure prevention measures through counseling and advocacy. Zena received her undergraduate degree in psychology at University of Washington (UW) and went on to earn her J.D. at UW School of Law—William H. Gates Hall—located in Seattle, Washington. She is happily married to her husband who owns Now or Never Coffee in SoHo supporting the first responders during this pandemic and promoting a time of reflection on racial equality. Through the lens of her three-year old son, she strives to find the right balance between serving a greater purpose in life, parenting and learning from her son.