Interview with Youngme Moon '82

By Eric de Haan Director of Alumni Relations

Chloe

Son ‘17 is a theater enthusiast and a computer science professional. In this interview, Chloe talks about her background, her involvement in various activities while at SFS, and her journey from being Salutatorian to pursuing her interests in STEM. She also shares her thoughts on the current state and future of augmented reality, and her work at Naver Labs.

Q: Chloe, please tell me a little about your background, and your time prior to your SFS experience?

I was born and raised in San Jose, California, in the Bay Area near San Francisco and lived there until I was around ten or so. It was a very suburban, Americanized upbringing with my family. I didn't have a lot of exposure to Korean culture, despite being ethnically Korean.

Q: When did you start at SFS?

When I first came to SFS, I started with Mrs. Kuhl's class in third grade. I still remember her, and she still remembers me. It was a very wholesome class.

Q: You were involved in many activities while you were at SFS. Tell me a little bit about that.

I was known for being a theater kid at SFS. I did a lot of theater with Mrs. Moon, performing in a lot of musicals. I was one of those elementary school kids back in the day who would go to the Lyso Center and watch the high school productions. I would be so into all of them that I would take the program and go backstage to ask for all of their autographs. I still have them all. To me, those performers were like celebrities, I still remember their names. I looked up to them so much, so to be in high school, and to be one of those performers felt very much like full circle. I also did TASSELCambodia, which is a service club that works to provide education for Cambodian children and Cambodian teachers. I liked the mission so much, I continued to serve with it after graduation and still work with TASSEL to this day.

Q: You were Salutatorian. Do you remember that experience?

That was a huge surprise. I did study hard, but because I was so busy with extracurriculars I really didn't think about it. I had no idea I was Salutatorian, so it was a huge, very pleasant surprise.

Q: Is there anything you would change about your SFS experience, or anything you would add to it?

I don't know how I would change this, but I do wish that I had spent more time with friends. Every single day of the week, I had a lunch meeting; then, after school, I had all these extracurriculars, musical practice, forensics, and choir practice. After that I would go home, do homework, and go to sleep. So I didn't spend any time hanging out with friends. I wish I had done that more because I actually got closer to my high school friends after graduation. They're all such amazing people, and I wish I'd gotten more time with them while we were still physically in the same space.

Q: How was your transition to Dartmouth?

It was terrifying. I remember that first day, the moment my parents drove away, I went back to my dorm room and started crying. It was all so scary at first. But then I found my way. Everyone I knew in college found their place, myself included. To this day, I think Dartmouth is one of my favorite places ever, because everyone there is so supportive of each other's intellectual growth. Everyone wants to help each other get jobs and get the career that they want. It's my favorite place.

Q: How did you get involved in the STEM field?

My original academic focus was more on the humanities. I was very much the kid who was always reading, all day long. I wanted to do something creative originally, and I didn't have any thoughts of doing anything STEM related. But then I thought, I kind of want security in the future. When I thought about doing a fully creative job I wasn't exactly okay with the instability that came along with that. So I thought, how can I marry these two things that I want in a career together?

I decided I wanted to become a video game developer in my sophomore year of high school because it had storytelling, it had the creative aspect in design, and those things led me to programming. I figured that, if video game development didn't work out, I could go into software development. So that's how I started to develop an interest in STEM, because I was first interested in storytelling.

Q: What did you study in college?

I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree for computer science modified with digital arts.

Q: When I think of augmented reality (AR), what comes to mind is games like Pokémon Go. Where is the field now and where is it going in your opinion?

I think AR is really cool. I think a lot of people don't realize this, but when you open Snapchat and you have all of those filters to choose from, that's also augmented reality. The software has been getting a lot better over the years, and my company, too, is developing cutting edge software.

I think we're all waiting for that AR breakthrough, because you don't see a lot of people actively using AR right now. I think the main reason for that is that there's not currently a staple hardware that you use for AR. Right now people use their phones for things like Pokémon Go or for filters.

The thing about AR, though, is it's supposed to be 3D, and the 2D display on your phone doesn't maximize the potential of AR. The technology people are waiting for is AR glasses, which are still very much in development. I think once those get released, then AR will really have a breakthrough.

Q: You work at Naver Labs, which is a Research and Development subsidiary of Naver, where you're working on future technologies and research in Korea and Europe. Given your role, are you able to share any interesting projects that you know about and you are working on?

I work on the AR team and the project that I'm working on right now is regarding AR navigation. When you have applications like Naver maps or Google maps, you can program your route from home to school, and it shows you how to get there. But we're making an AR version of that.

It’s very much a progressive technology and very innovative. I think that one day it's definitely going to replace the conventional phone app navigation. I'm very excited about that. We're also a Robotics Lab, which means we have a lot of cool robots roaming around. If people want to come to our company building at Naver Labs, we have a Starbucks on the second floor that you can go to, and a robot can deliver your coffee.

Q: How do you balance creativity and tech?

I think one of my strengths is having that balance. At work, I'm a software engineer but we also have designers on the team. It’s really helpful that I understand the designers’ part, as well. I know that they have creative dreams that they want to make come true, and they might need certain tools to make that happen. I'm able to bridge the communications between groups saying, “This is what our technology is currently capable of, and this is what the designers want. How can we have a goal that understands both of these perspectives?” I also balance out how I express my creativity personally as much as I can. I go home and I like to write video games, or I read books, or right now, I'm trying to develop my own video game, too. So I’m always seeking that balance.

Q: Tell me what it is like being a woman in tech?

This is my personal perspective; every other woman's perspective working within a tech team might be different. I feel so incredibly lucky because my team is definitely mostly men, people who are of the male gender. They treat me with so much gentleness and respect. I've never once felt discriminated against as a woman in my workplace. I also really appreciate that there is another woman developer on our team. I think what's great is we just have fun communicating and complimenting each other, and it's fun because we can talk about the things that we enjoy, we share that bond. I'm grateful for her presence. I would say from my personal experience, overall it's been really respectful. If there's any woman who feels worried about joining the tech culture because it's dominated mostly by men, that has not been my experience, and I hope it is not your experience in the future. I really encourage you to try it out.

Q: Anything additional you would like to share with the greater SFS community and the Banner readers?

I want to share something with the current students. I hope people don't see Dartmouth College and “software engineer”, and think, oh, this person was really smart, and they easily got to where they are now. When I was in high school, I was stressed all the time and I always thought I wasn't doing that well. There were a lot of nights I was crying in my room, thinking that it was so hard and wondering if I was ever going to make it. I want students to know - it was not easy, and if you feel like you're failing, there's a pretty big chance you're doing better than you think. I hope that can be an encouragement to current students who are struggling in the intense academic environment of school right now.

Wonderful; thank you so much, Chloe!