Brandon Yoon: Why He Hid His Kimchi Lunchbox
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Brandon Yoon: Why He Hid His Kimchi Lunchbox
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Graduation season is here.
For Brandon Yoon, graduating from UCLA is not just the end of college.
Before he became one of the most beloved Korean American creators online, there was a kid at school opening a lunchbox filled with kimchi, jjigae, or kimbap and immediately feeling the room react.
Years later, one of those family spaces became the center of his story.
Sunny Cleaners, his grandmother’s old laundromat in Koreatown, was a real place shaped by years of work and sacrifice.
Through tenderness and the everyday details of immigrant life, Brandon built a story around helping his grandmother retire.
The same culture he once had to explain became the language people loved him for.
Friends who once made Korean food feel embarrassing now ask him for KBBQ recommendations in Koreatown.
And people in Korea now invite him to share his experience as a Korean American.
This month, Brandon graduates from UCLA.
For the kid who once felt too Korean in one room and not Korean enough in another, this moment feels bigger than a degree.
The stories he once kept in the background became the beginning of everything he is building now.
Audio Editor: Patrick Lei