Today we’d like to introduce you to John Yu
Hi John, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Laughing and connecting with random people in my neighborhood relieved the somberness of abandonment – the struggles of seldomly seeing my mother due to work and my father abandoning our family. Every time I laughed it would mute the worries of my current circumstances, and my hardships became challenges I could overcome.
I discovered the joys of laughter when my brother would make jokes and imitate my grandmother nagging at me for playing video games all day and not exercising. I laughed so hard at his reenactment that I almost forgot why my grandmother was upset at me. It was comforting and helped me remain positive when I knew that I was obese for my age. There were moments where my grandmother would cry in the car because she was tired of being “my mom” and felt that life was unfair for us. In order to cheer up my family, I let my aunt put make-up on me, wore my grandmother’s nightgown and my grandmother put grape fruits under the gown I was wearing to be this funny-looking Korean woman. My family exploded into laughter. I felt like a hero creating a moment of happiness amidst our hardship. A photo of this event still sits in a picture frame at my grandmother’s house.
After being entertained by my brother and learning how to make others laugh, I wanted to serve as a catalyst of laughter and share this “secret power,” so I participated in school and church plays; I did voice fluctuations, danced in funky costumes, and imitated funny behaviors that I hoped would make people laugh.
This is what first launched Seouljyu, the infamously known Korean-American comedian. Seoul is the capital of my ethnic country, Jyu is my first initial and last name. Say it quickly, it phonetically sounds like “Soju”, the Korean alcoholic drink. With over 150,000 followers across multiple media platforms and 100M+ views, I am using comedy, my desire to eat good Asian foods, and share my story via social media to bring a sense of togetherness.
As a Sr. Director of Sales at a Renewable Energy company, I find ways to relieve the feeling of awkwardness by drawing points of connection and drizzling in occasional jokes. Little remarks like, “hey, saying no to me on this deal is not as bad as when my mom said no to me being a drama major,” help shift the tone from a typical ‘sales call’ to more of a personable consultation. By taking time to comprehend my clients’ backgrounds and sharing laughter, I am able to understand each of their characters. Being a humorous individual is who I am; it pushes me to build trust with others in a way that ‘sells’ them on establishing a long-term relationship with me and my company.
As a sales leader, comedian, social media influencer, I look to bring the 6% of the US population of Asian Americans together and teach the remaining 94% about people like me.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Nothing in life is smooth. Struggles are what my mentor calls “gifts”. In other words, if this struggle did not occur, would I do anything differently? Would my sense of urgency to solve a problem dwindle? Is this gift making me a stronger and better person?
One struggle would be when people would comment mean things unrelated or related to content I made. I learned to understand that not everyone shares the perspective I do; people are hurt in many ways and it may not be me directly but people have different interpretations of my content – learned how to understand others, be patient with people and not take things too personal.
Another struggle would be self-doubt. Am I really fulfilling my calling? I learned how to take life one step at a time. If it changes it changes but if I am doing my absolute best and seeking help when I can, there is not much I can do about an outcome.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
1. Comedy: I used to interview my grandma and try to troll her into funny answers. Also, I would put a wig on and act like her, my mom, and other family members to create funny/satirical content. This is what I am most known for as well as the Korean Drama Hollywood spin offs like If Titanic was a Korean Drama – generated over 20M views on multiple platforms.
2. Musician: I rap, produce and sing. My spotify artist account has over 100,000 streams featuring all of the top Asian American artists.
3. Tiktok Live Streamer: I use this platform to connect with my audience. The content in here is more about understanding me as a person. We discuss a lot about the dating market and my experience.
4. Foodie: I also record myself eating a ton of food. Mostly Asian dishes but at excessive quantities at rapid speed.
Sets me apart = Top 10% Asian American Comedian x Top 30% Asian American Musician x Top 20% Tiktok Live Streamer x Top 25% Asian American Foodie
Translates to 0.15% of people. I would then argue I am very unique.
What does success mean to you?
Success is a dense, subjective and objective term in my opinion. In the macro level, success could be one who makes over one million dollars per year but in the micro level out of the millionaires, success could be one who makes over one hundred million per year.
I think success is what you as an individual define as success. One could say a millionaire is successful yet that individual might feel that they are not due to their own definitions of success.
Success to me is when you find your purpose. Although this is an ever evolving thesis, doing the best you can with the information you have or shared with you and executing on what you think your purpose is. Doing what you enjoy doing without “money being an issue”. Using your skillsets to better your ecosystem whether it be your workplace, friends, family or people you run into in this life.
The beauty behind life is time. We have a sense of urgency to find our purpose and use our skills to better this world within a given set of time. Let’s not waste it.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seouljyu
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therealseouljyu
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/seouljyu
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ZSg9sGl3gZzRJkBWmaaZ0?si=BWQxE86ZR-OzxNj4AcXevQ
Image Credits
Chris C. Lee (Photographer)
