Name: Kristen Vitello (Choi, Yoo Mi  최유민)

First KAtCH event you remember:
Seollal 2023 at HANA Center.  I was so busy chasing my then two year old around that I didn't have a chance to really talk to many people (and when I tried, Myles would screech over any conversation).  Luckily Soon-Young recognized that I was new  and busy "momming" and invited me out to coffee.  With her encouragement (I was so incredibly nervous) I attended the Sun Wah dinner solo and was able to really meet and connect with quite a few KAtCH members, and I am so grateful to now be a part of this community!

Where did you grow up/Where do you live now?
I grew up in a very rural area of Olympia, Washington in the PNW.  I now live in Chicago on the border of the Bucktown and Logan Square neighborhoods.

Tell us about yourself:
I was born in Seoul on February 28, 1984 and adopted at about 4 months old (fun fact, my parents flew to Korea to pick me up rather than having me flown to the States by Holt).  I was fascinated by Korean culture as a young child, and my family took a long trip back to Korea when I was 8 or 9, traveling the country with my then Korean language tutor's family with whom we had grown close.  Unfortunately, in my early teenage years I turned away from and tried to suppress any aspect of my Korean identity, and embraced the "adoptee fog" until that started to crack open when I became pregnant with my daughter Ava.  I am now trying to make up for lost time and learning to embrace both my Korean and my adoptee identity.

You’ll likely KAtCH me doing the following:
When I'm not chasing my kids Ava and Myles around, I spend my free time attempting to learn to cook Korean foods (emphasis on attempting...there have been many failures and kimchi continues to elude me!), watching Last Week Tonight or South Park with my husband Cody, and rehabbing my ankle that I shattered in October playing tag with my daughter at the park.

Why have you enjoyed being involved with the KAtCH community?
I have always felt like an outsider, too Korean for the mostly Caucasian circles that I have traveled in most of my life, and not Korean enough or Asian enough as an adoptee.  It was at the Sun Wah dinner that I realized that the Imposter Syndrome that I have always felt simmering in the background had lifted, and I truly felt at ease.  I've found that there is something about the shared KAD experience that allows me to feel free to embrace that part of my identity as a Korean adoptee, rather than feel defined and constrained by it.  That shared experience makes connections so much...easier, for lack of a better word.  This community just "gets it" and I am so grateful for the community and for the friendships I have formed in this last year!

Favorite restaurant(s) in Chicagoland:

  • Bavette's

  • CM Chicken

  • Irazu

  • Ssyal

  • Yuzu 

  • Taqueria Chingon (I live right next to here, and this is dangerous)

Find me/Social Media: @kristen_vitello (Instagram)