Name/Korean name: Rosita González, 김숙현

First KAtCH event:
Hmmm. I went back to my electronic brain, and it told me it was March 26, 2016.

Where did you grow up/Where do you live now?
My early years were all over the board … Japan, Georgia, Kansas, Oklahoma and then finally East Tennessee in 1976. I currently live in Madison, Wisconsin and Seoul, Korea.

Tell us about yourself:
A few years back, my first sentence would have been “I am a very proud mother.” Still am, but now that I have experienced the empty nest, I find myself enjoying my hobbies and friends. My husband and I are also rediscovering things we had put on pause. 

After my first trip back to Seoul in 2014, I became a very different person. I found my joy on the streets of Seoul. My husband and I are planning to eventually live there. There is nothing like being anonymous in a crowd and smelling the street food. 

I once wrote for the Lost Daughters website and worked on the #FliptheScript on #NAM social media campaign in 2014. I also started a blog in 2007 when I realized that my kids had no record of their mom or her Korean first family. That blog is a timeline of my changes. 

I continue to create, but on my terms at The Korean Hillbilly YouTube channel. My motivations now are to express things that I kept close to my chest as a younger woman. 

You’ll likely KAtCH me doing the following:
If you popped in, you would find me throwing mud, sipping tea, knitting, writing, and collecting fountain pens and old typewriters. Have you seen the documentary on the typewriter? I am also working on a collection of letters typed on my Royal Apollo 10 (yeah, the only electric one I have).

Oh! I am also a big fan of the BTS boys. The youngest reminds me of my son. If you roll your eyes, check out their Run BTS series. That had me focusing forward in 2020. Just as everyone says, they appeared at a very low point for me. I presented at the Third Global Interdisciplinary BTS Conference in Seoul in 2022 about their impact in popular culture for Korean adoptees.

I currently work for the trillion-dollar behemoth fruit, but I am now working towards a career as a voice over actor. In my life on the east coast, I was an active professor of graphic design and loved rubbing elbows with other creatives. 

Why do you enjoy being involved with the KAtCH community?
Initially, I was curious about this group. I had recently returned from living in Seoul with my husband and our two teen kids. I longed to return but just really need a core of friends like I had had in Seoul. Korean adoptee friends are such a treasure. After many years of accepting my predicament as an outsider, I was finally in groups where I could just be me.

I have made so many lovely friends in this group … including Allen (sly smile here). ㅋㅋㅋ

Favorite restaurant(s) in Chicagoland:
Handsome Cafe, Choo Man Chicken, and Gogi

Find me/Social Media:
@mothermade (Twitter and Insta)

The Korean Hillbilly (YouTube)

www.mothermade.us (blog)