Chong Kim

“ The best way to get revenge on your oppressors is to become the success they can never image.”

Q. Tell everyone who you are and what you do?

A. I am Chong Kim. I am a speaker, author, producer and Human Trafficking

Awareness Advocate.

Q. Who have been your biggest women influencers in your life?

A. My biggest female influencer is Mya Angelou.

I read a lot of her books, my favorite being, “I

Know Why The Caged

Bird Sings.” I related to it because of the hardships she went through with racism, feeling left out and having to be your own advocate. She didn’t have family support, nor did I. The feeling of being isolated resonates with me. I spoke to her in 2011 or 2012 over the phone. I was discussing a topic for a movie I was considering writing. She told me to “keep speaking out, my voice is my biggest weapon.”

Q. Right now at this very moment what do you want most to accomplish?

A. My TV series, “Every 40

Seconds.” Although I have my movie Eden and my book, Broken Silence, “Every 40 Seconds” will offer the behind the scenes look at my consultant work with the FBI highlighting various Human

Trafficking cases that we worked on. It will also shine a light on other types of less known trafficking crimes that involve missing humans.

Q. Tell us about the “Embrace

Girls Foundation” empowering young girls to success?

A. The Embrace Girls Foundation is an organization that teaches young girls to depend on themselves and others with poise and dignity, in a way that

I never got to experience as a young girl. I wish I was a part of a program that taught me how to be strong, love myself, be empowered.

Q. What is your most memorable achievement or

Accomplishment you have received?

A. It is a toss-up between having a movie written about me or being honored with having my name added to the Wall of Tolerance in Honor of Rosa Parks in

Montgomery, AL, which means that for years on my end, my name will be written into History.

Q. Tell us about “Training &

Breakout sessions” and the motivation behind the session?

A. After experiencing the Training & Breakout session you will leave with more information about the different types of trafficking, behavior detection (understanding in-depth red flags) of predators and it show you how to identify potential victims from a survivor’s point of view. This Session is tailored for community leaders, law enforcement agents and educational leaders.

Q. What advice would you give to the next generation of female leaders?

A. Determination has to be your strongest point, because it ignites your motivation, no matter what happens. Failures, downfalls and disappointments cannot stop you when you have determination. I often have people ask me what keeps me moving forward, and I can say “God” all day, but it's determination that God gives me to keep moving forward.

Q. Are you working on any new events or upcoming projects?

A. Just working to pitch my TV

Series, “Every 40 Seconds.”

Q. How do you educate parents, teens and young adults on the dangers of Human

Trafficking?

A. I teach parents, young adults and children how to detect the behaviors, specifically identify red flags of predators’ demeanor and how to identify their intent to harm.

Q. What is the best piece of advice you ever received?

A. I mention this in my book,

Broken Silence, my son’s father, Carlos shared the most powerful words with me. He said, “The best way to get revenge on your oppressors is to become the success they can never imagine.”

Q. Where can the readers follow you?

A. My website is:  IamChongKim.com  @IAmChongKim  @IAmChongKim  @ChongKimLLC

The Power of a Woman

We are the motivation needed to move and drift, the inspiration need to inspire and uplift, the encouragement needed to excel and shift.

We take dreams and birth companies; we take adversity and birth opportunity. We are what great deals are made of and what great networking strives to attain, mixed with a certain female scrutiny. We are the components that make organizations rock, the lifeblood that persists through chaos or mutiny.

We are walking lessons in sustainability, walking examples of accountability, the walking epitome of high ability.

We are women. We are women of power. We put the hours in each day and the seconds in every hour. We take the lemons thrown at our names in showers then use each one to make pies, tarts, cookies, cakes, lemonade and whiskey sours. We show up when others cower. When others trip, we stand like towers. In the midst of the cold storm, we are the surviving flowers.

Yet although we are empowered, we are too often seen as weak. Expected to invest our weeks in mundane tasks unworthy of our reach. So today, I encourage you to seek, to look closely at which part of your heart most wants to speakbegging to be unleashed, unheld, unfettered by what others think. We are no longer drowning in the fears and doubts that once made our hearts sink. We are built with a purpose and made as we should be. We uplift each other, instilling a sense of “we.” We work together to combat discrimination and shatter every ceiling. We create new business models while facilitating inner healing. We make the choice daily to balance logic and feeling. Why dramatize when we can monetize? Why get played when we can get paid? Why boot lick when we can bootstrap? Why worry quickly when we can move fast? Why move forward with reluctance when we were made to move forward to abundance? Why let fear get in the way of our charity to others when we are here to experience prosperity with others? We will not fall into or fall apart because of their systems. We are women in business, handling the business of women.

©️2021 Shalonda Degraffinried Whitmore