Michelle MiJung Kim She/Her

Author, Speaker, Activist, Entrepreneur

Fields of expertise:

DEI and DEIB Racial Equity Mental Health Intersectionality Allyship LGBTQIA+ Women's History Month Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AANHPI) Activist / Social Justice Author Psychological Safety PRIDE Month

Queer Korean American immigrant woman writer, speaker, activist, and entrepreneur. She is the award-winning author of The Wake Up: Closing the Gap Between Good Intentions and Real Change, winner of the 2022 Nautilus Gold Medal and 2021 Porchlight Personal Development & Human Behavior Book of the Year Award. She is CEO and co-founder of Awaken, where she has consulted hundreds of organizations and leaders from Fortune 500 companies, tech giants, nonprofits, universities and beyond on their equity education journey.

Michelle has been a lifelong social justice activist and has served on a variety of organizations such as the San Francisco Human Rights Commission’s Advisory Committee, LYRIC nonprofit’s Board of Directors, and Build Tech We Trust Coalition.

She currently serves on the board of Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality (AACRE). Her work has appeared on world-renowned platforms such as Harvard Business Review, Forbes, The New York Times, and NPR, and she has been named LinkedIn’s Top Voice in Racial Equity, Fast Company’s Queer 50, and Medium’s Top Writer in Diversity three years in a row. She lives in Oakland, California..

What our clients say about this speaker

Kim shares valuable ways to elevate our practice in the work of creating equitable, just spaces around us—at work, interpersonally, and within ourselves. In The Wake Up, she deeply and humbly reflects on her own journey and how we can break cycles that perpetuate harm and use our means to build a just, inclusive community.

Candice M. Morgan, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Partner, GV

Michelle MiJung Kim is a practitioner that truly walks the walk. The Wake Up is a vulnerable exploration of activism, as raw and reflective as she is. I recommend for anyone ready to be pushed from just talking towards responsible action.

Y-Vonne Hutchinson, CEO of ReadySet

Book this Speaker

Talks & Presentations

The Wake Up Interactive Book Club Series (Cohort Learning Series)

Through this collaborative learning experience, participants will explore essential equity princi

With

Michelle MiJung Kim She/Her

Author, Speaker, Activist, Entrepreneur

Understanding Unconscious Bias (and Beyond!)

Social science research has shown that despite our stated beliefs in equity and fairness, we all

With

Michelle MiJung Kim She/Her

Author, Speaker, Activist, Entrepreneur