Essay Collection: Recordings from Seoul. (Summer 2025).

Hi everyone — it’s here.
I’m grateful to share Recordings from Seoul — a new collection of essays written during a recent return to South Korea. What began as reflective notes on memory evolved into something more layered: a written homecoming across time, identity, and legacy.

I’m EJ Elena Shin — an impact investor and writer shaped by a transnational life. Born in Seoul, raised in Toronto and New York, and shaped by time with German and Israeli host families, I now live in London, navigating the space between expat and immigrant. For over two decades, I’ve built a global career in finance between NYC and London while quietly distancing myself from Korean cultural spaces.

I left Seoul at 14, on my own. It was a pivotal and necessary move—away from an environment shaped by rigid hierarchies and expectations, especially for women. For many years, I distanced myself from the language and customs of my upbringing—not out of indifference, but as a way to protect and redefine myself.

This collection marks a turning point — and a reconciliation.

It is not memoir, but emotional cartography. Writing became an act of repair and healing: a way to reclaim voice, body, and belonging on my own terms. For the first time, I no longer find Korean language or culture triggering. What once felt like exile now feels like re-integration — with the past, and with the parts of myself I had once left behind.

If you’ve ever wrestled with diaspora, legacy, or the question of what it means to return — I hope this offers a moment of resonance. A little bit more held. A little bit more seen.

Thank you for holding space for my voice.
And when was the last time you wrote… just because?

Full collection can be downloaded here (Korean / English):