Our Story

JoyfulLee started the way most good things do — with a quiet conversation between two people who'd been thinking the same thing for a long time.

Jae grew up as a first-generation immigrant. School was survival. He worked two jobs in high school and carried that work ethic through college — not because he wanted to, but because he had to. Travel wasn't something people like him did. It was for other people, in other tax brackets.

Katie grew up with a single mom who worked incredibly hard so she could have a chance. She watched her mom sacrifice everything, and she carried that weight with her — the pressure to succeed, the guilt of dreaming bigger, the sense that wanting more made you ungrateful.

"The first time we traveled somewhere new, something shifted. Not dramatically — just a quiet realization that the world is bigger than the corner we grew up in, and that we belonged in it."

That feeling stayed. And eventually it turned into a question: what if they could give that same experience to students who were just like them — hardworking, under-resourced, and full of potential they hadn't yet had the chance to see?

JoyfulLee Foundation is the answer. Named with the belief that true joy — not fleeting happiness, but deep, rooted contentment — comes from knowing you tried your best with what you had, and from helping others do the same.