Summit Spotlight: Eat Your Kimchi
Simon and Martina of Eat Your Kimchi are Internet wizards & they’re coming to Summit!
With sincere communication and a sense of humor, Simon and Martina Stawski cultivated a passionate fanbase and were able to turn their vlog into an awesome career. They’re going to be at Summit to share tips and tricks for making your own Internet magic, including how to successfully fundraise online.
Simon and Martina moved from Toronto, Canada to South Korea to teach English in 2008. They made videos to show their friends and family what they were doing abroad. With relatively few Korean culture vlogs in existence, people flocked to their channel for a foreigner’s perspective on the country. Today, their YouTube network has nearly one million subscribers.
With an ever-growing demand for videos, vlogging became a full-time job and so the duo quit teaching to dedicate themselves fully to Eat Your Kimchi. Unfortunately, this caused some issues, as they no longer had anyone to sponsor their visas. They would have to turn Eat Your Kimchi into a fully-fledged business (complete with a physical location and a business license) if they wanted to continue living and working in South Korea. After covering the cost of the license themselves, they asked their loyal fanbase (affectionately know as Nasties) to pitch in for the cost of the studio. Overnight, they reached the $40,000 goal on their IndieGogo campaign. By the end of the fundraiser a month and a half later, they raised well over $100,000.
Overnight, they reached the $40,000 goal on their IndieGogo campaign.
Eat Your Kimchi recently used their Internet powers to help North Korean refugees. They created a video nominating LiNK for Project 4 Awesome (a fundraising contest for charities to decrease “world suck”). A combination of their incredible fans and our amazing supporters shared the video far and wide, securing a win of $50,000 for refugee rescues.
We’re thrilled that Simon and Martina are coming to Summit. Not only because they’re super cool people, but also because they’re bringing insights on how you can make your online efforts a success.
You know them. You love them. Now, meet them in person.
