Travel, Story, And The Threads That Bring Us Together With Yoon Kim

In this episode of Speaking of Travel®, Marilyn Ball sits down with Yoon Kim, an event producer, e-commerce professional, and freelance journalist who works at the intersection of storytelling and the outdoor industry. Yoon shares his rich personal journey—from being born in Wyoming and growing up in Arkansas, to traveling globally with his father, an engineer and community developer who trained leaders in Africa and Southeast Asia. These early experiences instilled in Yoon a deep global perspective and passion for sustainability and human connection. He recounts formative childhood trips to Bangladesh and Tanzania, including a harrowing malaria experience in Tanzania and witnessing global supply chains in action. Yoon also reveals the powerful legacy of his grandparents, who in 1953 commercialized cotton fleece—a foundational innovation in outdoor apparel—after his grandmother’s dramatic escape from North Korea. Now, he’s writing a story for Outside Magazine about this heritage, driven by a desire to preserve family wisdom and stories before they’re lost. The conversation shifts to the Outdoor Media Summit, which Yoon founded 11 years ago and which brings together storytellers, brands, and innovators in mountain towns to foster authentic, deep connections through shared outdoor experiences. He emphasizes the irreplaceable power of human storytelling in an age of AI, urging people to document their family histories while they still can. The episode closes with a call to embrace curiosity and say yes to life’s quiet adventures.