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2015-02-14 meeting in Washington, D.C.

 


Yeonmi Park in 2014 became the first refugee ambassador of FSI (then TNKR), she was a student in the organization during 2013-14, is author of the book "In Order to Live," and was podcast co-host with Casey Lartigue in 2014. That's right, at that time, she called me "Boss!"

Cherie Yang, in 2015, joined FSI and became the second refugee ambassador of FSI that same year, was a student with us from 2015-19, was winner of FSI's 5th English speech contest and gave a TEDx Talk in the UK in 2017 (yes, I arranged that too!). She was also a special assistant at Freedom Factory, she also called me "Boss" and "Mr. Casey." I was happy to introduce them in 2015, when Cherie and I went on a speaking tour across the US East Coast and Yeonmi was a featured speaker at an International Students for Liberty conference.

They didn't stay in touch, but recently when Cherie and I talked about a fundraiser she was thinking about posting to help with her mom's medical costs, I recommended several things (FSI social media, connecting with organizations, etc.), but of course there is one main influencer in our network: Yeonmi Park.

They have now done two YouTube videos in the last week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qZLJ8_jOyw&list=PLn7xtnmarHFrDqyLq5cle7PSE210zHXLE&index=34 Live Q&A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7UDntRHKUY&list=PLn7xtnmarHFrDqyLq5cle7PSE210zHXLE&index=33 Cherie's fundraiser has grown from $3,576 to now more than $30,000. https://www.gofundme.com/f/my-mom-from-north-korea-diagnosed-breast-cancer Yeommi has definitely reached Influencer level. The problem with being an Influencer level is that many people want some of that influence in their lives, too. Please don't contact her asking to raise money so you can save your cat from a tree or to pay for your diet plan.

Cherie's fundraiser for FSI:
Yeonmi's various fundraisers for FSI: Voices, 25th birthday, Project



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