{"id":29565,"date":"2018-01-22T20:26:49","date_gmt":"2018-01-23T01:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/creator\/creator\/?p=29565"},"modified":"2020-02-26T14:30:46","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T19:30:46","slug":"jae-jin-became-every-asian-parents-nightmare-and-lived-to-tell-the-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/jae-jin-became-every-asian-parents-nightmare-and-lived-to-tell-the-story","title":{"rendered":"Jae Jin became \u2018every Asian parent\u2019s nightmare\u2019 and lived to tell the story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wandering musician and songwriter Jae Jin<\/a> has gotten comfortable telling his story. Most of his story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI became every Asian parent\u2019s nightmare by dropping out of med school and business school,\u201d he says at the Bitter End in New York City\u2019s Greenwich Village, pausing for laughs. \u201cI got rid of all my possessions, packed up everything in two suitcases, and I\u2019ve been traveling the world. I\u2019ve been couchsurfing, floor surfing, and have not paid rent in three years. I just went all in. You have to go all in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s only half the story. Slowly, Jin has opened up to tell the more difficult part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy life story involves being a patient,\u201d says Jin, who is a two-time cancer survivor. His first diagnosis\u2014a terminal one\u2014came at age 17. The second came five years later, when he was studying medicine at Johns Hopkins. After these two difficult journeys to remission, Jin then spent several months in a dark depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jae<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But as he approached 30, Jin found a way to express himself by playing music and writing songs. Now at 33, he doesn\u2019t take a second for granted. And he doesn\u2019t take his story for granted, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just this last week, Jin stood in front of 4,000 people in his signature sharp blue suit to share his story at WeWork\u2019s company-wide summit. The crowd was visibly moved by his message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier in his career, Jin hesitated to talk about his survivor status because he didn\u2019t want it to overshadow who he is an artist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the beginning, when I started this journey, I had a chip on my shoulder,\u201d Jin tells Ideas by We<\/em>. \u201cI turned down certain things because I didn\u2019t want to be a sob story. My illness story is not the only thing, but it does give people a compelling reason to understand why I do this. There has to be an aesthetic through line and a reason behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his first years as an \u201call-in\u201d musician, Jin busked in New York City subways, went without food, and saw his bank account nearly hit zero, yet he hadn\u2019t always grown up dreaming of being a singer-songwriter. He had sung in choirs and only began playing guitar a few years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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