Hanna Kim, 38, is founder of Like Minds Creative Agency. She's based in Los Angeles. A quote from her nomination: "Since the inception of Like Minds in late 2021, she has led company growth to retain recurring global clients such as Revolve and Clase Azul while also leading the company to take on larger programs for clients such as McDonald's and Google."
My career journey: "My career path has definitely not been a linear journey. I started my career journey in a junior role in public relations for a boutique firm. I quickly shifted into hospitality marketing, where I gained a deep appreciation and love for the art of hospitality through enhancing guest experiences and dealing with different clientele.
This organically led me into hospitality events, mainly focused on in-venue experiences. After a few years, my capabilities expanded, slowly producing events for these clients in hospitality. When COVID halted our industry, I made the decision to continue the path forward, re-imagining what experiences would look like under a global pandemic, and decided to ultimately start my own business to directly service my clients."
Kim founded Like Minds in late 2021, where she has led company growth to retain recurring global clients such as Revolve and Clase Azul.Photo: Courtesy of Hanna Kim
What inspires me: "I find the most inspiration in different cultures. Traveling has allowed me to meet and connect with people from diverse backgrounds—this has been key in allowing myself to respect and appreciate everyone's differences and to be a part of communities other than my own."
My greatest career accomplishment: "The launch and growth of my agency. Building this agency has not only been about business success but also breaking barriers and inspiring others in the process. It's the journey of turning a vision into reality, navigating the complexities of the industry, and seeing the collective efforts of my team and our industry partners come to fruition that makes it my proudest achievement."
My most memorable event: "One of our most recent experiential activations for McDonald's in Miami during Art Basel. I consider it to be the most memorable as it pushed our agency's capabilities creatively while also partnering with the client's agency of record. As an agency, it was the first event outside of Los Angeles with the most number of internal team members who traveled to activate this event. Seeing the event come to life and seeing guest reactions to the experience on the debut night will always be a top-three career highlight moment."
"Building this agency has not only been about business success but also breaking barriers and inspiring others in the process," Kim says.Photo: Hanna Kim
The advice I would give my younger self: "Relationships are a valuable investment. Don't be afraid to say no. Always trust your gut. Don't let your job or career be the only or biggest defining thing about you."
Impressive stats I'm responsible for: "Our agency reached a seven-figure revenue mark in the second year of business."
A time I averted a complete event disaster: "I had to switch event venues in London three hours before the event start time. Because the event start time was linked to a global streaming debut, we quickly secured a location and had to arrange courier services to move all production items over in the middle of traffic.
We were still loading in production items when the event started, but we got everything settled in within 30 minutes. The event was a massive success for the client. The stress was high, however, keeping a cool and focused demeanor in front of the client allowed me to slow down the emotional reaction process and zone in on finding solutions quickly."
