Rachel Chung, ’28, History/EAS, Intern at CJ Cultural Foundation, Summer 2026

Rachel Chung, ’28, History/EAS, Intern at CJ Cultural Foundation, Summer 2026

This summer I had the incredible opportunity to intern at CJ Cultural Foundation, a Corporate Social Responsibility division of CJ that focuses on supporting non-mainstream artists. At CJ, I was able to immerse myself in a Korean workplace environment and meet many individuals from a large range of fields that I had no exposure to. I am deeply grateful to the Korea Institute for the chance to work at this position, which connected many of my interests within the Korean sphere.

As a Global Intern, my primary project consisted of expanding CJ Cultural Foundation’s digital presence and publicity through English-language resources. The project culminated in the drafting of a comprehensive webpage that would be easily accessible to international audiences. I worked with Korean and English records to write and hone reports on the foundation’s activities that balanced company PR guidelines with neutral, extensively cited sources. I also created multiple crucial databases consolidated from scraped public records on more than 26 generations of musicians, writers, filmmakers, and composers connected to the foundation. As a side project, the internship supported my research on the trends of physical media across Seoul. At the end of the summer, the other Global Interns and I presented our findings, alongside actionable strategies, to the heads of the corporation.

Beyond working in the office, the internship allowed us to experience many activities such as MNet Countdown, S2O, a music video filming, Caribbean Bay, several concerts, and a movie screening. We also staffed events such as CJ-Berklee Scholarships auditions, ceremonies, and collaborations with the CJ Welfare Foundation. One special collaboration with the CJ Welfare Foundation was getting to present about my cultural background at a diversity classroom to children of multicultural backgrounds.

Though I had been to Seoul before, I was nervous to be entering a Korean work environment for the first time. My co-workers, manager, and fellow interns, however, were all very kind, which made my experience very joyful. We were treated to lunches at restaurants with our supervisors, alongside meals together in the cafeteria. My co-workers primarily spoke Korean, but mostly used English with the Global Interns.

Overall, the internship was a wonderful experience, and I recommend it to anyone interested. I cannot thank those at the Korea Institute and CJ Cultural Foundation enough for giving me this opportunity and ensuring my time in Seoul was rewarding.