City: Wilmington, Delaware

Lisa Emele Hoffman

Age: 30

Occupation: Plant Pathologist

How did you end up in Delaware? I grew up north of Philadelphia and went to the University of Delaware for my bachelor’s degree. After stints in upstate New York, which was too cold six months of the year, and Northern California, which we loved but was too far from family, my husband and I decided to head back to the Philly area. My current job with DuPont brought us to the Wilmington area.

How many times have you been asked the above question? People from Delaware don’t think there’s anything strange about being from Delaware. Friends and family from Pennsylvania tend to think Delaware is another planet, although they know it has nice beaches and can point to it on a map.

Where do you get Korean food and groceries? The Chinese grocery carries a few Korean items.

Describe your Koreatown and the Korean community. Me, myself and I. Well, actually that’s not true anymore. My daughter, Celia, is Korean, so she counts as part of my community. I was adopted, so I wasn’t raised in Korean American culture. It’ll be fun to explore this aspect of my heritage with Celia as she gets older.

CREDIT: Photos courtesy of Lisa Emele Hoffman

What do you like about your city? It’s close to everything. Philly, Washington, D.C., even New York. We get the benefits of local community but don’t miss out on big city culture. Despite being the credit card capital of the world, Wilmington has a small town feeling and a lot less traffic.

What do you dislike about your city? The lack of any real nightlife. There are a few good restaurants downtown, but we wind up driving into Philly for serious entertainment. With all the credit card companies here, Wilmington has a lot of young professionals, many of them in their 30s. The city loses out on a lot of revenue because they drive into Philly for entertainment, since there’s not much going on in Wilmington. If you walk into downtown at 9 p.m., it’s dead. Wilmington has started a major overhaul of the riverfront by the Christina River, where there are some restaurants and shops, but more could be done. The potential is definitely there.

How does being Korean affect you in Delaware? I don’t think it affects me much. There isn’t a substantial Asian population here, which was something about California that I definitely miss. But I’m used to it. My high school only had six Asian kids, and all of us had been adopted by Caucasian families. That experience taught me to enjoy standing out in a crowd. At least it generally meant people remembered my name!

What do people do for fun in Delaware? Go to the beach. The Delaware beaches are very nice. People also go see the Wilmington Blue Rocks. They are a minor league baseball team that has a huge following mostly because it’s affordable family entertainment and the guys play for the love of the game. If you go see major league sports, it’s about them showing off, but the Blue Rocks are more community-oriented, and we take pride in them since it’s the only semi-professional sport in Wilmington. Also, some people like to hike or play at the state and county parks. Delaware has a huge amount of green space. Almost every community has a park. There are also a lot of festivals to go to. We have an Italian festival, a Polish festival and now a Chinese festival. Maybe someday I’ll start a Korean festival.