It has been more than seven years, and here is my first, very own Editor’s Desk. It is also my last.

I could have never imagined back in 1999, when I started at KoreAm, that I would be writing a farewell in 2007. Back then, there was a total office staff of four: Editor in Chief, James Ryu,  designer June Kim, intern Christine Lee and me.

My duty, as assistant editor, was to find and collect the stories that make up the Korean American experience. Never mind the fact that I had no publishing or journalism experience; just a desire to do some writing and photography. James, for some reason, decided to give me the job. Well, and nobody else applying for the position might have had something to do with it.

My title may have changed to managing editor since then, but the task has remained the same. Now it’s just done in a bigger office with 11 other people working in it and to share the workload with — although I still had to box up hundreds of magazines every month to be shipped out, up to the very end. But I got to be around people who I want to grab a drink with after work or go out and see a concert together.

And it’s been a privilege to be on hand and see KoreAm grow from a mostly black-and-white, 56-page mag to the all-color, now-we’re-in-three-digits concoction you’re holding in your hands. There’s also been the debut of Audrey, and the hiring of staff whose job description includes event planning. Oh how things have changed since 1999.

The intervening years have been both invigorating and draining. I certainly won’t miss the all-nighters. But I will miss being on the front line of discovering new people who are making even wider the breadth of this thing called the Korean American experience. It grows wider with all of you as you make your mark in the world.

People often ask, “Don’t you ever run out of things to write about?” No, because, there are always new faces bringing something new to this collective experience; people like this month’s cover story, “Survivor” winner Yul Kwon.

But now I’ll just have to wait until the magazine is out with the rest of you to find out who is gracing these pages.

In the meantime, I will hold dear all the memories I’ve gained here, like dressing up in a spaceman suit on Hollywood Boulevard playing along with actress Grace Park, or going to a mokyoktang (Korean bathhouse) with co-workers. OK, some moments I wouldn’t mind forgetting, but, unfortunately, there is photographic evidence that my friends remind me about, over and over.

Thank you to all the people who helped make this magazine a reality each month — the editors and writers and photographers and illustrators and designers and everyone else. And thanks to you for your support by reading the magazine.