Stephanie Sim

As College life was approaching, my mother sat me down when I was 17 years old and asked me what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. My response: "I'm moving to New York and I am trying out for a Chinese Modern Dance Company. I'll dance for them for 3 years or so and then enroll myself into NYU to study Theatre Arts!" My mother's response: "No." Both of my parents were immigrants from South Korea and they experienced first hand how challenging it can be to build financial stability without a college degree. With that in mind, they asked me if I could get a degree in medicine instead.

Science and Math were my worst subjects. I began to study to become a Pharmacist anyway. I later switched my major to Nursing. During nursing school, I found myself secretly driving down to Hollywood to take acting classes. No one knew of this double life that I had and frankly, every time that I tried to share this with someone, I would get a look of disapproval. The medical world and the artistic world did not mix. One was black and white with no room for mistakes. The other gray with a lot of room to color it in. I felt like a fish out of water for many years - in school and as a professional RN. With time, I began to accept that I was actually a beautiful bird.

After graduating with a BSN in Registered Nursing and after working 5 whole years as a hospital bedside nurse and later a Clinical Nurse Supervisor, I decided I needed to make a change and either take a leap of faith and do what I believed I needed to do or live with regret. In 2013, I made that leap and have been moving forward ever since.

I pursued acting for two years and through the alchemy of exploring my creativity in that medium, I discovered that I had a deeper fulfillment when I wrote. The process of writing intrigued me and it felt authentic to my core. After having that epiphany, I decided to go back into nursing to pay the bills while I attended writing classes at UCLA Extension. After a series of Nursing jobs that I was unhappy with, I left the profession altogether in April 2017. Currently, I am still a writing student and I work as an Office Manager for a very popular medical tech startup company. So far, I am enjoying it. Acting for me was a gateway to all the other creative things I would do: I make jewelry - check out my website (link is above) and I am teaching myself Fashion Illustration with the hopes of exploring some Fashion Design classes in the near future. I love w