A Story Unlike Any Other.
Na Eun “Jiggy” Yoon is a daughter, a sister, a kickass girlfriend, an overprotective best friend, a Type 1 Diabetic, an athlete, a super awesome speaker, a mental performance coach, a facilitator, and the founder of Vulnerability Is Dope™ .
Jiggy was born in Seoul, South Korea where she was raised in an extremely traditional Korean family. Living under her mother’s never-ending expectations of excellence, Jiggy was always forced to focus on her academia, leadership, and performance.
Growing up, Jiggy didn’t get to experience much of self-expression nor understanding of emotions, which resulted in her battles with depression and s*icidal ideations all throughout childhood, teenage years, and even adulthood.
Jiggy moved to the States when she was 10 years old without knowing any English, and learning this new language helped her finally discover an identity she could connect with, as "gay" was not a part of the vocabulary in Korea. Jiggy 'came out' at 13 years old when she began to experience the challenges of homophobia from friends, family, and society.
In 2010, the high school senior Jiggy had to live alone in her Queens apartment for some time due to family-related circumstances. Jiggy discovered later that, during this time, her mother suffered a heart attack during her travels and had gone through surgery. Just when her mother had moved back to New York and Jiggy was confident in taking care of her mother, a 5-alarm fire ruined their apartment building and they lost all of their beloved possessions within one hour. Since then, Jiggy had lived between two shelters and strangers' basements in Queens while her college dorm rooms became her new home. Through this chapter, the basements Jiggy lived in had no windows with only a microwave to make foods in - the food from the dollar stores she went grocery shopping at.
Jiggy attended the Pennsylvania State University where she began her journey exploring the power of vulnerability, self-awareness, and empathy through gen-ed classes and learning from influential professors. This is also when Jiggy was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, where she would become the President of a hip-hop dance crew, and where she would be on the cover of a magazine. Throughout her time at Penn State, Jiggy served as a Teaching Assistant, a Course Coordinator, and, ultimately, an Assistant Lecturer for courses with over 800 enrolled students and live-stream audience.
In 2013, Jiggy's mother passed away from cancer. On the day of the funeral in Queens, Jiggy said her final farewell… then hopped on the Megabus to make her way right back to Penn State. Taking time off of school was not even an option that came to her mind — graduating would be the best way to honor her mother. At this time, Jiggy was numb, and didn't know how to ask for help, where to look for help, or what kind of help she even needed. This is truly when Jiggy had entered the new level of healing and self-discovery.
After graduating in 2014, Jiggy did what everyone else did, and got a full-time job. It wasn't long before she started searching for something that would align with her passion for helping people by sharing her story.
After working full-time for just two and a half years, Jiggy decided to quit her job and pursue motivational speaking. As time went by, Jiggy realized that speaking was just one of many other things she'd be doing under a bigger umbrella.
The ultimate mission is to inspire as many people as possible to embrace their own vulnerability, to prioritize their mental health, to make room for healing and grieving, all the while in the pursuit of becoming extraordinary.
In 2017, Jiggy loaded up her car and drove across the country to start a new chapter in California.
In 2022, Jiggy’s father passed away. Today, Jiggy’s commitment and passion to live in her purpose and pour into people’s hearts only get deeper and deeper every day — in honor of her parents and their legacy.
Jiggy is often told that her message is beyond her years and that that's because she's experienced life in ways that not many people her age have. That adds onto the rare quality that makes her so unique — Jiggy is able to inspire and connect with an expansive variety of audiences whether it’s age, gender identity, cultural background, or life story.
Jiggy is the only Korean, lesbian, hip-hop dancing and rapping Type 1 Diabetic woman-who-lifts with tattoos and piercings training Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu motivational speaker who speaks so boldly of vulnerability and champions for Youth Mental Health.
Jiggy Yoon is truly the very first of her kind, of her generation, of this world, and she never take for granted each and every opportunities she’s trusted with — speaking engagements, workshops, panels, podcast interviews, appearances, etc.
At JY & Co, we strongly believe that your trust in Jiggy to speak to the hearts of your students is just as much of a meaningful investment as your speaker’s budget is, if not, more. We understand that Jiggy speaking to the youth isn’t just talking for one hour. It’s about sharing her entire life’s experiences within one hour that will plant the seeds that guide them as they grow for years to come.
The youth is our future, and for Jiggy to be trusted with our future leaders is the most deepening honor there could be.
Thank you for being here, and thank you for considering Jiggy to join your mission in championing for our youth’s mental health, resilience, and brilliance.