Northgate High graduate Yul Kwon, the first Asian-American to win the reality show Survivor, and the owner of our hometown Red Mango frozen yogurt franchise, is going to Washington D.C. He will be working in the Obama administration, at the Federal Communications Commission as Deputy Chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau.
According to a press release, Kwon’s diverse career “spans across law, technology, business, and media.” Most notably, the Yale Law School grad was included in one of People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive issues. But in addition to that great achievement, the press release says, “his government experience includes lecturing at the FBI Academy, drafting science and technology legislation as an aide to Senator Joseph Lieberman, and clerking for Judge Barrington D. Parker on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.
“In the business and technology sector, Kwon has held positions at McKinsey & Company, Google, and the Trium Group. He also practiced law as an attorney at Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis and at Venture Law Group.
“In 2006, Kwon became the first Asian-American to win the CBS reality show, Survivor. His subsequent media activities include working as a special correspondent for CNN and as a co-host for the Discovery Channel. Kwon obtained his B.S. degree in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University and his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he served on the editorial board of the Yale Law Journal.”
According to a Diablo magazine online interview, he has contributed his name and celebrity to a “range of worthy nonprofit causes, including serving as the national spokesperson for the Asian American Donor Program.”
As Kwon, an early Obama campaigner, tells the Washington Post: "I feel like this country is in a critical time right now," he told us. "If there's one place you can have an impact, it's here."
On top of all his accomplishments, I hear from people who have dealt with him, or interviewed him, that he is a genuinely nice, humble, regular guy.
Best of luck, Yul, in your new job!
