For many years, Lily Kim ’03 believed she was going to go into law. Because she She double- majored in political science and economics while at Wellesley, so much of her coursework and internship experience were geared toward strengthening her resume for law school and eventually working for a law firm. However, she learned early on that law wasn’t right for her, so she now works as a content manager for Viacom International, a television media network. After working for a security litigation law firm in D.C following graduation, Kim came to a realization.
“The lawyers were great, and the work was really interesting, but I realized that while I would very much enjoy going to law school and studying law, I couldn’t see myself as a lawyer,” she explained.
She now works as a content manager for Viacom International, a television media network.
Kim was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina before moving to New York when she was eight years old, where she has resided ever since. Although both her mother and older sister attended women’s colleges, Kim said that she was not necessarily looking to follow in their footsteps. However, Wellesley was her older sister’s dream school, so she tagged along for a campus tour and fell in love with the campus’s beauty. Her sister ended up attending Smith.
Kim said that when it came time for her to apply to college, she took a particular interest in Wellesley, researching it as much as she could.
“[I] was looking through all of the literature of the school and all these amazing women, and Wellesley has such a respected global reputation and all of these accomplished alums,” she explained
However, it was not until she had her alumnae interview that Wellesley became her top choice.
“I came out of [the interview] thinking it was an amazing school, and the women are amazing, and this is where I want to go. I knew that this school offered a great reputation, academic rigor, but beyond that, just these amazing women that I aspired to be one day,” she said.
What Kim cherishes most from her time at Wellesley is the way that professors communicate with their students and help pique engage their curiosity.
“I think that that kind of environment has cultivated this need to always stay curious and to always challenge yourself intellectually in life, but also that that bar set for yourself is only set by you,” she said.
This curiosity allowed Kim to take classes she never would have otherwise.
“I had finished my prerequisites for my majors, and I remember thinking that I should just graduate early,” she said. “My mom told me that I would never get these four years back and to fully enjoy them while I could. So senior year, I took courses that were beyond my concentration and just took things for fun.”
These courses included classes in departments such as philosophy art history and computer science, to name a few. It was not until that point that Kim understood the true value of a liberal arts education, and it is something she hopes current Wellesley students will appreciate while they still can.
After working for a security litigation law firm in D.C following graduation, Kim came to a realization.
“The lawyers were great, and the work was really interesting, but I realized that while I would very much enjoy going to law school and studying law, I couldn’t see myself as a lawyer,” she explained.
After she came to the realization that she no longer wanted to pursue a career in law, Kim was unsure of what her next career move would be.
“I talked with my sister, and she just told me to go back to the basics and think about what I enjoy. It was as simple as that, that question,” Kim said.
While she loved food and TV equally, she did not believe she would be a good chef, so she wanted to see what the world of television production had to offer.
Since Kim was not exactly sure where to start, she started applying to all sorts of entry-level production positions. She ended up joining PBS’ weekly news magazine team with Bill Moyers, which she really enjoyed. However, she realized that she enjoyed programming more than production. Programming deals with buying or creating shows that go on television, which is what she currently does for Viacom International channels.
A philosophy professor at Wellesley once told her “to find something I love and then worry about how I would get paid for it later,” which is something that Kim says has stuck with her, especially when making the decision to pursue a career in TV programming.
