will.i.am in the house

[성김 대사]

As the father of two teenage girls, I hardly ever have an easy time convincing them of my cool factor, especially when it comes to my job.  So you can imagine that when I heard that will.i.am, the talented musician, producer, and artist from The Black Eyed Peas was coming to Seoul, I got very excited. 

You see, I came close to meeting will.i.am before when he did other work with the State Department, but I did not take advantage of the opportunity.

So I was really pleased to open my home to will.i.am, one of the State Department’s most famous Goodwill Ambassadors, for a program to promote multiculturalism.  In addition to knowing that I would win cool points from my daughters by getting a photo with will.i.am, I felt that he and I struck a common chord in terms of his desire to host an event supporting multicultural kids, bullying prevention and the benefits of diversity. 

will.i.am and I strike a pose at my residence. 

On that day, my guests included more than 100 middle, high school and university-aged students, including kids from multicultural backgrounds and Special Olympians.  It was great to look around the room and see such a large, diverse, enthusiastic – and young! – audience waiting for will.i.am’s arrival.  This was actually the youngest audience that I have ever hosted at the residence!

Not surprisingly, all these young people were eager to meet such a famous musician and to hear his views on growing up in a multicultural environment.  I thought it was important for them to hear that even someone as cool as will.i.am was bullied at school – it showed them that with the right mindset, you can overcome any number of obstacles. 

Some students commented on how the discussion topics seemed especially relevant and timely given recent bullying problems in Korean schools and the country’s increasing immigrant population.  Getting advice about these issues from will.i.am definitely seemed to make the event all the more special for them.        

will.i.am and moderator Public Affairs Officer Brent Byers share a laugh.

will.i.am, to my surprise, emphasized that if you want to be a musician, it is essential to study science and technology.  As he put it: “All my music and all my videos are infused with whatever new technology I can incorporate into my work.”

As I mentioned before, this was not the first time will.i.am has collaborated with the State Department.  Last summer, he met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to announce that he would hold a concert aimed at promoting study abroad among Americans.  He also recently worked with Embassy Paris on outreach events to French youth and with Embassy Tokyo for an event shortly after the 3/11 tsunami.  Here’s to hoping that his motivational, engaging discussion in Seoul leads to many more events like it in the future.   

will.i.am shines some light on Special Olympics athletes who joined us at Habib House.  The 2013 Special Olympics Winter Games will be held next January in Pyeongchang.

Maybe now that I have finally hung out with will.i.am, my kids will rank me a little higher on the cool scale.  And if you are looking for an extra dose of will.i.am coverage, check out all photos we have posted on the U.S. Embassy Facebook page.  Make sure to leave comments!