Steven Kang – 50th Reunion Essay

Steven Kang

32605 NE 202nd Street

Duvall, WA 98019

StevenKang@aol.com

206-992-8609

Spouse(s): Susan Chin Kang (1974-2018)

Child(ren): Michael Kang (1976), Bryan Kang (1978), Andrew Kang (1981))

Grandchild(ren): Gavin Kang (2010) and Kara Kang (2012)

Education: Yale University, BA, 1969; Columbia University MBA (1971)

Career: Advertising/Marketing Executive, Doyle Dane Bernbach (NYC) and Foote, Cone & Belding (Los Angeles) for 6 years; Marketing & Sales Executive TWA (NYC), Sitmar Cruises (LA) and Holland America Line (Seattle) for 18 years; President, Maupintour (Lawrence, KS) for 5 years; Partner, digital startups and a cruise travel company for 6 years; Managing Director, Somhansar (Bangkok) for 2 years; Personal & Corporate Branding Consultant for 5 years (Seattle and San Francisco)

Avocations: International and domestic travel. Improving career prospects for people through personal branding. Helping to build a self sustaining elephant camp in Thailand to support up to 300 elephants and their owners/mahouts. Improving children’s English skills in rural villages in Thailand.

College: Jonathan Edwards

In Pursuit of Happiness… Through Travel

Exotic places have been part of my dreams from as early as I can remember. As a three-year-old, I would see off my father, a merchant seaman, as he sailed off to the Orient and points beyond. Waving, I would call out the ports of call: Yokohama, Keelung, Pusan, Inchon, Hong Kong, Panama, Valparaiso, Rio de Janeiro and on and on. In the following weeks, letters with colorful stamps would arrive and describe the ports of call and the people he encountered. From first grade on, I read about different cultures and places and vowed that one day, I would experience them.

During high school, there was little time or money to travel. Working on our small farm, playing three sports, singing, Broadway musicals, studies and a girlfriend took up my time, but there was always time to read about places and talk with travelers who had visited faraway lands.

Fast-forward to Yale, it was during college that I knew that I wanted to pursue travel as a vocation. Singing with the Duke’s Men took me up and down the Eastern seaboard: Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Raleigh, Atlanta and during spring break to Florida and Nassau in the Bahamas—not to forget road trips to many of the Seven Sisters schools and other colleges. During summers, I worked as a merchant seaman on ships calling at ports in Asia, Central America, the Caribbean and South America. This continued through graduate school. Bliss.

Graduating from Yale, I went off to Columbia in New York to study for an MBA in international business and marketing. The ultimate objective was to find a job with an international airline so I could continue my travels while making some money. Objective accomplished. I worked on Madison Avenue for Doyle Dane Bernbach managing advertising for Procter & Gamble and American Airlines before taking a job with TWA introducing wide body aircraft. I was then able to fly around the world for free and take weekends in Europe from my NYC base. What a great job!

But the sea beckoned. Off to Los Angeles to launch a cruise line with colleagues from TWA and some intensive travel to Mexico and the Caribbean. But then, a floundering cruise line asked me to come to Seattle to head up marketing and sales. Lots of travel but mostly a day here and a day there—little time to savor the places visited. The company was saved and Holland America Line became one of the most successful companies in the travel business. Later, an assignment with a Seattle-based adventure cruise line allowed me and my family—wife and three sons—to sail to Antarctica, the High Arctic, Greenland and South America.

My best and most satisfying job came a few years later as president of Maupintour, a tour company operating in 50 countries and 35 states. What was most gratifying was studying the places and people and creating the tours with staff that shared my passion for travel and, of course, traveling to many of the places.

But the ultimate travel experience is working overseas. A marvelous opportunity to become the managing director of a hotel development company in Bangkok, Thailand, fell into my lap. We built two 5-star hotels and a condominium complex; one of the hotels was selected as the best city boutique hotel in the world! Yay!

Fast-forward to present. I am now helping people and companies with personal and corporate branding. A move to Thailand after a divorce will allow me to kick back and enjoy the simple life with friends and loved ones while fulfilling my dream of traveling, living and giving back (building a self-sustainable camp for 300 elephants) in an exotic tropical place in a faraway land.

Happiness realized!