Jacqueline Youm (’08) is an actor, a language teacher, and a lawyer. For the last few years, she has pursued these passions in a variety of ways, but things took a new turn in March when COVID-19 resulted in her having to stay home.
Jacqueline decided to make the most of her time, so she started a Youtube channel where she teaches Spanish, French, and English. She found that this worked in conjunction with her online teaching, as a way to help students learn and study while not in the classroom.
She also decided to do some theatre performances online using Zoom. Over the past few months, she’s performed and directed many plays from the public domain, both publicly and also some smaller productions for friends and family. She calls on actors she knows from her friend group and in online actor groups to find people and tries to give everyone an opportunity to perform.
“Yes there are some limitations,” says Jacqueline. “You can’t see full body, but you can try to do movement and different things. It is very intimate. You’re right there, they can actually see what’s going on in your face. And it’s accessible for all those people who weren’t able to go to the theatre anyway.”
After performing in a play where her character dealt with a lot of black pain, Jacqueline decided to write her own play focused on joy, titled: “In Search of Love”.
“There are so many movies and plays about black pain and not so many about black joy. It bothered me, so I decided to write my own and make it joyful,” says Jacqueline.
As she pursues her career and passion in art, Jacqueline strives to always keep Christ at the forefront of what she does.
“Yes, I am Christian. Yes, I want to be Christian for life and work on that. And yes, I want to embody those values in my work ethic and into my work as a professional moving forward,” says Jacqueline.
Hear more of Jacqueline’s story on the TWU Alumni Spotlight Podcast, including how she survived a terrible flesh eating disease, and her thoughts on the Black Lives Matter movement.
Listen to Jacqueline's interview on the TWU Alumni Spotlight podcast.
About Trinity Western University
Founded in 1962, Trinity Western University is Canada’s premier Christian liberal arts university dedicated to equipping students to establish meaningful connections between career, life, and the needs of the world. It is a fully accredited research institution offering liberal arts and sciences, as well as professional schools in business, nursing, education, human kinetics, graduate studies, and arts, media, and culture. It has five campuses: Langley, Richmond-Lansdowne, Richmond-Minoru, Ottawa, and Bellingham, WA. TWU emphasizes academic excellence, research, and student engagement in a vital faith community committed to forming leaders to have a transformational impact on culture. Learn more at www.twu.ca or follow us on Twitter @TrinityWestern, on Facebook and LinkedIn.
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