‘Sesame Street’ has always had a way of connecting with its audience. From music to education, it has consistently changed with the times to maintain interest and pique interest. In its latest move, the show has introduced a new character with Asian-American roots. Her name is Ji-Young.
“So in Korean traditionally the two syllables they each mean something different…” she explained. “Ji means, like, smart or wise. And Young means, like, brave or courageous and strong…but we were looking it up and guess what? Ji also means sesame.” It turns out she was meant to become a member of the show!
Ji-Young is only 7 years old and is making history as the first Asian-American Muppet in the “Sesame Street” canon. Specifically, her roots are Korean American, which parallel her puppeteer Kathleen Kim, who’s 41 and Korean American. Her passions are rocking out on her electric guitar and riding her skateboard. Her debut will come in the “See Us Coming Together: A Sesame Street Special,” which will drop Thanksgiving Day on HBO Max, “Sesame Street” social media platforms and on local PBS stations.
Kathleen Kim got into puppetry in her 30s and back in 2014, was accepted into a “sesame Street” workshop. That ultimately evolved into a mentorship, and she finally landed a role on the team the following year in 2015. After having watched the show as a child, the opportunity was a dream-come-true for Kim, and now she’s helping shape an original Muppet. “I feel like I have a lot of weight that maybe I’m putting on myself to teach these lessons and to be this representative that I did not have as a kid,” said Kim.
Kay Wilson Stallings, Executive Vice-President of Creative and Production for Sesame Workshop, said “When we knew we were going to be doing this work that was going to focus on the Asian and Pacific Islanders experience, we of course knew we needed to create an Asian Muppet as well.”
The origins of the Muppet were very important to Kim, and she didn’t want her to be “generically pan-Asian.” “…It was very important that she was specifically Korean American, not just like, generically Korean, but she was born here.”