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“Uncommon Thinkers” is a partnership between Greater Seattle Partners and Seattle magazine that showcases Seattle’s innovative and ambitious Korean American community. 

When Jane Park goes on business development missions for her reusable gift wrap product company, the very mention of the word “Seattle” immediately opens doors.

Seattle, she says, is known as a place of innovation because of companies such as Nordstrom, Amazon, and Starbucks. Park hopes to add her leading-edge, value-driven startup, Tokki, to that list.

She’s well on her way. The serial entrepreneur launched Tokki — a line of endlessly reusable, eco-friendly gift bags designed with a built-in digital greeting card — as a direct-to-consumer brand in 2019 after noticing all the trash created when she and her family opened presents. Tokki is now in more than 400 independent retailers across the country and has users in all 50 states. It became a partner on shopping channel QVC and, last holiday season, launched in Target stores across the country. Companies including Amazon and Microsoft also use Tokki in their employee-recognition programs.

Park took her first venture, Julep, from an online-first beauty brand to omnichannel distribution, including at beauty companies Ulta, Sephora, and Nordstrom. She later sold it as part of a $120 million deal. In late 2021 she became the first Korean American to take a company public as CEO on the New York Stock Exchange with special purpose acquisition company Athena Consumer.

Park — a first-generation Korean immigrant — recalls being just 4 years old when she was dropped off at kindergarten without knowing any English. She went on to earn an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and a law degree from Yale University.

She moved to Seattle from Washington, D.C., because of the “significant” Korean population here. She had never even visited. She quickly found a job at Starbucks, eventually becoming the company’s director of New Ventures, where she created business strategies and launched a new consumer business in liqueurs.

She has also served on the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship board of directors for more than a decade. The organization offers financial aid, mentorship opportunities, and career training to support scholars as they build pathways to high-demand careers.

Throughout it all, Park has been an evangelist for both women and the Asian community.

“Seattle is unique because of its diversity, and in particular the Asian Pacific diversity,” Park says. “Seattle is perfect at the intersection of creativity, consumer, and technology. This is such an inspirational place.”