Jaeha Ahn and Yena Kim are science communicators who translate scientific ideas into everyday conversation in a uniquely engaging way. Located in Mureung-ri, Daejeong, Jeju, You In One is a science communication café that conveys the message that humans are part of nature, creating a space where people and the environment can learn together. Jaeha began his career studying insects and later expanded his focus to explore entire ecosystems as an ecologist, while Yena, a researcher in animal cognitive behavior, studied great apes and the emotional expressions shared between humans and primates. Sharing the belief that “science begins with everyday curiosity,” the two run youth education programs, exhibitions, and citizen science projects that connect closely with the local community. Among their projects, their projects Recorders of the Western Sea of Jeju and Citibat, a citizen bat-monitoring program, have drawn enthusiastic participation from both students and residents. Bridging science and art, people and nature, You In One continues to explore new ways of learning and communicating from a small village in Jeju.

She began her career in Seoul as both a teacher and a painter, but the pandemic prompted her to seek “a life with a little more room to breathe,” leading her to settle in Jeju. Now based in a small village on the island’s western coast, she continues to explore themes of nature, community, and self through her paintings. Using oils, oil bars, and gel stone, she creates textured works that carry the traces of emotion and memory. As a member of the artist collective My Dazzling Friends, she shares the joy of creation and the quiet healing that comes from making art together. In Jeju, she also teaches children and adults, often saying that “painting is another mother tongue.” After losing sight in one eye, she has come to see the world anew—translating recovery, love, and the simple joys of life into her art.

Erik Moynihan is the co-founder and CEO of Magpie Brewing Company, established in 2012. Born in Canada, he first came to Korea on a working holiday and later settled in Seoul, where he opened Magpie in Itaewon and Haebangchon as a community-centered beer space, becoming one of the pioneers of Korea’s craft beer movement. After founding the Jeju brewery in 2016, he relocated to the island with his family in 2023. He now lives in the village of Donghoecheon, enjoying a life close to nature with his two children, pets, and chickens. Erik describes Magpie as “a space for making and sharing together,” embracing an open culture where music, art, and food connect people. His signature Pale Ale remains one of Magpie’s most beloved and iconic beers. Looking ahead, he hopes to continue building a beer culture rooted in creativity, community, and harmony with Jeju’s natural environment.

A leading voice in preserving Jeju folk songs, she earned the title of myeongchang after winning the Grand Prize at the 26th National Folk Song Contest in 2009. Since 1997, she has studied under the late master singer Go Seong-ok and later opened a folk song class in Dongheung-dong, Seogwipo, to teach younger generations. She has also brought folk songs to local elders and welfare centers through lessons and volunteer performances, receiving a commendation from the Minister of Health and Welfare in 2011. She has guided community programs such as Seogwipo Cultural School and regularly appeared on stage with the Jeju Folk Song Preservation Association. Her voice carries the toil and sorrow of Jeju’s farming and fishing life, yet also the joy within it, keeping Jeju’s tradition alive today.

Choi Jong-ryong is a film director and screenwriter. His feature debut The Melody of Suyeon (Waterdrop) tells the story of children left alone in the world who struggle to protect themselves, and it drew attention by winning two awards at the 2023 Busan International Film Festival. Originally a literature major in creative writing, he spent years writing poetry before discovering filmmaking through an independent film collective. With his short film Journey (2019), he received production support and began his professional career. He later completed his first feature through extensive rehearsals and on-site work with child actors, in collaboration with cinematographer Kang Jong-su, capturing a sense of realism. His films challenge and invert the roles of parent and child, protector and protected, to ask what family truly means. At the heart of his work lies a desire for audiences to act as guardians for children on screen, while shining light on the unseen realities of those left in society’s blind spots. He is currently writing new feature scripts that expand his exploration of family stories, this time delving into the adult world through drama and thriller.

Based in Jeju, she focuses on fireflies as her main subject, capturing the nights of Gotjawal and the island’s forests. Her work conveys the ecology of nature and the life of light. In her exhibitions, she collaborates with local communities and practices responsible presentation. Each year she photographs during the short firefly season, and in the off-season she studies Jeju’s landscapes and habitats. Through her images, she seeks to offer comfort and hope by showing beings that shine on their own in the dark. She is now preparing her 2026 solo exhibition, Breath of Light, Awakening the Forest, with the goal of building a lasting archive of Jeju’s natural heritage.

Pianist Moon Hyojin and bandoneon player Rim Sinai are the musicians leading the ensemble “Mulbit” together. Moon Hyojin is a composer and performer who captures Jeju’s landscapes and history through music, presenting projects that embody the voices of haenyeo and messages of peace. With the Jeju Youth Chorus, she performed the “Peace Requiem” on international stages, and this September she has been invited to the cultural festival in Osnabrück, Germany’s city of peace, where she will present lectures, performances, and an exhibition. Rim Sinai pursues sounds that move the heart through the deep resonance of the bandoneon, expanding beyond tango to collaborations with traditional instruments such as the geomungo. Together, they reinterpret Jeju’s traditional sounds in contemporary ways and share them with the world, creating melodies that merge light and water, just as their name suggests. Their music carries Jeju’s stories while remaining an artistic experiment of respect, harmony, and creative expansion.

She is a planner who views coffee as a language. After years of working in Seoul’s specialty coffee industry and experiencing numerous brands and projects, she settled in Jeju in 2019 and began to explore what it means to create planning that allows people to live together. Seeking ways for Jeju’s small coffee brands to thrive sustainably, she initiated Korea Coffee Week. This event has grown into an experimental platform that shares sentiments and messages, rather than a conventional trade fair. Each year, under themes such as “Coffee Is Blue,” dozens of brands interpret coffee in their own ways and create one exhibition together. She describes planning as “observing values closely and delivering them more clearly.” Today, she runs Cosmos Coffee Company on the first floor of the Jeju Communication & Cooperation Center, where new encounters between coffee and the local community continue to unfold.