Last week we released part one of the April edition of Soshified Spotlight, featuring renowned Soshified fan fic writer Auratus. We also promised that we would release part 2 later, and now later has come. Meet grandma deer, aka Karen. Karen was one of the first members to ever join Soshified, actually signing on even before Soshified officially opened to the public. Since then, she has been one of the more visible faces around the fansite, helping keep the place tidy as a super moderator. If you have ever requested a screenname change, Karen’s probably the person you asked. In addition to contributing her time to Soshified, Karen is currently preparing to graduate college, giving her a very busy schedule. She is also one of the biggest SONE’s you’ll ever meet, and you’ll see examples of this later.
What is your first name?
Karen
How did you find out about Soshified and why did you decide to join?
Soy pmed me on soompi and asked me to become a staff on a new site called Soshified.com. Why I decided to join?..to be honest it was the pretty pink graphics that drew me in haha. I loved the soshified v1.0 layout
Your profile says you joined Soshified before it officially opened to the public. Could you explain that? Did Soy recruiting you have something to do with that?
Soy recruited staff members before soshified opened so I joined then. I also accidentally leaked the link to the site on soompi so there were a few of us that were test bunnies for a couple of days before the site officially opened
How did you come up with your screen name?
grandma deer came from the name super junior (member) Kyuhyun gave yoona when the girls were on Youngstreet radio. I heard it and thought it was super cute. (Kyuhyun is also my bias in super junior)
Where are you originally from, and where do you currently reside (city and country for both)?
I was born and raised in New Zealand. Still living there.
If we were visiting you where you live for one day, where would you take us? Why are these places so significant?
We can go to my backyard and look at my sheeps! No I’m joking I don’t have sheeps in my backyard.
Sky tower would be a good start because the view of Auckland is amazing up there. You can even bungy jump down the tower New Zealand scenery is the best so I would take you guys to some of the famous west coast beaches and parks.
Are there a lot of sheep in New Zealand?
yes haha. There’s more sheeps than humans here
What do you do full time and in your free time?
My life mostly revolves around uni busy with assignments and such haha. I also spend a lot of the time in front of the computer especially soshified lol
What’s the most interesting thing about you and/or that has ever happened to you?
Not a lot of interesting things has happened in my life. I’ve been in a cookie tv commercial before if that’s counted as interesting.
Cookie commercial? How’d that come about?
It was during primary school and my class was selected for the commercial. All we had to do was run around and play on the playground~
For people who are first meeting you (like most of us), how would you describe yourself?
I can come off as quite cold when you first meet me but that’s I guess probably due to me being quite shy and introverted. I’m super loud and crazy though with people I’ve known longer for.
Tell us some things that most people don’t know about you that you think they should.
lol this is kinda weird but I have 5 beauty marks on my face when you join them with an imaginary line it forms a 9! ITS FATE haha
Is there anything big in your life that you’re working on? (This can be related to school, career, hobbies, family, friends, etc.)
Graduating from uni! I’m a 4th year and have 1 and a half years to go. I would love to see the girls in live sometime too
What will you be studying in graduate school? What kind of career do you hope to have in the future?
Probably a post grad at le cordon bleu. Then a marketing career in the hospitality/tourism industry would be exciting.
What goals are you working towards, and where do you see yourself in the near future, say five years down the line?
Probably still at uni doing post grad.
I would love to become fluent in Korean. It’s my 3rd year studying the language but I don’t feel like I’m as fluent as a I should be. It would be good to immerse myself in the culture so perhaps a few years in Korea?
What are your interests outside of Girls’ Generation?
I’m a huge BoA fan also. I’ve been a fan of hers since 2003 and she was my first kpop love
How did you first become a fan of Girls’ Generation?
Before they debuted I had a heard a bit about them and at that time thought to myself “oh no these poor girls I feel for them having to be stuck in a big group being called the female super junior” (I wasn’t an anti or anything). At first I was just trying to get to know kpop so I downloaded their songs. When they debuted I was still pretty neutral and just visited the snsd soompi once in a while. One day I saw someone’s sig on soompi that said “SNSD singing sometimes by britney spears”. I thought that was interesting (lol because at that time I had never heard of any english covers by korean artists -__- ). After watching that I started looking through all their radio shows etc…I became more and more interested and the rest is history!
Who is your favorite member and why?
Yoona. I always have a hard time answering why yoona is my favourite member because all the things I can list such as “she has an amazing heart, super gorgous, she’s talented, funny adorable” etc etc really applies to all the girls. They’re all amazing. I guess really the thing is shes like an innocent child to me and I always feel extra protective of her. Also I feel that with the other members there is one or a few defining qualities about them and they draw you in easily but with yoona that’s not the case. Especially during the early debut days up until around 2009 we didn’t get to see much of her personality. She was the face of the group but she was never (that) outgoing like the rest of the members and quite the quiet one too.and because of that I wanted to know more and more about her. She’s opened up a lot more now and her choding like personality is one of the reasons why she’s still my favourite.. With that said I do love all 9 but I don’t deny favouring yoona a tad more hehe
What is your favorite Girls’ Generation song and MV and why?
Into the new world! The first song I heard from them. Each time I listen it brings back wonderful memories of 2007 when I first fell for them.
My favourite mv is baby baby because BTS SNSD is the best^^
What is your favorite Girls’ Generation moment (only between any of the nine girls)?
This is a hard one but probably when they won the Digital Daesang Awards in 2009. It was their first big award in their career so I thought that was really special. They’ve been through a hell of a lot of hardships and to see them receive one their first big awards in the industry made me very proud as a sone. There are a lot of favourite award moments(such as 1st MuBank win after their car accident, 9 gee awards, 1st mnet countdown award etc) but there’s also other moments such as their gee comeback after 9 months or just simply when all 9 members are on stage is a great moment.
What is the best memory you have of Girls’ Generation (you and the nine girls)?
Well I’ve never met them in real life so the closest interaction I’ve had with them were in my dreams ;] I guess that was pretty cool haha
How has Girls’ Generation impacted your life, in specific areas or even as a whole?
O huuuuuuge impact! I am quite close to being broke thanks to Girls’ Generation! But no SNSD makes me happy. I know more about kpop just small things such as what a mutizen is. Other things such as choosing the number 9 for anything and everything. My pin numbers are related to SNSD lol oh and I’ve been pretty sleep deprived because of them.
I hear you have a huge Girls’ Generation collection. What do you have? What’s your favorite thing in this collection?
I’ve been collecting for 4 years not and I collect almost everything with their name on it T__T Not good for the pocket…
Choosing one favourite thing is hard but it would probably be ITNW CD. It was my first SNSD item and I remember staring at the CD for ages because the pictures were so gorgeous
What was the most memorable/craziest thing you’ve done for Girls’ Generation?
I bought tickets to the SNSD concert in Bangkok and was planning to fly to Thailand knowing I could only stay there for 2 days.
What do you like most about Soshified, and why? Any section in particular you’re attracted to?
The people really. I’ve met some great staff and sones here through soshified for the past 3 years. It’s nice having a place where you can go to where everyone has the same common interest as you.
I love all the power of 9 sections. There are some really great threads from just silly (but awesome) spazz threads to in depth discussions about the members. You can always find something interesting in the PO9 sections. When I’m feeling down I love to go into the so nyuh swfs area. It’s not as active as before but I still visit even the old threads. There are some real funny swfs haha and they just make me smile like a fool.
Why did you decide to join the Soshified staff, and why the particular job you have now?
Haha same answer as the 2nd question
What exactly do you do? Do you enjoy this position? What do you like about it?
Catching spammers, moving editing threads etc basically anything that breaks the rules. Other things such as helping out with staff recruitment and I’m in charge of name changes. I get a lot of requests for name changes and it can be a bit tedious. Modding can be tiring but it feels nice when you’ve helped someone say a new member and they reply back with a thank you. Even if they don’t reply or say anything back at least you know you’ve done the best to help them. In the end you’re just helping them to know more about the girls through soshified by making members feel welcomed and appreciated^^
You seem to do a lot for Soshified. What’s your family life like, and how do you juggle your personal life and your SoShi/Soshified life?
Back when soshified started I would spend way too much time on the site and I’m not going to lie..it did hurt my grades a little bit. I use to spend too much time saving every picture or downloading all their videos. But now since I’m into my final years of uni and workload is heavier there’s just no time to muck about so you do learn to get better at balancing soshi life and personal life.
As one of the first members to sign up, you’ve seen how much Soshified has grown over the years. How do you think Soshified can move forward in the future?
When I joined I didn’t imagine it would become what it is today. I think Soshified is doing great as it is really. Continue spreading the SNSD love like it always has~
What is your favorite project that you’ve ever been involved in?
I wasn’t directly involved in the project but the Hollywood Bowl 08 project was really awesome. Those lollipop necklaces were perfect for the girls and seeing them wear our gifs for the first time was unbelievable.
Another one was the hollywood bowl letters for each girl in 2009. I helped with the yoona one and it was fun working with other yoonaddicts compiling everything together!
Any interesting experiences when interacting with members?
I always have a good laugh when members pm me asking questions that I don’t know why they think I would know the answer to. e.g Questions like is Taecyeon and Yoona really dating?
Is there anything else about you that you would like to add?
Not really but since this is an April column and April is a cool month…why because it’s the birthday month of our forum founder Soy (April 14th) so a happy birthday shout out to her! Soshified started when you were 16 and now you’re 20 already! Thank you for all you’ve done for the site and the fandom
A big thanks to Karen for agreeing to participate in this month’s Soshified Spotlight! As usual, you can submit nominations for future Soshified Spotlights if you’d like to participate or if you’d like to get to know a fellow member better. Instructions on how to do so can be viewed at the Soshified Spotlight Solicitation announcement.
Compiled by: [email protected]
Photographs by: grandma [email protected]
Graphic by: [email protected]
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