Happy 5th Year Anniversary to Soshified!

“Life is all about timing: the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable become available, the unattainable .. attainable. Have the patience, wait it out It’s all about timing.”

This is a crazy milestone for our community, and I’m so glad that I could share it with all of you. It’s insane to think that we’ve been up and running for over 5 years. When I first started Soshified, my only intention was to build an inclusive community that fans could learn more about Girls’ Generation through. Now I can say that with the effort of our hard-working staff and strong responsive community, we’ve completely done this.

Soshified has become one of the largest, most well-known and respected fan communities in the world, and that is all due to your efforts.

I know the ride hasn’t always been the smoothest. I can probably vividly remember all our shortcomings more than our accomplishments, but the fact that we’re still standing and moving is testament that our community is strong and united.

I want to talk a little about myself because I am truly grateful to have been a part of this great community for the past 5 years. I’m usually not the best at expressing my ideas or thoughts, but I hope you read this with an open heart. I see a lot of comments from other fans about how their dream is to meet Girls’ Generation and so forth. And it’s so surreal to me, because when I became a fan, those thoughts were not viable for me.

The ideas were too far-fetched for me to even think about. I didn’t think I would ever meet them or see one of their concerts.

And look at me now. It’s really crazy when you think about it. A lot has changed, and I think that when we are able to look back at those moments, where we can see that we overcame such impossibilities and came out alive, it’s super special. To me that is what Soshified is: super special. Even when everyone doubted us, we proved them wrong and more.

As a fan, I’ve seen many leave the fandom, as well as even more enter. So we may not always share the same memories, but our love for Girls’ Generation is continually growing. I’m always humbled nowadays by the amount of resources international fans have now. I even dare to say that we’re a little spoiled with all the fast translations, quick high quality photos, instant downloadable media raws and more.

Sometimes I feel like we lose sight of it all because we’re always in such a hurry to finish this or that. It seems like SONEs’ schedules are just as busy as our girls.

Just take a moment and breathe.

I want to share a funny story with everyone. When Girls’ Generation started as a group and I was a fan, things like official calendars and photobooks didn’t seem like an option for us because the focus was all on the merchandise for boy groups. I would always wonder, “When will it be our turn?” Our turn to buy more than just posters and CDs with Girls’ Generation on them. So the moment the first photobook was released, I bought 9 copies. Not because I wanted to show off, but because I was so proud and grateful that we had that opportunity to own a photobook. It was something where I believed it meant that time and effort was being put into the promotion of the group. Now the girls are global stars with back-to-back releases in multiple languages in different countries. I’m proud to see this type of success.

As the founder of this community, I couldn’t be more proud of what we have all accomplished. We’ve hit so many milestones on the way that we didn’t even think was possible, such as donating over $80,000 to charities worldwide, getting over 12 million monthly views, and having over 250,000 members. How about the fan meet-ups, fan signings, and meetings that we were able to hold? That is incredible. I’m very thankful for all the love and support over the years.

The members of this community have been nothing short of helpful and kind. You are the ones that keep this community going with your posts and continual support at our events. So thank you, and please continue to do your best, because we’ll do the same.

To our staff members, the new and the old, I’m thankful for being able to meet you all and be able to share this memory with you all. Your hardwork is the foundation for this community and an inspiration to the members. Hopefully, we can continue this ride together for even longer. I really want to share more and more with you each new year.

I’m going to end this note with a reminder that before you decide to let go of a dream, remember how far you’ve came and why you’ve held on for so long. Because at the end of the day, if it’s something that makes you happy, that should be enough. Every thing else is just about timing.

Thanks for the support again. I hope we can continue to meet all your expectations and work harder in the future^^

Soy
Founder

PS. I hope you guys enjoy the video message we got from Girls’ Generation to Soshified. It’s really special because they’re wishing us all a happy 5th anniversary :)