Originally from Michigan, USA, Stefania teaches English in Jeju while continuing her artistic practice. After a major turning point in her life, she came to the island and has since been learning how to begin again amid its sea, forests, and changing seasons. She enjoys drawing and working with pastels, often depicting people in dreamlike scenes, believing that the act of working with color helps her find calm and make sense of life. As a teacher, she finds the greatest reward in her connection with students and is steadily preparing to pursue art education more deeply in the future. A vegan for nearly fourteen years, she carries her values into daily life through Jeju’s restaurants, traditional markets, and thrift shops. She especially loves nature-filled places like Gwakji and Hamdeok beaches, the trails of Jeolmul Forest, and the cherry blossom-lined streets near Jeju University. She believes that forming genuine connections, even in unfamiliar places, is what makes a city feel like home—and she continues to quietly write her next chapter here on the island.

Nine years after moving to Jeju, Iris has become someone who tells the island’s stories through color. Her studio, Color Lab Jeju, collects the hues found in the island’s nature—the blue of the sea, the green of the forest, and the earthy brown of volcanic soil—and transforms them into design, education, and everyday creations. For Iris, color is more than what we see; it is a language that connects emotions, memories, people, and nature. She has named the seas where Jeju’s haenyeo, or women divers, work—such as Halmang-badang—and continues to record their colors while guiding others to discover their own shades within nature. Through this work, Color Lab Jeju has come to be known as “a lab of empathy through color.” When someone reads the name of a color they’ve chosen and says, “This feels like my story,” Iris treasures that moment. She continues to record the changing light of Jeju, hoping that its colors will live on in the everyday lives of those who encounter them.

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.