Kim Wong (Questrom’27): career counselor, yoga teacher, potter, baker, MBA student, and mom.

STAFF

Ceramics, Cake, and Public Service Law: Meet Kim Wong

School of Law careers director spends her days baking, throwing pottery, teaching yoga, and more, all between advising students—and, oh yeah, getting her MBA

Glazing and firing a ceramic fortune cookie here, baking a custom birthday cake there, keeping up with coursework for her part-time MBA program, serving as vice chair for a staff affinity network, parenting a nine- and five-year-old—all between helping students figure out how to enter the public law sector. So go the days of Kimberly Wong (Questrom’27), associate director for government and public interest careers at Boston University’s School of Law.

It’s a lot for anyone, even someone who’s spent the better part of the last two decades in the fast-paced world of a New York City attorney. What motivates her to keep up the hustle?

“Good question,” Wong says, and chuckles. “I think I’m just a very optimistic person, and every day is a new opportunity to make a difference in some way, whether that’s through art, through creativity, or through helping somebody else.”

Wong, a born-and-bred Bostonian, headed to New York after graduating from law school in Michigan in 2008. She spent the next 15 years working as an attorney for The Legal Aid Society in Queens and Brooklyn, representing abused and neglected children in family court. She also became involved in hiring and, eventually, recruiting lawyers—which would come into play later in her role at BU. But first: cakes.

The Legal Aid Society is where Wong honed a reputation for her baking skills. It was a large office, she says, and there were frequent celebrations for occasions like birthdays and baby showers. She began making cakes for the parties. Then her coworkers began asking for cakes for their own parties outside the office. Word spread. So Wong started a cake-making business, which took off during COVID-19 lockdowns. (Can’t throw a party? You can at least order an extravagant cake to celebrate.) 

“When COVID hit, the cake business just exploded,” Wong says. “There were weekends when I had two to three cakes ordered at once, and I was just baking all the time.” 

The problem with custom cakes? Making a specific shape requires trimming off any excess edges. “I’d have all these cuttings, and I never want to throw good cake away, so I’d mix them with more frosting or something [and serve it]. My entire family refuses to eat cake now,” Wong says, laughing. “We have to get my husband pie for his birthday.” 

The operation naturally slowed down when the world reopened. But that made time for another one of Wong’s hobbies: pottery.

She’s long been into ceramics.

“I love that I can take a lump of clay and make it into literally anything,” says Wong, who occasionally teaches classes at local pottery studios. “I also love the people you meet through pottery—it takes a certain type of personality that’s okay with getting really muddy and messy.”

Wong turned her passion for pottery into another side business, Dhyana Ceramics. Much of her work takes inspiration from her upbringing, she says. Her grandparents owned a Chinese restaurant in Boston’s Brigham Circle, where she spent countless hours growing up. Some of her trademark pieces include ceramic fortune cookies and Chinese take-out boxes.

Pieces from Dhyana Ceramics. Photos courtesy of Kimberly Wong

“I make my fortune cookies and take-out boxes as homage to [my grandparents’] hard work and sacrifice,” Wong wrote on one Dhyana Instagram post. “We all know restaurant life is hard; doing it at a time when you didn’t speak much English and racism is rampant—even harder. I am who I am because of my family, and this is just one humble way I honor them.”

Her other source of inspiration? Nature—especially flowers and succulents. (Check out this poppy vase and this echeveria-covered sculpture.) 

“I love flowers and gardening,” Wong explains. “Like, my office is a freaking jungle. I have so many plants in my office that when people walk in, they’re like, ‘Wow, the air feels cleaner in here!’” 

All of her hobbies—she’s also a certified yoga teacher—bring her joy, Wong says. But so does her work. 

Wong’s move to Massachusetts in 2023 marked both a pivot and a return in her career. She loved working as an attorney, she says, but didn’t want to invest the time into rebuilding a professional network like the one she had in New York. Instead, she opted to draw on her recruiting skills and work with soon-to-be lawyers interested in the public sector.

The hiring and recruiting work she did for The Legal Aid Society frequently sent her to career fairs, where she’d often speak to young lawyers looking for their first jobs. That set her up perfectly for her role at BU, she says. 

“Career advising in the government and public interest sectors—I literally did that for years,” Wong says. To her, there’s something uniquely rewarding about helping people achieve their career milestones. “I love the advocacy and the relationship part of it,” she says. “There’s so much joy in watching someone achieve a goal and knowing I helped them [get there]. I find it all very fulfilling.”’

Her abilities have been deeply appreciated at BU. 

“Kim has been a great addition to the Career Development team,” says Mandie Lebeau, assistant dean for career development and public service at LAW. “Her extensive knowledge of public interest law careers and enthusiastic personality is a winning combination with the law students. Kim always makes time for students with a kind listening ear, and the students frequently come back to seek her advice or share their good news about the jobs they have landed! We are fortunate to have her on our team.”

Wong officially started at LAW in September 2023 as an assistant director for career development. By the same time the following year, she was an associate director. 

That’s a testament to her go-getting attitude. The bulk of her work involves meeting with students interested in public service careers, helping prepare them for their search for jobs and internships. That can include everything from mock interviews to help writing résumés and cover letters to offering advice about different job markets. She also organizes career fairs and panel sessions, holds skill-building workshops, and helps provide opportunities for students to network with alumni and employers. 

Another (self-assigned) aspect of the job: podcasting. Last year, Wong started Sua Sponte, a LAW podcast about niche careers in the public interest field. So far, her interviews with working public interest lawyers include a domestic violence attorney, an appellate lawyer, an attorney for LGBTQ+ youth, and more. “When you’re in law school, the three big areas of public interest law people think about are criminal justice, housing, and immigration,” Wong says. “But I wanted to be like, ‘No, there’s so much more out there!’” 

Outside of LAW, Wong serves as the vice chair for BU Diversity & Inclusion’s Faculty & Staff of Color Alliance, one of several BU staff affinity networks. And did we mention she’s getting her MBA at the Questrom School of Business?

As a small business owner, Wong was interested in the learning opportunities available to BU employees. “Law school was not fun,” she says. Business school, meanwhile, “has been a great experience, especially as someone who’s very far removed from school and older than a lot of my cohort. Everything I’m learning is fascinating and hits on all those soft skills that I really love.”

No matter what’s next for Wong—Another committee? A third small business?—it’s safe to assume she’ll be able to handle it. And she knows she’ll have the support of her BU community.

“I’ve really been embraced and accepted at LAW,” Wong says. “My students are so great, and everybody has been welcoming and open at my office—major props to them. It’s really been so lovely.”