Yumi Hogan is the first South Korean-born first lady in the United States.

Since her husband Larry took over as Governor in January, she had made reaching out to both ethnic communities and the artistic community top priorities, reports the Baltimore Sun.

“She can’t make policy, of course, but she can create sensitivity around issues that are important to Marylanders, and she has done that with effectiveness and grace,” says state Sen. Susan Lee, the first Asian American elected to the Maryland Senate.

Hogan is a professor at the Maryland Institute College of the Art and sees art as a way to promote social causes.

She has served unofficially as an ambassador during her husband’s trade mission to China in May, joined her husband during a celebration with Korean war veterans and reached out to the Korean American business community after the Baltimore riots.

“When you have a large minority community that feels disengaged, that kind of effort brings hope,” said Peter Hwang, the executive director of the Korea Society of Maryland.

You can learn why Yumi’s has become a rock star in the Korean community in the Baltimore Sun.