By Dr. May Ikeora-Amambgo
When Raising Women Magazine first featured Hellynn Jung in 2024, she was in the midst of a deeply personal journey, one marked by uncertainty, resilience, and the quiet weight of hope. At the time, her story was still unfolding, shaped by the questions many women carry but few speak about openly.
Today, we return to that story not as a conclusion, but as a continuation.
What has shifted is not simply where she stands, but how she sees. The woman we meet now speaks less about control and more about trust, less about outcomes and more about becoming. Through her work as co-founder of Bloom Korea and her evolving focus on fertility coaching, Hellynn’s journey has expanded beyond her own experience into a space that holds and supports other women navigating similar paths, particularly those facing advanced maternal age and diminished ovarian reserve.
This is not a story about arrival. It is a story about what happens when you loosen your grip on how life should unfold, and learn, instead, to meet it as it comes.
1. When Raising Women Magazine last featured you in 2024, you were still navigating the uncertainties of your fertility journey. Today, your story has reached a new chapter. Looking back, what has been the most profound emotional shift for you since then?
The biggest emotional shift for me has been learning that ‘surrender’ is really the answer to everything. For so long, I thought strength meant trying to hold everything together, doing everything “right,” and controlling every possible outcome. But this journey taught me that no matter how much we plan, push, or prepare, there is still so much that is out of our hands.
What I’ve had to learn – and am still learning – is how to detach from the outcome and trust that everything will unfold for my highest good. That does not mean giving up. It means releasing the need to force life to happen on my timeline and choosing to trust even in the uncertainty.
And honestly, surrender is not something you do once and then you are done. It is ongoing. Just when you think you have surrendered, life asks you to surrender even more. That has been the deeper work for me. Not just in fertility, but in life. I think that is the biggest change – moving from control to trust, from gripping so tightly to opening my hands and saying, “Whatever comes, I will meet it.”
2. Many women around the world have followed your IVF journey online. Now that you are expecting, how has this moment changed the way you see perseverance, faith, and the long road to motherhood?
It has changed the way I see all of it. For so long, perseverance meant simply not giving up – getting back up after heartbreak, failed cycles, loss, and so many moments of uncertainty. It was not always graceful. Sometimes it was just choosing to keep going even when I was exhausted, scared, and unsure of how things would turn out.
Now that I’m expecting, I see that perseverance was not just about getting to this moment, but about who I became along the way. This journey taught me that faith is less about certainty and more about trusting without guarantees. The road to motherhood has been long and painful at times, but it has also shaped me into someone softer, stronger, and more grounded than I was before.
3. Your openness about fertility struggles has helped thousands of women feel less alone. Were there moments during this journey where you doubted whether sharing so publicly was the right decision?
There were definitely moments when I wondered if I should keep something this personal and painful more private, because fertility struggles are such a vulnerable thing to share while you are still living through the uncertainty in real time. I also had people tell me not to share too much because others can send bad energy your way, but honestly, the energy I have received has been overwhelmingly positive. So many women have reached out to tell me that my story made them feel less alone and gave them hope, and they have made me feel the same way.
I also really believe in the power of collective prayer. I believe the women in my community have genuinely prayed for me and hoped for me, just as I have prayed and hoped for them, and that love has meant so much to me throughout this journey. I truly believe those prayers were part of the manifestation of my miracle baby.
4. Bloom Korea has become a bridge for women seeking fertility treatment abroad. How has the global conversation around IVF and reproductive health evolved since you began this mission?
When I first began this mission with two other women, conversations around IVF and reproductive health still felt very quiet and, in many spaces, heavily stigmatized. So many women were suffering in silence around something that is actually so common. Over time, I have seen women speak more openly, ask better questions, and advocate for themselves more confidently. I have also seen more awareness that fertility care is not one-size-fits-all, and that some women may need to look beyond their local systems to find the right support.
That is also why I am continuing to educate myself further to become a fertility coach, so I can better support women with diminished ovarian reserve and advanced maternal age not only through IVF abroad, but also at home by helping them prepare their mind and body for their fertility journey. More than anything, I am encouraged that the conversation is becoming more compassionate, informed, and global, and that women are starting to realize they deserve options, guidance, and dignity every step of the way.
5. Pregnancy after a long fertility journey can come with both joy and lingering anxiety. How have you been protecting your emotional wellbeing during this phase of the journey?
One of the biggest things I have learned is that joy and anxiety can exist at the same time. After such a long fertility journey, it is not always easy to just relax into pregnancy, because you get so used to expecting bad news or waiting for something to go wrong. Protecting my emotional wellbeing has meant being really intentional about what I consume, who I share things with, and how I speak to myself.
I try to stay grounded in the present instead of constantly jumping ahead or spiraling into the what-ifs. I also let myself feel whatever is coming up without judging it. Some days that looks like gratitude, some days it looks like fear, and a lot of days it is both at once. I think I have learned that protecting your peace is not about never feeling anxious – it is about being gentle with yourself while you move through it.
6. Your platform has grown into a community where women support one another through some of life’s most vulnerable moments. What stories from your audience have stayed with you the most?
What stays with me most are the stories of women who gave everything they had to this journey and still did not get the outcome they prayed for. I know women who spent nearly a decade going through fertility treatments and ended their journey without a baby, and that kind of pain changes you forever. But I have also seen how this journey can transform a woman in profound ways – how it can reveal her strength, her courage, and her worth beyond motherhood. There is something incredibly powerful about coming to the realization that you are enough with or without a child.
At the same time, I have also connected with women who went through hell to finally reach pregnancy, and that journey transforms you too. In both cases, it all comes back to surrender – learning to release control, let go of the outcome, and trust that your value and your purpose are bigger than any one ending.
7. Looking back at the woman we first interviewed and the woman you are today, what parts of yourself have been strengthened, and what parts have been softened by this experience?
I think my resilience has definitely been strengthened, but my need to control everything has softened. This journey has made me more grounded, more compassionate, and more aware of how little in life we can actually force. It has also strengthened my voice – I am less afraid now to speak honestly about hard things, especially if it might help another woman feel less alone. At the same time, I have been softened by loss, uncertainty, and by the tenderness that comes from continuing to hope after disappointment. I move through the world with more empathy now because I know how much people can be carrying beneath the surface.
8. For women currently in the middle of fertility treatments, who may feel exhausted, discouraged, or alone, what would you want them to hold on to right now?
First of all, I would want them to know that they are still worthy with or without the outcome they hope for in the end. Their value is not tied to whether this journey ends the way they prayed it would. They are not behind, they are not broken, and they are not less because this path is hard.
I would also say that the key to all of this is presence, gratitude, and releasing the outcome. Fertility treatments can pull you so deeply into fear, waiting, and what-ifs, but coming back to the present moment and acceptance is what will carry and strengthen you. Be grateful for what is here today, and try not to lose yourself in the need to control how it all ends.
9. “We often speak of the ‘first daughter’ as a role rather than a birth order, shaped by early responsibility, emotional labour, and expectation. In what ways have you carried this role in your life, and how has it shaped the person you have become?”
I relate deeply to the idea of the “first daughter” as both a role and a real lived experience. It often means growing up with responsibility early, becoming emotionally aware very quickly, and carrying both spoken and unspoken expectations. That shaped so much of who I became – my sense of duty, my resilience, and how deeply I care for others. It taught me to be dependable, to think ahead, and to carry a lot quietly. But over time, I have also learned that strength is not just about carrying everything alone. This journey has taught me the importance of receiving support, having boundaries, and letting myself be cared for by others as well.
There is something profoundly moving about witnessing a story in motion. Not just in its moments of certainty, but in the long stretches of waiting, questioning, and becoming that often go unseen. For those who have followed Hellynn’s journey, this chapter is not simply about what has come to pass, but about everything it took to get here.
What began as a deeply personal experience has now opened into something far greater than herself. In choosing to share her story with honesty and vulnerability, she has become a point of connection for women across the world navigating the complexities of fertility, hope, and identity. It is from this place that she now steps into a new role, offering support as a fertility coach, with the intention of helping women, particularly those of advanced maternal age or with diminished ovarian reserve, move through their journeys with both emotional and physical guidance.
This feature was conducted just before a new life entered her world. In the time since, that long-held hope has taken form, a quiet and powerful reminder of resilience, patience, and the many ways life unfolds beyond our timelines.
For those who may be walking a similar path, her story stands not as a promise of outcomes, but as an invitation to trust, to soften, and to keep going.
Hellynn can be reached at hellynn@zenamie.com for women seeking support on their own fertility journey.
Shortly after this interview, Hellynn welcomed a beautiful new chapter into her life. On the 12th of April, she gave birth to a bouncing baby boy, Felix Leo Paek. A moment that, for many, may read as a simple announcement, but for those who have followed her journey, it felt like something far more profound. It was the unfolding of a long held hope, one that had been carried through seasons of uncertainty, quiet strength, and unwavering faith.
For months, we found ourselves returning to her pages, not out of curiosity, but connection. Each update felt personal. Each milestone, shared. This was not just her story. It had become a collective experience for women around the world who saw parts of themselves in her waiting, her resilience, and her courage to remain open even when outcomes were uncertain.
These images, from the softness of her baby shower to the stillness of that first moment in the hospital, hold more than memory. They hold process. They capture what it means to arrive without losing sight of everything it took to get there.
Welcome to the world, Baby Paek. You were hoped for, prayed for, and deeply, deeply awaited.
