In Missouri, she found the quality, variety, and availability of Korean food to be lacking, and so she often cooked for other members of the local Korean-American community.

[3] In 2003, she and her husband divorced, and with her two fully-grown children out of the house, Kim started playing MMO City of Heroes using the character name Maangchi, meaning "Hammer" in Korean.

[5][6] Kim was introduced to YouTube's online cooking scene in 2007, inspiring her to begin making videos about Korean food, using the channel name "Maangchi".

[1][7] Along with her cooking videos on Youtube, Kim also runs a website at maangchi.com that includes a request section and discussion board for fans, along with additional photos and a podcast.

[10] Her second cookbook named Maangchi's Big Book of Korean Cooking was made with co-author Martha Rose Shulman and published by Rux Martin in 2019.