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Whitney Noelle

Whitney Noelle (born February 4, 1987) is an American entrepreneur, model, and activist.

Noelle is the founder of the first luxury wedding livestream app, Newlywd and the co-founder of the non-profit foundation, Refoodee.

Whitney Noelle
미진
File:WhitneyNoelle UnitedNations.png
Born	Los Angeles, California
Nationality	American
Relatives	Hwang Kyung Koh, Lee Yun-seok, Mi Sun Cho, Paul K. Ryu, Helen Silving-Ryu
Website	http://www.whitneynoelle.net

Early life and Family

Early Life

Noelle was born in Los Angeles on February 4, 1987 to parents Brian and Mi Sun. Her parents married at Bel Air Church, where her paternal grand-father was a part of the Elder Board during which time President Ronald Reagan and his Nancy Reagan were active members of the church congregation. Noelle is of Korean, Swedish, English, and Dutch ancestry.

Family

Through her maternal grandmother, Noelle is the great-grandniece of Paul K Ryu, Seoul National University’s ninth President, the great-great-grandniece of Hwang Kyung Koh, the Founder and the first President of Seoul Women's University, and Hanbin Lee, Deputy Prime Minister of the Cabinet of South Korea who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of the Economic Planning Board during the presidency of Korea’s fourth president, Choi Kyu-hah.

Education and Career

Education

Noelle was educated at independent schools Westside Neighborhood School and John Thomas Dye School in Bel-Air California. She attended college-preparatory, Oaks Christian School, where she was a part of the soccer, dance, and swim team. After graduating in 2005, Noelle attended Pepperdine University in Malibu California where she received her Bachelor of Arts in psychology.

Career

After graduating Pepperdine University, Noelle served as the editor of the West Coast luxury lifestyle publication, Westlake Magazine, based in Westlake Village, California. During this time she worked with luxury brands such as ___________.

At an early age Noelle began modeling for the fashion shows of her grandmother's Los Angeles charity galas. In 2013, she was asked to model for Rolls-Royce and later modeled for fashion designers Betsey Johnson and Stacey Bendet of Alice + Olivia. In 2015, Noelle moved to New York City during which time she modeled for fashion designers Betsey Johnson and Stacey Bendet of Alice + Olivia.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Noelle created the first luxury wedding livestream application, Newlywd, to enable engaged couples to share their wedding day with their friends and family over livestream. On June 27, 2020, the application was released to the App Store for iPhone.

Human Rights Work

While living in New York City, Noelle co-founded the non-profit organization, Refoodee. The organization works with resettled refugees by helping them to rebuild their lives in the United States through economic employment of the hospitality industry. In 2019, Refoodee partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and launched the Refoodee Flight, a specialty line of Counter Culture Coffee to spotlight the intersection of coffee production and forced displacement. The Refoodee Flight launched at the United Nations Headquarters on June 20, 2019 in celebration of World Refugee Day. Funds raised from the campaign went to training and placing resettled refugee candidates with barista positions throughout the United States.

Noelle is an Advisory Board Member of Breed Life and an advocate for the Silk Road Project.