How a Group of Girl Scouts Converted Me Into a K-pop Stan
Before we get into how I got absolutely peer-pressured into becoming a K-pop stan by a bunch of 10-year-olds, let me give you some backstory. My name is Lindsey Bennett, and I’m a brand new 40-year-old. My husband and I met way back in the day when we were both in the Navy. Long story short: we dated, he broke my heart, I blocked him (because boundaries), forgot he existed for like 8 years, and then one random day I decided to unblock him. A year later, we got married. Totally normal behavior, right?
During those 8 years of “don’t even think about contacting me,” I became an elementary school teacher. He stayed in the Navy, got married, had two daughters, got divorced—you know, the usual. I’m not going to dive into the whole custody saga, but let’s just say his ex-wife is… not winning any awards for Mom of the Year.
Fast forward to 2018: my husband got orders to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and off we went to live on about five square miles of land for three years. The girls were in 3rd grade and looking for ways to make friends. Enter the Girl Scouts of Guantanamo Bay. When I signed them up, I was immediately hit with, “If your girls want to join, you have to be the troop leader because I’m leaving.” Cool, cool, cool. In less than two minutes, I went from mom to Supreme Leader of the Girl Scouts. So. Much. Power. (Kidding. Sort of.)
A Crash Course in K-pop, Courtesy of 10-Year-Olds
Now, let’s talk music. My taste growing up was pretty mainstream. I was a DIE-HARD *NSYNC fan (don’t @ me—*NSYNC > BSB). I mean, I had a whole shrine dedicated to Justin Timberlake and *N Sync in my room. Fun Fact: My childhood best friend and I painted the flame logo from their first album inside my closet like freshman year of high school. I was COMMITTED. Also, RIP to my childhood dreams because JT is not giving comeback vibes these days and it makes me sad. Anyway, all of this is just to say my personality was primed for K-pop stan culture. I was cutting out pics from J-14 magazines before some of these idols were even born.
Back to my Girl Scout troop. A few meetings in, I noticed a lot of giggling and frantic huddling around phones. Naturally, I was nosy and asked, “What’s going on?” That’s when I got my first introduction to BTS. These girls were fangirling HARD over some promo pics from the Love Yourself album. I was intrigued but confused. “Wait, don’t they sing in Korean? How do you even understand them?” (Yes, I was that person. Forgive me.) Their response? “It’s not all in Korean, Lindsey! You can understand enough!”
I brushed it off as just “elementary school girl things” because, honestly, Justin Bieber had just gone off the deep end, and there weren’t many boy bands left to obsess over. But then, I realized my kid was in on this too. On the drive home, I asked her how she knew about K-pop. Insert eye roll: “Everyone knows BTS, Lindsey.” Oh. Everyone, huh? Am I... out of touch? Can’t be—I’m only 34!
The Slow Descent Into K-pop Obsession
At first, it was just little things. My daughter asked to play BTS in the car. Then came the YouTube videos. One night we stayed up late to watch BTS on the Jimmy Fallon show. Then, “I just want to learn their names.” (You know where this is going.) The next thing I knew, I was listening to their songs by myself, adding them to playlists, and following them on Instagram.
When Map of the Soul: 7 dropped, I officially became a BTS fan. It wasn’t full-on stan mode, but I appreciated their music, their connection with fans, and the fact that it gave my daughter and me something to bond over. Then COVID hit, and like everyone else, I was busy baking bread, doom-scrolling, and trying to survive. K-pop fell off my radar for a while.
Enter: Stray Kids (And My Ultimate Bias)
Fast forward to October 2023. My daughter Brea was planning her birthday and said she wanted “K-pop stuff—like BTS and Stray Kids.” Me: “Okay, what the heck is a Stray Kid?” (what a FOOL!)
Curiosity got the better of me, so I started Googling. “Who’s your favorite?” I asked her. “Bang Chan,” she said. Me: “Bang Chan? What kind of name is that?” (FOOLISH, FOOLISH ME.) “It’s his Korean name. His real name is Chris. He’s Australian.” Huh. Australian. Interesting.
So we huddled around her iPad to watch their latest video. “This is Bang Chan,” she said, pausing the screen. Me: “Him?! He’s not even cute.” (HAHAHA. Oh, past Lindsey. Sweet, clueless Lindsey.)
To be fair, this was what I saw:
Like yeah, he's super cute, but this was the WORST styling of him. To this day I stand by that I got the worst introduction to him. Like what is that hair color? No one toned him?....and it's comical right? because look at me now........
Anyway.....another guy appeared on the screen.....“Who’s THAT guy?!” I asked. “That’s Hyunjin. He’s artsy.” And just like that, I was intrigued. I started listening to their music and quickly realized Stray Kids was different. Their sound was grittier, edgier, and full of EDM influences that took me straight back to my New Jersey roots. I was hooked.
From Fan to Vendor
Before I knew it, I was diving into their discography, watching their content, and hitting up local K-pop shops like K-pop Kingdom and K-pop Gateway. The very first piece of Stray Kids merch I ever bought was a Jiniret keychain that still sits on my desk.
I had always been a crafty person. I have been making all types of stuff since I was little (my mom was a huge crafter and sold at craft shows), so we began going to pop-ups and markets in the area. We stumbled upon an adorable little booth we fell immediately in love with called Imtrying.jpeg. Little did I know that the owner Jenn would become one of my favorite K-pop friends and someone I work with regularly. After attending a few markets and pop-ups we decided to start shifting what we make to fit what we were into, K-pop, Taylor Swift, pop culture stuff.
It was also at this time I started watching more Stray Kids content on YouTube and while I LOVE Hyunjin, he's not my man. The dude with the horrible orange hair was VERY QUICKLY becoming my favorite. It was also around this time that Brea started shifting to liking Han (which actually suits her so much better because she's like the female Han, she's like a little awkward, kinda air-heady in the best way, socially nervous, kinda alternative, but insanely sweet).
Now, we’re hosting our own events, collaborating with amazing creators, and dreaming big. My ULTIMATE dream, if money was no object and failure did not matter would be to open Bennett's Bias and Boba cafe. I dream of a little half record store half boba shop, filled with albums, merch, trinkets my friends and other kpop businesses have made that I can sell, a taylor swift section, a booktok section, with enough room to hold events. I don't know if that dream will every become a reality, but I have promised myself that I would not let the fear of failure stop me from trying, so maybe if the stars align you'll be able to come in and visit us one day.
The Power of K-pop
Here’s the thing: K-pop isn’t just music. It’s a community. It’s bonding with someone over your Wolf Chan keychain in Hobby Lobby or having a 20-minute conversation about the latest comeback with a stranger. It’s finding people who get it.
When I think back to those squealing Girl Scouts, I can’t help but laugh. Who would’ve thought a group of boy-crazy 10-year-olds would set me on a journey that reignited my creative passion, introduced me to lifelong friends, and—most importantly—helped me discover the true love of my life, Christopher Bahng Chan? (KIDDING. …Mostly.) 😉