A friend of Kim’s introduced her to pool in the early 90’s. A few months later, she got a job at Jillian’s Billiard Club on the West Bank of the Flats in Cleveland Ohio, where she worked for several years while completing her college education. There, she honed her skills and won and placed in many local, regional and national tournaments. She was the reigning University of Akron Women’s Eight-Ball Champion from 1994 to 1997. During that time she also maintained the ACU-I (Association of College Union’s International) Regional Championship title (Region 7: Ohio, Indiana, Michigan) and participated in the ACU-I National Pocket Billiard’s Championships. In 1995 and 1997, Kim placed second in the Collegiate National Eight-Ball Championships. After graduating from the University of Akron, she continued to play pool by participating in the VNEA league system in Canton Ohio.
In 1999, Kim was awarded the Canton Ohio VNEA B-League MVP award, finishing the season with the highest points of any player in the B-League division out of approximately 80 players. Kim’s team also finished first in the league season.
In the year 2000, Kim took a break from pool to pursue her professional career.
In 2006, she began to play pool again on a casual level. It wasn’t long before she realized how much she had missed the game and in 2007 she resumed competing in regional events, namely the Great Lakes Nine-Ball Tour.