[Sportschosun Reporter Cho Min-jeong] Lee Won-joo, the 22-year-old daughter of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, drew attention by appearing at a global business event with her father for the first time. After graduating from the prestigious University of Chicago, Lee appeared at a gathering attended by major business leaders from South Korea and the United States rather than at a family event, fueling interest in her future activities.
According to a Newspim report on the 29th, Chairman Lee Jae-yong attended The Korea Society’s annual gala with his daughter, Lee Won-joo, on the 28th local time. The event was held at Cipriani South Street in New York. Prominent political and business figures from South Korea and the United States, including NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, were also in attendance.
Lee Won-joo was seen at the event in a polished look, wearing a black jacket with her long, straight hair down. Cameras captured her mingling naturally with guests beside her father, Chairman Lee Jae-yong, and sitting at the table while looking around. Her more mature presence, compared with her appearances at family events in the past, also attracted attention.
The event was especially notable because Jensen Huang also attended with his eldest daughter, Madison Huang, resulting in a meeting between the two “Madisons.”
Lee Won-joo’s English name is “Madison Lee.” Jensen Huang’s eldest daughter is also named “Madison Huang,” and the two reportedly sat near each other at the dinner.
While explaining his relationship with Jensen Huang, Lee Jae-yong directly mentioned that they shared the fact that both had daughters named “Madison.” The gathering drew even more attention because the heads of two companies representing the global AI and semiconductor industries were present with their families.
Born in 2004, Lee Won-joo is the daughter among Lee Jae-yong’s two children, a son and a daughter. Born in New York, she attended Yongsan International School of Seoul and the prestigious U.S. private school Choate Rosemary Hall. She later enrolled at Colorado College before transferring to the University of Chicago, where she majored in data science.
She graduated from the University of Chicago in June. At the time, reports that Lee Jae-yong had personally traveled to Chicago to attend his daughter’s commencement ceremony once again drew attention to their close father-daughter relationship.
During college, she also gained work experience at a nonprofit organization rather than at a Samsung affiliate.
In 2024, Lee Won-joo worked as an intern under the English name “Madison Lee” at the Simmons Center for Global Chicago, a nonprofit organization in Chicago. The organization’s website revealed that she was majoring in data science and was interested in activities that positively impact local communities.
During her internship, she reportedly worked on database-related projects for global nonprofit organizations and completed the internship about six months later.
It would be difficult to immediately interpret the New York event as a signal of her entry into management. Until now, Lee Jae-yong and Lee Won-joo had appeared together mainly at family or personal events, such as the funeral of the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee, weddings of business figures, and university graduation ceremonies. In that respect, her appearance with him this time had a distinctly different tone.
As Lee Won-joo appeared alongside her father at an official gathering of global business leaders after graduating from college, natural interest is growing in the next steps of “Lee Jae-yong’s daughter,” Lee Won-joo.
Reporter Cho Min-jeong mj.cho@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
