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Meet Sunny Choi, the Estée Lauder director who left corporate America to become an Olympic breaker
August 7, 20240
Choi grew up doing gymnastics.
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In 2023, BI reported that Choi “stumbled” into breaking after seeing people dance while walking around campus at night.
There, she was able to watch B-boys and B-girls flip, spin, and freeze in acrobatic positions.
“It was a love-hate relationship because I was super shy. I used to sit in the corner and watch everyone else dance,” Choi told reporter Yoonji Han. “But I knew it was something I really wanted to do.”
After graduation, Choi continued breaking while rising through corporate America to become a director at Estée Lauder. But she said there was “absolutely no balance.”
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Her other awards include silver medals at the 2019 World Championships, 2019 World Urban Games, and the World Games 2022, Team USA reported.
Choi also won gold at the Breaking For Gold USA regional competition in 2023 and the Pan American Games, the Associated Press reported.
Choi freestyles most of her routines and is in charge of her training schedule.
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Choi told BI that one way she balances the mental side of competition is by working with a therapist.
She described dancing as “a form of self-expression” and “a creative art form” that you have to be present for to perform well.
“And so when you have personal blocks in your life, whatever that may be, they show up in your dancing,” Choi said. “So working through a lot of my mental health issues and then working through the sports psychology piece in combination, like together, with my therapist has been super helpful.”
She recommends taking 10 seconds between tasks to help refocus.
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Choi described herself as “a health nut” who likes to be really careful about what she eats to give herself the proper fuel as an athlete. One thing she likes to avoid is refined sugar.
Choi has a partnership with Blume, and said she prefers the brand’s SuperBelly Gut-Building Hydration Powder packets.
“It’s super great because I can just carry those in my bag. I literally like carry them everywhere just in case,” she added.
Choi told BI she wants people who watch breaking “to go in and have fun.”
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The women’s and men’s breaking competitions will take place on August 9 and 10, respectively, and are structured like a tournament.
In Choi’s case, 16 B-girls will be divided into four groups of four, and the breakers in each group will compete against each other in a “round robin format,” according to the Olympics.
Two winners will be selected from each of the four groups and seeded into a bracket to begin the knock-out rounds. The breakers in the bracket then compete in “battles,” each consisting of three rounds, or “throw-downs,” in which one breaker performs for a minute, and the other “responds” with their own one-minute performance, according to the Olympics.
A panel of judges scores each round based on technique, vocabulary, execution, musicality, and originality using a “digital slider” rather than numbers, so they’ll slide toward who they think is winning the round in each category. The balance of these sliders determines the winner of each round.
Choi said she hopes those who watch breaking at the Olympics “can just be present and pick a favorite dancer” and enjoy themselves.
“Just connect with what’s happening and like not overthink it because I think it can be a really, really fun time for everybody,” she added.