Young Kim studied at the Seoul Jazz Academy in Seoul, Korea, and at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, before attending the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He graduated with the degree in Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Performance from the UIUC.

Young currently teaches Applied Guitar, Group Guitar Class, Guitar Ensemble as well as Music Appreciation at Parkland College and “Intro to Music Recording and Production” and “Survey of Non-Western Music” at Academy High in Champaign. His teaching philosophy is to help students discover their own musical identity and learn music with deeper understanding through studying guitar, diverse styles of music, music theory, ear training, and improvisation.