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Sarah Lee, Co-Founder of Glow Recipe · Skin Anarchy

• 0:00
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• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: Hi guys, welcome back to another episode of Skincare Anarchy.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: This is your host, Ekta.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: I am so, so excited about today's episode.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, this is so humbling.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, my guest today is a co-founder for an iconic brand.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure all of you have heard of Glow Recipe.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: So today with me, I have Sarah Lee, who is one of the co-founders.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome, Sarah.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for making the time your very busy schedule for our show.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, thank you for having me.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: No problem.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited to be on this podcast.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's very um, it's very humbling to hear that.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Sarah, honestly, I want to know all about you and I want to know about your journey and your career path.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: I know, right?
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's a huge umbrella question, but that's really um that's why I wanted you to come on because I you've made such a beautiful brand and it's just taken off.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: And everybody, I don't know a single person that does not love Glow Recipe.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: So could you tell us all about yourself?
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you for the kind words.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um I mean, I hope that your audience uh knows Glow Recipe, but if not, just a brief introduction of the brand.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Glow Recipe is a fruit-powered and fruit-forward skincare brand that is inspired by Korean skincare and is co-founded by myself and my friend and partner in crime, Christine Chang.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: And um, we started Glow Recipe five and a half years ago.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: And our mission at that time, and it still is currently, to make skincare as fun as possible and as efficacious as possible.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: And our goal um kind of falls under this term that we coined many years ago called skin tertainment.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: And we um yeah, and the reason why we came up with that term and and why we're so obsessed with this uh mantra is because we believe that if you love something so much, you're gonna continue to do it over and over again.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: And if it makes you, you know, put a smile on your face, even if it's for two minutes of your tiring, stressful day, then you'll want to go back to it over and over again.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then in the long run, you're gonna see results.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a nice cycle that you'll go through.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: And we think that skincare should be exactly that.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: It should be an escape from your day, especially this year when we have had um, you know, many Yeah, it's been a terrible year.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, challenges for all of us.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's been just, you know, anxiety-filled, like stress-filled year for so many of us.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, if skincare is that moment of your day that helps you to feel better about yourself, um, you know, more confident, but also it makes you enjoy that moment.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: And then it also gives you amazing results on your skin that's healthier, then it's all around a really amazing tool to just make your life better, right?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: So we think that, you know, everything that we do to create the brand glow recipe is to make skincare as fun as possible, as efficacious as possible, with the ingredients that we introduce that are fruit forward, once again, and they're all paired with active ingredients that are time tested for skin, so that you're getting the most out of the few minutes of your day.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: And we're currently distributed in Sephora, in all stores in the US as well as Canada.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we're also in Cult Beauty, Douglass, uh, Mecca, as well as Sephora, Southeast Asia.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: So very, very excited to be here.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then I can walk you through my journey of how it all started.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, please.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_02: I would love to hear because you know, it's so interesting to me because I remember back, I I don't remember when this was, but I watched um you you guys did this um beautiful, like mini episode where you're walking us through the seven skin method, and I remember just like falling in love with the way you explained it, and I remember trying it right after you, you know what I mean?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: Like I saw you guys um showcasing that.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: So just the whole um, you know, you really inspired me in that moment.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: So, yes, please tell me all about yourself.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: I love that you followed that routine.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's actually something I swear by till this day.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'll get to it in a minute.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um so Christine and I um are co-founders, and before that, we were really close friends for the longest time.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: I would say, like more than half of the our lives, we've been friends, which is crazy if you think about it.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I was born and raised in Seoul, Korea.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: I grew up a little bit also in Hong Kong for a few years, um, and then I started working in L'Oreal in Korea as a marketer.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: And as I started my journey as a beauty marketer, a few months later I met Christine.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: She was starting out as an intern in the same company, and we became really close because we were both skincare fanatics.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: We loved um our jobs.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: We actually were really, really passionate and hardworking at our jobs, and we just shared a lot of um, you know, challenges but also exciting sort of elements throughout the journey, and we bonded over that.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: And um it was interesting is you know, I really believe everything happens for a reason because I moved to the US through L'Oreal.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: So L'Oreal Corporate has transferred me from L'Oreal Korea office to the New York office.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and when I came, I was, I think I was the first employee from L'Oreal Korea office to be transferred to the New York office.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: So it was sort of a big deal at that time, but I was also, you know, quite young.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um I didn't know a lot of people in New York.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: I was excited about my career path, but again, I was just, you know, not knowing what to expect.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I realized that there were a lot of um, you know, cultural and just way of working differences that I was experiencing.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I was learning, I was learning as I went.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but what was amazing is Christine also moved to New York at the same time, pretty much.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: We were just one or two months apart, which is insane, and it was unplanned because she came um with her husband.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't, you know, we we just took different routes, but at the same time, we were in the same city at the same year, and we could really rely on each other and talk about again, let's just continue our friendship.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: And Christine's, you know, after she moved to New York, she missed working for L'Oreal and being in beauty, so she came back to the New York office.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we ended up working the same L'Oreal New York office, which was amazing.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: And we carried on with our career journeys as marketers and product developers, and we were doing um, you know, interesting projects constantly in different brands.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: And every time we were catching up in my apartment or wherever over a glass of wine, we would always think, you know, it would be really fun if we do something together, right?
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then of course in 2000, in 2014, we were as usual in my apartment, sheet masking together from the latest sheet mask that we got from Korea, and we were drinking wine together.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: As again, this was like a very normal scene of the two of us, and we were catching up over you know, our projects that we were working on.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: And what was really interesting at that time was we were both working on projects that were inspired from Korean skincare technologies in different brands, and and we just had this aha moment where we thought, okay, well, this is crazy that all of these amazing technologies that we're constantly inspired by right now are coming from Korea.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: We have a very unique access to the Korean beauty industry.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: We have friends, we have beauty experts there, that we have insiders of access.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: And we also are have experience in the US, so we understand the US consumers, the market here.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: We're very uniquely positioned.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um so what would it be?
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, how amazing would it be if we join forces and create something that could actually leverage our unique positioning and bring Korean beauty real time and help these indie brands go global and also help the consumers to discover these beautiful technologies coming out of Korean beauty.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that's what you did.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I just want to chime in as a consumer.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: No, seriously, because when I discovered Glow Recipe, of course I loved K Beauty, and I, of course, I knew the intelligence and the and the cutting edge technologies that are you know incorporated into the skincare lines, but really when I saw your line, I had this newfound appreciation for Korean-inspired skincare.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: And I and I realized that this is really good stuff, you know, and it's not just about tradition, but it's really about combining tradition and um you know science and technology and and just cutting edge, you know, breakthrough.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, when I when when you guys came out, it was yeah, it was a huge um, you know, moment, like a like for everybody to realize holy crap, you know, Kate Beauty is amazing.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: So please continue.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm so happy, yeah, that that was your takeaway because that was really our goal.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, we just knew that there were so many amazing creative concepts and formulas coming out of Korea, and a lot of them were just not visible here, not accessible in the US.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so, and you know, we were both fanatics because we grew up with our mothers and our grandmothers teaching us how to do skincare from a very young age.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I remember going to Korean bathhouses every other weekend with my grandma and my mom and splashing milk on our skin because milk has lactic acid and it really helps to brighten and strengthen your skin.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know that at that time, but I knew that it was great for the skin.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that experience of you know, the bonding experience, but also seeing my skin feeling softer and smoother together with my mom.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, that's just been my heritage and my upbringing.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I've always been really passionate about sharing what I know with others, especially when it came to beauty rituals, because that's something that my grandmother and my mom had transcended over to me.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: So can I just say like shout out to all the OG grandmothers?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: Because, like, honestly, every time I talk to somebody who's from, you know what I mean?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_02: Like, especially in the East, like the culture, it's like it always goes back to my grandmother made this amazing thing.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: And it worked so well for my skin.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like it's a real story.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I have the same story, so it's like, hello, thank you, all the grandmothers out there that inspired this entire generation of powerful women.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, please continue.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I mean, she's still to this day continues to inspire me.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: She's a she's a really strong, powerful woman, and so wise in so many ways.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: But um, yeah, so when when we had this spark and this idea to create something together on our own, yeah, we we knew that this was the right timing, and we knew that the opportunity was huge.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: We knew that Korean skincare was about to explode, and we were obviously as marketers looking at the market trend and you know, the forecasting the trend, and as product developers, that's your job too.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: You have to see what's gonna be the next big thing in the next five to ten years, right?
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's right, and we knew that that Korean beauty was gonna be the next big thing, so we we we quit our jobs right away.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: It was just so crystal clear to us that that's something that we needed to do, and we believed in the opportunity, and we we were so passionate, and we also believed in ourselves.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so you know, because we have that again unique experience, and when we looked around in the industry, it was really a rare find.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think we were able to identify anyone who had this unique bicultural, bilingual, Korean and US sort of hybrid experience and expertise.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: So um, we just knew that this was the right thing to do, and so we quit our jobs, we pulled our savings, and we flew out to Korea right away, and we met with 30 plus Korean brands that we identified were amazing.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and we came back with nine signed contracts back to the US in two weeks.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: That was a whirlwind.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: Talking about like power moves, man.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's crazy.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, okay.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was intense, but uh you know, we were just really driven, and we also knew that you know, if we felt that that was the right timing, we needed to give ourselves some sort of time frame to get this going.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: So we came back, we started curating the nine brands for our website, glorescipe.com.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: We it was a very rough, raw website, I will say, when we first um made it live.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, we didn't have customers at the time, so it didn't really matter.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: We were just excited to open it, yeah, get it going, get started, learn as we go, and just you know, we say like starting makes half of the job, right?
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like you just have to get it um to kick off.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you're perfecting your product, and and that's that was your focus, right?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: And and so when we started our website, um we were trying to juggle our time, you know, of making sure we're prioritizing everything, and the two of us running the business at the same time.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: And it was, I would say it was a fun challenge because sometimes we didn't know what we were what we were facing.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: And um the two of us were, you know, running the business, and we had, I think, two interns at the at the beginning who were helping us pack boxes.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that's how it all started.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then so that was purely a curation business model where we were having, you know, where we were physically sometimes going to Korea and curating products and brands ourselves, or contacting the manufacturers directly and having them send products and samples, testing them here rigorously, and then um launching them on our site.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: And that's how it all started.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I think what was yeah, I mean, we were very scrappy, obviously, and very bootstrapped.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: And we wanted to make sure that you know we're using our budget wisely from the very beginning.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: And the great thing is um the business broke even in three months.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: So we were able to fuel you know all of our earnings back to the business and continue to you know curate better and and you know, amazing products continuously.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then I think there were some key milestones that really helped um sort of you know get the awareness out there, but also um just bring our business to the next level as our business was growing, right?
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, which consisted of first we were featured on Shark Tank in 2015, which was huge.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I still remember you know, us kind of looking at our traffic on our platform, on our laptops, and when the show aired, we saw the traffic kind of going perpendicular, like spike.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: It was wow, it was surreal.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: And our site went down for like 10 minutes, which is also insane.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you went viral, that's crazy.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: It was crazy, yeah.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then um, so that was something that was probably one of the most memorable moments of our lives, and um just opened a lot of new doors for us.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: I think what was really meaningful from that experience was, you know, we were presenting and pitching our business to five sharks that are very successful and have been around, you know, for many years, um, helping to nurture businesses.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: And the fact that they saw the potential in our business so early on, and the fact that they saw the potential of Korean beauty as a category in the market, I think was so meaningful.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was the first time that it was ever kind of shared in that capacity of because Shark Tank has, I believe, about nine to ten million in viewership.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: So it was um big deal.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I can imagine.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, it's it's interesting to me that you have this very like it's it's very real, you know, the way you've described this journey.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_02: Because yeah, that moment of feeling like, oh my gosh, all of my hard work is here it is, you know, that that I I that feeling must have been just the best, you know.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: So I I love that you're describing that for everybody out there because I know there's so many aspiring, you know, skincare entrepreneurs and you know, young women who love beauty and want to make something big of it.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_02: So this is I hope this is inspiring all of you out there because I am I'm inspired.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: I am so um, but yeah, tell me more, tell me more.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: So after that, so that was the first sort of key moment, and then we were um we were also partnering, we were able to partner with Sephora with our curation products, which was actually another huge moment for our business because we were able to get our name out there to all of the Sephora customers.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: And that when that happened, I think, you know, again, we saw a huge spike in our traffic in our e-comm, but we also just were able to gain a lot of momentum for the business.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: But then throughout these years, I think, you know, as we were curating our products, we we learned a lot about how the American and the global consumers were um how their perception was when it came to Korean skincare.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: And when we went to a Sephora store to just kind of learn about the beauty advisors and the customers' reaction on a Korean beauty animation that was actually going on.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think it was early 2016 when this took place, where Sephora actually took on Korean beauty as like a huge nationwide campaign, and they had like window, you know, posters and um front-of-store displays that just like distorted the space with um Korean beauty products and um wording.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: We were just so excited.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: So we went to the store and we asked the beauty advisor on how she felt the customers were reacting to this whole phenomenon and the count the campaign.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I still remember very vividly having this conversation because she said, Um, you know, I love Korean skincare.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's really intriguing, it's really unique, and I love what it does to my skin.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: But it's it's a very, it just to me is a very complicated process.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: And there are too many steps and too many products that I need to apply for one routine.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a mom and I'm a busy professional, and I don't have time.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: So if I don't have time to apply all these products, I'm not gonna recommend them to my customers because I'm an honest salesperson.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: So that was another sort of aha moment that we had because we didn't realize that the perception was, you know, almost a barrier in terms of discovering this beautiful category.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, if you remember at that time, there were a lot of press articles and stories um online about how K-Beauty was all about the 15-20-step routines.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, those went viral.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, they did.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, I don't, I never minded them though.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_02: I thought it was a beautiful cultural experience.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I mean, I think a lot of people might even agree with that.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_02: When I saw that there was like, you know, even when we talk about the Seven Skin Method, and you know, just when I was doing my my dive into K beauty and the rituals and the and the you know, just the steps.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's a lot, you know, it was a lot of steps, but I I I always approached it like this is something that's coming from a culture that's grounded in, you know, the it it what works for Korean women and has worked over a time period, right?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_02: So like it was like that was my perception.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: But um I can see how it it could be a hindrance for busy women.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: And the reality was, you know, I think a lot of people, especially Korean women, love trying new products and are very, very skincare savvy.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: But that didn't necessarily mean that they were always using 1520 steps.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I can tell you from my personal experience, and I come from Korea, I actually never used 1520 steps in my entire life.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: And that's because it's not necessary.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know what I mean?
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's you can do it.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's no wrong in taking all these many steps.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: But and also, you know, for some people, it could be a pampering moment, it could be a nice, almost like a facial experience at home.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: And if you enjoy that, that's by all means.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's great.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, my belief and was that you don't need all those steps to achieve healthy glowing skin.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: You just need to really be able to know what your skin concerns are, understand what your skin needs are, and then feed it what it needs versus feeding everything that's out there, right?
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes, you know, just like your body, your skin reacts to different variables in life, whether it's you know, lack of sleep or stress level or or deal with lack of water intake or something like that.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: And like lack of exercise, lack of movement, you could maybe you were traveling too much.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's just so many different um variables in life that can affect your body and your skin.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I I'm a firm believer that your skin is the reflection of your mental state as well.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: So if you feel that your skin feels XYZ that day, I think your job is to listen to your skin and give it what it needs, right?
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: Not give it like this fixed, very overwhelming, complex routine sort of formula, and then always giving those every single day.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's yeah, it's a it's a health and wellness approach, right?
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's like it's health and wellness, and I think that's such an excellent point you make because you know, skin is, I think, now being um understood as finally as an organ, you know, and we have to understand that um exactly what you said, which is when your body needs something, you have to deliver that, otherwise you can't expect it to have this optimal performance or you know, whatever it is that you're looking for.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, right.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that's something that is actually a core tenet of the Korean beauty philosophy, which is interesting because it kind of contradicts what was viral at that time.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: But the philosophy of Korean beauty is that your skin is an extension of your body, and vice versa.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: And you should be taking a holistic approach, which is, you know, again, not giving what it doesn't need, but only working on what it truly needs, and then customizing the the routine or whatever fix you have in mind every single day differently.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to have the same formula.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: And the the reality is, you know, everybody's skin tone and type are also different.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: And your skin type can also vary throughout the year, right?
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like you could have winter, extra exactly.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: You could have extra oily, extra, you know, sebum production happening in hot, you know, high temperature months.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you could have extra dry patches in drier climates.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: So you're not one skin type either.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: We really don't believe in boxing yourself and four different skin types, right?
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: The oily, the combo, the dry, the sensitive.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you would have all those throughout the year.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: It just varies, the levels vary by each human being.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: So to really again listen to that cocktailing or customizing the routine based on that, I think is critical in really addressing the needs.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: And at the same time, making sure that the products that you are using are completely addressing them so that you have a wardrobe of products, and we call it skincare wardrobe.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: Kind of like your fashion closet, right?
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like you have clothes for winter and summer, and you pick out clothes accordingly based on climate or your preference of that day or how you feel, the occasion.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: You for skincare wardrobe, you would have these options, and then you can just customize them from that you know optionality that you have.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: So that's really a holistic approach, but it all makes sense if you think about it in a grand scheme of things.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, that's also kind of leading to my next point about Korean skincare, where if you are listening constantly to your skin, it's also a great way to prevent your skin from signs of aging or other sort of skin um issues that you might not want to face down the road.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: And at least you're delaying that process, right, versus accelerating it.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: And that is a core again philosophy.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: You want to prevent and avoid um issues versus fixing them after.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, preventative.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: Part of that is continuously hydrating your skin, being very diligent about taking good care of your skin and not taking you know shortcuts, um, but making sure that they're efficient in the process.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: And then again, it's like there's so many analogies that I can put in here.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's like working out.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: You have to, you know, continuously, diligently do that in order to see results.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: And you will it's also like eating healthy, right?
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's like when you eat fast food all the time, your whole body's affected by it, you know, your energy levels, your, you know, obviously your weight.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, there's so many things that go into it.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're not, but if you start eating healthier and you start really thinking about what vitamins and what, you know, what do I need?
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_02: What does my body need as building blocks?
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's a totally different approach that you're taking.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean, it's the same with skin, like it's uh providing building blocks and providing nutrients.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: I always think of it like a, you know, with with my research background, I think of like a petri dish, right?
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_02: So with when we grow cells, we provide them with a medium of growth, which that medium contains all the important things for growth and you know, um rejuvenation and stuff.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I mean, I don't see why um we can't approach skin health the same way.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I agree.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love that.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: I love the Petri dish analogy.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, so you know, that's kind of been the philosophy that we have been educating from Glow Recipe as well this year.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of the um these sort of core tenets of Korean beauty have inspired us to create our own brand.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: So when we had that aha moment with the conversation with B the B beauty advisor, we call them BAs, um we realized that there is this white space where you know there could be products that are helping you to condense your routines by being hybrids or multitaskers and giving you the multi-benefits that we all need.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: So you don't need a long process, but there are ways to get to that, you know, amazing, healthy-looking skin.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: So that sparked the idea for us to create our own brand with the namesake, you know, glow recipe skincare line.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: And that was early 2017 when um we pitched the idea with a sample in a little lap sample jar with a concept on my iPad.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: And um we pitched that idea of um the watermelon glow sleeping mask and blueberry bounce gentle cleanser, and it was just two SKUs.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but our whole philosophy and concept at that time was hybrid multitasking hyphenates that truly, truly leverage and harness the power of superfruits and um combined with active ingredients that can give you glowing results.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: So we launched um and Sephora was very excited about it, which is amazing.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_01: So that's how we launched in both Sephora as well as our website, glorescipe.com, in May of 2017, our two products, and it was such a huge moment because we, you know, leading up to that point, our brand was already sort of based upon a beautiful, very connected beauty community.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: And we call them Glow Gang today, and they have been voicing their opinions, they have been throughout, they have been part of our journey all throughout our our growth.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and they have been sometimes helping us make decisions on the business directions that we needed to take.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so by the time we launched our own brand, the level of excitement, the engagement was just it was amazing.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I think um immediately after we launched Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask, it became a cult favorite item in the within the beauty community, and it was it went viral online on especially on Instagram.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh, you're telling me.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I I spent time in the influencer side of things, and I was like, it was everywhere.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_02: It was really and and with you know, um, like just everybody was raving about it, and it was and that and rightfully so, because it's an amazing product, you know, it really does deliver what you you guys are promising, which is you know a glowing, healthy complexion.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I and you know, everybody was loving it.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_02: And I I remember at that time when I when I was like um really seeing you guys blow up on Instagram, I was thinking, I'm like, damn, they are really killing it.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_02: And what it was like every launch you guys had was this like super anticipated, you know, can't wait to see what they come out with next.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, so yeah, I I agree.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_02: I definitely saw that Instagram response.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: No, it was uh it was definitely a surreal time for us.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: And um, we were just really excited to continue this journey because you know, when you start out with just two SKUs, you don't know where it's gonna take you.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and at the same time, we didn't want to take the risk either of launching too many products at the same time.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: We wanted to make sure that the products that we launch each have its moment and the attention that it deserves and needs, and then um hopefully great feedback from the customers.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's thankfully what happened.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, one of the reasons why I created the watermelon glow sleeping mask was because of our childhood memories and our grandmothers, both of us, and this is part of a Korean beauty ritual, actually, or remedy ritual, if you will, where if you have heat rashes or skin irritation, our grandmothers used to rub watermelon rind on these rashes.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_01: And it just, I mean, firsthand I saw how miraculously healing it was overnight.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you could see the difference right away, and we felt that it was super hydrating and soothing and calming, and again, the rashes were gone very soon.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: So we knew that watermelon was a very powerful superfruit that we wanted to leverage, and at the same time, you know, we didn't see any skincare brands leveraging this ingredient in a starrified or heroed way.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: So that was definitely something that we saw as um an opportunity, but at the same time, uh as entrepreneurs, we were always dreaming of launching a product that could really help make us our skin look great and glowy, even if after two hours of sleep, because that was our life at that time.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, as a skincare brand founder, you always have to look good, right?
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: With your skin.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_03: Of course.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: So we needed to, we like we felt the need and the desire to create this product that works hard for you overnight and giving you that postfacial glow.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_02: And so that was the birth of the sleeping mask positioning and the I think you kind of put sleeping masks on the map because I um really kind of got into sleeping masks because of your brand, honestly.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I was I really I was a huge fan of sheet masks, don't get me wrong.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_02: But then when I had a product in my hand that I could put on my face and then go to bed, like and I would wake up with good skin and I could go, you know what I mean, do my thing the next day.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that was a game-changing thing for me personally, you know what I'm saying?
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_02: Like I I loved that this was an option and I, you know, I really fully embraced it.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_02: So I I love that you came up with this from this, you know, ancient and you know, just this cultural aspect that is so beautiful to me because in Indian culture we have the whole Ayurveda movement, you know, and I don't think enough people know about Korean, you know what I mean?
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_02: Like the Korean aspect, like the equivalent or I guess the parallel to that, right?
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, no, absolutely.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that that's also why we were just so passionate about sharing that with everybody.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the story, why we created it and how we created it.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I think that just all sort of was a reason why a lot of people in the beauty community were excited about it.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so since then we we continued um to expand the family, the Glow Fam.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_01: And uh it's been three years since we're still a young brand, actually.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: If you think about when we first launched our our Glow SB skincare products, but since then um we've also made the decision last year actually to terminate the curation business model and just solely focus on our creation.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_01: And it was a pretty organic move, I will say, because um the engagement level of creation versus curation was actually significant, um, significantly different and dramatically different.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: But also um the brand founders and the partners that we were working with from Korean skincare brands, we were able to introduce a lot of them to the big retailers in the US and have them almost graduate the glow recipe phase.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they can be, you know, with the other key brands.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: So that was also really rewarding for us.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so all in all, it was a very natural organic transition, and now we're solely, solely focused on um the glow recipe skincare line.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, can I just say that um I really admire um entrepreneurs who have this multicultural outlook um in terms of you know what they want to create.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_02: And then on top of that, when you do create it and it becomes this you know wildly successful business, then to give back to all of the cultures that have been inspirational for you, you know, it that's what I that's what I'm taking away from your your story because you you obviously gave the American market something amazing and beautiful, and you really, you know, um like honored the consumers in that way where you were providing amazing products, but then you went back to your Korean heritage and also helped all of those smaller brands out, you know, and and and and you know, just everybody who wanted to bring their product that you know they really believed in out.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_02: So that's a that's really, really big, you know.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_02: I really commend you for that.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's a huge thing.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, thank you.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was quite a journey and a roller coaster to say the least, but um, it's been it's been phenomenal.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I still I think that um we have a lot to do.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_01: I think we're still scratching the surface.
• 38:39
  unknown: Yeah.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think that you know, we only have 12 SKUs at this point, and we're only three years old.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot that I want to do for the next few years and many more to come to you know, not only launch new innovations and introduce new ingredients or new fruits or new ways of doing skincare, but um also to be a brand that people really understand helps with this overall movement that I'm really passionate about, to think about skincare as um, you know, this skin entertaining tool for your day.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_01: And how this philosophy can hopefully change the perspective of some people that used to think skincare was just a chore.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think that has been the perception for many years, especially here in America.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: And while um, you know, while I understand that that can be seen as a chore, you know, I think it's really a matter of shifting the perspective.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_01: The amount of time that you spend on skincare doesn't need to change.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a matter of maximizing every few minutes of your day and making sure you're enjoying something and having that me time to yourself, I think it's incredibly important.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: And we'd love to play going forward more to you know play a role to help people to have these self-care moments, self-love uh perspective.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think it's beyond skincare.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so, as a partner, what we're trying to do is also help people feel good about the products that they use because our job is to have people to give the tools to the consumers and our community with the right products, but also the right education and the messaging from the brand so that you have the right tools to make these options and choices from your skincare wardrobe.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: And furthermore, you know, we want to as a company continue to give back more, continue to really think about um sustainability in a deeper way.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_01: We've started our brand with glass jars, and we've always thought about sustainability, but I think there's always so much more to do, and we want to, you know, make sure that we we make progress as we go forward.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_01: And we also are founded by two female co-founders that are Asian.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's important to know it's important to note that we also really are incredibly passionate about inclusivity and diversity as brand founders, but also as a company.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think we can use our platform to share this mission um and the values that we really are, you know, think are important um for a community going forward.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like there's more to do in so many aspects.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_01: And just starting.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I I really love the whole um the point that you made about, you know, two Asian women, because you know, growing up, so I'm a millennial and I and I know growing up there were not nearly enough examples of you know, people to look up to and to really kind of gain inspiration from as a young woman, you know, and so I always was searching for this example or this, you know, um, this benchmark, which I could strive to achieve, right?
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_02: So like I like at this point in our, you know, in society, like, you know, being able to say that, you know, we were two Asian women and we are, you know, coming at this with the educated, a, you know, innovative approach.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's it gives, I think, young women something to look at and say, this is something I can do too.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I can, you know, um, I want to strive to do that as well.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's really, I mean, if you want to talk about things like feminism and social change, I think the best way is to lead by example.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_02: So I um, you know, I think you you both have done such a beautiful job of that.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_02: So truly, I mean, thank you from the entire, you know what I mean, the female community, I guess we could say, because I I think that not enough, uh, you know, there's not enough examples even still out there for for women that are growing up right now.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I thank you for saying that.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's something that we feel is really important um because I think there are so many young uh professionals or young, you know, students and whatnot that really want to start their own businesses.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_01: And what I want to say to that is, you know, what comes in play, and when you start your business, you know, obviously you'll be focused on growing your business and developing overall growth, but there's a lot more that you can impact once you have that platform and the voice in the community.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_01: And if you think about the overall mission and the vision that you have, it's really important to include the values outside of just products or the brand itself.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's when the customers kind of see the value in being loyal to a certain brand or connecting or engaging with um the people behind the scenes of that specific brand.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_02: I I completely agree with you, and that's a great point.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_02: Well, sir, I I don't want, you know, I don't want to take up too much of your time, and this has been so amazing.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_02: I I feel like, you know, I this has been a dream for me because I've been a huge fan of Glow Recipe.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_02: I still am, always will be.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_02: So um, you know, thank you so much for coming onto our show.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_02: And I for all the listeners out there, please, if you haven't already, check out Glow Recipe, explore their products.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's such a beautiful line.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's so beautifully crafted, as I'm sure you can tell after this episode, um, hearing it straight from Sarah.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_02: So I urge you guys to check it out and um, you know, just leave us some feedback on the cover art.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_02: If you have any questions for um Sarah or the Glow Recipe team, leave them, you know, on the comments and I will pass them along to your whole team, Sarah.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for your time and having me on this podcast.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_02: Very exciting.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's my pleasure.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_02: Bye.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_02: Hey guys, so I hope you love that episode.
• 45:18
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• 45:23
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• 46:12
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• 46:18
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• 46:23
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.