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Our mission is to help everyone believe that there are only good days (for the skin) to come. This whole trip has allowed us to double the education thanks to The Klog and to create our concierge skin, which is our one-on-one SMS consultations.
A lot of people have said, “It’s not a good idea to create content on a separate site because you don’t want to distract them from checking out.” We have been strengthened by the fact that there is this greater mission – let’s follow the greater mission. It will help our community to grow authentically and really help people. It allowed us to make the right decisions rather than trying to go for something shorter term like trying to get as much income as possible.
ALLURE: Was there a sparkling moment of special recognition?
CC : There was once, at the very beginning of Soko Glam, where we appeared in [the newsletter] Daily sweets. They just wanted the little little blurb on us. After the publication of the newsletter, our site was exhausted. Granted, at the time it was only a few products and we were very new and there was hardly any inventory – but when we saw the new customer names coming in they weren’t Asian. The last names were not the typical Kims, Parks or Lees. It really made us realize that so many people are interested and they’re not Korean, they’re not Asian. I think a lot of people at the very beginning – when K-beauty wasn’t a thing in America – were surprised that most of our customers, over 80 percent, were not Asian. And there is a definite interest in this culture, this philosophy and these skin care products.
ALLURE: Let’s talk about financing. How the hell do you get the money to figure this out? You have this idea. How could you bring that To realization? Do you have a nest egg saved?
CC : I think people on the whole are really surprised at the size of our business. [Editor’s note: Soko Glam has just over 40 employees between the US and Seoul.] It’s been eight years now, and we haven’t counted on [venture capital] or private equity. It helped us make decisions that allowed us to focus on the community because once you accept funding, especially a large amount … there’s this misconception that you’re going to have all that money and everyone your problems will go away. And that you have so much credibility, but in fact the bill is coming. You are out of control most of the time, and you end up making different decisions as well. You start to lose control over what’s good for your community. I feel very lucky that we can’t take money, we’ve baited it all along, for the most part.
