Hi everyone, it's Rebecca. You're listening to Super women today. I'm interviewing Sara Lee and Christine Chang of glow recipe and when I tell you that they make their ingredients literally out of watermelon and watermelon rind. I'm not lying. They make an incredible beautiful almost edible line of beauty products skin care that is really just mouth-watering frankly, and it was really interesting to hear their story as to Former Beauty Executives who transitioned and launch their own beauty company. No small feat that's doing really really well. So take a listen to Sarah and Christine. I'm here with glow recipe Founders Sarah Lee and Christine Chang. Will you guys introduce yourselves? Tell us a little bit about what glow recipe is? Yeah. So, this is Sarah. We are founders of glow recipe which is a natural skincare inspired by a Korean beauty really focus on Clean Skin ter Taemin. Skin secrets for glowing skin So Christine and I have been best friends for 15 years. We met back in Korea when we were working as marketers and L'Oreal in Korea and then we moved around the same time to the New York office within the same company and we kept our friendship going and we had this big idea to launch glow recipe.com five years ago to curate the best of k-beauty Technologies. That's how we started and I must say because you can't see their skin, but it is perfect. Oh, thank you and poor. Alas, it's going for Anna glass can look these days and you ask in Ideal Glass skin skin looks Flawless porcelain like a plane of glass and not covered right? I hope that Kylie contoured like your neck doesn't match your face. So the opposite of what we want great let your skin shine through I love that I but to build on Sarah story after we launched glow recipe.com as a curation destination two years ago. We launched our in-house brand glow recipe skincare, which is now at Sephora. U.s. Nationwide as well as Canada. We just launched in Germany. So we've been so excited to see the response to the brand and our OG called Product is the watermelon glow sleeping mask what's in it is a watermelon. It's watermelon and has hyaluronic acid, which is super hydrating. It has aha which helps to refine pores. So it's think of it as a facial in a jar launching skincare our I think a launching anything is hard. But how do you go from an idea to then launching something? That's now very sick. Successful, you don't have a scientific background, but I'm sure you knew formulators. Right? Right, right. So, how do you how did you approach that? Well, actually sir and I both come from a long-standing beauty background. So we did marketing and product development for a very long time in the reason. We actually start a glow recipe was because already at L'Oreal and we were seeing Global Beauty companies through the same. We were looking at Korea for the latest skincare Trends and we were working on Korea developed at the specific development that were inspired by K beauty trends. At the time we were like we should really leverage this and do it our own way. But of course put our own stamp on it, which is some clean natural slan. But because we have that experience. We always have the idea that down the road we want to make our own products, but something that we were truly inspired by would want to use ourselves every single day. I only became woke if you will to the idea of clean natural I think for me I started when I had my first kid, right I was like, so I'm not going to wear perfume anymore because I'm nursing him right? I don't want that. It on me and then I started looking at food ingredients and labeled and now you know, I'm sent a lot of things and I look at the back and if I can't I'm like what's Tetra high is a low that I can't pronounce it. Like should I put this on my skin? So what made you want to approach this? And why should we care about these things? We can't pronounce? Yeah, so really good question. So because we were able to test and we had, you know, it was fortunate that we were able to test different products and formats in our previous. Lives back in L'Oreal on thousands of women and we had our learnings from then that at the end of the day. You don't need a lot of Frills to make your skin glow you want something that actually is almost something you want to eat because it's that healthy and great for your body. But also skin that is healthy clean. You don't want any Frills meaning you don't need parabens actually to improve your skin, you know, it's a stabilizer. So how do we make sure that these unnecessary ingredients are eliminated was our first task but we also have this mission of bringing the best of k-beauty Technologies and Innovations to the global market and part of that was you know, if you're new to this category, if you're learning your first time user of k-beauty product you want your experience to be as optimal as possible. So we wanted clean pure the most fresh ingredients as possible which is why we chose watermelon one of our favorite fruits to be a key hero ingredient for our first OG product. And so how expensive was Is it to launch and what were some of the struggles you had in getting this out there? Because I'm sure you know, you hear a lot of people like I started this in my home and then Tada so it was a whole process for us. We knew that product development wouldn't be cheap so which is hence why we waited a certain period of time after launching low recipe.com and getting those learnings before delving into that and I think we were lucky as well because once we started glow recipe.com within three months, we actually were able to bring Break Even because we got some amazing press hits that were really passionate about the brands and products. We were curating and ever since then we've been bootstrapping so we're still independent. So we've always been very smart with our money our try to be and that's very rare you get do get it like a lot of inbound people wanting to invest so do but I think the curation business model has helped us kind of fuel the money for product development, right? So we kind of had this flywheel if you will so we have you know this quick Money that's infused to our business because of the e-comm business and the curation part and then we would actually invest that back to her business for new products Innovations and packaging which costs a lot of money. Yes, but we were also able to do is strike a deal with Sephora from a very early stage with our new in-house brand so we knew that there were commitments in terms of quantity. So it wasn't a huge risk in a way and that's kind of how it all kind of circle backed. And did you have the ability to Do that with Sephora because you knew them from L'Oreal or so. There was an initial relationship going back to those years, but we actually work with them in the early stages to help work together on their first k-beauty animation, for example, and work on certain concepts are certain ideas. The term Splash mask for example is something that we coined because it was a mask that you were supposed to use in the shower but people didn't understand it. So we wanted to kind of visualize that action of splashing it on the face and that refreshing waking up feeling through Name of the product so we work with them on that type of stuff and then eventually that transitioned onto our own in-house brand. So there was already that great working relationship and Trust. So what have been some of the biggest hurdles either personally or professionally on this journey that you've bitches been like, I don't know if I can do this or this is a nightmare. I mean, I think we had many of those nights. They can all tell me a gift. So biggest was when we were moving from actually we started packing our own boxes from our apartment's and it was getting out of control where we were seeing were buried with all these boxes that we have to ship out and we couldn't physically do the job. So in order for us to actually move to a warehouse that whole transition was for us a huge burden because we had to still do our daily job get, you know, our editor meetings and deck sides travel to Korea work on curations, but still Packer boxes and moved to a warehouse. So I think that was a first huge hurdle that we never experienced before. Because we were brand builders back in L'Oreal but we weren't brand operators. So I think it was a huge learning for us. We couldn't really sleep. We were just like on our chats a long night brainstorming efficient ways. I think people take for granted like it especially your first few years like that is it's all in and said, you know, I'm in all the women that can have kids and launch their companies because I'm like, I never could have done both at the same time. They were a kid. Did you did you have a kid as ulong? Yeah. She you're one of those a toddler when she's one of those my God it was tough because we were two saris Point like right still writing handwritten notes and every single package because we wanted to be very personal and then the whole Warehouse thing and then we got a huge break was Shark Tank at the end of 2 of 15, which was life changing in such an amazing experience. But that day orders were spiking vertically we couldn't keep up and we had to run down to the warehouse and pack together again with ratiza pack even keeps coming up because it wasn't you know what I have packing night. To I would be packing I got my husband did it early times exactly. Our families were involved. There's lots of pizza and begging total and hot sauce. Oh, yeah. So how do you sort of now that you have discovered more success not discovered. You've earned more success. Do you shut off? Do you have personal time? Yeah, and I think it's actually interesting that we're such skincare Fanatics and junkies because our me time or self-care moments are with skincare. are routines and you know, we try to educate what we think are amazing for our skin or our five minutes of the day that actually really helped us to perk up and feel great about ourselves and motivate to our audience followers and customers but when I think about going back home from a long day at work or business trip and really just removing all of my makeup giving a nice massage and rinse with a cleanser that is my me time, especially actually in a hot - that's my that's my thing. Yeah, and you me a lot of it is the bath too and I greatly treasure myself carotene. I unwind a lot by reading to my daughter. I have found a way to combine unwinding time and taking care of her because I just had to find a way to balance both work spending time with family and it was a struggle in the beginning honestly and you feel like you found a better path now. Yes because we share a lot of the same interests Sarah calls for my men. Nimi, so we like to draw together a read together and I'm a book fanatic. So that actually helps me relax awesome. So I'm very intimidated by these routines. I see on Instagram where there's like 60 steps, you know, my friend Chris L. She'll do her routine them. Like I have like a kid hanging off of a boob and the other one wants dinner like I don't have time for those steps. So do you follow all those steps? Actually? No, it's a myth. Okay. Yeah, you know, I mean, it depends on what you want. So it comes down to your preference or skin type concern, you know what you want to achieve by the end of the day, but you know when we were first introducing k-beauty you brought up a really good point a lot of our customers and followers were saying it's a little complicated k-beauty should you know, is it 15 20 steps? I don't have time for that. I there were saying the same thing that you were saying. I'm a mom. I'm busy. I don't have time for one right maybe to barely wash my face the baby wipe and then some lotion. That's like I miss you still have great skin amazing. So our that was actually our second huge Mission. We wanted to break that barrier and say guys you don't need to spend 15 minutes or 15 Steps in the bathroom. There are products that actually can multitask give you all the benefits you need and they're very condensed routine. And that was one of the triggers for us to really come up with a mask that does it all, you know hydrate exfoliate also balances skin as a first OG product awesome, so I have a theory and I'd like for you to disprove it or maybe agree with Yeah, so when you look at women as we age and then you look at men as they age like our skin falls apart seemingly way quicker than men and I feel like then you try and fix it by covering it up. And is it a self-fulfilling prophecy that were putting these toxic ingredients whether it's makeup and skincare on our skin. It's ruining our skin its aging us. It's making us look like dried up Dragons by the time we're like this. The very thing that propels us to go out and buy more so scientifically men do have thicker skin than women, which is why they look like they're aging slower. Okay, but there's a cliff apparently. So once they hit that the acceleration the acceleration is real so it's coming to them. It is just got out there woman. I don't think it's the toxic cycle of products more so than your right like we have been conditioned from a very early age to cover up these things with thick heavy makeup and Different things to obscure the real skin inside and I think what's amazing and gratifying is that with k-beauty and a lot of this influx of skincare knowledge and Trends into the market women now have the tools and the passion to actually pursue a really great skin care routine for themselves and try to have great skin starting from the foundation. And if you have great skin, you don't need as much makeup and makeup becomes a choice and in a self expression tool versus something that's a solution and a cover-up so I think It's totally going in the right direction and with a good self-care routine that has the right ingredients it is you're taking care of your skin. Just like you would take vitamins and take care of your health. So I think it's actually really positive thing. Yeah, and I think you know a small tip can actually change your skin. It can be life-changing. For example, when we first taught our customers about double cleansing and making sure that you're giving enough time to massage just like you're washing your dishes and leaving lukewarm water and not washing things off right away to see him for Skin, you need to give it time for a cleanser to work hard but actually change a lot of women skin and we got a lot of emails saying thank you for that. I already got rid of my blemishes just from that experience. So I think the little tips and tivitz of education on how to better take care of edgy. Your skin is really important and I think that used to be a very makeup heavy Market overall globally, but I think that love for skincare and the importance of skin care is becoming a bigger priority. So what would be something that we would be Surprised to know about you. Oh, that's nice. So I actually went to boarding school in Australia randomly. My parents thought that would be a good idea. Wow run by nuns. So it's very sick streamed. It was very strict. I think we've had to wear white gloves and stuff to it was a whole thing, but from the age it will from what he's just high school because I actually grew up in the states went back to Korea briefly and then they decided to send me to Australia, which was just an eye-opening experience, but I bring this up because I've always loved loved. Australia had such an amazing experience there are not we're actually launching and Mecca Australia next month - oh feels like in a way we come full circle and I'm going to Australia for the first time in however many years won't say the number but it just feels like really falling bombing Iraq. Yeah for me. I'm actually a secret. Adrenaline. Junkie. Okay. I don't think a lot of people know that about like skydiving. Yeah. So recently I went skydiving in New Zealand and I went scuba diving in The shipwrecks in Grand Cayman. You were not scared of sharks. No actually shark diving a Bahamas to that was really fun. I'm scared of sharks in Lakes. So I won't even like swim in the deep end of the lake side of motorboats and lake is probably unreal and wow, that's okay. Yeah. So before we close you've had probably incredible experience with your past life by L'Oreal and then now with your own company. What is some Advice it could be career. It could be skin advice whatever advice that you think has been like game-changing for you. I think for me the biggest is at the end of the day if you believe in something you'll figure it out and I think a lot of people worry get stressed, you know, feel like you've hit a wall a glass ceiling whatever it is and you can't move and you feel frustrated that actually affects you from your body your mental health, but also your skin because it reacts to how your men Italy thinking and to keep everything balanced, you know to think that this is actually a journey that I'm on and at the end of the day whether it's through, you know, somebody's advice or from Reading researching or just through experience in life. I'll figure it out and if you have that mentality, I think you'll just keep things a little bit more positive. You're very positive. Yeah in a good way your bosses love that about you. I agree with the Journey part. It's so when you first start your business or whatever new Endeavor you do you have these. Milestones for yourself. So you're like when I hit my first million in sales, I'll be happy when I first hit my first five people on the team. I'll be happy and then you keep moving those Milestones further and further out. So that sometimes it's easy to lose sight of the fact that it is a journey. So if you don't enjoy your every day to day and take the time to be with your friends be with your family, but also being, you know invested in work and trying to do the balance in your own best way. I think it can be very quickly you living to fulfill a future versus really enjoying the present. So that was kind of a learning along the way for me as I started this business and now I count myself lucky to have a career where I'm so excited to wake up and come to work every morning and I take enjoyment in that and the business might not be perfect today or tomorrow, but that's okay because I don't think it'll ever be perfect. Never barf every every entrepreneur. I talked to him like, oh your business is crazy to like I have yet to meet someone that's like it's perfect. But that's Part of what makes it fun? Exactly. I said to my husband. I was like, I feel like we're living our lives like that. There might be a big pot of gold at the end of this rainbow right with right bunny achieving certain levels of success or what you see other companies has like that rainbow could never come or that pot of gold could never come. So like how does that change how I behave now and it means I take my vacation days now instead of pushing them out or you know, leaving the office on time. You know, I think I made these shifts because of that like what you're saying? Yeah. I completely agree leaving the office sometime. Right and I think vacation II believe in it to heart because that's when you're actually stepping away from your day-to-day and refreshing but also it helps you appreciate what you have in life. The fact that you have this job that could be hectic or crazy sometimes but because of that you're enjoying your vacation and the time away with your family or your loved ones and I think that just gives a fresh new perspective and wanting to come back actually, you know better fulfilled. Did a motivator for the next days to come? Yeah, so you're in a very crowded Market is like the trendiest buzziest saturated. How do you stand out? I think it's a couple of things. I think that from day one. We've been so passionate about education because for us it was our mission to let people know that hey it's okay to enjoy your skin care. It doesn't have to be this one two, three step or ten step or 15 stub chore that you have to slog through to get to make up which You used to be the fun part because skincare is actually the fun part. Like you're really taking care of yourself. So the little tips that like Sarah mentioned or the little tricks or hacks that we use trends that we pick up from Korea and bring over kind of digesting all this and making it really fun and accessible and approachable for all women here has been one of the best things to hear or see emails from our customers where they're like you guys change my skin for the better. It's really why we do this and I think in addition to that I totally agree. For Christine said at the end of the day, we're a beauty company. So product is at the core of what we do. We really believe in first-to-market Innovations. And that is how we want to breakthrough in skincare. We were the first brand to introduce a sleeping mask that harnesses the power of watermelon and watermelon skincare was non-existent interesting leave either. You know, that watermelon was like the magical thing we knew because we grew up with watermelon being Such a miracle fruit. Our grandmother's used to actually rub the Ryan of watermelon when we had heat rashes and irritated Parts on her, you know hot summer months on our skin. The outside are like the once unit the ninth with a hint of flesh on it. Okay. So we're gonna start rubbing my kids with watermelon that it was a miracle. I mean within 24 hours you could see the irritations just kind of go away and we saw that growing up. It's kind of a Korean tradition that we grew up with and we realize that no one was actually using this fruit for skin care. It's Hydration soothing healing remedy. So we just were inspired from what we grew up with. Wow. Yeah, can we talk about the Korean spa experience for a second? Oh my god. Oh, yeah, but I go to like the real the real one not like I bet a I like the fancy schmancy looks foolish and body scrubs women during their bra no underwear. It does not. Yes. I love it. But you come out looking at your solo-e a baby soft. I have yet to find one here. That's as real as I want it. It is actually a lot of inspiration behind some of our products because our mom's used to take us with our grandmother's to the bathhouse of about it was like a weekend ritual and they would bring like at a ultimate like milk that sucks about to expire and it was / said half and you would wake up with like amazing skin, but the reason is because milk have lactic acid in it. So you didn't really know the science behind it at the time, but all these natural ingredients like green tea steeped in bowls of water splashing it head to toe and it was something that you look forward to every week as I know I when you bond with your mom or Mother and you go on like a girls trip yet to about my favorite Korean experience. Yeah, we have some recommendations for you. Okay. So where can we find your products and education? So we have our cycler recipe.com. We ship worldwide, but we also distribute to Sephora in all of North American stores. So I think it's about 700 Plus stores including Sephora's engine JCPenney and we are also in do gloss in Germany in In the entire country, which were really excited about. It was a recent launch three months ago, and then next month. We're launching in Australia with mega awesome and Instagram on Instagram where at glow recipe and you can also find us personally add Christine underbar glow and at Sarah underbar glow. We have matching handles. Thank you. Thank you so much. That was Sarah Lee and Christine Chang of glow recipe. You can follow them at glow recipe or order their stuff Delight your face with it at glow recipe.com. Thank you so much for listening. As always. Don't forget to rate me, wherever you listen to a podcast leave a review. I do read them all. That was Sarah Lee and Christine Chang of glow recipe. You can follow them at glow recipe or order their stuff Delight your face with it at glow recipe.com. Thank you so much for listening. As always. Don't forget to rate me, wherever you listen to a podcast leave a review. I do read them all.
Sarah Lee and Christine Chang were friends for many years before deciding to go into business together. Working in marketing and product development for L'Oréal , both were assigned to work in their Korean offices where they soon developed a lasting friendship. Korea is a hotbed of the latest skincare technology, and Sarah and Christine took note. Combining of-the-moment skincare research with tried and true remedies passed down through their families, the pair launched Glow Recipe, a naturally-based skincare line aimed at making the practice approachable, simple and fun. Using familiar, delicious ingredients such as banana and watermelon, Glow Recipe products soothe and improve the skin, making skincare so effective and pleasurable you may just forget to put makeup on! Thanks for listening! We love our listeners! Follow Superwomen on Instagram. Big Ideas   The value in creating a simple, effective skincare routine that creates less desire for makeup. [12:50]  Believing in yourself, your ventures, and you ability to work through challenges. [16:08]   ---   Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/superwomen/support 