SOKO GLAM! Is leading the charge for the global K-Beauty explosion

Hi, I'm Tiffany Lee and I'm here with Charlotte Cho, who is the founder of Soko Glam. How are you? Can you tell us a little bit more about Soko Glam? Sure. Soko Glam is a Korean beauty site that's specially curated with all the best selection of Korean beauty products. And we're not just an e-commerce site, we also offer skincare tips, tutorials, and all about Korean skincare culture. Oh, that's great. So how did you pick Soko Glam as a name? Well, Soko Glam stands for South Korean Glam, because all of the beauty products on our site are from South Korea. And everything is curated by myself and the team at Soko Glam. So I'm a licensed aesthetician, and it really is important for me to make sure the products are high quality and products that are truly loved by Korean women in Seoul. So there's so many Korean beauty products out there, like so many. How do you narrow down what you want to be on Soko Glam? So there are thousands of brands in Korea, and it is really overwhelming to dig in and try to figure out what's going to work for you. So that's why Soko Glam is very special. It's very curated, it's not overwhelming, and everything that comes on site is reviewed and tested by me. As I mentioned earlier, I'm a licensed aesthetician, so all the ingredients are thoroughly looked at, and I also test it with different skin types. So people on the team at Soko Glam, they have varying skin types from oily skin, dry skin, sensitive skin, and we make sure that it fits a variety of skin types. Oh, that's great. And so that's really important to me. What are some, okay, so obviously now you have come out with a 10-step skincare book. I mean, it might just be, I know it's not just that, so can you like tell us more about your book that you just came out with, and tell us what's in there? Sure, so it was about a year and a half ago that I was approached by an agent, and they wanted to talk to me about writing a book on Korean skincare. Korean skincare and Korean beauty in general is blowing up in the U.S. and around the world, and I was given the opportunity to write a proposal, and I wrote a proposal about all the things I wanted to talk about in this book, and I was really amazed because almost every top publisher in New York City wanted to have this book created. It just gave me like chills. And it was just a testament to how popular Korean beauty is in the U.S. Now the book is sold at Barnes & Noble, sold at Urban Outfitters, and it's now translated into many different languages, so it was translated into Polish, Russian, Spanish, and it's also in English, obviously. Do you think it's gonna like translate into more languages the more popular it gets? Are you guys planning to do that? I'm hearing good reports because the book is succeeding globally. Actually, it's a bestseller in Poland. Wow. I know, I was really surprised because I didn't know Poland was so interested in Korean beauty, and they're obsessed. Yes, and so I went to Poland. They invited me out there. That feels like I haven't gone. Yeah, I went there, and I had a whole book signing there, and there was lines and lines of people that can't even speak, you know, English, and some, you know, we try to communicate, but it was just so interesting, and they were just so happy to interact, and it was great. That's so exciting. So out of your 10-step Korean skincare, what do you think is like something out of the 10 steps that people find like most valuable to you, or like that they say? Right, so I think with the Little Book of Skincare, I just focused on explaining each and every step. So you have to really thoroughly cleanse your skin. That's key. That's number one. A lot of people that come to Soka Glam, they try the double cleanse routine, which is an oil-based cleanser and a water-based cleanser every morning and night, and they see their acne clear up. They see their acne scars fading. They have plump, healthy, hydrated skin, and I really think that it's a result of this double cleanse. And they notice that too, and they are just spreading the word, because they're so excited that they've tried everything under the sun, and using this double cleanse method, they've really seen improvements. So the double cleanse, I explain the benefits of that. I explain the benefits of exfoliating, and using essences and sheet masks to hydrate. The importance of hydration, because in Korea, hydration is the key to youthful skin, and also moisturizing. I know a lot of people moisturize, but they don't really know why they're doing it, and why it's so important. So I really dive deep into each of those, without making it too scientific and too boring, because skincare can be a dry topic. So I try to make it as light-hearted as possible, because I think that's why I haven't seen really a book out there that has talked about skincare in a light-hearted fashion. So I wanted it to be accessible and easy to get through. So that was really my goal with that, and I also talk about Korean culture, because Korean culture is very very important to me, and it was a big part of how I got into Korean skincare, and Korean beauty, and Soko Glam. So I injected a lot of my real first-hand experiences living in Korea, the beauty culture there, and all the inspirations that I've got from Korea. That's great! So do you have any future plans for Soko Glam, and what are some things that you see in the future? So I feel like we've just scratched the surface with Soko Glam. There are so many exciting projects that we have on the way. I've recently dabbled in helping brands create products now. So this mask brand is called Manifit, and they're one of the first sheet masks I've curated to Soko Glam, and I helped create this mask. That's exciting! So they asked me about a year ago if I wanted to create my own sheet mask, and I said I'd love to. I've never done any formulation, I've never created a product from scratch, so I jumped at the chance, and I was so grateful for the opportunity, and this sheet mask was just launched officially. Oh, I actually put it on the site without telling anyone that I created this mask, just so I could get real feedback. And then recently I said in a blog post like, oh by the way, this has been on the site for about two months now, but I actually helped create it, and I think people were really shocked because my name wasn't on it. Right, and most people would put that first. Right, and I have to say I am working on several other products, not sheet masks, but different skincare categories, and working with other brands to make that into reality, and so there are a lot of things that are happening. That's so exciting. Thanks Charlotte for coming today and sharing Soko Glam with us, and your book, as well as all the skincare products, and what you've been working on on the side. Thank you! I'm very happy to be here, thanks for having me, and I'm really supportive of what you guys are doing, so thank you. We had so much fun today. Yeah!