CHARLOTTE CHO
(Esthetician, Author and Entrepreneur)

What inspired you to start Soko Glam? Were there any challenges you faced to get to where you are today?

Soko Glam started during my travels when I would come home for the holidays to visit friends and family. Every time I came back home, all of my friends would beg me to bring back Korean beauty products they were obsessed with! When I realized that my friends would purchase and pay a higher price just to get their hands on these products, that’s when I came up of the idea for Soko Glam.

Being an entrepreneur was one of the hardest things I’ve done and I’ve found that it is much more stressful than any other job I had working for someone else. I had to challenge myself to wear multiple hats and do things that I never thought I would have to do because I never had the experience of doing them! The challenge to constantly do things outside of my comfort zone has pushed me to bring Soko Glam where it is today.

Can you walk us through a typical day in the life?

At Soko Glam, there is never a typical day in the office! Since my husband and co-founder, Dave Cho, started the company, we’ve grown from a 2-person company to a company where I manage a team of 25+ employees now. It’s exciting to see what everyone is doing and how their hard work comes to life, especially in all of the different departments. One day I could be behind the scenes for a video shoot with our creative crew, and the next I could be with our business development team in all-day meetings with our partners!

We love the Klog Box! Tell us about your curation process.

 I spend about a third of my time during the year to work in Korea visiting R&D specialists, salons, makeup artists and brands, but most importantly, checking out the newest innovations. I keep a close eye on the trends that Korean women are loving and bring them back to the office to share with my team. The best part about this process is testing all the products and vetting which ones get to make the cut and be curated for our customers.

You started the company with your husband. What’s it like working together?

Having Dave as my co-founder is a piece of Soko Glam that has always motivated me to be my best from day one and constantly strive to improve and never be complacent. We have a trust and bond that I wouldn’t have had with anyone else starting this company. We balance each other out working together since he’s more focused on the numbers and operations side. After all he is a West Point vet and has managed 100+ soldiers in Iraq, so his management experience helps Soko Glam now and will benefit us in the long run!

What do you love most about what you do?

I love having the opportunity to help others become educated about their skin so they can gain more confidence and feel their best! This is one of the biggest reasons why I decided to write my first book, The Little Book of Skin Care and start our content site, The Klog. Both projects have given me the chance to share my experiences in Korea and share all of my skin secrets and beauty trends straight from Korean women.

What does “beauty” mean to you?