Career Story

My Insights

Blingy Lab

Jan 2022 - Present

Miami, Florida

“Fixing the broken fundraising economy”

Like so many minority entrepreneurs before me (I am not only female, I am also non-white), I’ve connected with thousands of angel investors, venture capitalists and incubators/accelerators across the world with limited success. The hundreds of investor pitches I’ve had to deliver however, turned disappointments into a genuine opportunity.

The case for more diversity among founders has been made countless times, but sadly the system hasn’t been geared up for a more level playing field, that is, until now.

A fierce believer and frequent commentator in the power of Web3 as a replacement for the flawed Web 2.0, I found the perfect approach to addressing and solving the funding problem for diverse founders: Blingy Lab.

Blingy Lab is a first-of-its-kind Web3 incubator geared specifically towards young global talent with great ideas but without the proper know-how or resources to turn a hunch into a promising fully-fleshed-out business while doing away with the outdated and dysfunctional barriers to entry that traditionally kept diverse, bright talent away from the action. It serves as a community, an incubator, and a marketplace, all in one, for the boldly ambitious and innovative.

Blingy Lab: the world’s most trustworthy Web3 community and incubator, is changing the narrative of being a diverse founder. Join the Blingy Lab community, and make a big impact in Web3!

If you’d like to discover why Web3 is such a game-changer and want to get closer to the action, you can follow my Twitter for the latest in the field.

Reauty (Blingy Tech)

Jan 2021 - Present

San Francisco, Carlifornia

“Queen Bee: Reauty Founder Story”

After years of intrapreneurship and building successful ventures for others. I joined the latest generation of Silicon Valley female entrepreneurs by launching my first tech start-up – Reauty.

My passion for the beauty industry and social media and my deep understanding of the Gen-Z consumer culminated in the Reauty, the Web3 home for consumers in the beauty space, packed in with an AI-powered skin analysis tool, a transparent product rating system, as well as advance social eCommerce capabilities. Put simply, Reauty takes the guesswork away from skin care.

Market reception has been outstanding so far, with over 1k organic downloads in its first month of being launched on the Apple Appstore and being featured in over 350 media outlets, including Yahoo, Asianone, and PRNewswire.

To date, I have successfully raised $250k at our pre-seed round and have several investors interested in investing in our Series A.

With this venture, my bet isn’t “just” beauty. I genuinely believe Web3 will drastically reshape what the internet is, and shift the power firmly back into the hands of users, and I am very bullish on this agenda. Blingy is about bringing established Web2 users into a new, more transparent, and democratic ecosystem – Reauty is there to serve as the perfect case study and How-To guide to those willing to embrace the future of the internet. Even among our Web3 peers, we are genuine pioneers, as we have launched, through Reauty, the world’s first Beauty Crypto Coins and NFT on the Polygon network.

Read more about my vision for Reauty here

Blingy Launch New Beauty Application: Reauty

FEATURED

Hearst Media Group

Shanghai, China

Jul 2018 - Jul 2019

“Incubated a younger "H" marketplace, Empowering the next-gen fashion”

Most people can relate to the tale of a movie that hit them so hard that it stopped them in their tracks and forced them to take a moment to ponder deeply on the life they were leading. Which movie did that for you? People mention The Wolf of Wall Street, Fight Club, or The Shawshank Redemption. All are brilliant and moving masterpieces, to be sure, but I confess they didn’t have that effect on me.

What’s my movie, you ask? The Devil Wears Prada.

That movie planted the seed of my vocation for the fashion industry. So much so that in 2018, I left the comfort and golden handcuffs of the giant tech brand Line, where I had built a lasting legacy, to join an industry calling me. And when I say calling, I mean that both figuratively and literally, as I received an invitation from the president of Hears Media China to set-up and lead a new business unit in the organization.

This role saw me put all my expertise in international business development, brand management, and intrapreneurship to good use as I incubated and launched a new brand from the ground up.

Thus was born HAST, a digital B2B platform offering domestic and foreign fashion brands a one-stop marketing and business expansion portfolio of services at a time when digital innovation threatened the business’ well-established market share. HAST was our response to that trend, turning a threat into an opportunity and a foe into an ally.

With HAST came a new source of income for the business that complemented the traditional business of magazine advertising. It opened opportunities for small and medium fashion brands and independent designers to drastically increase their reach domestically and abroad.

In just 6 months, HAST generated over $2M in positive cash flow using a subscription model. The press conference announcing the launch of HAST had attracted hundreds of media outlets and investors, as we announced 100 SME fashion brands in a first-of-its-kind exhibition, with media exposure for that one event estimated at just over $10M.

It was on the back of that success, where I yet again created a new business model for a brand, that I decided to solidify my learnings and step up to the next level by moving to the United States to pursue an MBA. That MBA was the natural stepping stone in accelerating the impact I deliver to organizations, which led to my entrepreneurial journey, as I started Web3 pioneer, Reauty.

Line Corporation

Seoul, South Korea | Shanghai, China

Jul 2015 - Jul 2018

“When work is your passion, It is not a job!”

Following the successful delivery of what many called “Mission Impossible” for Line Corp, and a very fruitful year as their key account manager on behalf of Havas Group, I eventually did a move made by so many successful executives before me: I was invited by Line’s Global VP to switch sides and join them as their Business Development Director for the Chinese market.

Their expectation of me was straightforward: launch a relatively unknown brand (Line) into the Chinese market, establishing strong brand awareness through a business model that would shape the organization into a mainstay in the country.

This is when I, as one of the youngest leaders in the group, set out to create Line Friends, a global creative studio enhancing the media and entertainment potential through licensing intellectual property and the most resounding example of the importance of localization for international success.

In just three years, Line Friends became a household name and was widely acknowledged as the No.1 character brand in Asia, with a presence in 11 countries across the continent and over 60 retail locations, including pop-up stores in Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, New York’s Time Square, as well several capitals around the world. Line Friends has achieved an enviable roster of high-profile partners such as global pop stars BTS and Netflix, Tencent, and Big Hit Entertainment among the over 1,000 partnership opportunities my team generated.

By the time I moved on, Line Friends had generated, just in China, over $100M in profit and far more internationally. Brand equity-wise, Line Friends, was awarded the Best Asian Property Award and iF Design Award in 2016, making it one of the fastest-growing and most impactful character-based brands worldwide.

Find out more about Line Friends here: https://youtu.be/wDRV2zII__s

Brand Development: Line Friends Flagship Store Opening

Set up Line Friends China branch from 0 to 1 and built up a strong relationship between the local government and the brand, winning the best innovative brand in the 2017 local government awards.

Brand Development: Line Friends Cafe & Store @ Shanghai

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Brand Development: Ellemen x Beat Brown Project

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Brand Development: Line Friends Flagship Store Opening

Set up Line Friends China branch from 0 to 1 and built up a strong relationship between the local government and the brand, winning the best innovative brand in the 2017 local government awards.

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Havas Group

Paris, France | Shanghai, China

Aug 2013 - Jul 2015

“10 years of creative agency career shaped my innovative mind”

I credit my time at Havas as some of my biggest and most impactful business successes. Indeed, when I joined as the organization's youngest senior leader, the division was on its third consecutive loss-making year. They were given a last Hail Mary to turn things around and become profitable by 2014 or risk the closure of the entire APAC division.

As I led the Havas Sports & Entertainment APAC division, we successfully delivered a 140% EBIT growth within a year. We acquired five high-profile accounts, generating over $15M in revenue.

Our performance culminated with HQ's recognition with the “Global Best Office Performance” award in 2015. In just twelve months, we turned the business from ugly duckling to crown jewel.

Before Havas, I worked at several boutique advertising agencies. Throughout my career, I have accumulated several successes operating in my element as an intrapreneur in the creative industry. I genuinely excelled in that industry, and, among my many successes:

- Doubling annual revenue by acquiring several high-profile accounts

- Planned and delivered marketing and creative campaigns for more than 40 premium and luxury FMCG brands

- Delivered over $10M in revenue in a small boutique agency...

After 10 years in the agency world, I'm excited to take the leap into the corporate world. I've learned much, from new business development and deal structure to executive report writing and contract negotiation. I'm also equipped with comprehensive brand management knowledge and the ability to create catchy storytelling presentations. These skills have been honed over time and ready to put them to use in my new role.

To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key.

MBA & Master of science(M.S.)

San Francisco, California

Sep 2019 - Aug 2021

“Studying in Silicon Valley inspired my entrepreneurial journey”

15 years of a professional career in both top-rated international companies and creative agencies, gave me comprehensive practical experiences in business. Ultimately, I craved to learn the whole business framework in a systematic method, from finance, operation, economics, and organizational behavior to business analytics. I am eager to open my mind with the international vision to see this world from different angles.

Finally, in the summer of 2019, I came to San Francisco to start my MBA career, and after many years, I entered a full-time student role again, which made me readjust from the role of manager to the role of the executive and team member. Rich management and practical work experience helped me to quickly enter the MBA course, but at the same time, the systematic knowledge system made up for the lack of my business theory system. In 2021, I graduated with MBA and MSBA honorary title with GPA above 3.6.

The 2-year study experience in Silicon Valley not only broadened my horizons in international business but also inspired my passion and potential as an entrepreneur. I joined TED talk 2019, inspired by those amazing startup founders, studied woman in a leadership program at Stanford university, met the awesome talents and entrepreneurs in here, and understood the trends in the world. This was an amazing experience for my life and also it became my life inflection point, I joined the latest generation of Silicon Valley female entrepreneurs taking the world by storm, for the sake of broken barriers, and found a better version of myself.

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