[Other] Alumna Hana Lee, CEO of Melixir, a Vegan Skincare Brand
- Date2022.01.04
- 8350
This issue of Ewha Today introduces alumna Hana Lee (Painting, graduating class of 2014), CEO of Melixir, Korea’s first vegan skincare brand.
Q. Could you briefly introduce yourself?
Hello, I am Hana Lee from the incoming class of 2008, and I double majored in painting and visual communication design at the College of Art and Design. I began working in the cosmetics industry after graduation, and in 2018, I launched “Melixir,” Korea’s first vegan skincare brand.
Q. What inspired you to start your own business?
I was 29 when I first launched the brand Melixir. As I reflected on my life at that time, I realized that I wanted to use my time in a way that I would not regret when I look back on my younger days at the age of 40 or 50. To this end, I decided to start my own business, which was the biggest decision that I had made in my life until then. If I was to start my own business, I wanted to stick at it and run it for at least ten years, so I chose something that I would be happy doing for the next decade. When I worked for a cosmetics company, I saw the need for a healthier kind of beauty brand. That’s why I launched a vegan cosmetics brand that presents a better way of life.
Q. What was the reason that you decided to make vegan cosmetics?
In 2014, when I worked for a cosmetics company in San Francisco, a customer asked me questions like “Are your cosmetics tested on animals?” and “Do your products contain animal ingredients?” As time passed on, more and more people asked the same questions, and I realized that the vegan trend was gaining momentum, not only in the food industry but in all lifestyle areas as well. “Vegetarianism” was a new concept to Korea at that time, but I was sure that it was the right direction.
Q. What were the challenges you faced in the early days of your business, and how did you overcome them?
One of the challenges I faced was to introduce the concept of vegetarianism to consumers of cosmetics products. At that time, the concept of vegan cosmetics was unfamiliar enough that there were fewer than three posts on Instagram with the hashtag “vegan cosmetics” in Korean. So, at first, I started a project on a crowdfunding site where early adopters gathered. It was also not easy to find a manufacturer who could produce vegan cosmetics. I visited more than 20 manufacturers, but none of them understood the concept of vegan skincare. Fortunately, I found a manufacturer of organic cosmetics, which made the first product for Melixir. Since then, I’ve seen a huge rise in public demand for as well as awareness of vegan cosmetics, so now many vegan cosmetics brands are on the market, compared to the time when Melixir was launched, and even relatively big cosmetics brands have released their own vegan product lines.
Q. What is your biggest concern these days?
I think about how we can become a more creative organization. I am pondering what kind of environment must be created to make our company more creative and what kinds of activities can be creative and also have a great impact on the company’s growth. Small companies like us have limited resources, and therefore every single move we make requires careful consideration. We need to be more flexible and creative than big companies to create new values and attract new customers. I’m always looking for ways to grow our company without losing sight of the mission that we began with: “To make healthy and sustainable products.”
Q. Please give a word of advice to Ewha students who dream of starting their own business one day!
I think you should always seek to push your limits, instead of accepting them. When I was a student, I never imagined myself running my own business a decade later. I went through various experiences in my 20s, which made me think a lot about what I liked and what I was pursuing in life. I think it’s important to believe that it is okay to fail and keep trying so that you eventually discover what you really want. I started Melixir as a way of bridging what I like to do and what I am good at. That is why I can enjoy the difficult process of starting a new business. I hope that you will all find a line of work that you can be passionate about for a long time and have the courage to try it.