Narae Chung: When K-Beauty Meets Men's Grooming

Narae Chung, the CEO, and co-founder of Cardon, was aware of the value of skincare early on. She observed the multi-step skincare rituals her mother practiced daily, which she believes were as much self-care as they were beauty steps. By the time she was in her early teens, Narae had a 4-step system of her own. Skincare was part of her life, and culturally, it was more important than makeup. The emphasis was on prevention, creating gentle results, and innovative ingredients. But she never set out to be a beauty entrepreneur.

In this episode, Narae shares how she shifted her focus from electrical engineering to marketing and ultimately to beauty entrepreneurship. After developing an interest in marketing, Narae landed a job at P&G in Korea and worked on three brands that would give her foundational training in beauty. SK-II (Japanese luxury skincare), Gillette (men's grooming), and Olay (drugstore skincare). She shares how each of these positions prepared her for entrepreneurship.

Narae came to the United States to obtain an MBA, but by that time, she also knew she was ready to pursue entrepreneurship. She conducted a focus group with a few of her male classmates and discovered an untapped opportunity, and decided to pursue a moderately priced men's grooming line that incorporated K-Beauty philosophy with her business school roommate. The hero ingredient of the line comes from a cactus named Cardon.

Narae shares how men think about their skincare needs differently, why they made a moisturizing sunscreen the first product, how they have expanded the line to 13 SKUs since launching in 2020, how the pandemic helped them connect with their customers, and why one of her goals is to make every product her customer needs. 

Products mentioned:

Daily SPF Moisturizer

Dark Circle Eye Rescue

Shaving Essentials Set

2-Step System to Fight Hair Loss

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