I’m Pilkyung Choi, and I lead global marketing for LANEIGE. Before joining LANEIGE, I built my career with international beauty brands in North America and Europe. It’s been 23 years in the beauty industry now. I consider myself incredibly fortunate. For 23 years, I’ve been doing work that fulfills me deeply—work that feels like a perfect fit—and genuinely enjoying it. When I was first introduced to LANEIGE, it felt like meeting the perfect match. I expected good chemistry, but it’s exceeded even that.

LANEIGE is a Korean legacy brand that started in 1994 and has been going strong for over 30 years. Some international customers see it as a hot new K-beauty brand, but it actually has a long history. If I had to define LANEIGE in one phrase, it would be ‘What if.’ ‘What if we could create a sleeping mask that transforms your skin overnight?’ ‘What if we melted cream to make it as light as water—could that deliver 120 hours of hydration?’ This curiosity has consistently driven the brand’s innovation, making LANEIGE what it is today.

K-beauty emerged as a trend once before. This current K-beauty wave is different—it’s integrated with Korean culture as a whole: food, music, and content. What sets this wave apart is its speed and staying power.
Korea excels at visual storytelling in particular. Consumers today don’t buy by touch—they buy with their eyes, by ‘seeing.’ In this environment, having a superior content culture rooted in storytelling is a huge advantage. Korea is exceptionally good at visualizing the intangible asset that is beauty. Because these stories resonate intuitively with global customers and persuade them emotionally, they create the momentum that drives content commerce.

This is interesting. International customers don’t really see LANEIGE as a K-beauty brand. We don’t push the K-beauty angle to the forefront either. That’s because we aspire to be a brand loved for what it is by people everywhere. The idea is that customers fall in love with LANEIGE’s functionality and performance, and then discover it’s a Korean brand with strong technology, which deepens their trust. That’s why we’re working even harder to make sure customers around the world can love LANEIGE for what it is.

We did a rebranding three years ago. Back then, LANEIGE’s brand image was different in every market—Korea, Japan, China, the U.S. Then we gradually unified our global image around the brand philosophy ‘OPEN TO WONDER,’ and things came together. We wanted customers to have a consistent, stable emotional connection to our products, and I think we’ve largely achieved that. Currently, 90% of our revenue comes from global sales. In North America especially, we’re seen as a rising brand with fresh, dynamic energy. In Korea, we’re loved as a trusted brand with a truly established legacy.

LANEIGE has headquarters in LA as well, so we have a lot of international talent. In my view, language is actually the smallest part of what makes a strong professional in an international environment. From my experience building a career in the U.S. in my twenties—when I didn’t know anyone—I think three things beyond language are essential. First, belief in yourself. You need to believe you can succeed in the unfamiliar world of cross-border business. Second, the courage to act on that belief. And finally, vulnerability—the ability to accept imperfection and discomfort. Discomfort is a signal that you’re growing. The kind of person LANEIGE wants is someone who believes in themselves, dares to execute, and knows how to embrace the discomfort of unfamiliar territory. Right now, this little universe we call LANEIGE is full of people who absolutely thrive on discomfort. As a leader, I’m truly grateful for that.

As a marketer, what I prioritize most is localizing for each market without losing the ‘brand’s global identity.’ We need to maintain our brand identity while telling the stories they want to hear, not just the stories we want to tell—and that’s the hardest part. That’s why content and product matter so much. We sell the same products in every country, so the product is always at the heart of the brand. It’s just that the ripples and waves emanating from that heart spread a little differently depending on the country or customer.

I think Amorepacific’s power comes from balance. The company believes in and supports its people’s curiosity and ideas, but it’s also a legacy company with 80 years of heritage, technological capability, and capital to make that curiosity real. I think that’s the greatest strength driving our leadership in global markets. No matter how good an idea is, what matters is whether it can actually be implemented and sustained. Personally, I see Amorepacific as a canvas where I can pursue big dreams as a marketing leader.
Korean cultural traits are also woven into the corporate culture. Korean agility and strong trend sensing are naturally embedded in our organizational culture, making us fearless when it comes to change.
The fact that ‘timeless values’ and ‘authentic, transparent corporate culture’ coexist—that, in itself, is Amorepacific’s tremendous power. My hope is that we continue moving forward in the most authentically Amorepacific direction, doing what only we can do.

When I was just starting out, I felt successful when a product I’d worked on ranked globally. As I gained more experience, I felt good when the brand I worked for did well. But these days, what makes me happiest is seeing the people I work with achieve results and reach their goals. It’s the biggest shift in my life. (laughs)
There were times when our team was exhausted from unpredictable market changes both domestically and internationally. We supported and encouraged each other as we went through the rebranding, and over the past three years, we’ve seen a truly remarkable transformation and recovery. Now these same people are working with more energy than anyone, loving the brand—and that’s what’s most rewarding. I need to keep working hard so that LANEIGE team members can feel even more pride in their work going forward.

First, we decided what not to do rather than what to add. Brands often lose their center and weaken when they do too much, so we started by defining what we wouldn’t do. Second, rather than trying to create dramatic change overnight, we made small, incremental shifts. Overhauling a brand that’s already growing in North America would just confuse customers. The goal was a gradual but clear change, at a pace customers could adapt to, creating lasting power. Third was innovation. We needed to simplify complex technology into language that consumers could easily understand, and that process took the longest. Finally, we set out to dramatically elevate the quality of our visual communication.

I hope we’re a brand that naturally helps them feel confident. We absolutely don’t want to be a complicated brand. Life is complicated and heavy enough—skincare shouldn’t add to that. I want LANEIGE to bring effortless, chic, refined pleasure.

I value experience deeply because you need to draw inspiration from completely different fields to create something new. That’s why I travel a lot and don’t hesitate to try new things. Sometimes I’ll listen to genres I don’t normally listen to, or read books outside my usual interests.

I’d recommend Cream Skin. If Uni** clothing brand has Heattech, LANEIGE has Cream Skin. (laughs) The formula flows like water but locks in moisture for 120 hours. It delivers more hydration than a heavy cream. The greatest strength of Korean skincare is its weightlessness—it doesn’t add any heaviness to your skin—and Cream Skin embodies that perfectly. I keep it everywhere I can reach: at home, at the office, in my car, and I use it constantly. I travel a lot for work and fly frequently, and it’s incredible on flights too. It leaves no residue and feels so fresh that it lifts my mood every time I use it. It’s a universal product—works for anyone, any age, any skin type. I call it my portable humidifier.

I think beauty that harmonizes the outer and inner self is important. So lately, beyond skincare, I’ve been focusing on relaxation and restoration through tea. You can’t really be a good leader when you’re tense, and I’ve found that creativity flows better when your mind is at peace. I used to love coffee, but since working at Amorepacific, I’ve fallen for tea. OSULLOC’s teas have been wonderful for helping me relax.

Come back to yourself. I hope you find a new beauty that brings you from A back to A, not from A to B. Don’t get lost in the beauty that media and the beauty industry create—discover your own beauty. LANEIGE, which champions natural confidence, will be there to help you reveal your strengths.

I used to think success was about how far and how high I could climb. When I was young, I thought you had to chase after life, but now I’ve realized that if you stay still, life comes running to you. Going forward, I want to live as myself, then live happily as part of us, and then live a life for others.

I have to mention LANEIGE’s slogan. OPEN TO WONDER, LANEIGE. When you open a LANEIGE product, I hope you continue experiencing those small moments of wonder in your daily life. OPEN TO WONDER is an invitation to an open world. Live an open life with LANEIGE, a ‘What if’ kind of life. I hope you live a life that’s more fun, more joyful, and a little more radiant.

Amorepacific challenges and delivers by embracing change. As I mentioned earlier, LANEIGE—and Amorepacific as a whole—never hesitates to change for innovation, driven by curiosity and passion.