In discussion - Sophie Founder Seoul Tonic. Everything you need to know about building!
In Real Time with MillieShow Notes
Sophie is the founder of Seoul Tonic an eastern-inspired wellness brand built on Korean ginseng and pear extracts that she co-created with Mr. Park, a Korean producer in Jeonju, using his grandfather's extraction method. What started as a silver pouch in the Australian beverage fridge has grown into a global brand stocked in beauty stores, hotels, delis, recovery facilities, and — most recently a boutique in the Hamptons that led to a sell-out Bethany Frankel video. In this episode, Sophie and Millie sit down in New York to talk about what it actually takes to bootstrap a physical product brand across three markets simultaneously, why she's been able to go where competitors haven't by thinking of Seoul Tonic as a fashion accessory rather than a drink, and how she spent 18 months relentlessly chasing the W Hotel before they finally said yes. They get into the messy realities of international freight, navigating tariffs and Trump's administration as a foreign founder, and why she and her fiancé showed up in New York with no jobs and no plan and made it work anyway.
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