9 to 5ish: Christine Chang

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Every weekend growing up, Christine watched her mom and grandma go to the Korean bathhouses, rubbing things like tea and spoiled milk on their skin. And she’s been hooked on skincare ever since. Now, she’s the co-founder and co-CEO of the skincare brand, Glow Recipe. But before leading this new venture, she actually worked her way up the corporate ladder at L’Oreal. In this episode, Christine gives her advice on how to make the jump from corporate to startup, and what she learned at her desk job that she still uses today. 

On Leaning On Your People

Christine: Entrepreneurship can be incredibly lonely. And I can't imagine doing this with someone without someone understanding that. In the early days, when things were falling through sometimes, like a contract wouldn’t work out, or some type of product was being ordered, but it wasn't coming on time. So we're missing a deadline. We're just trying to figure things out operationally. The weight of that can feel like sometimes you're just buckling down under it. But to have someone in your corner say, “It's okay, we'll get through this,” and I say that to her as well, that mental support has really taken us far.

On Building Relationships At Work

Christine: It's always thinking about how can I be helpful to them, versus what I can get from my mentor. And so if I see an industry article that's really pertinent to what they're working on or their field, I would forward it to them with a little note. If I see them featured somewhere, I’d forward it to them again, with a little note, congratulating them. And I think those little gestures mean the most when you don't want something from someone versus when you do.