The Korea Society is pleased to invite you to a fireside chat with Co-founder and CEO of Rael, Yanghee Paik. In 2017, Yanghee joined forces with two other Korean-American women to revolutionize the stagnant American feminine-care product market by introducing clean, high-performing holistic feminine care products. Their innovative approach excited millions of Amazon customers with a single product-organic cotton cover pads- leveraging cutting-edge South Korean manufacturing technology. Under Yanghee’s leadership, Rael quickly became the best-selling pad on Amazon and expanded into major retailers such as Target and Walmart, offering a wide range of holistic care products for women, from feminine products to acne-treatment beauty patches. 

Join us to hear the trailblazing journey of Yanghee, who transitioned from a successful career as a Disney executive to leading a consumer-goods startup. You will learn the insights into how Rael could break through the global feminine product market, traditionally dominated by giant incumbents, by employing advanced South Korean manufacturing and beauty technology to empower global women with a better treatment of themselves. 

This program is supported by Hanwha Life

The Korea Society is excited to present this Startup Scene program in partnership with the OKTA-NY
(World Federation of Overseas Korean Traders Associations, New York).

Empowering Women with Holistic Care:

A Conversation with Rael's Co-Founder and CEO, Yanghee Paik

Monday, June 24, 2024 | 5 PM (EDT)

The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Yanghee Paik is the co-founder and CEO of Rael, a clean feminine care and skincare startup based in Los Angeles that has been disrupting the industry with its holistic cycle care approach. As a global brand, Rael has been grabbing the attention of those who seek alternative high-quality, better for you solutions. 

Prior to starting Rael, Yanghee was an executive at the Walt Disney Studios where she focused on distribution strategy and sales. It was during this role that Yanghee met her co-founders, who suffered from irritation and allergic reactions caused by conventional pads and tampons. Concerned by the lack of ingredient transparency and consumer education around period care, Rael’s co-founders discussed how they could improve women’s lives by thoughtfully curating natural period care solutions that are safe and highly effective. As first-generation immigrants from Korea, they knew how advanced Korean feminine care products were and recognized the gap in the US market for similar technology and quality. They decided to marry high-quality organic cotton from the US with the cutting-edge manufacturing technology from Korea to launch Rael’s first organic cotton pads in 2017, which became the #1 best-selling pad on Amazon. 

Now, Rael provides more than just feminine care as Yanghee pushed her vision for Rael to be a holistic personal care brand, centered on solutions for all aspects of your cycle. She led its expansion into natural feminine hygiene and clean, vegan skincare and opened an office in Korea, where its product development team was built. Yanghee also helped Rael evolve from a digitally native brand into an omnichannel powerhouse by spearheading its launch at Target and Walmart. In 2022, Yanghee led Rael’s $35M Series B funding and is now focused on taking the company to the next level. Rael will continue its product innovation, expand its 360-approach to holistic cycle care, accelerate retail growth and partnerships, and advance its global expansion.

Yanghee previously held a role as a management consultant at Boston Consulting Group, earned her MBA from Harvard Business School, and received a B.A. degree from Seoul National University. While leading the company at the headquarters in Los Angeles, Yanghee travels to Seoul regularly to see family, and work with the product development team in Korea to find new trends and spearhead innovation.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR:

Celina Lee is a globally recognized executive and career coach, lawyer, award-winning writer, and podcast host.

She has extensive experiences coaching many executives and corporate professionals to achieve success and fulfillment in their careers, and has given speeches and delivered workshops in many countries.

Celina started her career as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch and worked as a corporate lawyer at a law firm, Ropes & Gray LLP in New York City.

On her podcast, Live Your Dream with Celina Lee, which has listeners from over 100 countries around the world, she shares lessons learned in her journey as well as interviews from inspirational leaders from diverse industries about what they have learned in life and career.

Celina is the founder of Give One Dream, a global movement that inspires people to pursue and achieve their dreams.

She has been invited to deliver keynote speeches and speak at industry-leading events, universities, and organizations including TEDx, MIT, Stanford, Princeton University, and Google.

Celina received her undergraduate degree from MIT and law degree from U.C. Berkeley School of Law. She is a certified professional coach and is a graduate of the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC).

www.celinalee.co/