Meet Minnie! Passionate, driven and (pretty amazing) bonus member of the collective as the Glow Hub intern!  We talk to her on the set of the Glow Collective shoot about her internship with us, plus+ she highlights her experiences of Asian hate, let's get into it... 

Why did you want to be part of the Glow Collective?

Well, I’m currently an intern at Glow Hub and the team asked me to be involved and I said yes! Apart from taking them up on an amazing opportunity and being able to speak about my internship, I also wanted to be a part of the Glow Collective because I wanted to speak about my experience with Asian hate and being a British born Asian.

So, both my parents are South Korean, but I was born in the UK, so I’ve been here all my life but I’ve still experience racism, so I wanted to talk about the things ive faced. Ever since I was little, literally since primary school, I never wanted to be Asian or to be any different than my friends. I just wanted to fit in with everyone else, be the same as them but being British born Asian, I guess I have always been different than most of my peers.

However, when I went to 6th form, I started to realise being different is cool. With BTS and Kpop becoming super popular, as well as things like Korean skincare suddenly being on trend in the UK, it helped me appreciate being different and being Korean, so that’s when I decided to learn more about the culture and the language, even learning to read and write in Korean in less than a year!

It’s been a journey for sure in terms of feeling and being more comfortable with being Asian and being in my own skin, and I have experienced hate. Most often it’s little things that people don’t even realise is offensive. Random people have shouted Nǐ hǎo at me on the streets, assuming I’m Chinese, which is obviously not the case and it does put a downer on your day. I think most of the time people don’t think that that’s offensive, that they’re appreciating your culture, but it’s not actually ok, those little Asian jokes that people make. The worst I’ve probably had is ‘did you have dog on toast for breakfast?’ and all that kind of stuff.

Being part of the Glow Collective, I just want to shine a light on accepting yourself and being comfortable in your own skin. It’s ok to be different, no one is judging you, just be yourself!

Tell us about your internship

I've been an intern at Glow Hub for the past 8 weeks! I’m a university student doing fashion marketing and branding at Nottingham Trent and I had the opportunity to go on placement for 9 weeks and got to be a part of all these amazing things! It’s been so fantastic, and I’ve learnt so many things and got to do a lot. From being a model in the Glow Collective, to helping organise the shoots, planning our social media and even helping develop new products for Glow Hub too. I went into placement having no idea what I wanted to do in the future and have come out having a better idea of the kind of things I want to do! It’s been great to experience real life work and something a bit different than full time education.

Three things you’ve learnt working beauty

Firstly, how fast paced it is! It is actually quite glamorous in the office, even though it feels like it is manic sometimes and theres a lot going on I still think it’s a pretty glamourous job and it’s a lot of fun!

Also, despite everything being so fast paced, you also actually have to plan things so far in advance. It’s crazy how long it can take for something to become a product, and there’s a lot of tiny elements you’d never even think about that come into play. And so many people! From graphic designers to copywriters, the compliance team to the chemists in the lab, product developers and merchandisers, marketing and brand managers – there’s a lot!

And then not fully work related but I have learnt a lot about skincare! The order should apply them for example, I had no idea you should always apply from thinnest to thickest, so it’s been handy picking all those little tips and tricks too!

Your favourite Glow Hub product?

My favourite glow hub product is the Nourish & Hydrate Cleansing Balm! It feels so good on the skin, gets all your makeup off and is just great!

Do you know skin type?

Yes, its oily! I have very oily skin, especially in the t-zone area, lots of powder is always needed and the Purify & Brighten range really helps!

Are you skin confident!
Yeah I would say I am skin confident! Ever since using Glow Hub actually my skin has improved so much and I’m just glowing all the time!