About ten years ago, Elise Hu moved to Seoul, South Korea and took a deep dive into the world of K-Beauty culture. Elise is a journalist, podcaster, and the author of Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital. She is the host of TED Talks Daily, a co-host of Forever 35, a host-at-large for NPR, and the host of Accenture’s award-winning Built for Change podcast. She is also the co-founder of the podcast production company Reasonable Volume. 

In today’s conversation, Elise opens our eyes to South Korea’s intense appearance expectations and how some of those same K-Beauty trends have now made their way into American culture. She discusses how the digital world is impacting beauty standards, including increasing the pressure on all of us to “optimize” our appearance, and how K-Beauty culture’s emphasis on flawless skin has made its way into Western beauty culture in significant ways.

Most importantly, Elise reminds us that beauty is so much bigger than societal standards and that our worth has nothing to do with our appearance. This is such an important episode; I can’t wait for you to listen!

Buy Melissa L. Johnson's book, Soul-Deep Beauty: Fighting for Our True Worth in a World Demanding Flawless, here. Learn more about Impossible Beauty and join the community here.