‘Mighty’ acne patch founder was an expat in South Korea when she discovered her $630 million cult skincare idea
Imani Racine
6 min read
Usually, an acne emergency isn’t anything to be thankful for, but Ju Rhyu credits a few bad breakouts for her almost overnight business success.
The founder of Hero Cosmetics, the skincare brand that vows to be your savior in the wake of acne problems, describes her career path as definitely not being “straight and linear.” Rhyu recently told Fortune it wasn’t until she was recruited for a job in Seoul, South Korea, that she stumbled on the big business idea that would launch a skincare line focused on a positive approach to troublesome acne.
The Mighty Patch allows wearers to embrace their zits and forgo the shame commonly associated with a bad breakout. The small patches—approximately 0.47 inches in diameter—have a transparent appearance, allowing for wearers to cover their blemishes at night or even in public. They’re a discrete alternative to other solutions for covering acne, such as makeup which can draw more attention to the face.
“I always joke that I worked at some of the world’s biggest brands—Kraft Foods, Mondelez, American Express, and Samsung Electronics—and then ended up starting an indie skincare brand,” she said.
At 35 years old, while working at a corporate marketing job for Fortune 500 giant Samsung, Rhyu was suffering from a bout of bad breakouts when she noticed something odd: Her coworkers were wearing hydrocolloid patches plain on their faces—in the office.
Puzzled, Rhyu asked why her colleagues were brazenly sporting Band-Aid-like squares and rectangles on their cheeks and chins, something she’d never seen in the United States. Their simple explanation? Taming a pimple.
“I went to a pharmacy, I tried one, and it changed my skincare routine because it works so much better than anything I had used before,” she recalled. “I put it on at night, and by morning, it got all that gunk out.”
That gunk—a combination of bacteria and dead white blood cells—is often what gives pimples their prominent appearance on the face. Being able to get rid of it overnight is a game changer for those who deal with acne, as it often leads to negative effects on self esteem.
The experience jumpstarted the young entrepreneur’s “education” in skincare. After trying “every single possibility out there” for acne relief–including dermatologists, toothpaste, and sticky pink creams–Rhyu set her sights on revolutionizing skincare, starting with the Band-Aid aisle.
Capitalizing on her corporate background, Rhyu began strategizing how to bring her idea to market alongside her two co-founders.
“One of the consumer behaviors I noticed was that the hydrocolloid-patch format was actually already around for quite a long time, but they were in the Band-Aid aisle,” she said. “There was nothing, at that time, in the beauty section.”
In 2017 the trio decided to bootstrap their business, combining $50,000 of their own money instead of looking for investors; something that was “very against the grain” at the time. However, after a successful launch of the Mighty Patch on Amazon—in which their original inventory sold out in just 90 days—Ryhu and her team were ready for mainstream success.
By 2022, the brand had garnered over $100 million in sales, and agreed to be acquired by Arm & Hammer, Nair, and OxiClean parent company Church & Dwight for $630 million.
“I never in a million years thought that Hero would be as successful as we are,” Rhyu said.
Exposure to cultures around the globe not only inspired Rhyu’s business, it's been a constant theme throughout her time as chief executive officer of Hero Cosmetics. After leaving Seoul in 2014, Rhyu eventually relocated to Paris for six years, where she continued to run her New York City-based company.
“I have been traveling a lot for the past six to seven years,” she said. “When I was living in Paris, I was doing three weeks in Paris, one week in New York, so I was definitely a pro.”
The CEO recently decided to move back to the U.S., settling in Los Angeles. While she’s still living in a different timezone than Hero’s HQ, it doesn’t make her any less involved.
She says her key is not work-life balance, but work-life integration.
“It's really just about finding a schedule that works for you. It’ll be different for everyone,” she said. “I don’t think we can expect anyone to be on all the time, 24/7.”
The founder gave Fortune an exclusive look at her daily routine, which kicks off bright and early at 6 a.m.
With good skin care, comes great nutrition
6:00 a.m.: As soon as she rises, Rhyu prioritizes breakfast “no matter what.” Her typical morning meal includes two eggs and a piece of toast alongside a cup of coffee. Following breakfast, she completes her morning skincare routine, which involves a quick rinse off with water followed by a Vitamin C serum and sunscreen.
Since the work day has already started for her colleagues in New York , Rhyu journeys to her desk and jumps straight into work, catching up on emails and preparing for the day.
8:00 a.m.: Now well-caffeinated and caught up on the news of the day, Rhyu begins taking Zoom calls with colleagues, which vary by day.
“Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I could have anywhere from three to five meetings a day,” she said, adding that Mondays and Fridays are “a lot more clear.”
12:00 p.m.: Around noon, Rhyu breaks for lunch, a meal she always prefers to prepare for herself.
Post lunch if she doesn’t have meetings, the CEO dedicates this window for catching up on work or personal needs.
“It's when I'm doing my thinking work,” she said, adding she typically reserves the time for tasks that are “a little bit more annoying, but I have the time and I have the silence to focus on it.”
3:00 p.m.: After lunch, Rhyu heads out to exercise with a personal trainer on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The entrepreneur recently purchased a reformer pilates machine, which she uses on her off-days.
“I try to incorporate walks because we live in LA and the weather is really great.” she said.
6:00 p.m.: After finishing up the rest of her work day, Rhyu eats dinner and spends time with her husband.
“We'll pull up Netflix or we'll pull up a movie,” she said. “We just try to watch something that kind of helps us wind down for the night.”
As for her nightly skincare routine, Rhyu always double cleanses (a tip she learned while in Korea) using Hero’s Dissolve Away Cleansing Balm and Tatcha’s Rice Polish Foaming Enzyme Powder. She follows this combination with a retinol or a hydrating serum.
“All in all, it might take me like five or 10 minutes,” the skincare CEO says.
9:30 p.m.: The last thing Rhyu does before falling asleep? Reading a few book pages, a staple in her routine that helps her doze off.
“I try to be in bed around 9:30/10:00 p.m. and then I’ll fall asleep shortly thereafter.”
