10 Lessons from 20 Years at The Top of the Beauty Industry with Dr. Julie Chung, Co-Founder of T3 (Sephora's First Ever Luxury Hair Tool)

In this episode, meet the founder you don’t know, behind the brand you already love. Dr. Julie Chung, Co-Founder of T3 Micro, gives the advice every ambitious woman wants to hear about building a brand, looking your best, and choosing the right life co-founder when she opens up about: How to use color theory analysis to look your best The lessons from building a top-selling beauty brand at Sephora for over 20 years How to use being a multi-hyphenate to your advantage The new standard to make your boyfriend, your husband What’s really going on with 12-year-olds running around Sephora Why exercising soft power always wins over hard power How to build a business with your family—and not lose your sanity Chapters 00:00 – Meet Dr. Julie Chung: From Surgeon to Beauty Founder0:32 – How to Shop Smart: The Secrets Behind Everyday vs. Expensive Purchases1:38 – How to Use Color Theory to Reinvent Your Look (and Confidence)3:40 – How to Turn Two Worlds Into One: From Medicine to Sephora Icon6:49 – What It Really Means to Balance Being a Doctor and Entrepreneur7:57 – How to Keep Your Two Worlds Separate (When People Find Out Who You Really Are)9:52 – What’s Harder: Running a Business or Saving Someone’s Vision?10:04 – The Surprising Similarities Between Surgery and Startups11:28 – How to Build a Beauty Brand Without Raising a Dollar12:55 – When to Pay Yourself vs. Reinvest in the Business13:36 – Should You Start a Company With Your Partner? The Truth After 20 Years15:39 – What’s Wrong With the Beauty Industry Today (and Why It Matters)17:29 – How to Step Into the Founder Role After 20 Years in the Shadows20:04 – How Much Vulnerability Do Female Founders Owe the World?22:47 – How to Survive a Hard Fertility Journey (and What It Teaches You About Control)25:11 – Why Teen Girls Are Obsessed With Sephora (And What Founders Should Know)28:27 – How to Capture the Most Valuable Consumer of the Future29:17 – What Success Looks Like Through Your Kids’ Eyes31:54 – How Money Trauma Follows You Into Adulthood (and Business)33:29 – The Most Unhinged Ways Founders Save Money in the Early Days35:14 – How Your Relationship With Money Evolves After Success36:24 – What People Get Wrong About Female Founders (And What It’s Really Like)40:15 – Why Timing Matters: The Right Moment to Step Into the Spotlight41:55 – The One Female Founder She Dreams of Meeting (and Why It Made Her Cry)42:48 – Rapid Fire: Beauty, Family, and Success Hot Takes ⸻ Become an HSR Angel in the ⁠⁠Global HSR WhatsApp channel⁠⁠! ⸻ This episode is sponsored by: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Pique⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Use this link for 20% off. ⁠⁠Frate Returns⁠⁠ - Tell them HSR sent you and learn more here ⸻ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ If you like what you hear, rate, review, and subscribe to Hot Smart Rich, the podcast supporting women who own their worth — in business, wealth, and life. ⁠⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠⁠ ⸻ 💌 Own your worth — and build the life you want. Subscribe to the Hot Smart Rich newsletter, the no-BS guide to startup life, consumer brands, and becoming your hottest, smartest, richest self, written by Maggie Sellers. Join 250,000+ women building wealth, confidence, and community on their own terms. ⁠⁠Subscribe here⁠⁠ ⸻ Follow Maggie: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices