The Quiet Builder: Jiwon Hong on Caution, Conviction, and Creating Without Permission

In this episode, we sit down with Jiwon Hong, founder of YesPlz, an AI-powered fashion discovery platform that’s rethinking how we shop online by understanding real human preferences, not just pushing trends.Jiwon’s journey spans continents and industries: from her teenage years navigating culture shock in South Carolina, to working at global giants like Samsung and Sony Music, to launching not one but two startups. Her first company failed not because she didn’t work hard, but because she built in isolation. Her second? She did it differently. She talked to users. She studied their habits. She listened, obsessively. And from that came YesPlz — a smarter, more intuitive shopping experience designed for how people actually want to shop.