Growing up as a first-generation Korean-American immigrant, these skills felt existential to me. When I showed up on the first day of school without a single word of English. When I visited a new friend’s house and felt lost on dinner-table etiquette. When my family couldn’t afford cool new shiny objects, so I had to improvise.
Because eventually, you learn not just to replicate, you learn to remix. It’s something more than code-switching; it’s code-hacking. And you can get so good at it, it becomes like breathing, a background process that’s always running. Many people who grew up “other” know it well.
Over time, code-hacking has become my creative asset. Being creative without constraints is a beautiful thing—but that’s art, not brand-building. Wielding creativity to build a brand and a business is about deftly balancing all the variables, from the mundane to the sublime. You have to know how to move quickly and how to take big steps, both of which require a keen analytical mind.
In early 2021, I was a couple years into my role as eos Products’ first-ever CMO. As we sheltered at home, eos was unexpectedly tagged in a hilarious, profane and super-educational TikTok that went mega-viral. Our cult-favorite shave cream was declared to be the secret for how to “bless your f#@%ing cooch” as a young fan pantomimed exactly how she shaved to achieve a “smooth @$% hooha.”
As a brand that had been active on TikTok for years by that point, we knew that a swift, daring response was the best way to keep the momentum going. And so, our team did what few brands would do: We printed her verbatim NSFW words directly onto our products, within just three days. What followed was a spicy, months-long campaign built on cooch strategies, hooha education and some very funny creators. Also, sustained business growth that continues to this day.
