Hot Smart Rich with Maggie Sellers Reum - 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)

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

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

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Are you ready to get hot, smart rich? I am so ready. Born ready. You were working out to get ready I saw. Yeah, first time since COVID. Okay. I was like, no, but seriously, though, and I ate so much in London. We were in Europe for six weeks and I was like, I got to do something.

I feel the same. Yeah, yeah. Okay, we always start with consumption habits. What is the last thing that you bought? then the last most expensive thing that you bought. So the last thing I bought is a pair of Mu-Mu-Mu X New Balance sneakers, white that I bought at Herod's. And those are really hard to find,

so I was excited to find it in my size. But the price isn't bad until they make you add all the accessories and the shoelaces. So maybe that's my most expensive thing. But right before that, I had bought, I was in Paris with a friend and had bought a Mu-Meu cardigan. I just, Mu-Mu is like the only one growing right now, right? And I guess that's the reason, but those are my two purchases. You're a Mu-Mu girl.

I am, I'm like mostly Kate, Roe, Totam, more quiet luxury, but I love the quirk of Mu-Mu, and there's a sportiness to it, and I tend to dress a little bit tomboy, a little rocker, which might be weird for a doctor. So I feel like Mu-Mu scratches that itch when I want to be a little sporty. I was going to say when you walked in, I feel like you know your color theory because I actually recently just did mine. I'm obsessed with it. And I can tell just by the lipstick color, the earrings, and even like the style of jeans that you have. You know your color theory. Do you live by that? So what's cracking me up is I have been wearing these silver hoops ever since I did a color analysis. And this woman straight up told me that gold doesn't look good on me anymore. And I nearly fell out of my chair. I have found ray necklaces that are gold.

I have Cartier bracelet stacks like everyone else in West L.A. in gold. And she was like, silver just looks better on you. And honestly, I haven't. It's true. And so when I was in London, I was buying silver jewelry. I had bought this right before I left. So I was kind of laughing to myself when I saw your earrings. I was like, I feel like silver is very modern.

But since then, and my sister did an analysis as well. She's like, Julie, and we're very similar. we look similar. It's sharp colors black. It's more blue toned that direction. So it's kind of messing up my closet. It's actually exactly what just happened to me. So I finally did it. And it is completely opposite from even, I put all my makeup into chat GPT. And I was like, like, tell me exactly what my color analysis is. And then what makeup I should be wearing. And then I've always been wearing gold jewelry. And it said silver and I'm looking in the mirror and I'm like, wait, I actually do think silver looks better on me. My whole like thing is messing.

up now. So my sister dipped all her gold jewelry white gold. Oh, wow. I'm not even kidding. Like, she was, she went all in. Like, she was told silver and she could see the difference in pictures with makeup as well. So I recommend it for everybody. It can be dangerous. It could lead you down a shopping rabbit hole, but I mean, it works. Well, I'm excited for so many reasons, but you're also the first doctor that we're having on the show. Oh, really? And my grandfather, who I didn't actually get to meet that much was also an ophthalmologist. So I'm hoping that through this conversation, I actually get to understand him a little bit more too. How did you go from, how do you go even daily? Yeah. From being a doctor to founding one of the most successful and longest running brands at

Sephora in the hair care space. So it was kind of accidental. I think as the daughter of immigrant parents, I was pretty much told I was going to be a doctor from day one. My mom was an intensive care unit nurse. And I was always a creative. Like, Korean women are extremely vain. And I've always played with makeup and hair and clothes. And so I really wanted to go into fashion, beauty, something, something that had to do with aesthetics. So that's always been a part of me. And as a part of a lot of Korean women are like that. And then I go into medicine and I meet this guy at a bar. I'm going to tell my kids I met him in Bible study, but I meet this guy at a friend's birthday party and we're dating and he grew up in the hair world.

His parents are hairdressers and he noticed that here's this med student who really is a repressed fashionista who has it all figured out except for her hair. I was constantly straightening it with Japanese straightening perms, you know, Brazilian treatments, getting like flat irons that were ancient and frying my hair, trying to get it under control and he was like, why is she spending all this time and money on skin care, um, you know, pods of Lemaire for a hundred bucks? Back then it was 100 bucks. And not spending money on tools. And he realized there was a huge white space in that tools were either $25 at CVS or $100 at Sally Beauty, like a salon distributor. And there was no in between. And so it was

clear that women who really wanted a beautiful high tech tool didn't have that option. So, he made me a dryer. He had engineers, had an idea. He's sort of a physics nerd and has product development history, came from the world of finance. I think he was born in an entrepreneur, and he just made me a super lightweight, beautiful dryer that dried my hair differently with the technology the world had never seen. And it worked really, really well. And he said, let's start this company together, because I had my own ideas. It needs to be beautiful. It has to sit on my vanity alongside my creams and blend right in seamlessly. And then we have to package it beautifully.

And then the big kicker was we have to sell it in beauty retailers, traditional beauty retailers. And back then, you're probably too young to remember. But hair dryers were relegated to the basement where the toasters and dryers were the electronics department or the electrical department. They really didn't sit next to skincare and cosmetics. And so we decided to change that. by getting beauty PR and approaching the hair tools category in a completely different way,

which was highly disruptive at the time. It was just unheard of. This is the perfect example of if he wanted to, he would. He literally made you a hairdriar as like a date. To woo me. Yes. Yes. Do you identify with one over the other being a doctor and an entrepreneur? You know, for me in my mind, this story is very seamless. I think as a physician, it might seem like I just treat disease, you see patients, and that's it. As a physician, I do sales pitches every day. So what's that pitch? It's in three minutes, I have to tell a total stranger to trust me to bring along or come alongside them and explaining their care

and then convince them to undergo a procedure that's scary. That's pitching. And I was doing that 200 patients. a week every day for years. And so for me, it already kind of came naturally. So when it came to pitching an idea, pitching a business, it was sort of already ingrained in me, strangely, through my medical practice and my medical training. So it was kind of an odd thing to think that that could train you to do that. Have you ever had a patient as a doctor that knows you're the founder of T3 and that has negatively impacted the work that they want you to do on them as a doctor?

No. Has it helped? So I'll tell you why, because nobody really knew I was the founder of T3 until probably about two years ago. Was that intentional? You know, 20 years ago, there was no founder story. There was no female founder API. Like, let me tell you what my mission is.

And so I was very much behind the scenes for many, many years. And so it didn't come naturally for me to necessarily talk about what I do outside of medicine unless someone asked me. So once in a while, I'd have someone say, Dr. Chong, you seem like you really care about the way you look. Because I was always a doctor who showed up in Prada heels, like dressed up, like done. You're an HR doctor. Yeah, I just didn't look like a doctor. and they'd say, like, what some people would ask me, what would you have done if you want a doctor? And I was like, actually, it's funny you ask.

I, you know, I do own a company with my husband and we do work in the beauty world. And they're like, now it makes sense. Or I have patients who ask me for hair advice. I have the cutest 80, 90-year-old patients who, after I take out their cataracts, they can literally see. And now they're like, they want beauty advice. And they'll say to me, Dr. Chong, I can see now, but because of you, I can see my gray hair. and my wrinkles on my face, like, what can I do? Because they see the way I dress.

They're like, what can I do to make my hair look good? What can I do to make, like, what's your skincare routine? And so you'd be surprised at the lengthy beauty conversations I have with my patients, and then it'll come out. Yeah, I also have this. And sometimes I'll give them stuff. I'll be like, you should try by dryer, you know, some of my patients that I really love and I've had a long-term relationship with.

Then it'll come out then. But it's been pretty separate for a long time. time. Is one harder than the other? Oh, being a business owner is a thousand times harder than being a physician. Hands down. What are some of the similarities between being an eye surgeon doctor and being an entrepreneur? Grit. I mean, as a surgeon and as an entrepreneur, a business owner, you have to overcome a lot of obstacles. You have to have a plan A, B, C, D, E, F. And yeah, and F. It goes on and you have to know how to pivot. So in the operating room, if I come across a challenge,

you have to know how to pivot and you have to plan for that pivot. And you have to expect that you need to pivot and have the grit and the stamina and the confidence to think that you can do something unexpected. So I think characteristic traits are similar, but at the same time, doctors are highly risk-averse. So any physician, most physicians will tell you we don't make the best business people. And so thankfully I have my husband who is more, he's okay with risk and has more of a business mindset than I do. So it's been a nice sort of ying yang where I'm more the creative and the visionary.

It's clear to me what we need to do for women and stylists. And he's the one who sort of pushes us to take the risk. But doctors are pretty risk-averse. So that's different. But the grit and the stamina that you need for both roles is, I mean, I mean, they're very much aligned. Speaking of money, you've built one of the longest lasting beauty brands of the last 20 years without raising any money. How did you do that?

Yeah, it's funny. It's such a long time ago. My husband and I were riding bikes yesterday and I was like, so babe, how did we do that? Like, let's talk about this. You're like, remind me. Well, remind me. And he was like, well, you just spend as much as you have. So, you know, we had about $30,000 just in friendly loans from family.

And with the $30,000, we only did as much as the $30,000 would allow. So we didn't have to plan out this whole thing, figure out a sales team, a concept, a brand design team, blah, blah, blah, and then get the money, raise the money to then do this. We literally just did what our money would allow us to do, which, you would do if you're not in a hurry. And I think back then the culture was a little bit different. It was more of a slow burn. We're going to figure this out.

We don't have to make a big splash from the get. We're just going to spend what we have and figure it out as we go along. I think the pressure is different now, where you kind of have to have a whole business plan, have to have this whole thing set and then raise money and then just, you know, immediately get accepted into Sephora. it was a slower burn that we, I don't think we knew to do that, but we didn't want to take on any monetary risk or burden without knowing what we were getting ourselves into. What year of the business did you guys start deciding to pull money out instead of just like

constantly reinvesting it back into T3? Probably our second year because we had four million in sales in our first year and made a million dollars our first year. But we made money off the bat. it really comes down to product being king. I mean, we had a dryer that we didn't even have to say anything. We just had to put into people's hands and have them use it. And it did all the talking for us.

So we were profitable from pretty much from the get. You just talked about building the business with your husband, who wasn't even your husband when you started. Often founders here, don't go into business with your family. Don't start a business with your husband. and you've done it successfully for 20 years. You guys are still married. Would you do it again if you were to start over?

I would. He balances me out really well. And he knows where to draw the boundaries. And I do think it helps that I have another life outside of the company. I think if I were 100% wrapped up in the company the way he is, and I didn't have this other little piece of life to myself, maybe it would have been different. Not that I planned it like that, but to get away and have my own purpose and my own sort of identity outside of the company.

Because as you know, as a founder, you can really get wrapped up and the company can become your identity. And that can provide its own stresses and tension between founders. But for me, actually, I'm just realizing this as I'm saying it out loud. It could be that I did have a separate thing for myself that didn't involve him. So that's my guess. Every ambitious woman has a secret weapon. So let yours be the Hot Smart Rich Insights. It's how over 250,000 women are owning their worth in business, wealth, and life.

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what is something that just pisses you off? I wouldn't say it pisses me off. I wouldn't say it pisses me But I would say something that's interesting is how fast everyone is. I think the slow burn of really building a company slowly is lost on everyone because we're all dying for a billion dollar exit in, what, three years? Did Haley Bieber do it in three years? Everyone's looking for that, like that instant success story. So I think there's a flurry of activity and kind of an anxiety of looking around and seeing what everyone else is doing.

and am I growing fast enough? Am I doing enough? Am I a good enough founder? Am I out there doing enough podcast? I think that rat race didn't, it didn't really exist back 20 years ago. I think it helped. We didn't have social media. It could be that rat race was there.

You just couldn't see it. So I think it's, I think it's a little bit frustrating to see these founders who feel this need to just push, push, push. It's more that I feel badly that we're in this position now to do that. Does that make sense? I agree wholeheartedly, and I always say this. You never let your boyfriend stop you from finding your husband. So if you get an offer to sell your business, like entertain the conversation, take the term

sheets, see what's there. But it doesn't mean you have to do it. And it doesn't mean that like it's something that you need to do. Or if you see a competitor selling their business, that doesn't mean that that is what you have to do too. Yeah. But I think one of the things with. social media that we are all guilty of is like comparing ourselves and seeing what people are doing

and just like thinking if they do that that's what the market wants and that's what I should do. I think it also just stems from fear, right? Because there are so many beauty brands shutting down right now and they are running out of capital. You started the company 20 years ago, but you just said you only learned to be a founder recently. What does that mean? Yeah. So it's funny, you know, 20 years ago, like I said, there was no founder story. I never had to be forward facing. No one really cared if it was a man or a woman, you know, who's behind Conner, who's behind Babelis? Like there was no, and we were alongside those brands and nobody really knew who they were. And so T3, it was the same thing. It was just marketed as this beauty tool, aspirational beauty

tool. So for the last 18 years, I've been a practicing eye surgeon and really the creative muse of T3, still very much involved in product. development. But in the face of these giant vacuum companies, it became clear to me and with a gentle push of our publicist who's amazing. She was like, she had your back last night. Yeah, she did. It's just that we need to humanize the brand. You know, T3 is a people and a place. It's a team that's largely women, co-founded by a woman, an L.A. brand, which nobody knew. And it became clear that I needed to do this whole female founder thing, which I was a guest when two years ago the whole team decided, like, we need to get your story out there, Kent's story out there. I was my first podcast,

was the second life podcast. I just felt like such an imposter. Like, even though we've had this company for so long, like here I am now trying to look like this female founder who has the perfect story and I'm going to tell you my vision and my mission. But that's, The irony is, is I don't think I could have done this in my 20s. Like back then, Julie Chung, who was only in her 20s, who started the company with her boyfriend, there was no freaking way I would have gotten in front of anybody to talk about anything related to medicine or business. And the funny thing is, is I think it took 20 years of growing up as a woman with life

experiences, with a framework of just being, you know, just living my life. that has allowed me to be eloquent, insightful, and be able to be a founder now, a founder in that I'm the face of the brand. So it's not your expected sort of female founder. I see these young, fresh-faced female founders who are so eloquent and mature and incredible. I just wasn't that in my 20s.

There's no way. So I feel like I was now primed for it now. do you feel there's a pressure with this female founder that you're saying to not show all the hard things or like the things that do make you cry or the things that still question you like to show up as a female founder and be eloquent do you think that requires you to only show a certain side of that story um yes and no i think a lot of female founders now are being more vulnerable in sharing all of the hardships that they have um So I think we're headed in the right direction and that we're being very real and talking about what our struggles and weaknesses are. But I also find it strange that women need to do that. Why? None of my male colleagues, I'll talk about my male colleagues in medicine, they never talk about their weaknesses in order to draw in an audience or to gain your confidence or to make you like me. Whereas women, why do we always have to talk about our hardships to make other women feel comfortable? do you think it's because it's disarming? Like for men, I think men are attracted to power, right?

I think women as nurturers are attracted to like that soft power, that femininity and like the realness. And for me, I can say from my own experience, like when my platform started growing, it was when I took the mask off and was like, my life is actually falling apart. I'm like calling off an engagement. I have nowhere to live. Like I'm trying my best, but like things aren't going well. And actually I kind of felt like I was living.

living a lie online, not talking about that because I was like, I am really struggling. And that is when the relatability came in. And so it's interesting when you, when you think about it, because I don't think I have the answer. Like we've had female founders that come on and say, why do women have to talk about their beauty routines? You don't see the founder of chomps having to do that. That's a male. But I do think that there is, especially in the beauty space when your consumer is females, that is what the female audience craves is that vulnerability and that relatability. Do you resonate with that? Yeah, that's, it's a good point. I think the really good point you made is that it's disarming. I think if you, I kind of cringe when people are like, oh, you're a surgeon and a founder and you have

this house. You've got three kids and you've got this marriage. I mean, you know, so then I, you're right. Then I'll say something like, yeah, and I'm doing all of it, like, not that great. Like, I'm like, you know, a jack of all trades, but I don't actually have any real superpower. I'm just trying to keep it all together. But you're right. I think you do have to be vulnerable and share those things to disarm people and be like, hey, I'm just like you. As long as you're not fabricating it, which I don't think women do.

I think women are pretty open and honest. You've talked about having a hard fertility journey. What did that change for you as a person? you know, when you're a high capacity, high performing person, which all female founders are, all entrepreneurs are, you're so used to getting things your way. So when you do this, the result is most of the time going to be this. So A plus B usually equals C. In the case of fertility, it's completely out of your hands. You may or may not have kids and there's nothing you can do about it. So I learned a lot about letting go. Letting go. And there's just some things that you have

zero control over and you can get angry about it and kick and scream and raise your fists up to the heavens in a very biblical way and say why, why me. And that's because people like you and I are used to getting what we want. You work hard and you're going to get a result. That doesn't necessarily happen in fertility, especially if you have trouble. So I think that's a lot. So I think, it was a lot of letting go and a lot of being able to accept that your life may not turn out the way you want. And so it was a struggle. I mean, I cried a lot. I cried day and I, my husband and I, he was like, thought maybe I would leave him. It was hard. Well, as a woman, a lot of our identity is wrapped in childbearing and rearing. And I'd love to say that we're, as a modern

society have come forward and we don't have to just see women as bearers of children, but that undercurrent is still there. So when you can't have children, there's a sense of failure. And I wasn't used to that, a sense of failure and of lack of control. And so I learned a lot about myself. I wouldn't take away that journey that I had. I think it made me a stronger person. It made me sympathetic to other women who have trouble having kids and who have gone through that journey or we've either lost kids or, you know, whatever their journey was, I'm sympathetic to it. It's also made me less judgmental. It was a hard journey, but one that, you know, I had to undergo and I appreciate in the long run. And I did end up having kids. I was insane. Now you have

two kids. I have three kids. Three kids. You posted a photo of your daughter's beauty collection the other night, which was insane. If you had to guess, how much money do you think that is worth? Thousands of dollars. I mean, she, well, the thing is, when these girls have birthday parties or any sort of holiday, they're given Sephora gift cards. And so she has hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of Sephora gift cards. And so these, I'm convinced 13 year olds, like, when I was little, we collected figurines or garbage pail kids or like, we collected things. Children tend to collect things. I'm convinced that lip glosses is just a way for a young girl to collect things, flavors, colors. The way she lined it up in that story that I showed you, it's her collection.

And she loves it. And thankfully, though, I do have beauty friends. So they send me lots of lip gloss as well. So a lot of that was stuff that was sent to us, thankfully. But I think this is not just with your daughter. This is a phenomenon that has been reported on by multiple outlets. And it's evident even if you go into a Sephora. 13-year-old girls love Sephora.

Yes. You think this is just because of collecting these trinkets and being a part of it, or is there something more to it being specifically with Sephora? I mean, Sephora looks like a fun and friendly place. Yeah. I mean, all the options and the colors. I mean, it's really a playground for adult women, but I think teenagers are really drawn to it because it's,

social media. But I really think, like, from psychologically, it's this idea of collecting things. I mean, that's not a new concept. I mean, how many Barbie dolls did you have? You probably had all the limited edition, all the different ones. Did you need all 20 of those? I think there's some, like, deep inner, like genetic thing happening there where girls feel the need to have all of this stuff. My daughter, I rarely see her putting it on. I mean, she'll put it on maybe a couple times a week, but she's not obsessively putting on lip gloss. So is she really caring about moisturizing her lips or having them look shiny? I wonder.

Yeah. Or is it also being able to tell her friends that she's got a hundred lip glosses versus the other girl? So there's some comparison things happening there. But it's fun for them. I think it's a way for them to express themselves too. I think as long as you don't go overboard, I encourage, I tell my daughter, if you don't let other things slide, this is,

icing. You're welcome to earn your opportunity to go to Sephora and buy these things as long as you're not losing sight of your sports, your school, your chores, the things that you're supposed to do outside of just being a beauty guru. But she will practice, get ready with me. She doesn't have a phone or social media, but she'll take my phone and do videos. Wait, this is so cute. How old is she? 13. Oh, she's the 13 year old. She'd be like, okay, guys, I just came back from Sephora and I'm going to show you my hall. I mean, it's just a different way of playing. That's how I see it. I try not to judge it because I'm sure my mom judged me when I was playing with my whatever 30 Barbies. She's probably like, what is wrong with this kid? I try not to judge her, but that's just how they play. As a founder,

so take your mom hat off, okay? Don't think about yourself as a mom right now. Yeah. How do you think about capturing that consumer because they are so valuable? They are. You know, I'm starting, for probably the last two years, we've started having 12, 11, 9-year-olds DM us. That's crazy. And the cutest one I got recently was, hi. She has a whole, she's an influencer, but she's a slime influencer, and she makes slime and sells it. But she's like, I love your brand, blah, blah, blah. And we usually just give them product because we want to sort of nurture and allow her to play.

and that $200 for a curling iron or a dryer is expensive. So we'll usually give them that. But yeah, just interacting through social. I would love girls to naturally come into it rather than feel forced or pressured to to keep up. Are your kids proud of what you've built? My daughter is. I think my sons don't care.

They're not the ones at Sephora. Yeah, they don't care. I mean, my kids crack me up because they'll, they like someone will get like fall over and be injured and and someone will say oh you know call Julie to come over here and take a look and they'll be like oh she's just an eye doctor she's to know anything about that you know she they like very much

pigeonhole me and think that what I do is not serious from medicine but in um I think my sister my sister my daughter really does look up to me for now but she's only 13 so we'll see I think in two years that might change she might be like you know whatever I do might be cringe but Right now she's in the, I'm looking up to you. You're so cool. Like, you know this founder and they sent me this stuff.

And this, like when I was going out the door this morning, my daughter was like, okay, don't forget to be hot, smart and rich, mom, you could do it. And I'm like, oh my gosh. Wait, that is so cute. Yeah, she was totally cheering me on. But I think, like, that is something so motivating for me if I saw that, if that was my mom. Like, I think it's one of the things we actually try to practice with my sister and her son, who's only three.

like she's away for the week on a work trip, right? And, you know, when she left, he was really sad. And she explains, like, mommy's going to work. Like, mommy has to go and make a living and not trying to make it like, oh, we're going to miss you so much. Of course you're going to miss them, but also just instilling this, like, work ethic in them. And that, like, if you want X, like, this is what it takes.

You guys are sold at Sephora and your daughter's obsessed with Sephora. So there's got to be like a coolness factor. I mean, she's proud. And she'll, like, she'll go into, like, she's a mall rat. So she'll go into Sephora with her friends and they'll talk about T3. And for her 13th birthday party, I had a whole makeup hair, just sort of teaching thing. I had Kelly Zings. A tutorial.

Yeah, I had Kelly Zing's makeup team come with a couple of her makeup artists come and teach the girls how to do. And all the makeup was from Sephora and T3. So she's, you know, she's proud of her mom. And to your point, I think it is important to send an example for your children to show that mommy is, yes, a homemaker and rearing you guys, but also making an impact out in the world and making her own money, which I think is important for girls to feel like you have that agency to make money and spend it the way you want.

Speaking of money, what was money like for you growing up? You know, growing up, I never thought it was scarce, but I think when I look back, it was scarce. It wasn't, you know, we never got on a plane to go on vacation. My parents never said we don't have money, but, you know, things were tight. My parents were immigrants from Korea came in the 70s, really paving their way, couldn't speak the language. So I have, my husband says I have a funny relationship with money. there are like insecurities that you have when you are looking at a menu as a child and you are like, maybe I should just order an entree and not an order like an appetizer because I'm worried

that my parents will think it's too much money. They've never made me feel that. So I think even now, there's a little remnant of that of is this too expensive or what if we run out kind of mentality. Which I think it's a good thing too, though, because I think having that not scared. That's not the right word, but just not letting your ego take over and always staying in that beginner's mindset, I think, is the right way. Is that how I've seen really successful people not lose everything, right? Because I've seen a lot of other people, like specifically in the athlete space, you see a lot of these men that make these huge amounts of money.

And then when they're 40 and 50, it's unfortunately running out because they had such an expensive burn rate and they didn't figure out like, how am I going to diversify it? this. So I think money just brings up a lot of different emotions for people. But what is the most unhinged thing you've ever done to save money as you were building T3? Fortunately, my boyfriend, who then became my husband, really spared me from a lot of that. But he did some really sketchy things. And I didn't find out until years later. So when we were first building our company, I also moved to Houston to do my residency and my surgical training and ophthalmology. And he would fly back and forth to, you know, manage our company.

And whenever he would go back to L.A., he would stay in this really dodgy hotel in Marina Del Rey that was 50 bucks a night. And it looked like a crack hotel. But he was doing it to save like every, but he never, he always hid that from me and made it seem like we had enough. and yeah, go ahead and splurge on that, whatever. You know, he'd let me do that and that nice apartment in Houston that had the gym. But he on the side would really just make sure that we were saving every nickel and dime. And when I found that out, I was really shocked. I actually got mad at him because it was very much a martyr.

He was being a martyr. I think he should have brought me along in that and been like, why don't we chill out on the size of the apartment in Houston and like size down on that and then do something nicer for him in L.A. But I mean, it was like a crack hotel. I mean, it looked so bad. And I was so mad. And he would price line it.

Is price line still exist? What is that? You can bid hotel prices. And so if you bid, you can actually stay in hotels for even cheaper than what's the listed rate. So he would do that every night before he went back to L.A. And price line it and get some dirt cheap hotel. And yeah.

Do you guys spend money the same today, 20 years later? No. I mean, I spend money. It's such a slippery slope. Like, first, a $2,000 bag doesn't seem like a lot. And then you're dipping into three, four, five. And then after a while, though, it gets really gross. You're like, you have to, like, look back. So I was joking around on my stories the other day. I was in Europe for six weeks, and I didn't step into a Chanel. That's amazing. If you talk to any of my friends, they'd be like, that is there's no way you did not go inside Chanel. And I didn't. And I think for me, I'm starting to really dial it back and trying to remember that bags, they get old even after a year, and it's a lot of money. And yeah, I definitely like nice vacations. My son makes fun of me. He's like it's four-star

hotel, not five. Mommy's not going to like that. So like, it's a slippery slope. And I do enjoy nice things. But I try to, I try to temper it. Knowing a little bit more about your story now, is there something you feel like has been misunderstood about you since you started doing these female founder interviews? You know, I don't know if it's misunderstood, but I have to say, I definitely don't feel like I fit in. What does that mean? Well, I just see these women who are so polished and have like the perfect story and everything figured out and the sound bites and all this. And it's, you know, it's funny at 48, you would think that I wouldn't be intimidated by much. But, you know, it's a little intimidating because I feel like I'm not in familiar territory.

It's probably more that. And it's such an unconventional story. And I've had to try and justify why would an eye surgeon care about hair? I've found ice. Is that a lot? I mean, people don't say it outright, but people wonder, like, what, I mean, does that even make sense? To me, in my mind, it makes perfect sense. It's about wellness as a whole. I think any woman will tell you, looking and feeling good makes you go out and do all the important things that you want to do well. Like, I don't know about you, but if my hair, like yesterday,

I was having a terrible hair day. All I could do is futs with my hair throughout all my meetings. It's not a minor thing to have good skin and good hair. It just a, affects us as women. It's part of our well-being. So for me, as a physician, it all sort of lines up. I told you my story about women after I fixed their vision. The next question is beauty questions. So for me, it all makes sense. But I'm such an unconventional sort of unusual founding that it's... But that's why I wanted to have you on. The founding of a founder. I'm almost like I'm founding this new role. It's been really, weird and interesting and fun and to be able to, you can ask any woman who is far along in

their career with children, granted, my children aren't that old, to really shake something up. The day by day can look like Groundhog's Day, but for me in the past two years, it's been extremely exciting. If you told me two years ago is sitting in front of this hot, smart, rich woman talking about what it is to be hot, smart rich, I would have never fathomed it. And so it's been a super fun, intimidating, exciting journey. I'm meeting, I would say the biggest gift has been meeting the most incredible people. I mean, just incredible women. And then in medicine, there's no such thing as really networking. I don't have to network to get patients. Patients just come to me. They have diseases. They hear about me through their friends and they come to me.

In business, what, and you guys are going to laugh at me, but in business, like you make that one connection that then leads to this connection, that then leads to this business deal or this collab, that then leads to this friendship is completely exciting to me. For me, I've been in my clinic, Lone Ranger, seeing 50 patients a day, no need to really network. And every day does feel like, it can feel like a groundhogs day, but in my founder life, it's been really exciting to see also the generosity of women. I've met women. I thought that I couldn't find mentors outside of what I've experienced so far, women who've done incredible things who've been so generous with their time and their encouragement. I just have a newfound hope in humanity. I know that sounds so dramatic,

but it's true. Just this sisterhood that I was never a part of and that I now kind of feel like I'm a part of in the past two years. Really fun. If you could go back 20 years ago then and start your founder journey building more in public and doing more of that throughout it, do you think that would have brought you more joy or do you feel it was reserved purposely for the last two years? I think this was the perfect moment. I think I have maybe even more of an appreciation that I have this platform because I didn't

have it and I worked so quietly in the best. background. I have some perspective. I think when you're in it from the beginning, you may not have a contrast, right? Because you're always on, and it is always in that working and the pitching and the, you know, but for me, I didn't have that. So to not have it and have it, that contrast has been very sweet because you see, I've seen the difference and my husband cracks up because I wake up and I'm just excited. Like I can't wait to see what the day is going to bring and what incredible, like random people,

like random founders DMing me. I DMD you. I was like, I want to come to my podcast. Well, exactly. Like I'm looking at, and then I was on your podcast listening to other women and learning incredible things.

You think you can't learn much the older you get, but this experience has made me realize how much more there is to learn and how many incredible people. are out there who are willing to help you with that. So it's been a super fun journey. I sound like a kid. No, I know. I'm like, I can just discovered something, but that's how I feel. So for me, I was, I was primed for this moment. If you could have a conversation with any female founder in the world tomorrow, who would it be? I recently heard the story of Anastasia and for the brow. Yeah. Queen. I would love.

love to meet her and hear her story directly. But I was so, I think it was behind her empire or build her empire. It was another podcast. And she was just talking about how she, her whole story, how she just made something amazing out of nothing. I was incredibly inspired. My daughter was in the car when I was listening to that. I actually started crying through some of, some parts of it. I just found also the immigrant story part for her to come barely speaking English and to build this. huge empire. I think it was really inspiring. So she's probably one of them.

I love it. Can we finish with some other rapid fire? Yes. Okay. You can only pick one for the rest of your life. A good blowout or good glam. Blowout. What else am I supposed to say?

Your 13-year-old daughter at Sephora or Airwon with your credit card. Ooh, Sephora. Airwant's so expensive. One loaf of bread can be like $50. I'll go to Siphoras. Okay. When I sell my business, I want the best tax and investment advice. I want to help my kids, and I want to give back to the community.

Ooh. Then it's the vacation of a lifetime. I wonder if my head of office has a forever setting. An IG private wealth advisor creates the clarity you need with plans that harmonize your business, your family, and your dreams. Get financial advice that puts you, at the center. Find your advisor at IGPrivatewealth.com.

Amazon presents Jeff versus Taco Truck salsa. Whether it's Verde, Roja or the orange one. For Jeff, trying any salsa is like playing Russian roulette with a flamethrower.

Luckily, Jeff saved with Amazon and stocked up on antacids, ginger tea, and milk. Habaniero? More like Habiniero. Yes. Save the Everyday with Amazon. It's filled by lip glosses. What is your favorite beauty brand that isn't yours?

Ooh, I really love Westman-Aitallier. You're a Westman-Talier, girl. I am. Okay. I actually saw her in Europe twice, and my husband kept going, go up to her, go up to her, and I'm like, I'm going to look like it's a weird freak. It's just like, you should go.

I literally ran into this woman in Copenhagen and in London two separate times. I think God's sending me a sign. But yeah, I just, I think everything she does is so chic. Sheik and sleek and. I think everything you do is very chic. Also, my iconic mermaid waves that like all the girls recreate is with the T3 iron. Oh. It's like I do it with the straightener.

I have a new product coming for you. Oh, really? I'll send it to you once we launch. Okay. I'm here for it. It'll help you with that. If my hair is not slicked back, it is essentially the mermaid wave. Uh-huh.

Or I'm doing a pony with, um, with curls. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's my look. My boyfriend loves in my face's back so we can see my cheekbones. So it's like usually my hair routine is basically shower overnight. I let it dry. Then I do the mermaid waves. And then I do two days of that, two days of slick backs, and then I wash it again.

Yeah. Yeah. See, I always tell people women have a routine. Yeah. We don't have 10 different looks. We usually have one or two. Yeah. So you're proof of that.

Yeah. Okay. Bob or bangs? You can only pick one. bings. It's just my security blanket. Is it? I've had bings and my friends are telling me to get rid of it, but I've had bings since I was like six. Yeah, it's crazy. I'm like the anna wintour of their style. I'd like one luck, but bings, yes. Okay, you can only pick one for your business, traditional PR or influencer marketing. Probably influencer marketing. Yeah, I, I, yeah.

Who is your, although I love, I love my publicist. She's incredible. Who is your favorite hair influencer? Do you know a girl named Tishmal? Do you follow her? No. I don't know what her full name is, but she's just got beautiful natural hair

and knows how to enhance it with tools and liquids. And she's gorgeous, and I think she's a California girl. You should look her up. She just has this glow about her, and her hair is done, but in a very effortless way. I really, yeah. Love it.

I love her. Okay, last one. What is your hot take on success that no one will agree with? To be successful, you should give your money away. Ooh, I love that. Yeah. Meaning you have to be okay to part with it. Otherwise, it can own you.

So success, I think success comes naturally if you're okay with leaving your hands open. that is my job. Yeah, that is my job. As an usual advice, but not holding on so tightly because that can actually, it could deter you or make you make wrong decisions if you're so obsessed with it. Okay. My community is literally the best and always wants to help the guest sitting in my chair. What is something you're working on personally, professionally, if like as an example,

T3 is hiring. You want to do like sponsoring community. events, you are starting a blog. How can the HSR community help Dr. Julie Chung? That's a good question. How can they help me? You can engage with us on social. I love getting feedback through our handles on how we can make better products. What can we do to improve what we already have? Just engaging with us, I would say. Our community is hugely important in what we do next and how it steers the company. So yeah, I would say that. But one day maybe I will start a substack, but I'm just, I have too much going on.

Where can people find you? I'm at Julie Chungmd underscore T3 and then T3 Micro, of course, our Instagram handle and then our website, T3Mikro.com. Dr. Julie Chung, thank you so much for getting hot smart rich. I had the best time with you. And I can't wait to have you back on. Thank you for having me. This is a lot of fun. Thank you. Bye, guys.