The 8th New York Health Forum (NYHF) was held
at the Yale Club of New York City on December 6, 2017 with close to 100
experts, industry leaders of notable Korean cosmetic companies and executives
from national chain platforms. The theme of the 8th NYHF was “Powerful
Transformers of the Beauty Industry.” DoHyun Cho, the founder of the New York
Health Forum and the president and CEO of W Medical Strategy Group, welcomed
all the attendees with opening remarks. He emphasized the importance of
engaging in a stimulating conversation with the industry’s top entrepreneurs,
investors, government officials, journalists as well as marketing experts and
digital influencers to learn and discuss about today’s cosmetics advancements
and trends.
There were four sessions, consisting of 16
speakers who shared their insights and expertise on beauty and cosmetics
industry. The first session was themed “Shop or Drop: The inevitable path of
growth in beauty,” which was moderated by Yiqin Shen, the senior reporter at
Mergermarket and Dealreporter in New York, with panelists Hana Ben-Shabet, a
partner at A.T. Kearney, Marko Horvat, vice president of Financo Investment,
and Jaewook Yoo, director of Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency. The topic
highlighted the growing track of the global beauty industry, including a large
number of mergers and acquisitions over the years as well as major trends and
current landscape of the beauty industry in socioeconomic and cultural aspects.
The second session was titled “Embracing the
Era of Natural Ingredients: Eco-innovation in beauty industry.” Yisun Yuk,
director of business operations at Green Alley, a natural skincare distribution
company, moderated the topic on how to transform the beauty community into an
environmental-friendly industry and the importance of meeting consumer demands
for safer and cleaner products in the marketplace. US representative for isoi
Cosmetics, Kathleen Broderick also joined in the conversation to discuss about
companies’ responsibilities on ingredients and consumers’ expectations on
natural skincare products. Kristin Booker, lifestyle journalist and a beauty
influential blogger who was featured in Marie Claire, ELLE, and other prominent
publications, gave her professional perspective on creating beauty trends in
the eco-friendly scope.
The third session was titled “Building a Right
Platform: Key legal issues of the US beauty industry.” The panel discussion
provided important legal issues associated with the US beauty industry. Along
with moderator Joe McMenamin, executive vice president and chief legal officer
of W Medical Strategy Group, and panelists Tony Handal, a partner at Greenspoon
Marder, Ji Soo Yoon, compliance officer at Green Alley and Steven Shapiro, of
counsel to Rivikin Radler, addressed the regulatory of cosmetics and personal
care products. They also discussed safety and labeling requirements and
intellectual property issues, such as patents, brands and trademarks.
The fourth and last session was titled
“Powerful Transformers of Beauty Business: Online marketing and social media.”
It focused on how social media and digital marketing are shaping the cosmetics
community, providing an open space for industry leaders to interact and build a
diverse platform to expand business. Joseph Nam, senior associate of Madison
Bay Capital Partners, moderated the session with the panelists, Laura
Carabello, co-founder and principal of CPR Strategic Marketing Communications,
Sue Park, branch manager and brand curator at StyleKorean, and Matthew Prepis,
director of business development at SmartSites, who shared their expertise on
creating business models in the digital marketing landscape.
The 8th New York Health Forum successfully
concluded with the announcement of two WMSG Appreciation Award recipients, Chul
Kyoon Park, president of It’s a Wig, and Joseph H. Carabello, CEO of CPR
Strategic Marketing Communications. The awards were given in recognition of
their achievements in contributing to the innovation of healthcare and beauty
industry. The 8th NYHF generated a significant discussion on all the different
areas of the cosmetics and beauty industry. In 2018, the New York Health Forum
hopes to expand on addressing other various contemporary issues that are
evident in making progress for future healthcare.
Yeereum Chung, RN, BSN
Manager, Project Planning,
W Medical Strategy Group
Yeereum is manager of project
planning and management at W Medical Strategy Group. She also is an editorial staff
of WKMJ and organizing executive of New York Health Forum.
Grace Park
Marketing Specialist, Green Alley
Grace is editorial staff of WKMJ and
agenda coordinator of New York Health Forum. She is also a marketing specialist
at Green Alley