The Ups & Downs of My K-Aesthetics Marketing Internship

The Polished Overview

First, let's get the LinkedIn description of my internship out of the way. As a B2B marketing intern at ExoCoBio, I owned the production of the company's official clinical case archive — a 197-case reference book compiling before/after treatment documentation from 170 global clinics for use by physicians, distributors, and partners. I built the editorial pipeline, solved structural issues like duplicate and multi-patient cases, and led design coordination with a freelance designer and executive management. Now, let me tell you about all the personal challenges I faced because I believe they’ve been the most transformative parts of my study abroad experience.

Difficult Challenges I Faced Behind the Scenes

        There were many aspects of Korean corporate company culture that were new to me. The fact that I grew up in a different American cultural background and my Korean was not at full native proficiency in a corporate setting was a very intimidating position to be in. I didn’t want to overstep or miscommunicate important topics so I had to maximize my “nunchi/눈치” (Korean concept of social sensitivity/self-awareness). Memorizing new things like the specific titles used to respectfully refer to upper management coworkers was one example. The social environment was also more reserved and intensely focused compared to what I’ve experienced in an American corporate environment, where the office feels like a more relaxed social environment. And finally, the fact that the surrounding environments at my internship, school, and home were constantly changing as I was trying to adapt to being in a new country proved to drain my energy sufficiently when I was trying to balance one thing at a time. 

What I’d like to Remember & What I Learned 

        I will never forget the grace and hospitality that I was greeted with by my coworkers for the entirety of my internship experience and for that, I am truly grateful. Looking back at my diary entries during the beginning of my time in Korea and during my internship, I was severely overwhelmed with all the new responsibilities that kept spawning in. The two main things that got me through large challenges in the beginning were my family and controlling what I could in the present. Whether it was my grandma coming to provide a home-cooked meal, or my aunt spontaneously taking me out to watch a movie, or my dad listening to me rant, they were all there for me along the way. I learned that when the to-do lists pile up, worrying about the tasks in the future doesn’t complete an ounce of work in the now. Controlling the progress on the current project and having faith in myself for completing the upcoming work got me through many nights of doubt. I thought that I had to do everything by myself and relying on people felt like a weakness, but in the long run of adjusting to a new environment it was my uplifting strength in so many different ways.