Ex-supermodel offers innovative way of dieting
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Lite & Slim CEO Jinny Hwang poses with the company's patented diet spray Nuvitrin. Nuvitrin gives one a natural feeling of fullness after simply spraying the product orally three times before each meal. / Courtesy of Lite & Slim
Nuvitrin spray helps turn off users' appetite
By Lee Min-hyung
Supermodel-turned-entrepreneur Jinny Hwang never dreamed of running her own business until she won a SBS Supermodel Contest in 2012. Her curiosity eventually prompted her to join the business world.
“Opportunity came at a very unexpected moment,” Hwang, 27, told The Korea Times. “About a year after winning the award, I went to Silicon Valley in the United States as an overseas marketer at a news application company. That’s when I met Yoo Yeon-jeong, the developer of the patented diet spray Nuvitrin.”
She then decided to sell the spray in Korea.
“At first, I worked as a marketing assistant for the product, but the developer later gave me autonomy to run the business. So, I became the CEO of Lite & Slim, which sells the spray.”
Nuvitrin is an FDA-approved dietary supplement that gives one a natural feeling of fullness after simply spraying the product orally three times before each meal. “Nuvitrin selects naturally-derived ingredients including honey, peppermint and olive leaf extract,” she said.
Last year, the startup signed five billion won ($4.47 million) in export deals to countries such as Japan and Thailand.
She said without her curiosity, her achievements would not have been possible.
“I majored in film studies at Queen Mary University of London,” she said. “But after graduating and returning to Korea, I wanted to become a model.”
“So I joined a modeling agency in 2011 and passed the audition to become a model for a fashion show.”
She then decided to participate in the SBS supermodel competition in November 2012, in which she won the Black Yak award. But even after becoming a model, she yearned to do something different.
“I worked as an emcee-reporter at a SBS CNBC’s economy program from January 2013,” she said.
“During the six months that I spent there, I was very exhausted because I had not gotten any rest since becoming a model. So, I took a three-month break for myself, to meet friends and travel abroad.”
She also started looking for jobs that can satisfy her curiosity.
“At that time, a friend who was running a news application startup offered me work as an overseas marketer for the company.”
“I accepted the offer, as I had not worked in that field before. I thought it might be interesting.”
The company then got the opportunity to go to Silicon Valley for a five-week training session supported by the Korean government.
“I came across a Korean doctor who had studied and developed diet products for more than two decades,” she said. “The doctor showed me Nuvitrin, which I thought would sell well in Korea.”
Nuvitrin’s developers were fascinated by Hwang’s global background. In addition to getting her degree in England and traveling overseas as a model, she speaks four languages, namely English, Thai, Chinese and Korean.
“I grew up in Thailand from when I was six, and I attended schools for Chinese students,” she said. “That’s how I learned how to speak both Thai and Chinese.”
She then went to England at 15 and continued to live there after graduating from college.
Her multilingual skills come in handy in her role as a global marketer for Nuvitrin.
“Two weeks ago, a Canadian investor came to meet me in Seoul,” she said. “He wanted to introduce Nuvitrin in Canada, as I did in Korea a year ago.”
“We are busy preparing for Nuvitrin’s official launch in Japan and China. We are doing our best to make sure it can succeed in the new markets.”