Her Story
About Janice
Janice Kim is the founder of Hot Girl Sauce, a cross-cultural chili oil hot sauce brand that she launched about three years ago while still working in the corporate space. Her goal is to make chili oil as ubiquitous as hot sauce. Prior to founding the company, Kim spent 15 years as a merchandising executive in fashion and beauty. Food has always been her love language, and she transitioned to running the business full-time about a year ago after seeing strong community support and sold-out drops. The brand is now available in over 400 stores. Kim is the daughter of immigrants and attributes her motivation and success to her family's sacrifices on personal and community levels, as well as the Korean sentiment of sunma, which holds that food brings the love from the hands who made it. She advises young women entering the industry not to be afraid to take opportunities even if they seem off-course, as learning from diverse experiences contributes greatly to professional development.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Janice
01What do you attribute your success to?
Something that Hot Girl Sauce is really built on is Sunma, and it's this Korean sentiment that Food brings The love from the hands who've made it. I wouldn't be here without everything my family did first, as immigrants, as people who've sacrificed a lot, on a personal level as well as on a community level. It gives me that extra push of motivation to really take advantage of the opportunities I have and build it to the best of my abilities.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't be afraid to take opportunities when they are presented to you, even if they feel like they might not be exactly in the course that you are headed to. Learning from all of those different opportunities, and working in different spaces, and working in different channels, and on different teams, is really so valuable and contributed the most to my development.
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