What is your ideal office?
This is tough, but I can tell you a shared space around other people will probably never be my thing. I like being around other people, but my productivity is shot; I don't get anything done. If I'm isolated with no one around, it's magic.
Is a shower a spiritual experience?
Yeah, for sure. If you make the time for it and are fortunate enough to let the water run a little longer than needed, showering is awesome. Not sure if it’s spiritual, but they do allow you to connect to parts of yourself that otherwise tend to be difficult to access. There’s neuroscience behind it too. Studies have shown that being under water, especially in repetitive and isolated environments like showers, can activate the brain’s “Default Mode Network,” which is associated with daydreaming, memory connection, imagination, and creative insight. Your brain relaxes, external noise disappears, and new ideas tend to surface more easily.
It’s kind of a forced meditative space. It’s also probably one of the last sacred places where phones can’t really bother us. Oddly enough, the idea for GOSHI and bringing our first product to life actually dawned on me in the shower.
Who was your very first crush?
This sucks, but this weird cat puppet thing from a morning kids show in the late 80's called Dumbo’s Circus. I get why people develop furry complexes. I'm just glad I got it out of my system at a young age. I encourage no one to look that character up lol.
What’s the last risk you took that paid off?
I generally need to have a lot of faith in something before taking a risk. Maybe even too much calculated awareness of what the leap looks like before I jump. But starting a second brand, KOYU, was probably the last major risk that really paid off.
What word is overrated in your industry right now?
“Anti-aging.” You can’t really stop aging, but you can absolutely speed it up. It’s become a pretty empty marketing phrase and not one I could ever personally use for GOSHI. Aging is cool. More specifically, aging healthy is cool. It looks good on almost everyone.
What are the ingredients that make your personal life meaningful?
The main ingredient is probably sincerity. When someone sees realness in another person and knows what’s coming out of their mouth is genuine, it’s hard to deny them legitimacy and consideration. Sincerity is so rare now that when we encounter it, we feel obligated to stop and actually listen.
I’ve found that when I offer sincerity to people, they usually return it with their own, vice versa. I think most of us are just looking for connection and love. If you lead with that, you can mix whatever other ingredients in there to create your own formula or recipe.
Do you know your MBTI personality?
ENTJ. I’ve always related to the strategic and builder side of it, but I’m probably a little too emotional and introspective to fully fit the stereotype.
What’s the fastest animal you think you could outrun?
I can’t even outrun my 10-pound dog. He’s shockingly fast. I’m not even sure humans can outrun squirrels. Even hippos are insanely fast. I feel like 90% of animals are faster than us.
Maybe something with a lot of mass, like an elephant. I think I could confidently outrun an elephant.
What song isn’t a love song, but should be?
“You’ve Got a Friend in Me” by Randy Newman. I wouldn’t say it’s the most romantic-sounding song, and it leans more toward friendship, but if you really look at the lyrics, it’s kind of what I think we all want long term in a partner.
What’s the weirdest wellness hack you’ve tried?
I’ve done a lot of these. I’m kind of magnetically drawn to wellness trends and trying whatever weird thing people claim works. Pelletized testosterone in my butt cheek, PRP injections into my face, a yoni cleansing steam for my butthole in Japan that weirdly got me really high, lasered my weiner hair, eating shilajit for months… I feel like there’s no end to it.
Pitch us the worst possible business idea right now.
I hear these all the time now from random people and peers pitching their ideas, but if I’m being honest… mine sound pretty bad too. Honestly, no one, not my friends, not my parents, thought GOSHI was a good idea. No one at all.
“So in Japan, they use this long towel thing that’s kind of like a loofah…” This didn’t have anyone replying, “genius.”, but I knew it was an excellent idea.
And honestly, my latest one wasn’t much better on paper either: “I want to start a second brand and our first product is going to be a plastic cup. It’ll probably cost around $100,000 to get started.”
Do you believe in platonic soulmates?
I guess so. I don’t really use the term, maybe because I still don’t fully understand it. I definitely think you can be deeply connected or bound to someone without it being intimate.
But to touch on this, and something I’ve become more confused by recently, I’ve also heard a lot of people throw around the word “soulmate” while talking about multiple people, and then I start wondering what the rules actually are. Can polyamory exist with soulmates? Can you have multiple soulmates?
A soulmate sounds like such an anomaly to me, almost like “the love of your life,” and that feels like something there can only be one of. So I’m not really sure. Maybe I still don’t fully understand what a soulmate actually is. Ha ha.
What do you notice first about someone’s appearance?
Long before the brand, I’ve always noticed people’s general cleanliness and hygiene first. It’s something I’ve always been hyperaware of in myself, so I naturally tend to notice it in other people too.
What’s the kookiest thing you’ve seen in Los Angeles?
This is kind of grim, but during my first week living in Los Angeles, I saw a guy get shot in Koreatown. From what I understand, he survived, but it was definitely intense. It kind of set the bar for unexpected moments in LA pretty early on, so not much else has really felt comparable since then.
In life, what are you hoping to exfoliate away this year?
I need to stop working on other people’s projects. I love helping people out, but I have to set better boundaries on getting involved.
If your brand needed to have a warning label, what would it say?
Caution: You might like this and then have to buy it for the rest of your life.
