websites. She is also on the board of directors for Bang & Olufsen and Delsey.  But now, Chung has just taken on a role at Portuguese start-up beauty brand, Ignae, where she will lead its expansion into Asia, particularly China, and build its direct-to-consumer strategy. “It’s a young start-up, but it’s achieved a lot for a small company. It’s getting international distribution and its growing word-of-mouth, which is very fundamental,” Chung told Inside Retail.  “At the moment, we don’t spend anything on marketing at all. It has had double revenue every year, double EBITDA every year, it’s growing in a very healthy way. In this year of Covid, we still grew 30 per cent and it’s all just word-of-mouth.” “I was living in Shanghai when [founder] Miguel Pombo sent me some products to try. I stopped using everything else, I was just using Ignae and after a month, I saw the impact – it removed the wrinkles I had from working in China!”  Ignae was launched by Pombo and developed in the Azores, an archipelago of nine islands in the Atlantic. The brand is now available in select retailers in Portugal, Middle East and Asia. Its facial spa treatments are also available at the Terra Nostra Garden Hotel in Azores and the Four Seasons in Lisbon and Bahrain.  But now with Chung on board, plans are in the pipeline to ramp up its direct-to-consumer presence next year, something which Chung is passionate about. At the moment, 20 per cent of Ignae’s revenue comes from its e-commerce sales, without any real investment so far. “More than any other industry, in beauty, you need customer feedback, but most of the industry, especially niche brands, have grown by heavily relying on distribution, you’re so far removed from the customer. How do you get the feedback, how do you know what’s working in different markets?” she said. “I come from Net-a-Porter, a very consumer-centric business, so how can I build everything I’ve learnt into an early stage brand and build out a really healthy robust innovative business model?” By 2023, China will be the world’s biggest beauty market, followed by the US and Japan, so Chung is keen to see how Ignae’s products can be developed not only for a global consumer base, but also Asian skin and the Gen Z demographic. “I’m international, I’ve worked in New York, London, Europe but I’ve spent the last six years in China,” she said. “I want to use all the innovation [available]. When I moved to China six years ago, it was copying [other regions], but now it’s leading in innovation. I’m active with Chinese accelerators and I’m a mentor, working with start-ups in the space. I see the future before anyone else… I’ve seen what’s coming up in the pipeline before anyone else.”