Selling K-beauty (Korean cosmetics) as a way to heal

With tariffs looming, some Americans are stocking up on everything from canned goods to electronics, turning their homes into warehouses. That includes South Korean cosmetics,  known as K-beauty,  with exports hitting a record $5.5 billion, up 15% over the first half of last year.

Among the popular K-beauty’s powerhouse brands is Riman, a billion-dollar, direct sales company that emphasizes a holistic approach to skincare and uses patented technology and sustainably sourced heritage ingredients from Jeju Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site. And among those who sell Riman products, which only came to these shores two years ago, is Pam Pargen as part of her Milford-based, direct-sales business, Pargen Paradise. Since becoming a Riman independent representative last year, Pargen has added 65 people to the sales team and 500 customers. (Among the other products she sells is Amare’s Happy Juice, a nutritional supplement.)

Pargen’s story, however, is not just one of business success but of a career pivot born of personal tragedy – the loss of her 13-year-old son Jack. In this, Riman’s Incellerm skincare technology – featuring the rejuvenating byoungpool  plant( Centella asiatica, also known as tiger grass)  and water infused with lava from Jeju’s volcano – has become a metaphor for Pargen’s emotional healing.

A Connecticut woman

Pargen’s life is a map of Fairfield and Westchester counties, particularly Fairfield. She grew up in Stamford attending Westhill High School.

But, she added, “Greenwich was my stomping ground. Our night out was at the movie theater and getting Baskin-Robbins ice cream.”

She graduated with a marketing degree from the now-defunct College of New Rochelle and went on to a successful career in that field and graphic design, creating M&M’s/Mars marketing materials and packaging for such Unilever brands as Dove.

“I spent my entire career in Norwalk and Westport,” Pargen said.

In June 2004, she married John, who owns a small family auto body business in West Haven, at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Greenwich’s Riverside community, having settled in Milford in 2000. Their son, Jack, was born in March 2009 with a severe brain injury – hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), in which a lack of oxygen and blood flow to the brain leads to neurological and developmental challenges. Pargen said she started Pargen Paradise in 2012 so she could still earn a paycheck while being a stay-at-home mom and full-time caregiver.  Ten years later on June 30, Jack succumbed to kidney disease.

Pargen said she was filled with a loss and an emptiness so deep, so wounding that she didn’t know where to turn.  But she knew she had to go on living – and that meant in part doing more with her business.  When she hit upon Riman, she became intrigued by its use of the giant byoungpool plant. While the byoungpool is native to China and India, the larger-leaf variety is grown on Jeju Island solely for Riman.

Byoungpool is known for its skin-regenerating properties — healing wounds, improving blood circulation and even preventing wrinkles. (It is also called “tiger grass,” because tigers love to roll around in it after being wounded in a fight.) The native people of Sri Lanka associate it with longevity, and Ayurvedic medicine — a traditional Indian system that emphasizes mind, body and spirit — has found it to clear the mind, perfect for meditation. While the comparison between giant and regular byoungpool is still being studied, the larger leaves of the giant byoungpool plant are said to boast higher polyphenol contents and higher antioxidant activity, along with the traditionally understood benefits of skin firming and structuring.

When it is infused with water from Jeju’s dormant volcano — Hallasan, the tallest mountain in South Korea – “(byoungpool) grows huge,” Pargen said. As used in Riman, this plant ingredient creates radiant skin.  And it has a lot of fans, with apparently 40 million Incellderm EX Creams being sold in South Korea since the brand started in 2018.

For Jack – and other mothers

Pargen has also established a charity in Jack’s name, “All For Jack,” so that she can help other mothers who have lost special-needs children.   She plans to hold retreats to raise money, so that these mothers can be sponsored and have a special day to enjoy complimentary massages, skincare, mocktails, yoga and, perhaps like her, learn how to create a business that enables them to be stay-at-home caregivers and still support themselves.

“I want you to know there is life after loss — and that light starts from within.”

Debbi K. Kickham is a luxury travel and beauty writer and author of “The Globetrotter’s Get-Gorgeous Guide,” available on Amazon or GorgeousGlobetrotter.com. You can follow her travels on Instagram  @DebbiKickham.