Christine Yoon is the Head of Marketing at Mosh, an online men’s health clinic making treatment more affordable, accessible and normal than ever.
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1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?
I am the Head of Marketing at Mosh, a telehealth startup helping men who are dealing with hair loss, erectile dysfunction, skin issues, mental health and more. We were born to make men’s health modern and easy – more accessible, affordable and normal.
My role is to build and lead a high performing marketing team capable of scaling successfully and my biggest focus these days is to build a distinctive brand that people want to engage with through a solid communications strategy.
I have 10+ years of diverse experience driving business growth. I have worked in management consulting, investment banking, digital marketing, partnership development, commercial planning, brand & comms before becoming an all around marketing leader.
I’ve worked across an agency side and big enterprises across B2B and B2C before landing in the world of startups. I can work scrappy and savvy with small budgets or manage large budgets. I can build and follow strict processes or hustle to get the work done in an MVP format. My brain is both highly analytical and curiously creative.
What I like about my role at Mosh is having influence on a dynamic business as its key decision maker, as the business makes its headway in disrupting the ways people do healthcare.
2) What does a day in the life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
How I start and finish my day during the week are on a routine. I usually get up around 6am to go for a run listening to my audiobook followed by a quick dip in the ocean – it shocks my body awake and I absolutely love it.
At night after work, I’m back home with my partner and our small joy is to cook dinner using a main ingredient that’s already in the fridge or the pantry. It’s like our daily puzzle to mix and match leftovers to invent something new – we call it ‘fridge mining’. We then catch up with our family over video calls and watch shows together on TV.
When it comes to work, I’d say it’s a lot more dynamic! No single day is the same and rarely does it go as planned (the joy of being at a startup) but I can still try to give you an example:
At Mosh, we always kick off our day with a standup which lets everyone share what they’re working on and ask for any support needed from the team. This way we ensure we’re all running in the same direction.
Then I’d check the previous day’s business and marketing performance metrics – we either get to celebrate the wins with the team (smoothies getting shouted by Mosh co-founders) or huddle to make a game plan on how to make today a better day.
Then it’s full on ACTION for me – I go through all my emails and go on to my Trello board to start working down the list of to-dos. This may include things like:
- working with the creative agency and media partners on Mosh 2021 brand and comms strategy
- interviewing candidates for a few open roles as Mosh marketing team grows
- directing a new TVC for an in-house designer
- writing a pitch to media networks for broadcast opportunities
- working on a new web UX design per our CRO analyses
- setting up a customer survey to get feedback
- revising marketing automation workflows
- having many exploratory calls about various partnership and collaboration opportunities.
3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?
At Mosh, we’re doing four days a week in the office and any one day at home. I usually choose Friday to stay home (even though I live two minutes away from the office) and this helps me get some house chores done (like doing all the washing) so my weekend is freed up for maximum fun and leisure.
That being said everyone at Mosh is invested and responsible for their work. So when anyone needs flexible arrangements it’s usually no problem as we have trust in each other to do our part wherever they are.
4) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?
A lot of people dedicate an incredible amount of time and effort into progressing their career – which is the genesis of burnouts and conversations around work-life balance.
But my question is if it’s actually the ‘balance’ we seek, then why aren’t we applying the same amount of time, effort and rigour into making our ‘life’ side of the equation more successful?
But rather than blankly wanting more ‘work-life balance’, I think it’s the most important to deeply understand what that ‘balance’ means for each of us – what truly makes us happy.
We need to think through our values and priorities – not against peer sets or cultural expectations but focusing solely on our own self. We also need to understand what triggers us in different ways so we can learn to avoid or manage certain arrangements and situations that would add to stress at work.
I would equate this to goal setting. We set our OKRs all the time for business, why don’t we do the same for ourselves? Only once we know what our happiness objective and key results are – both at work and at personal life – we can build a cohesive strategy to achieve that happy “balance”.
What’s helped me understand my drivers better was my fair share of exploration and self reflection. I’ve lived in South Korea, Hong Kong, Boston, New York, Amsterdam before coming to Sydney.
As mentioned before, I’ve had a plethora of work experiences across different functions in marketing at companies of varying sizes and industries. I’ve travelled the world across 40+ countries and sought experiences – snowboarding, surfing, diving, kitesurfing, bungee jumping, skydiving, white water rafting, climbing, sailing, painting and the list goes on.
All of this has taught me what kind of work environment I needed, people I should seek to work with and life I should strive to live. I’ve gone through a lot of trial and errors to be at my current happy place both at work and in personal life.
For me, work, life and balance is all about having a deep understanding of who I am and making concerted efforts to course correct and steer myself back on track to be true to that understanding.
5) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?
I’ve always been a night owl and never had discipline when it came to putting myself to bed. Waking up on the couch with lights and TV on was a frequent event.
But through COVID I promised myself that I would create a healthier routine and now I go to bed by 10:30PM with white noise on in the background. I’m sleeping like a log every night and waking up fully refreshed and clear headed. It’s been a lifechanger.
6) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?
I can honestly say my relationship with books has changed since I started listening to audiobooks. I used to be more of a holiday time reader but now I go through 2-3 books of various genres per month.
Most recently, I’ve enjoyed listening to:
- Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor
- Eating the Big Fish by Adam Morgan
- Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
Books from the past that have made a lasting impact on how I think:
- Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
- The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz
My favourite newsletter is The Hustle and I start my day with skimming through New York Times Morning Briefing
7) Are there any products, gadgets or apps that you can’t live without?
Even though I have a digital marketing background and am working for a tech startup, when it comes to my personal life I’m very much unplugged from tech, gadgets, etc. But there are a few apps I frequent:
- Combination of Magic Seaweed (surf forecast app) + BOM + Google Maps lets me plan for that perfect weekend getaways for surf and sun
- WhatsApp – video call with my family around the world
8) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?
From female leaders. Not necessarily only about the good but also the bad and the struggles. I’d like to get to know the human stories and genuine behind scenes of successful figures.
9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
Hunter S. Thompson said:
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”
No matter where you are in your journey of work, life and balance – enjoy the ride! What’s a battle today will be a riveting story to tell tomorrow. Have fun knowing that you’re the star of your show!
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