[People Met Through Books] Create Your Own Brand Rather Than Following Others' Trends

Introducing numerous copies
First Female Vice President at Cheil Worldwide
Currently 7th Year CEO of Choi In-ah Bookstore
The True Meaning of Branding
Is Creating Perception Based on Reality
Energy Comes from Being Useful to Others
When Working for Oneself, Both Individual and Organization Grow Together
The Growth Engine of the Bookstore is 'Differentiation'

Choi In-ah, CEO of ‘Choi In-ah Bookstore,’ is a pioneering figure who rose to the position of vice president at Cheil Worldwide as the first woman to do so, working as a copywriter and creative director. In an era when the presence of career women was faint, she cracked the bias against women with the copy “She is a pro. Pros are beautiful,” and during the 2002 World Cup, she contributed to the historic semifinal run by presenting the copy “Show your ability” featuring then-national team coach Guus Hiddink as the model. Until her retirement in 2012 after 29 years in advertising, she caused significant ripples in the industry and society with numerous ‘firsts.’

At this point, one might say she was a perfect match for advertising, but her relationship with the field was like a loveless ‘arranged marriage.’ In the harsh 1980s for women, she blindly applied to a company that said “We hire women” and “luckily” secured a position at an advertising firm. Her married life (career) began under the unfamiliar guise of ‘copywriter’ and was full of ups and downs. She also had to fight against prejudiced views as a ‘woman.’ Nevertheless, she devoted herself to personal branding with the mindset that ‘my name itself is a brand,’ eventually creating her own ‘value.’ And she succeeded in making “what I have desired by the world.”

The branding she painstakingly built over decades was also effective when she ran a bookstore after retirement. Launched in 2016 under her own name, ‘Choi In-ah Bookstore’ has endured for seven years in an era when books are not in the spotlight. By arranging books in a unique way, it reduced choice fatigue and offered the joy of sincerity to readers by including letters inside books. As the first offline neighborhood bookstore to take such initiatives and open new paths, CEO Choi In-ah has published a book titled Make the World Want What You Have (Haenaem), which contains her perspectives and attitudes toward work for growth. We met her on the 2nd at Choi In-ah Bookstore’s Seolleung branch.

Choi In-ah, CEO of Choi In-ah Bookstore, author of "Make the World Want What You Have." Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

- The book title is Make the World Want What You Have. This is also the main argument throughout the book. In that regard, what value do you think you have that the world wants?

▲ It is the power to look inside. We all live solving problems day by day, and to do so, we need to discover insights that can be solutions. Anyone with eyes can see the surface of a problem, but to see the core, you must penetrate inside. Widely accepted common sense is strong but surprisingly flimsy. When you seriously ask ‘why,’ the essence hidden beneath the shell is revealed. Many ideas start from there, and I think I have the ability to see that.

- Everyone has their own capabilities, but not all capabilities are flashy...

▲ There is a part omitted before the book title Make the World Want What You Have, which is ‘Don’t blindly conform to the world.’ This has been my principle for over 20 years. (Regardless of your capabilities,) you should compete with what you have, not blindly follow trends. Every year at the end of the year, books predicting next year’s trends flood the market. It is necessary to know and understand them, but first, you need a balance to understand what is happening inside yourself. Usually, people are quite passive about such efforts.

- At some point, a social atmosphere emphasizing ‘being yourself’ was created, but ironically, it also seems to be homogenized into ‘the path to making good money.’

▲ Just as you feel water pressure when you enter water, there is pressure felt within society. The more collectivist a culture is, the stronger the pressure. South Korea is dominated by a collectivist culture. If 10 people go different ways, there is no burden, but if 9 go the same way and 1 goes a different way, naturally, that person feels scrutinized. It is easy to think ‘I am wrong.’ In that sense, we have to try harder than people living in individualistic societies.

- However, knowing oneself and finding one’s own path is not easy. How should one look inward?

▲ You need to focus on daily life. For example, when watching a drama, instead of just thinking ‘That actor acts well,’ consider which parts you find interesting and why, or if you felt good today, why that was, and what points bring you joy. Don’t just end with evaluation; practice returning to yourself whenever you become conscious. Ask yourself, ‘Why am I happy now?’ or ‘Why do I not yield in that situation?’ If you keep asking yourself these questions, you will eventually find the answers.

- You said, ‘My name itself is a brand.’ What is good branding?

▲ Nowadays, many people do personal branding to be recognized. Some even make it their profession. But often, people mistake ‘making oneself look good’ as branding. There is a strong perception that good branding is making an 80-point product look like 90 points. True branding is creating perception based on reality. To do that, you must emphasize the reality. To become a beloved brand, you must actually be that way, not just appear to be.

- What brings you joy? What drives Choi In-ah as a person?

▲ At one time, it was doing my job well. ‘If you work with that person, things get done’?that was how I maintained my self-esteem. But at some point, I felt the criticism ‘lack of sincerity’ hurt more than ‘you didn’t do well.’ Since then, I have tried not to be insincere. Being useful to others is also a driving force. When my help leads to good results and the other person smiles, that brings me great joy. This is different from self-sacrificing altruism; it is about both of us benefiting together.

- Where does the brand ‘Choi In-ah’ stand?

▲ Some say I was the first female executive at Samsung Group, but before that, I had something that earned me that opportunity. For over 20 years before that, I recognized that ‘my name is a brand’ and focused on finding solutions to complex problems faced by clients or organizations. This is a long-term battle. Time is the X-axis, performance the Y-axis, and you must draw an upward graph. In the era of longevity, individuals need reasons to sustain growth. Efforts to find answers about what value to offer as the brand ‘me’ are necessary.

- You also said, ‘Don’t work for the company; work for yourself.’

▲ Whether you are an employee or freelancer, it is important to have an attitude of working for yourself rather than forcing yourself to work just to earn money. This is different from selfishness. It’s not ‘I got paid, so I’ll do the company’s work,’ but ‘I’m doing my work for myself.’ Of course, you may not have had good seniors or mentors at the company to gain good experiences. Still, an attitude of commitment to ‘my work’ benefits both the individual and the organization’s growth.

Choi In-ah, CEO of Choi In-ah Bookstore, author of "Make the World Want What You Have." Photo by Heo Young-han younghan@

- From an attitude perspective, it used to be common sense that no matter how good your work skills were, you would be left behind without collaboration skills, but nowadays, there is a saying that one genius supports a thousand average people.

▲ You need to know how to use people diversely, and for that, evaluation methods must change. The easiest way for managers is to set principles and apply them uniformly. That way, there are no complaints. But think about it: if Steve Jobs were in such an environment, could he have produced results? In a society with low trust, people tend to hide behind numbers, but that is an error of objectivity. You should think of it not as grading multiple-choice questions but as evaluating subjective reports. And when there is backlash, you must be prepared to be criticized and able to give clear reasons. If I were still in the field now, I would probably get a lot of criticism on Blind (an anonymous workplace community). (laughs)

- You were a tough senior, but juniors confessed that they cried only in front of you.

▲ When I was executive director, I managed 200 people, and as vice president, 400. What I valued most was making sure employees opened my door and came in. Since I had more information and influence than the person involved, many problems could be solved early if they came to me. But it was heartbreaking when they struggled alone, the problem grew, and they came to say goodbye before leaving. The message I wanted to give employees was to instill the awareness that ‘I exist to do that work for you.’ Even if the results were bad, I sincerely listened and looked for solutions together. I tried not to be cowardly in choices and decisions. I think my sincerity was communicated as ‘Unexpectedly, she listens to me very carefully’ and ‘She sincerely listens and tries hard to think together.’

- How do you personally define an expert?

▲ Someone who knows how to solve problems. It is the same for employees and freelancers. Work is problem-solving, and an expert is a person equipped with that ability.

- After retiring from Cheil Worldwide, you opened a bookstore and have continued for seven years. In an era when bookstores are closing one after another, what is your secret as a bookstore expert?

▲ After opening an offline bookstore, I kept asking myself ‘How can I survive?’ I considered the value offline bookstores have in the digital age, and the answer was differentiation. To distinguish from online, I included author signatures and letters in books. Instead of library-style classification, I arranged books by themes and held author book talks. I pour all my experience and training from nearly 30 years at Cheil Worldwide into the bookstore. The importance of planning applies fully to bookstores. The bookstore space is not hardware but content. Hardware is enough with one experience, but content requires continuously updated reasons to visit. We are opening new paths as a bookstore.

- Is the revenue on a growth trajectory?

▲ Before COVID-19, it was quite good to the point of ‘Is this okay?’ but during COVID-19, sales dropped to below 60%. Over the entire seven years, it is slightly in the black.

- When you retired from Cheil Worldwide, you wrote on Facebook that you would enjoy ‘freedom, rest, and peace.’ Have you achieved that goal?

▲ Not continuously, but momentarily. (laughs) Like climbing to the summit of Everest and staying only about 10 minutes before descending, that seems to be the way of the world. Retirement might be different, but I plan to continue the bookstore until ‘Choi In-ah Bookstore’ no longer works. Personally, I plan to write more actively going forward. Until now, I only wrote commissioned manuscripts, but I regret not expressing my thoughts naturally. I have a strong desire to bring out my thoughts and focus on writing.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.