Seohee in Paris

By day she works in social media for a glamorous luxury brand; at night she walks up several flights of stairs to her apartment (in a building with no elevator) in the City of Light.

Seohee Lee’s life may have echoes of Emily in Paris – the Netflix show about a young, social media-savvy American marketing executive making her way in the fashion capital – however the University of Auckland alumna says her reality is a little different.

“It is very glamorous,” says Seohee, who works as a global social media and influence assistant for Parfums Christian Dior, “but, genuinely, Paris is not for everyone.”

Living in the city is expensive and, although she’s studying French, she says there’s still a language barrier: “When I first moved here, I was 21 and it was the most exciting time, but also the hardest time of my life because everything is much more difficult … I love the city, but it’s a city that really pushes you.”

Now 24, Seohee’s journey to working at the beauty arm of one of the world’s most recognisable luxury fashion brands has been characterised by talent, tenacity and a willingness to veer off the linear path.

While a student at Auckland’s Rangitoto College, Seohee learned about the University of Auckland’s Study Abroad programme, which allows students to complete a semester at an overseas university as part of their degree. It was a major draw to the University, she says, where she initially studied biomedicine, then switched to engineering.

However, it was picking up a marketing paper that ultimately lit a fire under her academic ambitions.

“I ended up doing a BCom, majoring in marketing and information systems. It was quite a switch but I'm glad that I did, because I otherwise wouldn’t have gone down the path to this career I have now.”

Another decision to switch – from undertaking her Study Abroad semester in London to Milan, where she studied at Bocconi School of Management – turned out to be “life-changing”.
“Initially I wanted to go to London, because it's a big city and where everybody goes, but I chose Milan instead at the last minute because it was my dream city. I love fashion,” she recalls.

“That was the best decision that I've made, because I was so out of my comfort zone. I was doing a lot of papers in data science and also a technology innovation management paper, which was super-interesting.

“I had the best time. I was surrounded by so many different nationalities, and everybody was so ambitious, because Bocconi is a highly ranked European business school. I was really nervous about going because it was my last semester and I hadn’t secured a job after graduation, but I decided to just go and see where it would take me.” 

The experience cemented a desire to stay in Europe, and the final months of her time in Milan were spent securing a social media intern role with a company in Paris running blockchain events. The market for graduate roles in Europe, however, is super-competitive, says Seohee, with most candidates having at least a masters degree. That prompted her to undertake a masters in marketing and creativity at the London campus of the French ESCP Business School, which led to her current role at Parfums Christian Dior.

The company’s products span skincare, makeup and fragrance, and her work in the social media department involves trend spotting, market research, working on social media campaigns and tracking their performance. Keeping up with the latest social media trends in fashion and beauty, and among influencers is also helpful in her other work, as a social media content creator.

Seohee says she started building her own social media presence as another outlet for her love of fashion and beauty, and to build a supplementary income source.

“I'm always looking at influencer content for my work, so I’m constantly learning and getting inspired. Creating my own content allows me to execute some of that learning and share the personal journey that I’m on.

“I’m doing what I love right now, but one day I would love to start my own business.”

Inspired by her business-owning dad, Seohee says she has aspired to be her own boss since childhood. While at the University of Auckland, she nurtured her ambitions by getting involved in the Velocity entrepreneurship development programme, delivered by the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

She first became involved in her second year after attending an inspiring talk from a founder, joining the Velocity marketing team and later becoming its marketing lead. Over two years, she helped shape Velocity’s marketing strategy, coordinated campaigns across social media, email and the website and led initiatives such as the Velocity $100K Challenge, where students pitch their business ideas for investment and incubation.

Ultimately, she says she’d love to create a venture that merges her passions for luxury fashion, social media, AI and inspiring others.

“I love sharing the message through my content that if you really want to move abroad and live your dream life, you can. I’ve had so many great messages and chats with people about this through the content I create; it’s something I'm very passionate about and would love to continue.” 

– Caitlin Sykes