On Monday, April 4, Beauty Marks: Unique Revelations for Next-generation Influencers introduced industry innovators in beauty and fragrance to explore the future of beauty, where inclusivity, passion, and consumers share the responsibility of pushing culture forward. I had the pleasure of sitting down with David Yi—founder of Good Light, editor in chief of Very Good Light, and author of Pretty Boys—to discuss the new generation of skincare beyond the gender binary.
What are some ways your identity, inspirations, and motivations aided the creation of something as intimate as Good Light?
Growing up in Colorado, I was one of the only Asians in a predominately white school. It was a space where I’ve never felt beautiful and always felt invisible. At its core, Good Light isn’t just inclusive; it’s built on advocacy for everyone to feel equity and feel as if they belong. We want our consumers to feel seen because I’ve never felt as if I was represented. When we collaborate with trans or nonbinary creators, we want to represent a full breadth and spectrum of identity, the beauty, and the power that comes with it.
When did you get into beauty writing, and how did your experience shape the direction of Very Good Light?
After college, I moved to New York for my first job at People Magazine in the style department, where I was always looking at beauty trends. ‘Who’s wearing red lipstick, and who’s doing this and that?’ Back then, men and masculine folks weren’t really using beauty. It was so gendered, kind of taboo. I always questioned, ‘why are we not reporting about the vast spectrum?’ Very Good Light came about because other websites were not documenting how beauty was redefining masculinity. I couldn’t find any information for myself. So I started it in 2016, and the rest is history.
At the panel, you shared the three things people need to find to be unstoppable: what you’re naturally good at, what you’re passionate about, and the greater good. How has embracing these principles influenced the way you work?
The greater purpose is what’s gonna get you out of bed when you’re too tired and don’t want to move on. If I launched Very Good Light as a blog about me and my daily life, I’d be so bored. It would be very self-serving and probably last a week. But I always thought about my community who would reach out to me and say, ‘hey, with the content I was seeing, I feel like I’m part of the community.’ That genuinely kept me going, that greater good of belonging and community that younger David didn’t have. I want everyone to feel as if we are on this journey together, creating more space for people who have traditionally been invisible. I want to reclaim that power that we all have within us.
What revelations and advice would you like to share with SCAD students entering an industry as political as beauty?
Beauty has always been inherently political, whether it’s women utilizing beauty to empower themselves when it was taboo at a time, Black Americans growing out their hair so that they could reclaim their heritage, or the LGBTQIA community bending outside the gender lines. For anyone getting into this, understand who you are and your values. The more you can learn about yourself and be okay with it, the more open you are to learning about other experiences. Going into beauty is a beautiful place to be but there also comes a lot of responsibility. Before you go into something as powerful as beauty, know the power and history behind that. Know that you really can make a difference when it comes to the beauty of creation.
A special thanks to David Yi for speaking with me!
Interview by Bri Shufford
Graphic by Fai McCurdy