‘I will never allow anyone to shame me for being Asian’ – skincare entrepreneur Phoebe Song on America’s ‘covert’ racism problem

Phoebe Song is the founder of Snow Fox Skincare, and her story as an Asian entrepreneur trying to break into the US and other Western markets is a shocking but perhaps familiar one to others in her position. Song suffers from inflammatory rosacea and wanted to create something that would be powerful but suitable for sensitive skin, and Snow Fox specialises in products that feature a blend of traditional Eastern concepts and modern technology.

This should be just the kind of brand that would appeal to Western buyers, but her experiences show that prejudices are alive and well, even in the glossy world of luxury skincare. Here is her story.

As told to Jacqueline Tsang

In Asia, I am not a minority. As an Australian-born Chinese, I may be considered different, but racially we are all Asian so there's no race-based stereotyping among our own. The main challenges I had in Asia were about my cultural mindset. For example, I'm considered very “Westernised” in my thinking and it can lead to some discomfort, especially with the older generations who have certain beliefs about gender and age. In the West, I've got so much more freedom and support as a 35-year-old female entrepreneur, though as a racial minority, the issues are more about gender and race rather than age.

I grew up during Australia's One Nation/White Australia campaign in the 90s and it was rough. Grown men threw cans at me for walking past them on the street as a non-white child. I saw Indians and other Asians get heckled, abused and threatened in public. It was an overt racism that came with public bullying, violence and cruelty. Then came the new wave of “covert racism” – the type of subtle, cultural, systematic discrimination hidden carefully underneath a politically correct culture, designed to escape being called out while still just as damaging to the groups that it targets. It's incredibly dangerous and needs to be looked at because it can take a lot longer to identify and it's easy to dismiss the impact on its victims.

I don't mind ignorance as it can be fixed with knowledge. We are all ignorant to a degree, as no one is a cultural genius of the world. Racism is another thing altogether – it's an active type of discrimination based on dislike, hate or perceived superiority over a certain racial group.

I've seen both ignorance and racism in my work and personal life, but mainly ignorance. For example, I've lost sales after potential customers met me in person. Once they met me, they said that they didn't want another “cheap, Korean brand” and subsequently we were rejected. I remember wondering if my price list was even looked at, because our pricing is not cheap at all! One of the times it happened, I gently tried to explain that their assumption of my brand was not correct, but it made everyone extremely uncomfortable. It reflected poorly on me, as if I was pulling the “race card” unnecessarily. So there was no winning, it was impossible. If I called it out, I lost. If I said nothing, I lost.

This is the reality of being an Asian face behind a brand. Our colour becomes a factor in the West – sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not, but it will definitely be there. I'm very proud of my Asian heritage and will never allow anyone to shame me for it, so for me, ignorance is something I look forward to solving by reaching out and showing people better through friendship. I've also changed certain beliefs I had after meeting different people. Right now, as Covid-19 peaks throughout the West, there are many stories of Asian people getting targeted in the streets.

My worst experience as an entrepreneur of colour was with a New York-based PR agency. This agency currently represents large beauty brands with hundreds of stores in Asia and even a celebrity brand. When I first went to visit their office, I was uncomfortable about one thing: I barely saw any staff of colour. In a diverse place like NYC, it seemed like purposeful selection. When I brought this up, I was told by our local consultant that I was being too sensitive and it was brushed off. So we signed on at an expensive monthly retainer but by the time we tried to exit, our contract was breached – basically they didn't bother to complete the scope of work. When we brought up service issues and disputed the breaches, instead of apologising or trying to make amends, the owner of the agency immediately resorted to sending me insults and threats to try and intimidate us into paying for incomplete work.