"Seoul Tonic started with a 26-year-old in lockdown, a deep dive into Korean skincare ingredients, and a cold email that changed everything. In this episode of re:Tales with AWS, host Brooke Moody sits down with Sophie Hood, founder of Seoul Tonic, the Korean-inspired functional beverage brand now sold across Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the United States.
Sophie shares the origin story of Seoul Tonic: how a fascination with Korean wellness culture led her to Mr Park, a third-generation Korean pear farmer with patented extraction methods, and how their cross-cultural partnership created a product category that didn't previously exist in the Western market. From launching out of her Bondi Beach garage with 50,000 units, to hand-delivering 4,000 pouches to Woolworths Metro stores, to winning Gordon Ramsay's Food Stars, Sophie's journey is a masterclass in scrappy, founder-led retail growth.
You'll hear how Seoul Tonic turned Amazon US into its most successful channel without spending a dollar on marketing, and why Sophie sees Amazon as an offensive growth lever rather than a defensive necessity. She explains the difference between Amazon Australia and Amazon US, why the US marketplace rewards premium positioning, and how AI-powered outreach tools like Overjoy helped her reach 10,000 health and wellness retailers in a single day.
Sophie also unpacks how AI is creating efficiencies that make it possible for lean teams to build global brands, from validating ingredients with medical research to creating content at scale. But she's equally clear on where time and effort still matter: investing an hour in a single social media post isn't waste, it's community building.
This conversation covers the realities of beverage distribution, adapting a brand for different cultural contexts (from Sydney to New York to London), and why Sophie believes AI will make ""tastemakers"" the hottest job in the industry. She closes with her predictions for 2026 and practical advice for founders navigating growth without losing authenticity.
If you're a founder, emerging brand leader, or retail executive curious about how the next generation of consumer brands are being built, this episode is for you.
Learn more about AWS Retail solutions: https://go.aws/4jQRnFw
Subscribe to AWS: https://go.aws/subscribe
Create a free AWS account: https://go.aws/signup
Try AWS for free: https://go.aws/free
Connect with an expert: https://go.aws/contact
Explore more: https://go.aws/more
Next steps:
Explore on AWS in Analyst Research: https://go.aws/reports
Discover, deploy, and manage software that runs on AWS: https://go.aws/marketplace
Join the AWS Partner Network: https://go.aws/partners
Learn more on how Amazon builds and operates software: https://go.aws/library
Do you have technical AWS questions?
Ask the community of experts on AWS re:Post: https://go.aws/3lPaoPb
Why AWS?
Amazon Web Services is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud, enabling customers to build anything they can imagine. We offer the greatest choice of innovative cloud capabilities and expertise, on the most extensive global infrastructure with industry-leading security, reliability, and performance.
#AWS #AmazonWebServices #CloudComputing