Exclusive Interview : Pop Culturalist Chats With Sarah Suk

Made in Korea is Sarah Suk’s debut novel. This is a feel-good vibe rom-com, but in book form. It’s been described as Frankly in Love meets Netflix’s Start-Up.

Two Korean American teenagers have rival K-beauty businesses at their high school. Valerie and her cousin Charlie run one of the most popular student ventures: V & C K-Beauty. Wes Jung is the new kid in class and his mom handed him a bunch of K-Pop branded products to “make new friends”. He sees this as his chance to sell the products, so that he can attend music school because his parents refuse to pay for him to go to a music school. He doesn’t realize that he just became V & C K-Beauty’s competitor. As they try to outdo one another, sparks fly, and things escalate quickly when spies are hired and bets are made. One thing’s for sure: only one Korean business will make it in the end.

Pop Culturalist got the chance to interview Sarah Suk on her debut!

PC: Do you have any K-drama recs for fans of Made in Korea?
Sarah: I recently watched Romance is a Bonus Book on Netflix (slowly catching up on my never-ending To Watch List!). It features a very sweet romance while also focusing on the main characters’ personal journeys, which I think fans of Made in Korea will enjoy. Plus, it takes place in a seriously beautiful, cozy publishing company. Major bookshelf envy. I’ve also heard great things about True Beauty, which takes place in high school and features a girl who masters makeup by binge-watching tutorials online. I haven’t seen it myself yet, but a friend told me that it reminded her of Made in Korea, so I’ll definitely be adding it to my list!

PC: Who was your favorite and least favorite character?
Sarah: Oh man. This feels like an impossible question. I love all my characters for different reasons, though if I had to choose, I’d say I have a soft spot for Valerie and her ambitious, laser-vision approach to life. In terms of least favorite character…I will respectfully pass.[laughs]

PC: I loved that you included a character with eczema. Were there any parts in the book that was fictional or were all of it from your experience?
Sarah: That was from my experience. I’ve had eczema since I was a kid, so it’s been part of my life for a very long time. For me, my condition ranges from moderate to severe, so the good days are good and the bad days can get really disheartening. Like Pauline, the character in the book who has eczema, I don’t experiment with many beauty products to avoid flare-ups, but writing Made in Korea was a fun way for me to dive into the K-beauty world and explore it in my own way.

PC: The book focuses on K-Pop-inspired makeup. Do you have a favorite K-Pop band and bias? If yes, who is it? And if you have one, who is your bias-wrecker?
Sarah: Oh yes! I’m going to cheat a bit and split this question into a two-parter. [laughs] First, let’s talk girl groups: my favorite is Mamamoo and my bias is Hwasa. I absolutely love her voice and her solo album Maria is really excellent.

My bias-wrecker would be Solar because her YouTube channel is hilarious and watching her is always so refreshing. As for boy groups, it’s gotta be BTS. My bias is J-Hope, which I landed on after much flip-flopping. I’m just drawn to his bright and grounded energy. My bias-wrecker is pretty much everyone else in the group.

PC: Who or what inspired you to write Made in Korea?
Sarah: My inspiration for Made in Korea began with the desire to write a fun, contemporary, unapologetically Korean diaspora story. It started with a seed when I thought, “it would be fun to write about Korean teens selling K-beauty products at school, but I don’t know what else they do yet” and it just kept on growing from there.

PC: Are you more like Wes, Valerie, or Samantha? (And why?)
Sarah: There’s a piece of me in each of them for sure, but I would say I’m most like Wes. I resonate with his love of the arts, people-pleasing nature, and tendency to see the best in others.

PC: Who was the easiest and hardest character to write?
Sarah: Wes was the easiest, maybe because I relate to him the most. The hardest, I would say, was both Valerie and Wes’ parents. It took me a few tries to get to know them and convey them in a way that felt both honest and fleshed out.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Favorite quarantine show to binge-watch?
Sarah: WandaVision! I watched this weekly while it was coming out, but all the episodes are on Disney+ now, so it can very easily be binge-watched.

PC: Favorite book?
Sarah: I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson.

PC: Favorite song to listen to while writing Made in Korea?
Sarah: “Way Back Home” by Shaun.

PC: Do you also watch any other Asian dramas?
Sarah: Not a lot of dramas, but I do watch anime. Right now I’m watching Jujutsu Kaisen.

PC: Are you a plotter, a pantser, or a plantser (combination)?
Sarah: I’m a former pantser turned plantser.

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for a complimentary ARC (Advanced Reader’s Copy) of Made in Korea!

Follow Sarah Suk online here!