全然美「俐」的谷中百合

專訪Lord & Lily創始人高俐理

(2022 Editorial Interview Camp Group)

Photo courtesy/Gao Lili, Lian Pinwen

From a talented musician playing the piano and singing to a rare female engineer, her career spans industry, cultural ministry, and the founder of this association...

What prompted her to switch careers in the all-powerful workplace and become a new entrepreneur in Lord & Lily skin care products, devoting herself to business education? In the process, what mentality did she adopt to face various challenges? How many unknown stories are there behind it? Through this interview, let us see from her mental journey her whole-person service in God’s provision.

From a photo in 2010, Lily discovered that she needed her own skin, but could not find suitable, organic skin care products on the market. So she used the spirit of an engineer to develop products that are purely natural, effective in skin care, and harmless to the human body.

One of the founding themes of Lord & Lily is "Beauty for the Glory of God." Lily hopes that the income from starting a business can support missionary work. Please go online www.lordnlily.com Search for more details and product content.

Honest and upright whole-person service

Q: You have done literature ministry, translation, and many other ministries of different natures. The current establishment of a skin care brand seems to be a major cross-industry move. How do you achieve such a transformation?

Lily:In fact, I don’t think there is a need to transform. I see Lord & Lily as my ministry and my calling in life. I believe that everything, whether it is full-time service in the church or full-time work in the workplace, as long as it is honest and upright and consistent inside and outside, is whole-person service. No matter what I do, I don’t need to transform. My mentality may need to be adjusted and grown, but from beginning to end, I just stay true to myself and follow God’s guidance along the way.

Question: After serving in cultural ministry for many years, why did you choose to invest in the skin care product business?

Lily:God uses each of us as we are; everything I do is a calling in life. I have a keen sense of "beauty" since I was a child and like to dress up. When my sisters get engaged or get married, I will always take the initiative to help with makeup and dress up. I feel particularly excited and satisfied when I see that through my hands, I can help others show their best side and let every girl enter another stage of life with her most beautiful appearance.

When I was 50 years old, in order to submit new photos to Kingdom of God magazine, my colleagues in Taiwan helped me arrange a salon photoshoot. After some grooming and makeup, the photo surprised me: in the image, my face was full of tiredness, and wrinkles were tightly wrapped around my eyes. It made me realize the consequences of years of being busy and not taking care of myself.

Although it is a natural phenomenon, the message I preach is full of passion and can teach people to live a more abundant life that blooms with the glory and beauty of God. In the photo, I look like I’m working hard and worried. I feel I must make some changes and take good care of myself.

At the beginning, I bought various skin care products according to my skin condition: moisturizing, spot removal, firming... I spend a lot of time every night applying seven or eight kinds of essences and creams to my face. After a few months, there was some effect, but compared to the time and money invested, it was really not proportional. With an engineering background, I want to solve problems when I have them.

I began to research the ingredients of skin care products on the market and the effects of each ingredient. Surprisingly, we discovered that some industrial raw materials are widely used in cosmetics and skin care products. Most of these chemicals can cause allergies, even affect health, and cause various problems. So I spent a lot of time reading a lot, expanding my knowledge, researching carefully, looking for answers, hoping to develop skin care products that use natural ingredients instead of chemical raw materials, and started DIY skin care products in my own kitchen. My original intention was just to make some affordable, time-saving and effective skin care products for myself.

Make business a mission

Q: Please tell us how you started business as mission.

Lily:This problem is divided into two stages. It was a complete accident that I started this career. At first I just made it for my own use and didn’t think of it becoming a commercial product. For decades, I have been a part-time minister as a tent maker. In addition to my work in the workplace, I also serve in KRC (Kingdom Resources for Christ) and the church. Over the years, my health has been in danger. When I was on a business trip in 2017, I suddenly fainted while hosting a meeting.

The medical results showed that all the indices: blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglycerides were all frighteningly high. Because of my family history, when the doctor learned that my job involves frequent business trips, he strictly ordered me to rest.

During the recuperation period of the past six months, I was able to do a lot of experiments in the kitchen at home and "play" with skin care. Friends started noticing a difference in my skin. Once when several people were drinking coffee together, a friend stared at me and said, "What skin care products do you use? I want to use them too." Unable to resist their request, I had to reluctantly take out the crude skin care products I made. Unexpectedly, after a few weeks, everyone said they could see the effect, which gave me a lot of confidence and encouragement.

Then I went to see a friend and brought her a bottle of homemade skin cream. After using it, she immediately said, "How much does this cost?"

I thought it was just a joke, but she said with a serious face: "This can be made into a product, but now we are missing a brand." In the same week, a female pastor friend said the same thing to me. She was my intercessor and I asked her to pray for me to find a new job. But she said, "You should make this (skin care product)." At that time, I thought it was impossible.

At the same time, I had the opportunity to visit missionaries in the mission field and observed that the mission field needed to begin to transform.

Traditionally, missionaries raise funds in their own country and can only embark on the missionary journey after reaching a certain amount, which is time-consuming and troublesome. After that, I have to go back to work frequently to raise funds. If I don’t go back regularly to report on my work, my contribution may be lost. There is also the issue of visas. Many countries basically no longer issue missionary visas, and can only obtain visas for language learners or student status. A missionary I met by chance at that time had been in the mission field for six years and had learned one language after another just to stay there. Therefore, missionaries’ finances and visas are challenges that need to be resolved.

However, we have also seen that when missionaries carry out business in mission fields, they prosper the local economy, create job opportunities for the community, and at the same time receive economic supplies for themselves. Business visas are relatively easy to obtain because most countries welcome people who come to revitalize the local economy.

In Central Asia, I met an American missionary who had been missionary for 20 or 30 years. He mentioned that when he first arrived at the field, the locals saw that he was with his family and neither farmed nor raised sheep. Therefore, he was often suspected of being a missionary. spy. Later, he started raising chickens and taught local people how to raise chickens. Chicken raising can be managed as an enterprise, which not only provides job opportunities for local people, improves the local economy, but also has effective missionary effects.

Because of these inspirations, I began to think and talk about "Business as Mission" (BAM): encouraging missionaries to do business as mission, to open stores and develop businesses locally, and to do some business that can contact the local people.

When I first mentioned the concept of business as mission, I received a strong response, for example: business as mission is not that simple, and there are various problems such as funds and opportunities that need to be solved. I still continue to share the concept and benefits of business as mission. Once when I was praying, a voice said to me: "It won't hurt your back if you stand and talk!" Indeed, although I served in vocational service in the past, it was completely different from business mission. It is really unconvincing for a young missionary to try something that he has never done before.

Question: What difficulties or struggles do you face when implementing the concept of business as mission?

Lily:Words of encouragement to others are said easily. Once you start your own business, you can't seem to let go of your body, and you need to overcome this mentality. In addition, I am close to retirement, have limited physical strength, and have no business or marketing experience. Add funds, location, etc., and everything is a challenge.

"You should start your own business." God does wonderful things. He told me the same words through different friends and encouraged me to develop and sell skin care products as a basis for business missionary work. starting point. After praying for a long time and seeking confirmation, I decided to obey and give it a try.

God’s provision becomes the seal

Q: Please share the most impressive thing when you started your business.

Lily:Doing something that has never been done before requires God’s seal of approval. I chose to make skin care products because I love it and have the passion to develop such products; coupled with my past training and experience in industrial manufacturing, operations, supply chain, logistics, etc., this matter is no stranger to me. He calls and uses us according to who we are as He created us, and He also provides training and experience to become usable resources.

To commercialize kitchen DIY products, from "playing" with skin care to starting a business, you need a suitable venue, funds to buy materials and equipment, insurance and legal fees for starting a business.

I secretly prayed that if this business plan is led by the Lord, I would ask Him to grant funds and a venue as a confirmation. I didn’t make my needs known except to a few people. Preliminary estimates call for minimum funding of $150,000 and a well-equipped, functional laboratory.

Amazingly, two preacher friends who also had a missionary vision offered to invest. The two of them had a combined investment of 140,000, so I started looking for possible venues. When I checked online, an advertisement for a rental laboratory immediately popped up. I asked immediately, and the other party quickly replied and asked me to visit on site.

This is Ben Franklin TechVentures, located on the Lehigh University Mountaintop Campus. It is an incubation center where the government and the private sector cooperate to provide venues and consulting for new startups and high-tech enterprises. I think it’s all over now. How can skin care products enter such a research laboratory?

The person in charge looked at my resume and said, "You have had a very successful career and can retire comfortably." He didn't understand why I wanted to risk starting a business.

I shared with him the original intention of product production and the business missionary ideas inspired by what I saw in the mission field. His interest aroused his interest, and he even offered to help me revise my business plan, and provided guidance on various business registration procedures. He also helped me negotiate with Ben Franklin. After communicating with TechVentures, we successfully rented a well-equipped laboratory!

The laboratory is available, but the funding is still 10,000 short of the 150,000 I had in mind.

A single sister called me, asked me about my financial situation in a roundabout way, and finally said in a low voice: "Teacher Lily, I'm sorry, I want to invest, but my amount is very small, only 10,000, is it acceptable?" Just right. Meet the predetermined number in my heart. With God’s provision as my confirmation, I started Lord & Lily in 2019.

I thank God for these investors who are very evangelistic. I made it clear in advance that the purpose of this business is to serve. Even though there is no profit yet, I still insist on tithing all the revenue.

▲ It was difficult for Lord & Lily to start a business in the early days, but Lily was grateful for the challenge.

Q: What challenges did you encounter after starting your business?

Lily:To be honest, I am spoiled by corporate America. I used to have a secretary help me with a lot of things. Starting your own business requires one person to complete everything from product development, selecting materials and suppliers, manufacturing products, designing packaging, distribution, managing laboratories, accounting, and controlling cash flow... to every detail. For every product, I insist on using natural, highest-quality raw materials and ingredients. Often in order to confirm certain ingredients and the best formula, various experiments must be done repeatedly to find the best formula. Hundreds of experiments are commonplace, often from early morning until late at night.

Although many customers praise the quality and effectiveness of the product, sometimes I still hear customers say some rude words. I have to say "I'm sorry" to people often, which is a new experience for me. The Lord Jesus was a carpenter before he began to preach publicly. Did His customers also ever be too dissatisfied with things? In the past, in the corporate world, my team members were very polite to me; in terms of service, I was a preacher who stood on the podium to deliver messages, and I also received considerable respect. Now that I am in a position where others can be rude to me, I continue to practice humility and humbly accept all kinds of criticisms about products from others.

Beautiful for the Lord

Question: Taking Lord & Lily as an example, how to do business as mission?

Lily: When running a business, we will come into contact with all kinds of people, such as suppliers, customers, contractors, etc. Our words and deeds will become testimonies, and these people we meet will naturally become the target of missionary work. For example, some people visited the laboratory and purchased skin care products. During the company briefing and product introduction to them in the conference room, the visitors naturally shared their daily life and the challenges involved, and during the conversation, they ended up becoming each other’s prayer partners. good time.

The significance of business mission is: 1) The products or services provided can benefit people and prosper the community; 2) Run a business based on the teachings of the Bible, with honesty and integrity, and the spirit and character of pursuing excellence, and glorify God; 3) The profits obtained Can contribute to churches, gospel organizations, and missions; 4) May also provide business opportunities for missionaries in the mission field with excellent products and services.

Q: What are you grateful for during this entrepreneurial experience? What are your dreams for the future?

Lily: God’s timetable is correct. If I were to start a business when I was 20 years younger, I think it would be a mess. Because I am not mature enough, I would do many things based on my flesh and not my faith. Besides, at that stage, you still have to bear a lot of responsibilities. Unlike now when the needs are less, even though there is no stable monthly income, with faith, one can still live a very basic life. I couldn't live like this when I was 40, and I'm grateful for that.

We hope that more Christians will be willing to support field workers who use business methods to conduct missionary work. This is my personal experience. There are several people who silently contribute to me. Although the amount is not fixed, they will think of me. Several times in very urgent times, because of their support, I have a little money to use. The devotion of these people’s faith has gotten me to where I am now. There is often no income during the business missionary period. If there are brothers and sisters who support the business missionary with love and provide the business missionary’s living needs in the first few years, the chance of success will be greater.

If God allows, I hope that one day Lord & Lily can become one of the financial sources of KRC and can also contribute to the ministries that I participate in and care about. Even if the business is handed over to others to run, I hope that the person who takes over will have the same ambition to support missionaries who want to start their own business, so that they can have a minimum financial security and do not have to return to the traditional fundraising model to survive. Because there are so many opportunities and possibilities in business as mission.

Why do the Bible often ask the Israelites to recall how God led them out of Egypt? How come that during the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, the clothes on the body were not worn out, the shoes on the feet were not worn out, and there was no shortage of food and clothing? How to go through battle after battle and victory again and again? Because such memories remind us: God is watching over us all the way.

The same is true for the founding and establishment of Lord & Lily: Father God gave me a nature that loves beauty and loves research, and prepared me with knowledge and experience in the workplace. He also miraculously provided funds through brothers and sisters who love the Lord, and led me to a world-class place. laboratory. Counting the grace, I will be able to walk step by step with faith. Because God created me like a lily of the field, growing in the valley of His grace, and because of His constant care and provision, I can be completely beautiful for Him.

(For more on the theme of “Business as mission”, please refer to the special planning of the outreach unit in the 53rd issue of this magazine.)

On the day of the interview, the sun was shining brightly, but the air was still cold. A busy figure, carrying a bag of items, strode into the gate of the Pennsylvania Messenger Association. She took off her coat, revealing a well-tailored black dress, and raised her face with a bright smile and high spirits. This is the founder of KRC and the founder of Lord&Lily - Gao Lili, sister Lily.

I saw her greeting her friends cordially, caring about everyone's current situation, taking out Lord & Lily gifts from the bag, carefully wrapping them, and giving them to everyone present. Everyone who got it smiled happily. Sister Lily is so generous and considerate, and despite her busy schedule, she still never forgets to surprise everyone. We all know that during the entrepreneurial stage, she was actually under a lot of pressure. However, this does not detract from her caring and generosity towards people. She once said: "I am silly and never worry about money. I donate what I have. I have never been short of food or clothing. Just like the lilies of the field, God will provide for me."

Sister Lily's life is indeed like the lily of the valley, elegant and fragrant, always bringing comfort and encouragement to those around her.