This time, we interviewed Ms. Iwasaki, a writer for a beauty magazine and a member of ampule Boostars★.

We asked her about her daily work, her views on beauty, and how she makes use of the information provided by ampule Boostars★.

What is “ampule Boosters★”?
ampule Boosters★ is a community of beauty writers who share our activities.
We provide a place where ampule not only sends out information on beauty trends, but also helps writers to connect with each other.

——Tell us about your current work.

I am a writer for “Bi-ST,” a beauty magazine for 40-somethings. Even though I am a writer, I am responsible for a wide range of necessary tasks, from planning interviews to drafting plans, casting, and coordinating at photo shoots. To be honest, I became a writer thinking I would just write, so I was surprised at the breadth of my duties.

I also serve as a judge for the biannual Bespectacled Cosmetics competition. One of my important jobs is to try out many of the new cosmetics that come out that year anyway, and vote and comment on them.

I also hold a doctorate in the field of welfare and teach as a faculty member at a university. In particular, I specialize in “beauty welfare” and wrote my doctoral dissertation on it, and I have also spent a long time in the field as a social worker. I think that I am able to serve as a judge for Bespos despite my short career as a writer because of my “special background”.

——How did you come to face beauty?

Originally, I have lived my life far from being a beauty writer. My parents were both unusually beauty-conscious people, and from childhood I hated being compared to them or being told that I didn’t look like them. So I chose a life of hard work in academia. I was dealing with beauty as an academic subject, but I had no idea what to do with my own beauty.

Then I entered my mid-40s and entered a dark period in my health and appearance due to menopause. Every day was really hard and I was getting frustrated with my current situation. It was during this time that I happened to see a call for writers for “Bi-ST” on Instagram. I had worked for another magazine when I was younger, so I thought, “I would like to be on the creative side this time,” and applied.

Up until then, I had only worked in hospitals and schools, so I was only called “teacher. I had lived in a closed space, without anyone to get angry at. When I joined the editorial department, I was so surprised to be called by name and to have other people get angry at me (laughs).

——What do you find most rewarding about your job?

The first is, after all, to see my project appear in the magazine. I am still happy to see the work of my team, including photographers, hair and makeup artists, and models, take shape and be released.

The second is to discover reader models. There are many women who are not connected to society like I used to be, influencers who are not so buzzed about, and other people who are like gemstones, like ordinary housewives. We can find such gemstones on the street and introduce them as reader models, including their way of life. Not only the models themselves, but also their children are very happy to see them. Once they enter the home, their connection with society tends to fade away, so it is very rewarding to have them appear in magazines and help them gain confidence and broaden their lives.

——Please tell us about your encounter with ampule.

I was introduced to ampule by an acquaintance. I became interested in ampule when I learned that there was a closed community that disseminated beauty trends. We writers don’t have much interaction with people from other companies, so I was attracted to the fact that we could get trend information and meet people from other media by joining ampule Boosters★.

——How are you using ampule’s information?

I am in charge of a wide range of projects from Korean cosmetics to men’s beauty, so it is hard for me to keep up with the ever-changing information. That’s when the information provided by ampule is very helpful. I often check out ampule’s research before planning meetings and use the quantitative data to give weight to my statements.

Nowadays, people of all ages and genders are sending out beauty information, even if they are not from the media or manufacturers. In the past, trends were initiated by the media and manufacturers, but now trends are being created daily by ordinary users.

Even in such an era, we as media need to continue to propose trends. It is not enough to “keep up” with user-submitted trends, but it is very important to “know” them. In order to grasp trends with a sense of speed and then propose “what’s next,” I think a community like ampule that “predicts and analyzes the next trend” and transmits the information is invaluable.

I would like to continue to use ampule as a “living reference book” as there are limits to the amount of information I can gather on my own.

——Is there anything about ampule’s “Empower J-Beauty” that you can relate to?

I really like the word “empower.” Social worker is also an empowering job, so it has a connection to my life.

I also love Japan, so I can really relate to the concept of boosting the Japanese beauty industry.

I always think that “J-Beauty” should have more confidence. There are many things that Japan can be proud of in the world, such as anime and automobiles, but I think beauty is one of them. I think beauty is one of them. Even Korean beauty is as good as ours. That is why I hope that the Japanese beauty industry as a whole will be more proud and have a stronger presence in the world.

——What are your future goals?

I would like to work in beauty media for the rest of my life. I would like to be a beauty media person who can be close to the real concerns and aspirations of ordinary users.

More to the point, one of my ambitions is to launch my own web media. This is connected to the content of my doctoral thesis, but beauty is totally different depending on the age of the user. The current volume of beauty media is dominated by creators in their 30s and 40s, but because we live in the “100-year life age,” I would like to go beyond the 50s and 60s that I am currently working on and branch out into 100-year old cosmetics and 100-year old beauty.

As a beauty writer and someone who has studied beauty welfare as an academic field, I would like to convey the message that beauty can make people happy throughout their lives.