Ju Rhyu Made Hero Cosmetics a Breakout Star
By Kelli Luu | 10 Feb, 2026

After discovering acne patches in Seoul, Ju Rhyu launched Hero Cosmetics and built it into a $630 million empire.

Hero Cosmetics changed acne care in the U.S. forever with the Mighty Patch and behind this beauty empire is Korean American, Ju Rhyu.

Born in Korea, Ju immigrated to the United States with her family at just three years old. She grew up in Seattle where her father ran his own business as a log broker and seeing the way he independently worked led Ju to want to have her own business one day. She graduated from Brown University and later earned her MBA from Columbia Business School to strengthen her expertise in marketing. 

After college, she began building her corporate resume working at companies like Kraft Foods and American Express, focusing on brand innovation. In the early 2010s, Ju was working in Seoul for Samsung when she had made a discovery that would transform her life. She was noticing people wearing tiny patches on their pimples in public, leading her to try one for herself. When she peeled off her pimple patch the next morning, it had flattened overnight and she realized that this needs to exist in America. 

Ju worked on her product and packaging and with the help of her co-founders, brothers Dwight and Andrew Lee, Hero launched on Amazon in 2017 with just one product, the Mighty Patch, which sold out in 90 days. Influencer gifting allowed Hero to begin to grow through word of mouth on social media platforms and customers began to post their visible before-and-after results, marking the beginning of a new beauty revolution. 

In 2018 Hero began to expand, releasing other skincare solutions, but the Mighty Patch continued to stay on top. The brand began to be available on shelves at Target and suddenly pimple patches were now a part of American beauty routines. Reviews were pouring in and Mighty Patch was soon the number one acne patch in the United States with millions of units sold. 

By the early 2020s, Hero was crossing $100 million in annual revenue, making it one of the fastest-growing skincare brands to date, but in 2022, Hero Cosmetics was acquired by Church & Dwight for $630 million. Since then Ju took up a role as a Specialty Advisor for hair and skin at Church & Dwight where she has also continued to help with the Hero brand.

Ju Rhyu’s success with Hero started a full cultural shift. People used to hide their breakouts with makeup, but after Mighty Patch, customers wear their treatments proudly, making skin care more normal and empowering for everyone.