Asia-Pacific Power List 2021: Christy Sun, Yatsen Global

Christy (Lei) Sun

VP marketing
Yatsen Global
China
New member 

Yatsen Group was a startup back in 2016. Its first brand, Perfect Diary, was launched in 2017. Yet after just three and a half years, the Group was listed on NYSE in November 2020 in record time for a global FMCG IPO.  

Its stellar rise has seen Perfect Diary become the No.1 national color cosmetic brand for Gen-Z in Greater China, serving 48 million consumers all over the world last year. Parent company Yatsen has also expanded, incubating new skincare brand Abby’s Choice, and acquiring brands such as Little Ondine, Galenic, and Eve Lom helping Yatsen also reach the number one sales ranking in Vietnam’s beauty category this April and has become a favourite seller on Shopee across Southeast Asia.

Data became the driving force of Yatsen’s business model led by marketing VP Christy Sun. Perfect Diary has become the poster-child for Chinese D2C, adopting multi-pronged marketing strategies that include e-retailer partnerships, owning its own online channel, selling direct-to-consumers and direct-to-KOL, while adapting locally in its global expansion.  

Perfect Diary also stands out from other cosmetics brands through innovative IP-based marketing. It has partnered with an exceptionally wide-range of influential media and content providers as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The British Museum, Chinese National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Tom and Jerry, Oreo, and London Fashion Week to launch a range of products that further expand the customer base.

Some of these partnerships have been leveraged by Perfect Diary’s parent company in innovative CSR programmes such as its partnership with Discovery Channel and National Geographic to create eyeshadow palettes based on endangered animals. Yatsen also provides COVID-19 pandemic donations and supportive programmes for women, children and those with physical challenges. 

Yatsen’s workforce is decidedly young and female overall, with an average employee age of 25 and staffed by 92% women. Yatsen however encourages diversity in its global team, including but not limited to age, gender, and LGBT.  

Yatsen Group is named after the alma mater of the company’s three co-founders, Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou. Christy Sun also graduated from Sun Yat-sen University, started her career as a senior brand manager at Procter & Gamble, pursued her MBA degree at Yale School of Management, and joined Yatsen Global after graduating from Yale.