Our Story

The Founders

Two people. Two reasons.
One standard.

Hancha didn’t start in a lab. It started with two people who couldn’t find what they were looking for — and decided to build it themselves.

Co-Founder · Rodney

Built for my brother.
Built for everyone like him.

Why did you start Hancha?

My younger brother has always been the type to show up. Gym every week, consistent, genuinely putting in the work. But he has atopic dermatitis — a chronic inflammatory skin condition — and almost every protein supplement on the market was making things worse. Breakouts. Indigestion. Inflammation. He’d try something, stick with it for a few weeks, and his skin would react. It kept happening.

What did you do about it?

I started reading labels. Really reading them. Most protein supplements have 20, 30, sometimes 40 ingredients — stabilisers, artificial sweeteners, fillers that exist for shelf life, not for the person drinking it. I couldn’t find a single product I felt comfortable handing to him. So I decided to make one.

What was the standard you held yourself to?

Simple: would I give this to my brother without hesitation? That question ruled out a lot of shortcuts. It’s why we use isolate instead of concentrate. Why we stopped at six ingredients. Why every one of them has a reason to be there. He’s the reason Hancha exists — and he’s still the person I think about every time we make a decision.

Rodney Im

Co-Founder, NutriSeoul

Co-Founder · Lisa

Built for the product
she couldn’t find.

Lisa, what’s your side of this?

Taking care of myself has never been a routine for me — it’s just who I am. But for years in the US, I couldn’t find products I actually trusted to match that. I’d pick something up, read the label, and put it back down. That small frustration, over and over, adds up.

What did you do about it?

I moved to Korea — and the standard here was a different world. The way ingredients get evaluated, the way wellness is taken seriously day to day. I ended up building a medical and beauty tourism business, bringing people over to experience it for themselves. But the whole time, I kept thinking about everyone back home who’d never get on that plane.

So why make a product?

Because the gap I felt as a consumer never actually closed. I wanted to take what Korea does best and put it into something people in the US could simply buy — held to a standard I’d trust for myself. Hancha is the product I spent years looking for and couldn’t find. So we made it.

Lisa Shin

Co-Founder, NutriSeoul

WHO WE SHOW UP FOR

Different lives. Same standard.

The Competitor

Better than yesterday.
One step at a time.

Not chasing a record. Not chasing a body. Just the quiet discipline of someone who shows up whether or not anyone is watching — and holds the standard they set for themselves.

For the ones who don’t need a reason.

The Professional

10Ks on the weekends.
Workouts during lunch.

They log more miles than their team knows about. They leave the office and find the hour, every time. Hancha fits in a laptop bag because that’s how easy it can be.

For the ones who make time without making noise.

The Standard-Setter

Intentional about every
choice they make.

They already spend on quality — in what they eat, what they apply, how they move. They don’t need to be sold on wellness. They need protein that belongs in the same category as everything else they reach for.

For the ones who know the difference.

One Standard

Same standard.
Different form.

“One of us built it for a brother. One of us built it for herself.

Neither of us would compromise on what goes inside.

Same standard. Different form.”