A Vietnam War refugee and practicing physician on why solid, spill-proof skincare was worth building from scratch.
By Greg Rollett, Grommet
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The morning sun hits the Himalayan ridge at a particular angle, one that makes you forget the elephant sitting on your chest from the altitude. Hang Ly was on day six of her seven-day trek to Everest Base Camp when she stopped to repack her backpack.
She’d been traveling light for years. A medical doctor from Foothill Ranch, California, she crossed continents with nothing but a carry-on or a small backpack. No checked luggage. No excess. But that morning, somewhere in the Himalayas, she unzipped her toiletry bag and found a sticky mess. Bottles had leaked. Moisture had seeped into everything.
She repacked, dried what she could, and kept hiking.
That night, near the summit, surrounded by the world’s four highest peaks, something crystallized. “Somewhere between exhaustion and exhilaration, the idea came to me.”
Solid, single-use skincare. Lightweight. Spill-proof. Effortless to pack. Something that could glide through TSA and across continents without compromising your skin.
From Saigon to Summit
If you met Hang, you might assume she was born in the United States. She wasn’t. She’s a Vietnam War refugee who came to America with her mother and seven siblings, part of one of the largest refugee waves in the country’s history. The family had nothing. They built a life through resilience and grit.
Hang became a medical doctor. She still practices today. She still wakes up dedicated to improving people’s well-being. That commitment didn’t disappear when she decided to become a Maker. It transformed.
Her problem was almost absurdly specific, which meant it was actually universal. She loved exploring the world. Trekking. Climbing. Caving. Kayaking. But the logistics of skincare were brutal. Liquids are heavy. They leak. They require decanting into smaller bottles at airports. You pay a premium for tiny sizes. And if you’re hiking for seven days at altitude, every ounce counts.
After the Himalayas, she had the idea. What she didn’t have was a roadmap.
Paper-thin and impossible
Her first concept was elegant on paper: a facial cleanser in paper-thin solid sheets. Lightweight. Novel. Direct.
Impossible to manufacture.
She walked the aisles of multiple trade shows hunting for manufacturers who could execute her vision. She called dozens of companies. She heard “no” more times than she could count. There were no mentors guiding her through the process, no instruction manual. Just determination and the memory of that sticky morning in the Himalayas.
The sheets wouldn’t work, so she pivoted. What about solid beads instead? Easier to produce. Still lightweight. Still elegant. Still something you could toss in a backpack and forget about. Every “no” pushed her to problem-solve differently, and the final product was stronger for it.
A Galentine’s dinner and a breakthrough
She had just flown back from yet another trade show, barely had time to catch her breath, when she stopped by a Galentine’s Day dinner with her rock climbing friends.
These were fierce, adventurous people. She told them about the concept. They weren’t polite. They weren’t indulgent. They were ecstatic! They immediately recognized it as something they needed for their own expeditions. That was the first time Hang realized her idea wasn’t just a solution for her. It was something that could genuinely make a difference for anyone who lives a life of adventure.
Wild Vie WanderLuxe
Fast forward to October 2025. Hang launched Wild Vie WanderLuxe on Grommet. It’s a solid bead moisturizer formulated with ceramides, macadamia seed oil, and sunflower seed oil. Fragrance-free. Paraben-free. Sulfate-free. Cruelty-free. TSA-friendly. Recyclable. Made in Korea. The product has 229 upvotes and a perfect 5-star rating from customers who have taken it to Guatemala, through airport security, and into the depths of one of the world’s largest caves.
In French, “Vie” means life. The name carries weight.
The first real customer feedback that stayed with Hang came from a woman on a four-day caving expedition in Son Doong Cave, Vietnam. She had tossed WanderLuxe into her backpack, forgot about it, and was amazed. It crossed TSA without a problem. It didn’t leak. It stayed lightweight. And it kept her skin nourished throughout those long, humid days underground. Hearing how the product enhanced someone else’s adventure was, for Hang, everything.
The climb continues
Hang could have accepted the status quo. Could have bought travel-sized bottles at the airport. Could have checked a bag. Instead, she remembered that morning on the Himalayan ridge when the bottles leaked, and she thought: there has to be a better way.
“As a refugee who built a life through resilience and grit, challenges are just part of the climb,” she says. “I think back to that moment in the Himalayas. Exhausted but inspired. Every setback now feels like another step toward creating something that helps others feel empowered, free, and ready for their own adventures.”
That’s what Wild Vie is, in the end. Not just skincare. A reminder that the best innovations come from lived experience, from a woman who carried the weight of her family’s journey across continents and up the side of a mountain, and came back down with a better idea.
Get 20% Off Wild Vie WanderLuxe
Right now, readers of the Grommet Blog can get 20% off Wild Vie WanderLuxe through our maker community on Grommet. Just head over to the product page, give it an upvote, and your discount unlocks instantly.