Ms. Kim Seo-ryeong, the former CEO of Beetlemap, a map-specialized company famous for its ladybug icon, currently serves as a director of the Great Geographic Society (GGS) and also runs the Doctor Vegan Gallery, the GGS headquarters.
입체 그림지도 ‘비틀맵’으로 세계시장 석권 꿈꾸는 ‘현대판 김정호’ 김은영
As the former CEO of GeoMarketing, she pioneered the field of marketing through maps. Located in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul, GeoMarketing created illustrated 3D maps that companies could use for various marketing purposes. Looking at the beautifully drawn maps—almost as if seen from the sky—gave people the feeling of stepping into a miniature world.
GeoMarketing produced and owned content covering most cities and tourist destinations across Korea through its 3D illustrated maps. Its CEO, Ms. Kim Eun-young, was known as a woman who could not live a single day without maps. She carried handbags and wallets decorated with maps, even branding them with map designs under the name Beetlemap, meaning cute, detailed maps like little beetles.
Her connection with maps came purely from her passion for travel. Even while working full-time, she would take every spare moment to set off abroad with just a backpack and a map. Among the must-haves for her trips was always a map, which she kept close at hand.
During her backpacking trip across Europe, she was astonished to see McDonald’s using a beautifully illustrated map to show their store locations. It left such a deep impression that it never left her mind. From that moment, she became fascinated with illustrated 3D maps and decided to start a business.
Majoring in history at university, she had worked in various jobs. At Heineken Korea, she rose to the position of sales director within just three years, showing her strong talent in marketing. Yet the barriers of the business world were high. She created maps of places such as Insadong and Itaewon, but companies showed little interest. Still, she was not discouraged—it was something she had already anticipated.
She emphasized the necessity of maps, insisting that 3D illustrated maps were the best way to provide customers with better information. Companies serving large numbers of customers began responding first, as it was visually striking to mark their service centers and branches directly on the illustrated maps.
Her maps also gained popularity during the FIFA World Cup, when host cities commissioned GeoMarketing to create illustrated maps of stadium surroundings. Foreign visitors found the maps particularly helpful for easily locating the venues at a glance.
Devoting herself to expressing the world through maps, she has created themed maps that capture travel, food, fashion, shopping, and culture. At the same time, she has long practiced vegetarianism. Taking one step further, she founded Doctor Vegan, both a physical store in Cheongdam-dong and an online shop, dedicated to promoting healthy living and “well-dying.” She traveled across Korea to discover master artisans of authentic bamboo salt, researched organic sugar, grains, and other natural ingredients, and carefully selected foods based on the six essential flavors tied to the health of the body’s six vital organs (the Ohaeng principle).
Doctor Vegan stresses that only by making conscious and healthy choices about food can one truly live a life of well-being, which ultimately leads to well-dying, the final stage of a fulfilled life. Through her dedication to realizing the power and value of maps, as well as her pioneering role in vegetarian living, one can look forward to learning valuable life lessons from her inspiring journey.
