Baek Hyang-eun, CEO of Changui Ballet So-ye
Introduces Psychological Testing App for Children
Also Develops Ballet and IT Convergence Content
"‘Soye’ means to laugh and enjoy." CEO Baek Hyang-eun named the company ‘Creative Ballet Soye’ when she founded it in 2019 by combining the Chinese characters for laughter (笑) and enjoyment (譽). As a dance major who planned to create ballet education content, she chose ‘Creative Ballet’ and deliberately added ‘Soye’ to reflect her hope that children could learn ballet while laughing, enjoying, and having fun. The children’s psychological care application ‘Soye Kids,’ launched in May this year, also embodies the wish for children to grow up laughing, enjoying, and healthily. The spirit that runs through the services offered by Creative Ballet Soye is encapsulated in the word ‘Soye.’ Parents also deeply wish for their children to grow up laughing and enjoying, but often do not know how to achieve this. We asked CEO Baek for her solution on this matter.
On the 5th, CEO Baek said, "Each child has unique characteristics, and the reasons for their current state vary. Before discipline, it is important to accurately understand the child and find the right approach." ‘Soye Kids’ is an app that gathers psychological tests for this purpose. Although many psychological tests for children already exist, most are in questionnaire form. CEO Baek thought that children with limited attention spans would find it difficult to properly complete these tests. Soye Kids allows children aged 5 to 10 to take psychological tests through mobile devices in a game format. It took about a year to develop related content in collaboration with ‘People and People,’ a psychological counseling research institute composed of experts with master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology from Seoul National University. CEO Baek explained, "It is important to accurately understand each child individually and provide education tailored to their characteristics, and for this, knowing their psychological and emotional state is crucial."
This service consists of four types of psychological tests: attention test, emotional behavior test, personality test, and career test, as well as emotion regulation training, meditation training, and video counseling. It enables everything that can be done at an actual child psychology counseling center to be done through the app. Based on the psychological tests, parents can receive advice on childcare and connect with counselors. CEO Baek explained that the app was designed to provide effects similar to counseling by Dr. Oh Eun-young within the app.
Although Soye Kids’ content has been available for less than two months, several educational companies have shown interest. In fact, supply contracts have been signed with two to three companies, and services are being prepared. CEO Baek said, "It is the only mobile version of child psychological test content in Korea," and added, "We plan to promote sales in a direction that replaces the questionnaire-based psychological tests currently conducted in elementary schools."
Currently, the focus is on the psychological test app, but the business that Creative Ballet Soye has been conducting since its inception is educational content that combines ballet and IT technology. While pursuing a doctoral course in dance at graduate school, CEO Baek thought that combining ballet and technology might make it more enjoyable for children. Instead of techniques that require repetitive practice and can easily cause boredom, she focused on ways to make ballet fun, resulting in the creation of fusion content with AR (augmented reality), VR (virtual reality), and more. For example, through a motion recognition camera, when children move their bodies, they experience becoming the protagonist of ‘Swan Lake’ on the screen, making ballet more familiar and approachable. This content has been well received in kindergartens and continues to receive inquiries even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
CEO Baek emphasized, "This year, we aim to double last year’s sales," and added, "Just as MBTI is popular among adults, children will be able to take psychological tests through Soye Kids."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
