Two UCLA alumni are turning fleeting moments into lasting memories.

During their fourth year at UCLA, South Korea-born friends MJ Kim and Ryan Kim hatched the idea to create a photo booth company. Inspired by the popularity of photo booths in South Korea, they decided to bring the photo booth experience closer to UCLA with the launch of Genic Film in 2024, said MJ Kim, the company’s chief marketing officer. She added that Genic now releases online products and maintains five high-angle photo booths across Los Angeles.

“When my friends and I would meet up (in South Korea), we would go to take photo booth pictures,” MJ Kim said. “It’s an unspoken rule, and I didn’t really have that experience at UCLA.”

Before Genic, the two had no prior experience running a business, said Ryan Kim, the company’s creative director. Looking to apply his design media arts background to a challenge beyond an internship, Ryan Kim said he decided to commit fully when MJ Kim proposed the photo booth idea. He added that he even forwent his program’s required senior exhibition to focus on developing Genic.

“If you want something, you have to give something up,” Ryan Kim said. “If you really want it, you wouldn’t care about what you’re going to lose.”

Ryan Kim said he and MJ Kim initially struggled to find manufacturers and secure stores to host their photo booths. He added that after extensive cold emailing, their first photo booth was established in the Sawtelle location of MeloMelo, a dessert shop, in 2024.

This photo booth’s UCLA-adjacent location helped drive its success, MJ Kim said. After the profits from their first location allowed them to purchase three more photo booths, Ryan Kim said they decided to incorporate high-angle photo booths that would take pictures from above rather than at eye level, drawing inspiration from their popularity in South Korea.

When developing Genic’s branding, MJ Kim said the duo adopted a reflective chrome look for their photo booths, a choice Ryan Kim said complements a range of aesthetics. MJ Kim said the co-founders have different aesthetic preferences: While she focuses on playful, emerging trends, Ryan adapts the trends with a more understated, streetwear-inspired sensibility.

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“That balance between us is what makes Genic,” MJ Kim said.

When it came to design, Ryan Kim said he wanted to explore the connections between his Korean origins and his current LA environment. In the marketing campaign for Genic’s mini keychain camera, Ryan Kim added that he first imagined elderly Korean men skateboarding in LA – an example of blending the Generation Z bag charm and keychain trend with something reminiscent of Korean culture. These connections stem from wanting to give each product release a story that resonates with customers, he said.

With marketing, MJ Kim said she attempts to highlight Genic’s visual identity through carousel posts and Instagram reels about Genic’s journey. While the process started with trial and error – from posting flyers in Sproul Hall to pleading with friends to follow their accounts – she said their success was really driven by their videos, which documented their process of creating the business. This social media traction, MJ Kim added, has led to collaborations with brands including H. Lorenzo and Miss Sixty and artists such as Khalid and Eric Nam.

Ryan Kim added that their desire for collaborations influenced how the two selected locations to place their photo booths. He said idyllic, a coffee shop in the Arts District, held an event with Khalid where the artist took photos in Genic’s booth and designed custom frames for fans to use. About 3,000 people attended the event, he added. Other collaborations have occurred alongside pop-ups. For example, an Airbnb-hosted fan event for Eric Nam’s podcast integrated a Genic photo booth and custom frames. These partnerships are cherished milestones for the two, MJ Kim said.

“I know how to make a video go viral, but now it’s less about the views,” MJ Kim said. “It’s about, ‘How do we show our community, how do we grow our community, make people trust us and really be transparent about our journey?’”

Tim Lee, a friend of the cofounders and a UCLA alumnus, said he noticed a lot of the company’s online audience is engaged by its story-driven marketing style. MJ and Ryan Kim approach their business with a willingness to experiment, never settling for what already works and consistently holding themselves to high standards, Lee said.

“Before they started Genic, they weren’t business owners,” Lee said. “The progress that they’ve made over time has really given them confidence that they can execute on their own ideas and that they can do it.”

In the future, Ryan Kim said the co-founders plan to lean into e-commerce, an avenue they explored more when MJ Kim moved back to South Korea so their business could be managed from any location. The photo booths, which Genic will still maintain, may even include some ads for Genic’s online products, he said. Genic will soon release its “Memory Survival Kit,” which Ryan Kim said reimagines the essentials of a traditional survival kit with five camera accessories that embody the perception of memory and encourage people to be present. Reflecting on Genic’s growth, Ryan Kim said a goal means little if one doesn’t pursue it.

“What’s important is just take action,” Ryan Kim said. “We’re so young. You just got to do it not knowing everything. You can’t figure everything out before starting something.”