1. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey as an entrepreneur
I started my career in the entrepreneurship ecosystem when I started working as one of the early team members of a data intelligence and market research startup called Streetbees in London after my master’s degree from UCL (University College London). My journey in the entrepreneurship ecosystem continued after moving back to India and working at an incubator and accelerator called DLabs at the Indian School of Business (ISB).
After finishing my undergraduate degree at the University of Bath, UK and doing a number of work placements and internships in London, Singapore and India, I decided I wanted to join a startup and work in the entrepreneurship ecosystem. I have always been inclined towards working with startups because I found the experience very empowering, rewarding and challenging.
Being a pro-active person, I find it fun at work and follow a proper routine with the idea of being productive. Entrepreneurship was the space where I found joy since learning and working never stopped. I’m personally interested in reading and learning about successful entrepreneurs because I believe I can learn from other’s stories as much as I did while studying or working.
2. Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
Firstly, making someone feel good is one of the best feelings. Unsweetened was created to make people feel empowered & create a sense of belonging. Secondly, for someone who finds fun in work, I wasn’t satisfied when I didn’t have enough work or feel challenged or hard work. Being an entrepreneur, there is no end to work and being challenged is so common.
Finally, the passion!
3. What was the vision behind it?
Unsweetened beauty’s vision is to take the stress and intimidation out of self-care through the power of knowledge.
Our mission is to uncomplicated personal care through sharing knowledge and developing medical-grade products.
4. Describe the services that you offer to your customers and in what way they are unique?
Unsweetened beauty is a knowledge-first, D2C beauty brand offering multi-category products. We are on a mission to democratize medical-grade skincare for everyone by creating easy-to-understand, science-backed, comprehensive skincare knowledge & products for all. We believe beauty should empower and are dedicated to transforming the way we feel in our skin. We launched India’s 1st Skin School that is free and accessible to everyone via our website and social media platforms. The skin school consists of basic features such as:
- Video explainers – about skincare basics to skincare in-depth knowledge with dermatologists, cosmetologists from all over India
- Skincare dictionary – covering skincare basics, products, ingredients, treatments
- Skincare myths – busting all the common and not so common skincare myths, the list will keep growing
- Build your routine – find out where to start or what is missing in your current routine
- Top Shelf – product and treatment recommendations by leading skincare experts
We will be introducing premium features for the skin school, these tools are designed to help individuals maintain healthy skin.
Our product philosophy revolves around:
- Easy-to-use – products made to simplify your routine while addressing skin concerns such as signs of aging, hyperpigmentation, dullness and dryness, visible redness, acne
- Medical Grade – we develop our innovative products with doctors, PhDs, and R&D experts. Our strategic partnerships allow for unique and effective formulas, backed by clinical evidence.
- For ALL of your skin – from your hands, to your eyelashes, to your lips we have products to help you take care of all of your skin! Because skincare doesn’t stop at your face.
- Affordable – multi-purpose products at accessible price points, meant to simplify your day.
5. What difficulties which you have faced or you are facing?
I feel very grateful and fortunate for all my experiences; this doesn’t mean there were no problems or challenges. I was recently listening to a podcast and the speaker said most times the best and worst thing that has happened to someone is the same. For example, someone got fired from a job but got an even better job. This statement really resonated with me. My biggest challenges have been my biggest lessons.
As cliché as it sounds, being a girl people just don’t take you as seriously as they would take a man, right from family and friends to colleagues and professionals. This challenge motivated me to work harder as I felt I had to work harder to prove myself.
6. How do you market your business?
Being a D2C e-commerce company, we are currently completely focused online. Since our target audience is mainly millennials and Generation Z, we leverage social media the most for marketing. However, we think there is still a lot of scope for offline marketing as well and they will be implemented very soon. Our GTM strategy is based on customer segmentation i.e. our core audience and target audience.
We will be launching products very soon, follow our social media accounts and sign up on our website to be the first ones to know.
7. How many hours a day do you work on average & can you describe/outline your typical day?
Being in the very initial stage of our startup, I haven’t found a work-life balance. And since I truly enjoy what I’m doing, I don’t look for a break from work, at least from now.
A typical day for me would be, workout first thing in the morning, journal, read the news and make my to-do list for the day. I start checking my emails and start work from 9 am onwards. There is no end to my workday, however, I try to read a bit every day before sleeping.
8. What advice would you give to someone starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
It is a challenging process and it will be worth it, just start your entrepreneurial journey if you truly believe in yourself and your idea.
Website – https://www.unsweetenedbeauty.com/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/unsweetened.beauty/?hl=en
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/74767825/admin/
Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-p2rUJ6QH5vYFDvKJ5WNMw/featured