How this founder challenges us to unlearn toxic expectations when it comes to beauty

Al crecer, mi madre nunca se maquillaba. Recuerdo un frasco de crema facial Olay en su tocador junto a una botella de perfume Beautiful. De vez en cuando, se pintaba de rojo las uñas de los pies o se pintaba los labios de vez en cuando para eventos muy especiales. El sencillo régimen de belleza de mi madre es la razón por la que, hasta el día de hoy, nunca he abrazado el uso de maquillaje. Y la verdad es que, incluso de adulta, no sé maquillarme. Nadie me enseñó nunca cómo.

"When growing in the culture of southern Asia, I was not allowed to participate or use makeup," says Priyanka Ganjoo, founder and executive director of Kulfi.“We were not supposed to attract attention, and they actively discouraged us from focusing on anything related to beauty.My mother also taught me to make up ".

As an adult, my relationship with makeup has evolved slowly.I will use a little blush, a touch of eye shadow and maybe a little lip shine.But never eye eyeliner: requires too much precision for someone who does not know what he is doing.

Kulfi enters.His award -winning Kajal's eyeliner has made me love the eye eyeliner.It is easy to use and the intense and durable color does not move, which avoids Mapache's eyes.Nazar no More (Black) is my absolute favorite, although I hope to try some of the most daring colors such as Rain Check (blue) and Purply Pataka (Baya).

Although the beauty industry was very affected by the pandemic, marketing specialists such as Ganjoo have been ingenious and have devised innovative ways to sell to customers.Many direct consumer brands such as Kulfi succeeded when consumers had no choice but to buy online.In 2020, the spending of the global beauty industry was $ 483 billion, and by 2025 it is expected to be $ 716 billion.And where those sales come from is changing rapidly: online sales will represent 48% of the expenditure by 2023.

"While we had to delay the launch of Kulfi due to the pandemic, it ended up working in the best way," says Ganjooo."He gave our team the opportunity to really grow our community of Kulfi fans into a digital environment first and turned the launch into a great success".

These are three of the most important lessons that Ganjoo has learned in the construction of Kulfi.

Understand you why

"Growing up, it wasn't one of the pretty girls," says Ganjooo.“I was very curious, it stood out at school and spent the summers in Delhi eating Kulfi, a type of Indian ice cream.I called the Kulfi company as an ode to that girl, now that I have the power to recover beauty for me and many others ".

Ganjoo remembers that he began his career at Boston Consulting Group and his co -workers told him that he looked tired.At that time he did not wear makeup and felt pressed to buy corrector to cover his dark circles."I will never forget that visit to the cosmetics counter.They told me that my nose was too big;I needed an outline, ”he shares."They told me that I needed to fix my eyebrows.They sold me more than 20 products that I did not know how to use, some of which did not even coincide with my skin tone.I felt even more insecure and I didn't feel like myself ".

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With Kulfi, Ganjoo focuses on why and its purpose to build this brand.He wants women to forget the toxic expectations that are imposed on us in terms of beauty."When I was younger, I was supposed to use makeup because it could attract men and be attracting wrong attention," she says."Then I entered the workforce and pressed me to use makeup so as not to seem unprofessional".

Now, with Kulfi, Ganjoo wants women to make up.Wants them to play with makeup and have fun with him.Wants me to bring you joy and be a way of expressing yourself.And finally, that all women feel fierce and safe when using kulfi.

Challenge the Play Book

Although his first foray into makeup was not a positive experience, Ganjoo later ended up in the beauty industry, first in Estée Lauder and then in Ipsy.After years of creating beauty brands for industry's titans, IPSy left to build Kulfi.At that time, the marketing strategies book consisted of publishing Facebook and Instagram ads to raise awareness, and hiring a celebrity was another quick solution to build a brand.

"From the beginning, I challenged that play book and that made people feel uncomfortable," says Ganjoo."I knew that Kulfi was a community for all the people who looked like me, who had been excluded by beauty brands for too long.".He was inspired by Glossier and Glow Recipe, who won many followers.The products that continue to launch are driven by the community.

Originally, Ganjoo wanted to launch with a concealer who combined with his nuances.But the Kulfi community I was building had other ideas."All the women I talked with wanted to have a Kajal eyeliner better in their makeup kit," he says."No one was excited about this product.It was our opportunity to reinvent it ".

Historically, Kajal is one of the most popular beauty products in India.It was originally applied as a form of protection, it was used to protect the eyes of the strong rays of the sun and to protect itself from the evil eye eye.

"With the launch of the Kulfi eye eyeliner, we wanted to celebrate the beauty of southern Asia, accentuating beautiful dark eyes and eyebrows and providing women with an easy -to -access and without complications product," says Ganjoo.

Accept your role as a visionary founder

For Ganjoo, the road to fundraising has not been easy.Before the launch of Kulfi, investors told him that "the market is too small", that "the beauty of southern Asia is not an aspiration" and that "using dark skin models will not be sold".She did not listen to them.I was determined to build a brand to celebrate and focus on the southasy in their narrative.

After a successful fund collection round prior to the seed, with a majority of colored women investing, they have changed their perspective on who will continue in its limit table."To the extent that I can pay, I want to do that," he says.“I want as many colored women building with me as possible.

Ganjoo will never forget what an investor told him."You need a visionary co -founder, that was feedback," she says.“Despite all my credentials, I continue to face prejudice as the founder of southern Asia.Why do I need a white man as a co -founder sitting next to me to give me credibility?"

This is what Ganjoo knows with certainty.Innumerable clients have told him that Kufli looks and feels so fresh and so different from what is in the beauty market."That is because Kufli has changed the perspective to focus on people who have been left behind".

Your advice now for all entrepreneurs to listen to it: “Remember that you are the visionary founder.Do not let anyone else suit you otherwise ".