Latest / Skin Anarchy / Sahar Rohani, Co-Founder of SOSHE Beauty

Transcript

Sahar Rohani, Co-Founder of SOSHE Beauty · Skin Anarchy

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: This episode is brought to you by Vonage.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Your business needs more than an 800 number.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: With Vonnet's Voice API, you can provide the call experience your customers expect and get the data your team needs.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: From call analytics and virtual assistants to automatic speech recognition and text-to-spee in multiple languages.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Your customer service team can help more people in more places.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: And with Inapp Voice, your customers can easily contact you the moment they have a question.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Take your calls to the next level with Vaughnage Voice API.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Learn more at Vaughnage.com.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Hi guys, welcome back to Skin Create Anarchies.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: This episode is actually really fantastic.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we really took a deep dive as almost a follow-up to the Clean Beauty panel that I had conducted with Olga, Terasana, and Pipette.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: And we um, you know, Sahara and I really talked about so many important things that are going on in the beauty industry and a lot of the things that really inspired her to create um this beautiful, beautiful one.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: So she really went into it, and I just wanted to say, you know, I I want you to listen to this episode.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: I really um I hope you enjoy it.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: I know it's a longer episode, but it's fantastic.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we put on some great points.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: So just to be super nice, she has offered our listeners a 30% off code.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: This is phenomenal.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: So if you missed all the um, you know, uh post-Thanksgiving sales, and yes, I refuse to say Black Friday, but if you missed all those sales and you're still looking for an amazing mascara, this is your go-to, I'm telling you.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Not no marketing hype, no BS.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's a phenomenal mascara, and it's really good for those of you who have a darker, deeper skin tone, and you want that real dark black with two or three coats to make your brown eyes pop.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I look for in a mascara.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: So this is a really co-mascara.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Also, it comes with a refillful um package with the first purchase.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: So you're really getting two mascaras for episode.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: So, anyways, if you want to buy um, you know, the mascara and I really suggest you do this one.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: We gotta support indie brands that are backed by women, especially women of color, women who are intelligent and they have this amazing academic background.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: So if you want to support Sochi Beauty, I really suggest go to www.sociabeauty.com and use the code anarchy30, all one word, anarchy30 at checkout for 30% off your order.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: I promise you will not regret it, and it's already a very well-priced product.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: So check it out.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Let me know what you think, and stay tuned.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: This is a really good episode.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: Hi guys, welcome back to Speaker Anarchy.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, I have a very special guest as our post-Thanksgiving um guest, and I'm super excited because I'm very thankful for her brand.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: It has definitely replaced all of the other mascaras I use um or have been using.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm very, very thankful that she had the time to come onto the show, and then she's gonna share her vision with us and the brand.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: So without further ado, I want to introduce you guys to Sahar Rahani, who is the founder of So She Beauty.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: And if you have not seen it already on my um Dermal Unity account, it is the most beautiful mascara ever.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: So welcome, Sahar.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so excited that you're here.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for having me.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's really such an honor.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: I am obsessed with your podcast.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: I've learned so much from it for the past, you know, few months.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: So it's it's I'm like fangirling right now.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's such an honor to host you.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly, like every time I get to host like um, you know, new brands and especially like fellow women of color who are like, you know, going into the entrepreneurial world, I love it.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's really a passion of mine.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so excited.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I want to get started because I really, really want to learn all about the journey of how you created the brand.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to learn about you first.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: So if you can take us back down memory lane and kind of just, you know, just start wherever you want and let us know like how you got into beauty and all that good stuff.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: So I am of Persian background.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, growing up, I think there was a lot of pressure to study um, you know, math and science or law or engineering.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I found a lot of validation growing up from being in those STEM classes.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: But I always had this thing in the back of my mind of just, you know, I loved beauty, I loved marketing and branding.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_02: I always would look at different brands and be like, oh, I kind of think that they should do this or they should do that.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: And my mom, funny enough, she uh would ask me to put her makeup on before she would go out at night so that she wouldn't feel so guilty leaving me at home to, you know, go to a dinner party or go to an event.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_02: And so I just fell in love with doing my mom's makeup.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: Granted, I was like eight years old and it would be horrible.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: I she would take it off and put it right back, her her own makeup back on.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but that was really when I started to get to get into just the art of beauty and makeup.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: And unfortunately, you know, I just I wanted to pursue something more in the science realm.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I went to USC and I studied computational neuroscience at USC.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I loved it.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, look at you.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it was it was amazing.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: I loved my major.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: It was, I had the most incredible professors.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: It was the coolest curriculum ever.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: You know, half my classes were neuroscience, and half my classes were computer science classes.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but at USC, they have an incredible uh amount of student-led clubs.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: And there's one in particular, it's called Lava Lab.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_02: And it's almost like a Y incubator, a Shark Tank type of club.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's run completely by students.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: It's an incubator.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I was just like, you know what?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: I want to join that.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: That sounds really, really cool.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_02: And this is my sophomore year in college, and we joined this club.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: I have a team.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: We're designing this product, this platform, this app.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I at that point, you know, I had this fire inside of me that I really loved beauty and I also really love sustainability.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: I was trying to make things in my life more sustainable.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I really couldn't see, you know, brands at the moment that were combining those into one, you know, products that really worked that were also sustainable.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: So we ended up creating this platform, which is so funny going back, seeing it now, that was almost like a Sephora or an Ulta, but it was for sustainable clean beauty, targeted for Gen Z, you know, the fun, the sex, the hit beauty.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: And we pitched this in a competition.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: We had like the so many students from USC saw this pitch, and we ended up winning the competition.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: And one of the judges came up to me after and he said, You shouldn't be a platform.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: You guys have a vision.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: Go make a product and run with it.
• 7:26
  unknown: Yeah.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: And like, okay, no idea where to begin.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I sat down with my co-founders, and I was like, What is one thing that we just always throw away?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what is that one product that every woman has, no matter how much makeup or how little makeup they wear?
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: And it's mascara.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: And we said, Well, why are people just always throwing it away?
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: What's going on here?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_02: And it's because, you know, people go through it, but there's also a shelf life to it.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: And we decided, let's actually design something that's refillable.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: And one of my co-founders had been saving up for a 3D printer throughout all of high school.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_02: And we were in college and he had one in his dorm.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: And we said, let's make this design, let's 3D print a refillable mascara.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's so funny, like looking back at now.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: But he 3D printed 10 different refillable mascaras.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: And we were so young at that point, we had no idea what we were doing.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: We were just like so excited about this idea that we had.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: And we started driving hours across the coast of California to different manufacturers saying, Can you build something like this?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: Can you make this?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_02: Is this possible?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of manufacturers were looking at us, we were 19 years old at the time, like, oh, I mean, it's gonna cost this much.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna have, you know, this is the minimum order quantity.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_02: And it was crazy.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like, we were like, this is impossible.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: And there was one manufacturer that said, No, this is really cool.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: You guys are on to something.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_02: Let's do this.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna, we're gonna help you get there.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_02: And we also understand that you guys are young and hungry and in a very tight financial spot, and we're gonna make it work.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: And so that was three years ago, and it's been such a crazy journey, but that is like kind of the long story of how this whole thing started.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and it's crazy to to look back on.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: I typically don't share that long of a story with people, but no, no, no.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: I just you didn't share much.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: I want to know even more.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's pretty cool.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: That no, the whole idea of 3D printing, like, you know, I can't even tell you, you know, Sahara.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: I remember like being in college and the idea, well, actually, it was like end of college going into grad school and 3D printing was like coming out, right?
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like the idea was coming out and really like becoming a thing.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember seeing very early videos of people just doing like, you know, random stuff.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I was just thinking to myself, I'm like, how are they ever going to really make this work?
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then it just kept growing and growing and growing.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: So to hear you say that as an entrepreneur, like, hey, you know, I really utilize this technology.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's mind-blowing to me, right?
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I just I'm mind blown that you actually, you know, initially utilized that to really come up with the details of what you wanted.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because at that point, we're like, how do we um bring this idea to life?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we can't make it ourselves.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: And it was gonna be way too expensive to get, you know, a supplier manufacturer to create this mold for us.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_02: And our product designer, his name is Aiden, he's just a genius at 3D printing and product design.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: And he did it, he just, it's amazing the things that they teach you, even in high school, at university, and things that you can learn on your own outside of you know your typical curriculum.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_02: You can self-you could be self-taught in 3D printing.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what he was.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: And honestly, if we didn't have that to show them and say, this is exactly what we want.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think that we would have been able to get our message across so clearly and show them that we were fully into it and ready to sprint on this idea.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: No, I mean it's like you guys really did your homework before you went anywhere else.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I really love that.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think that's um smart entrepreneurship.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's really being a very smart businesswoman or businessman.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I think the more you can have put together before you go somewhere, the better.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think I've heard like there was like a saying or something, or like I think just my parents have told me before, it's like, you know, you have to always be prepared.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like I was brought up with this idea of like always take your resume and all supporting documents with you in a file wherever you go, you know what I mean?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: So um, I really love that.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: I think that you know, you definitely approach it the right way.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: Now, one thing I do um I want to ask you, and I think you brought this up, and it was it's actually a very brilliant point, is the idea of the shelf life of a mascara because um this is something that nobody talks about, and I really love that you really opened with this because you're right.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: The biggest reason I personally, as a consumer, have thrown out mascara is because either A, it just dries up and you can't use it anymore, or the comb goes, you know what I mean?
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: The brush goes bad, or you know, stuff like that.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like that's a very valid, like huge white space in that um market, you know.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: So um I want to talk to you about like, did you guys have to do a little bit of research around that, like in terms of consumer research, or was it?
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I figure you already know, right?
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: As women, we know that you know, that's the problem with mascara, but um what was that process like?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_02: So you're gonna freak out, but the amount of people that we interviewed and said that they hadn't thrown out their mascara in over a year was crazy.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like we were blown away.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_02: And so we did some research, and the college of ophthalmists, the optimal well, optometrists, they found that over half of makeup user users don't check the instructions to see how long that they should keep their mascara for.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_02: And a fifth of them admitted they had no idea that mascara expired, which is oh my gosh.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: So this imagining like skies and like eye problems right now.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my god, that's so scary.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's so scary.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I think when we we were asking people, you know, why aren't you replacing your mascara?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of them had the same answer.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: I had no idea that we needed to replace it.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I I actually don't know when the last time I bought mascara was.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: I couldn't tell you if I bought it six months ago or 10 months ago.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_02: I can't see when it's when it's empty.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: It still, you know, puts mascara on my lashes.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_02: So why should I throw it out?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just wasting product.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_02: There were all these concerns that were really weren't being addressed.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_02: And there's this huge topic that I can talk about forever.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but it's education.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_02: I think that there is a responsibility for brands to educate and empower the consumer.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: And we're seeing this more and more about the consumer is extremely curious and it's really cool to watch.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_02: And they're asking questions, they want to know more, they want to know why.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_02: And so we're in this really interesting space of educating about you know, shelf life of products, but also a huge conversation is clean beauty shelf life of products.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_02: There, it's so different.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_02: It's so, so different.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: If you are wearing a mascara that claims to be clean, that specifically is paraben or preservative free, you need to replace it very quickly.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you could probably get away with another mascara for six months, but for a clean mascara, it's it's a three-month shelf life.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: And so a lot of people have reached out to us and say, I have such a hard time wearing mascara because my eyes get so irritated and watery and itchy.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, at the end of the day, there's a lot of claims that get thrown around in the beauty industry about, you know, all these oils or all these waxes and things that help XYZ.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of people get really convinced that, you know, like, oh, if this mascara has this shea butter in it, it's gonna make my lashes so smooth.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_02: No, the best thing that you can do for your lash health for strong, thick lashes other than a serum, is to be on top of replacing your mascara.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_02: Because after three months, they found that 30% of mascaras are contaminated with bacteria after three months.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: And that's yeah, and that's that that makes sense.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, you know, you your eyes are not sterile, you guys.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, it's like like you're getting like all that pollution, all that dirt, everything, you know, hair.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: I think people like honestly, I'm not trying to interrupt you, but I just want to mention, like, from a science perspective, people don't understand the concept of why we have hair.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's like hair is your like genuinely, like on all parts of your body, hair is the first physical defense that your body has or your skin has to things that are coming in, and it's trapping that stuff that's coming in.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: So obviously, your eyelashes are included in that.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: So they're trapping particles and you know, uh particulates that are going to be potentially going into your eye.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: So obviously, you know what I mean?
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you're using a mascara, you're swiping and you're gonna get that bacteria and the that debris sometimes on the brush.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I completely I don't know how people don't get that.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_02: I'm smiling so big right now because when people ask me why they should replace it, the I say this every time.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_02: I say, What do you think your eyelashes are for?
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what do you think your eyelashes are there just because they make your eyes look pretty?
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: No, your eyelashes are the first line of defense.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I even tell them, I'm like, the moment that your wand touches your lashes, timer starts.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's in like it's going to get contaminated because your lashes, you're just in, you're sitting, you're in the air, even if you just washed your face, you know, like you're always at risk for that.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of people have gotten away with having their mascara for a year or two years.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, they say, Well, I've never had an issue with it.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_02: Why do I need to replace it now?
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: And it's this work is preventative, you know.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_02: Just because you've never had an issue with it doesn't mean that your eyes aren't going to get more sensitive as you get older.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, or I have a funny story in high school.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_02: I woke up, I couldn't open either of my eyes.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: I had pink eye in both eyes.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: They were glued shut.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_02: And it was a nightmare.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_02: And even after you get sick, even after you have a common cold, you should really think about replacing, you know, your lip balm and your mascara.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you're grabbing eyes and you're you're in this area of a lot of bacteria, a lot of gunk.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: And it's interesting because pre-COVID, when we were discussing our social program, the whole intention behind, you know, replacing it was difficult for us to get people to convince people to say this is why you need to do it.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_02: It was really difficult for us.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: But it was so fascinating because over this past year and a half, people are taking really deep dive into their daily routines and how they could become more hygienic.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: So we're getting a lot of more positive feedback, a lot of people curious to know why and eager to learn more.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_02: But it's still a process trying to educate without, you know, people getting frustrated or annoyed, being like, I don't want to be told, you know, to change how I typically wear, use mascara, you know, wear makeup.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_02: But if you ask anyone what's the shelf life of any product that you use, lipstick, foundation, mascara, people don't know.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that it's a responsibility for brands to educate.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: Because where else are they gonna get it?
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: No, I agree with you.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: I agree with you, but you know, just to keep it fair, I mean, I'm not gonna lie to you.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I look at my packaging for brands, and brands tell you this is 24-month shelf life right here.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: Till you open it.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: That little jar on a just for everyone listening, I know most people know this, but that little jar on packaging that has a little lid that's open, that is telling you how many months you can use this product.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: And if you are not, if you're choosing to not look at your packaging and not read, like there's like brands, like I agree with you completely, Sahar.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like I think there's a lot of responsibility that falls on the shoulders of the you know, the entrepreneurs and the brands and for educating, but it's also about, you know, how uh receptive are consumers to really being educated, right?
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I mean, we live in this world of just such fast-paced um, you know, information being thrown at us.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, just look at TikTok, you know, like it's just like constant stream of information.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, you know, even if you're a person who maybe you suffered with like an eye problem and it was due to a mascara, well, then go onto TikTok and make a video and say, hey, because I use this mascara that was expired, I got this eye condition.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: So somebody's gonna see that somewhere and learn from you, you know what I mean?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: So it's also on the shoulders of consumers.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I completely I understand.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: And and the thing is, I actually, you know, I wanted to say this to you on air because um one of the coolest things about your brand is that it's so um science forward, as we've already been discussing.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: And um, one thing I wanted to ask you was why has no one come up with, you know how we have brush cleaners for like makeup brushes?
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: Why don't we have one for eye brush or mascara brushes?
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why is there not an you know?
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: Why don't we have one?
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_02: Honestly, um, the light bulb is on.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_02: That is a great idea.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_02: I just and I had we've had people come up to us and say, like, can I keep my wand?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: Because our refill program, we send you a new wand.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know, here's a fresh one, fresh from everything, you know.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: And it's one of those those things that we're talking about right now is putting a little bit of that responsibility back on the consumer of, you know, it's up to them to clean their makeup brushes, it's up to them to replace their mascara.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_02: We can't force it, like we can't shove it down their throats, right?
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_02: And it's interesting because cleaning your mascara wand, it gets so tricky because that goes back onto your eyes, it goes onto your lashes.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: So there needs to be a streamlined way of doing it.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_02: You know, when I clean my makeup brushes, sometimes I just like pump some soap into my hands, like rub the brush in and call it a day.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_02: And other times I use products that are specifically for removing makeup on my brushes.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I honestly need to look into the difference of that.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_02: But well, that's like the incredible opportunity that we have here, especially in this day and age, um, as entrepreneurs and people that are leading brands that are very open minded to the community.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we get emails back all the time, people saying, Have you guys thought about this?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_02: Have you guys thought about that?
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_02: And we have the ability.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: You know, being a small team of three people, to say, let's do it.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_02: Let's let's actually get on the phone with these people and say, what do you want to see?
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_02: Why you want to keep your one?
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: Because for them, you know, that's way less plastic.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_02: That's they're not throwing out things constantly.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: And they also are empowered with the knowledge that they are being hygienic and they're being clean.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: But then you have these videos that go around being like, drop a couple drops of essential oil into your mascara to make it like it's so like, or eye drops into your mascara, or there, I saw this one the other month of put um setting powder into your mascara.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: And it was a viral trend.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm sitting there like pulling my hair out.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: Why are these people listening to these crazy trends that are put forth by you know people that aren't formulists or chemists or uh optometrists that are you know passing and saying, Yeah, you could do that.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: You can't do any of those things.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's so bad for you.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_02: So there's such an interesting balance between, you know, how much you can provide a toolkit for your base.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: And also, well, it's also, I'm sorry, I keep interrupting you, but also it's also um it's about saturating the social media space with just as many people who are educated about these topics as there are uneducated.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like we need to just keep throwing content out there, just like just shovel it out.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm telling you, like all the and you know, if anyone's listening and you're an optometrist or you're in the space of like, you know, um, you know, head, neck, and throat, like, you know, surgery or whatever, if you are in a professional in this field, like I really hope you're listening and I hope you make some content that's educational.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because honestly, I really believe that if you show people and you you get it into their heads, like, no, this is the proper way.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: Because think about it, you know, we just talked about brush cleaners, right?
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: So, where did the concept of a brush cleaner even start?
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, before brush cleaners, what were people even doing?
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: Not cleaning their brushes.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: So someone somewhere, right, had to end up coming up with a product and then saturating this um, you know, this whatever uh, you know, platform was being used the most or whatever people were using the most to educate themselves, it was being saturated and it was being, you know, shoveled out.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then eventually everyone got on the spanwagon.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I really believe in this idea of, you know, for for me, when I look at Sochi Beauty and what you've created here, you've created a milestone.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: And now it's on the, it's also on the shoulders of the professionals, the medical professionals out there that know about eye health, and you know what I mean, to keep this going, to keep this real, like make it a trend to be healthy, make healthy practices and beauty a trend.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's let's make that a trend, you know?
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_02: So I think it's you are a perfect example of this and your platform of making it engaging and fun, but also, you know, you're not throwing out your like these just claims without having any backing to it.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_02: I think that there's a lot of times I talk to aestheticians too, because they deal with the eye area a ton, and they tell me how frustrating it is that they're getting people coming to them with all of these skincare tips or tricks that they saw from a celebrity on like Vogue Go to Bed with me.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: And they're like Hey guys, I'm back.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I really do have to remind you this episode.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: I know you're loving it already.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you are at least.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: And if you are, again, go to www.sochibeauty.com, S-O-S-H-E-Beauty.com, type in anarchy30 at checkout for 30% off your order.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's a phenomenal line.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: I promise you will not regret it.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: And keep on listening.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_02: I wish that they could say, oh, this is backed by XYZ dermatologist, aesthetician, optometrist, because we like you said a couple minutes ago, we're getting so much information and content from TikTok, from Instagram, all of the stuff that it's so hard to regulate it.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's so hard to change someone's mind after someone's already said something, if that, if I, if I'm making sense there.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_02: And it's people like you and these platforms that are, you know, this is the whole thing.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna go on a tangent after this, but our whole purpose was to make sustainability sexy, make health sexy, make like hygienic schedules sexy.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: This it's it's fun, it's it's the thing that you do now, you know.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: And thank you so much for your kind words, by the way.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: That means genuinely it means the world to me to hear that coming from someone like you because I I really, really want people to be educated.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: That is like genuinely like my life's purpose is to educate if I can anybody.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, you know, um, even you know, be speaking to entrepreneurs such as yourself, like that's we have that commonality, you know.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's the entire, that's the entire basis when I look at Sochi Beauty.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: I look at this new innovative approach to eye health, keeping beauty in mind, like you said, keeping it sexy, keeping it, you know, buzzworthy, keeping it something like you know, what something you're proud to see on your vanity shelf, you know what I mean?
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: But it's still promoting good health habits and it's still promoting sustainability and all of the things we look for now in our beauty products, right?
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: So, like it's that's that's a huge, huge feat.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, you know, the only thing that's missing at this point, honestly, Sahar, is just more people continuing this conversation.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: Because, like, you know, you've created a brand and now it's up to like the consumers, like anyone out there who's buying, you know, Soshi mascara.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: You guys need to make videos.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: Come on, you know, make a TikTok video, make an Instagram reel, make something that like shows your friends and your family and the people that you're reaching that hey, look, this is an option, you know, you don't have to buy that 60.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I was gonna actually bring this up to you.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think a big reason also people don't throw out their mascara is because they're spending like 60, 70 dollars on this mascara, and they're like, oh my gosh, I can't throw this out, you know.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like I only use it for three months.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_02: That's literally, you know, five dollars per use.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what is that?
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_02: Totally, and that's a huge uh plus to refills, you know, they're smaller and they cost honestly, they cost less to make.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna price them way lower.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_02: And especially if you're subscribing, we want to benefit the people that are choosing to get it delivered on a three-month schedule.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, dropping it even further from that.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_02: And we our goal is to get to a space where we are competing in like the mid-drugstore to premium range of prices.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_02: So the first mascara that you buy is kind of more on the high end, but if you subscribe to the refills, it's just$19.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_02: And it's we want to get that to be lower as we continue to grow because a huge issue with sustainability and clean beauty is accessibility, you know, and that was one of our key things looking into uh the beauty space, especially clean beauty, running around college campus and asking every girl, every makeup wear that we could find, you know, what was in their makeup bag?
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_02: What are you wearing right now?
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_02: What mascara are you wearing?
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of them just couldn't afford to keep up with a clean, sustainable beauty brand in terms of prices.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_02: And it's and honestly, I'm gonna be honest here, it's expensive to be sustainable.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_02: It really is.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's expensive as a consumer, it's expensive as a brand, and it's a conscious decision that you have to make to be a sustainable business or individual.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that we're changing, it's shifting, right?
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_02: We're going towards a direction where it could be more widespread.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_02: We're seeing some incredible companies coming out with a lot of sustainable initiatives because I would say a couple of years ago, you would have to pick, right?
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_02: You couldn't pick efficacy, quality, formula, like cleanliness and cruelty-free and all that stuff and sustainability.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_02: And also a fifth one brand values.
• 30:31
  unknown: Yeah.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_02: You had to pick one.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_02: And now we're in an age where you don't have to pick anymore.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_02: You can have it all.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_02: The consumer can have it all.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_02: And it's really cool because people are identifying with products, not just because of the product, but because of the brand and because of their mission and because of the process that they've like taken to get the product into the consumer's hands.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_02: And that's really exciting.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_02: I think every clean beauty aficionado or someone that works in clean beauty can agree that this is a really cool time, especially because of how advanced we're getting with clean beauty formulations.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_02: I think the number one reason why people weren't switching to a clean mascara is because it did not work.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_02: They just I don't they would say, I don't care if it's sustainable.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_02: I don't care if it's non-toxic.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_02: I do not care if it's vegan.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_02: I just need it to work.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_02: And so how do you, and now we're in the space where we can give it, give it all to them, you know?
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_02: So it's really interesting.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's really cool.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm excited to see it develop over the next decade because I think we're all slowly moving into this space where everyone is a very, very aware of the consumer's questions and wants and needs and really incorporating that into their brand vision.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I completely, completely echo and like agree with everything you said.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: And also, you know, one thing I I want to throw out there is that clean, what I'm what I'm noticing as a consumer is that clean beauty is kind of going through this, and and sustainable beauty is going through this phase that organic foods went through, where it was more expensive to buy organic tomatoes than it was to buy the other kind.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so it was like only the people living in Los Angeles were eating organic, and it was like this thing, you know what I mean?
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I just and I remember because you know, I I was raised, you know, like I grew up in in um, you know, different countries.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I I remember like my my grandparents had their own agricultural land, and I'm thinking to myself, I'm like, why the heck are we charging two dollars per tomato for just because it's organic, first of all, you know?
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_01: So it it's I feel like there is this analogy there, you know, and there is this comparison, but it's like, you know, I think we are definitely like you said, we're at this turning point where sustainable and clean products are just as good, if not better.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like I can honestly tell you, as a consumer and keeping it, you know, bringing it back to Soshi mascara, you know, I look for in mascara, there is really two things I look for.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: One, it has to be, you know, like friendly for sensitive eyes, because I do have sensitive eyes, you know.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: And two, it has to be dark enough to make my dark brown eyes actually stand out, which is what I want.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so both of those things are being delivered by your product, and they're being delivered in a way that is clean, sustainable.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: You're keeping so many different aspects of health in mind.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't know what more I could want as a consumer.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and that's me speaking, you know, I just from my experience.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's you know, really kind of adding to your point of now we are at a place in clean beauty and sustainable beauty where there are options that are very, very much, you know, not if not the same, but better than what you had before.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I really want to call out so intentionally that there is such a difference between clean, natural, and organic.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I see this so often, people confuse it all, they group them into one, and they're not, they're really are not the same definition and clean.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_02: We're you know, advancing in formulas, like I said before, but it's also really, really cool to see what we're able to do with synthetic ingredients that are completely mimicking other ingredients in the past that you know, either you'd have to source some and it it adds the cost, and or you know, they weren't proven to be as healthy or um sensitive on your eyes.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_02: And this clean beauty revolution is really, and I know you know this because I've heard you talk about this a lot, it's being led by science and it's so cool.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_02: I like I'm I get so giddy thinking about working with these amazing formulas, you know, that they're all over the US, they're in Italy, they're doing such incredible things.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_02: And people really need to be aware that when I say, you know, this is clean, I'm not saying I'm putting plants on your eyes.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_02: That's not what I'm saying at all.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, and that's like a huge misunderstanding in the clean beauty industry with the very large demographic of, you know, this clean is is natural.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't want natural because I don't think natural works.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_02: No, it's not what we're saying.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_02: That's not what we're saying at all.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_02: One of the people that we, or not one, but a lot of the people that we talked to, they didn't have the clean mascaras because they thought that it was organic and natural and didn't work that well.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, no, how do we shift this?
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_02: How do we shift that definition to saying, no, this is clean makeup, clean beauty, clean formulas that are high performance formulas?
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_02: How do we get through that?
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's how do we get through the the verbiage, right?
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_01: And this is really taking me back to that clean beauty panel I had the you know honor of hosting, or I love that with Olika.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: Did you listen?
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, it was a good it was a great conversation.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: I was so um so thrilled and happy and honored that uh you know they gave me the opportunity, but we really brought this up, and exactly what you're saying is the idea of this verbiage needs to be clarified, it needs to be understood, and you need to, and you know, not even just that panel, but going back to my conversation with um uh Jill uh from you know Kierwise, we were talking about how Kirwise's is, you know, certified organic makeup, and it's one of it's been one of the first brands to really do that.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_01: And she was trying to explain that to the consumers.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I was just like, thank you, Jill, for doing this.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_01: Because honestly, people don't understand the meaning of these words, they don't understand that behind everything vegan, natural, organic, certified organic, there are certain things that you have to go through as a brand to get these verifications and to get these certifications to be able to call yourself that.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: And and the thing is, there's a huge difference.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: So, natural beauty, like you said, is not the same as clean beauty.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, organic beauty is not the same thing as clean beauty.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's there's so many distinctions.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not saying that one's better than the other.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's saying that you have to figure out what it is that you align with the most as a consumer and go with that and really, you know, figure yourself out and figure out what do I stand for and what do I want on my makeup counter, you know, at the end of the day.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really, you know, it again, it's not only the entrepreneurs that have to step it up here, guys.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's the consumers, you know, we gotta really step it up.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_02: And this one thing that really frustrates me sometimes is when I see these blogs and these influencers saying, like, if you can't pronounce what's in your product, like that's it's not good for you.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, who said that?
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_02: Who decided that if you can't pronounce an ingredient, it's not good for you?
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I if that's going back to our conversation about having people that are, you know, people like you that have had years and years of training and experience and education and work in the lab to be like, that's not true at all.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_02: You know, if you can't pronounce something that's in your uh in your formula, that does not mean that it's going to give you cancer.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_02: No, right.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_02: Not at all.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_02: And it's crazy.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, how do we get people back from that bandwagon and saying, no, if you can't pronounce it, it doesn't mean that you need to fear-monger it.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_02: And that's something that I think is going to be an interesting shift.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_02: I think consumers will become more aware of this, but it's we're not totally there yet.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we're not, you know, fully all on the same page about the that there's no connection between, you know, ability to pronounce a word with, you know, health effects on your skin and your face.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_01: No, it has absolutely nothing to do with that.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_01: It has to do with organic chemistry.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: I think I brought this point up in like a previous uh episode at some point, but like I absolutely agree with you, and I'm so thankful that you brought this up because yeah, if you can't pronounce something, by the way, guys, on your on the packaging or something, it's because it's an organic uh chemistry word, and it's been named that way because of the way that the atoms are aligned in that molecule.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're seeing something like, you know, one five cis or one five trans something, that cis and trans stands for the actual molecular structure and the direction in which it's facing, the actual atoms.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_01: So that's not saying that whatever you're looking at is something that's just bad for you and because you can't pronounce it.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_01: No, it means that that's the organic chemistry notation for make for that specific molecule that's being used.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: It says nothing about whether it's good for you, bad for you.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_01: No, it has nothing to do with that, you know.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I really love that you brought that up.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm so glad that you see that as an entrepreneur and that you recognize that because you're right.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_01: There is not just me, but I have, you know, so many colleagues, so many friends, as I'm sure you do as well.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when you go through any kind of a science curriculum, you know, the amount of work that goes behind these classes and to learn this information.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, chemistry is a very, very dense subject.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: And trust me, you know, the naming is very difficult, okay?
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_01: And it might be intimidating to somebody who's never taken a chemistry class before, who's never taken organic before.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm telling you, there's a reason for it.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_01: So don't be scared of it.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_01: Try to learn, you know.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I really, really appreciate you bringing that up.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_02: And it's being able to convey that point in a way where it's like, I'm not gonna sit here and throw huge words at you.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm just gonna say in a very simple term, but I'm also aware of what I'm saying is based by fact and science and years of research.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why going back to our point of having these people on these platforms creating content like this, like this, that this conversation, it's really easy to uh, you know, regurgitate it, you know, like to word these conversations in a way where it's easy to be like, no, no, no, no, no.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like this is just the way that it's named, the compounds and organic chemistry.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's nothing crazy, it's not like a like a scientific like journal, you know, because it's that conversation of being able to convey that message that you just said so well in a way that everyone can receive and everyone can understand and feel, oh, okay.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the whole conversation about empowering the consumer because they're curious, they want to be empowered.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_02: And so let's give it to them because they're hungry for it.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's these conversations, it's these podcasts and these infographic posts and the reels and all these things that we're seeing more and more of nowadays.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_02: And there, like we said, there needs to be more.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's really, it makes me excited for the future of beauty and that connection between the brand, the business, and the consumer.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_01: I completely, completely agree with you.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_01: I think that it's a very exciting time indeed, you know, in the cosmetic industry, in the skincare industry, and just you know, overall like health and wellness industries.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_01: I completely agree because you know, I think, you know, and you know what this reminds me of, honestly, Sahara is like those.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_01: You remember when those online like courses came out for the most random stuff?
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's like if you want to learn about, you know, uh the structure of proteins, you can take Harvard's online free course, you know, that kind of stuff.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's what this reminds me of, honestly.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I feel like this is like we're like what we're doing here is almost like a free course for everyone listening, you know, like yeah, you just gotta listen.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_02: That's all you have to do.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_01: No, I and I think that that's really, you know, it it's really about educating, like you said, in a in a way that really resonates.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I think what resonates with people is if you give them visuals with explanations.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I've always been that huge advocate for like various types of learning.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like I've always really been behind that, like even since like you know, undergrad, like I think people learn in various ways.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I think um the one of the best ways is to learn hands-on.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_01: So if you are a consumer and you're listening and you go and you buy, you know, Soshi mascara and you open the box and you look at the refillable packaging, and then you go to the website and you read about it.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, at least that's what I do as a consumer.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I'm a geek and a nerd and nobody else does this, but that's what I do, okay?
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_01: And when I buy something.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_01: So you go and you learn, and then you're like looking at the packaging, you're looking at the components and you're learning and you're understanding, you know, that hands-on approach.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I think is going to stick with people.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_01: And that's and you know, by making something like you know, what you've made here by sending a box out that's not just the mascara, but it includes the refill in it, you're giving this almost, you know, like a trigger to innate curiosity to people.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_01: Because when they open that refill, they're like, oh, wow.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: Is this you know what I mean?
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how does this work?
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that's what I really love is that you know, if off the bat more brands did what you're doing with that, you know, you give somebody, don't just give them a product, no, give them something that they're curious about, something new, you know, and then that's gonna make them go and look that up and really try to figure out why do I have this?
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_01: Why is this refill included in this?
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's a huge it's a huge statement in itself.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_02: So and I really love that you said the word statement.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_02: I love that you said the word statement because it's it rings so true for a young brand like us because we wanted to move forward with an innovative package, something that no one had ever seen before.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's bigger than you think it is, it stands on your counter, you know, it's strong, it's it's there.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_02: And the refill, like I love that you brought that up because uh it's it makes me smile thinking about it that it's a fun, it's it's like, what is this new technology?
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what is this new product?
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_02: Why is this there?
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_02: And for us, we we, you know, Generation Z, I think we have a lot of information to give, but we're also we also have a lot to learn.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_02: We're really fresh in the space.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_02: I actually I have two male co-founders, and it's really interesting because people always ask me, you know, why?
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I don't do they wear makeup, like, why do you have two dudes like running this with you?
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, you don't understand.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_02: First of all, they're amazing, they're just like perfect individuals, but they had so many questions about how things were packaged, why makeup products were packaged the way they were, because they learned about it through us sitting down at a cafe, you know, at our university and me applying my makeup for them and showing them all my makeup products.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_02: We'd go to Sephora, I'd like to point out everything under the sun and they'd hold it and they'd open and they'd feel it, and they would just ask these questions, why?
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like, why is it like this?
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_02: And that's something that we want, I want to bring that back to the girls that have been wearing makeup since they were like 13, 14 years old.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_02: We've been so normalized to think that, you know, oh, lip gloss looks like this, and foundation looks like this, and mascara looks like this, that there's no really innovation on the packaging to go outside the box to make it that unique, different experience, to make you rethink the way that you're using your makeup, to make you rethink the way that your makeup is packaged.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't have to, you know, we're not trying to change, we're not trying to, you know, introduce some crazy new packaging design, but we are trying to nudge other industry or companies and brands to be like, hey, look at this.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_02: People love this idea.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_02: People love the idea of an innovative package, of one that, you know, really takes into account the mass use of plastic and the refillability and and key having this forever case.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_02: And it's so interesting because moving forward, we had to have a really intense conversation of what is what is Sochi Beauty?
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_02: And Sochi Beauty is the beloved refillable brand pushing the boundaries of packaging design, formulation, and just overall brand transparency.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_02: And we have this really, really, really cool opportunity to enter as this brand.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we're not backtracking, we're not like, you know, a huge conglomerate that's like, okay, let's now incorporate some sustainability measures or some clean formula measures.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_02: We have this really cool opportunity to start like this, but that doesn't mean that we know everything under the sun.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_02: And that's, I think, the beauty of being Generation Z is saying, let's learn more, let's talk to the consumers, let's create these private, you know, Facebook channels or email consumers and ask if we can give them a call and say, like, hey, what did you think about this?
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_02: And the feedback is not going to be all butterflies and rainbows, but at least we get that feedback and we can actually incorporate it and say, like, let's go through this together.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_02: Let's, and if we can get the consumer to question our business, to question our mascara, to really look into the way that it's packaged, the way that it's formulated, every part of the process, maybe they can start doing that for other brands as well.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_02: And it's this is gonna take years, but this is the goal.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_02: This is like the fire that burns in me and my two co-founders to keep going.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_02: And it makes us really excited, but it's been a journey to say the least.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I'm absolutely just I'm just soaking it all in.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_01: Honestly, I love your enthusiasm.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_01: I love the passion behind what you are doing and why you're doing what you're doing.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_01: That is something that's so rare for me to you, you will not believe how many interviews I conduct where I have to pull that out of the founders.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_01: I have to pull it out.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_01: I have to be like, tell me why you love your product.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, but you know, I really appreciate that and I really value that.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's a beautiful thing and it tells me a lot more about the brand than you realize because when you have a founder and you have someone, the person who's representing the their brand that has such solid beliefs and such, you know, so much ground that they're standing on of why they've created what they've created, it's worth not just looking at, but really diving into.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's really the essence of like just from the packaging to the concept.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you've really you have not sacrificed the heart, like you and both of your co-founders have not sacrificed anything when it comes to the beauty realm with the mascara.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I can honestly tell you, as soon as I got it, I you guys, everyone listening, as soon as I got the package in the mail, I was mesmerized.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_01: I loved it.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_01: I love the mascara, I love the wand.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_01: I remember I took a very close-up video of the wand itself because it's a beautiful, you know what I mean?
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's a pyramidal-shaped wand.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a cone and it's so nice because it it just it's functional, you know, the functionality of this product is just above and beyond.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like you can see the genius in the details.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_01: I really believe in that.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the subtleties and the details are what tell you about the genuine nature of a brand.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_01: And this is definitely something I've noticed with your product is that it's every little thing is thought out.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the packaging, like we talked about, it's something you can put on your vanity and be proud of.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's something you can pop in your makeup bag and pull out, and you love it because it's so beautiful and it's so chic, but it's still, you know, trendy and it's still like it's just cool.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's a cool piece to have in your makeup bag.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_01: But again, you know, going back to the refillable aspect, like there's another piece that makes you think like it's just so many different aspects combined together for an experience that the consumer is having on multiple levels.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_01: And that's really honestly, if you were to ask me and the way that the generations are um now perceiving things and like kind of like consuming content like we just we talked about earlier.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's really the key is to give people enough brain food when they buy something that when they oh immediately when they open it, like it's just a sensorial experience for them.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's like, okay, wait a minute, hold on.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_01: There are 15 things that I need to like comprehend here, you know, and it's in the best way.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's really the key to keep to because let's be honest, you know, before we used to call it ADHD, now I just call it generation syndrome.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, honestly, everyone is ADHD at this point.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's a there's a time, you know, we have a retention span of five seconds at the most.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think TikToks even says like, don't make your videos longer seven seconds because no one's gonna look at them.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like people are just we're programmed that way because we live in such a fast-paced um environment.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, to create products, you have to be very mindful that from the minute the consumer gets it to and the second that they open it, they're going to be immersed in the experience and they're gonna want to learn more.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that Sochi Beauty and your product, this mascara, it has really captured that.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I think you've done just a such a brilliant job.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, hats off to you.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm so, by the way, I'm so excited that your co-founders are male.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_01: I absolutely love it.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_02: They're so awesome.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_02: I've put mass like makeup on them all the time, and they just love it and they want to know so much about they watch hours and hours of YouTube, like makeup artists to learn.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_02: And it's this fresh perspective that I am so grateful for because honestly, I always say this if you have the best idea in the world and you don't have good co-founders and your relationship's not based off of mutual trust and respect, that idea can go nowhere.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_02: But if you have like kind of an okay idea and incredible co-founders, you could take that so far.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_02: So I feel so lucky to I I think like have a pretty cool idea and also just the most amazing co-founders ever.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and so I'm excited and and thank you for your kind words.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_02: You don't realize like how much happiness that gives me because it's been three years of, you know, trying to get this right.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_02: And there's been so many people that have said to us, you know, you're doing too much.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_02: You can't do, you know, efficacy, clean, sustainability, pat like it's too much.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's too saturated.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's not, it's not, people are gonna get too overwhelmed.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_02: And then other people saying, Oh, you're not doing enough.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's it's really the following your gut, following your instinct, and going back to the conversation of you're you're so right about how curious and how people want an entire experience.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's really, really cool to see people taking pride in the whole aspect of a brand, you know, like from start to finish, and being proud of a brand and honestly feeling like it's your baby, kind of.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_02: You feel like you want to talk about it, you want to be like, look at what, look at what they did here.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I have that with other brands as well, like uh including mine, but it's really, really cool.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I think first and foremost, our the thing that gives us a lot of joy is when people, let's say if you blind bought it, you had no idea, never seen the brand before, never looked on the website, you just got it.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_02: You look at it and you're like, holy cow, it's packaging and it works so well, like it's beautiful.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_02: And it's it's like an afterthought being like, oh my gosh, I had no idea this was cruelty-free and and you know, non-toxic.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_02: I had no idea that each refill reduces your total massive single plastic waste by as much as 50%.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_02: That should be the afterthought.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_02: We want people to buy it because it's gorgeous and it works really freaking well, you know, it's because it's not about sacrifice, it's not about compromising one thing for another.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_02: And it's so cool to see that people are really getting on board with this idea and and pushing other brands to do so, to follow suit.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I hope that we can also have this in all future of our products.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_02: We really want to create an entire line of refillable, but curated, you know, like things that you have in your staples bag, right?
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the things that you're tossing out the most, the things that you're throwing out, things you need to be replacing the most.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_01: So it's you know, I'm all about having a Soshi Beauty bag and just have all your products in it.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think that you're going to make the most amazing products even going further, because I think, you know, what you just said, because of what you just said, you know, I was to I I'm from the generation of, and I sound super old when I say this, I'm a millennial, FYI, everybody.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_01: But um, you know, I'm I'm from the uh the mindset and the and the teaching of like, you know, I really believe that if you do something right and if someone is truly doing something that is genuine and and really works, they're not gonna be shouting that off the rooftops, and they're not going to be, you know, like putting it up in everyone's faces and saying, look how clean we are, look how sustainable we are, look how no, it's gonna be there and it's gonna be, and the results are gonna speak for themselves.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_01: And that's exactly how I see your brand because you're right.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_01: When I opened that package, and when I first opened it, I didn't think about clean and sustainable.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, I knew that you had that aspect in your brand, yeah, you know, from just doing my homework about you guys, but I immediately thought of, oh my gosh, this is so gorgeous.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_01: I want this in my makeup bag.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_01: So that is what it means to be truly clean, sustainable, and to really take it a step further because we need to make those things baseline, like you've already said, like those, like being clean and sustainable and being good for the environment, good for your health, good for everything you can imagine that we can do now with technology, all of that needs to be a baseline.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_01: We don't need to keep talking about it in a way where it's like, oh, well, look how much we did for being carbon neutral.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you should have done that anyway.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_01: See what I mean?
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like that kind of thing.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, like I really appreciate that about you, and I really appreciate that about your brand.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_01: That you guys are not just like when you when I open the box, I'm not seeing like 15 pant, you know, pamphlets that are like, oh, we're this much so this sustainable and this way and this vegan, and you know, no, no one wants to see that anymore.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, our little like the marketing card that you get is like, hey, um, just letting you know, you should replace it.
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_02: Like, if you want to learn more, you gotta replace the mascara.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_02: I hope people are reading that one, but yeah, it's so important for us.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I think there's like this weird trend going around where it's like the quote unquote clean look.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, that implies the existence of like a dirty look.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, that I don't know.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_02: I I do I do love clean beauty.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_02: I have a lot of it, but I also have you know products that aren't necessarily like throwing that at you that are like, oh, we're so clean, you know, you know what I mean?
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's not like shaming anyone for their decisions, but it's empowering them to be like, hey, look at what's in your product, look at how the brand is packaging and the pipeline, how it's getting to you in the first place, and even something as like in the background as how are they treating their employees?
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how are they treating their consumers?
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_02: Like, are they open for change and for growth and to understand that, you know, the way the the I'm telling you honestly, formulas in five years are going to be so much better than they are now, and they're being made like as we speak.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_02: And so this idea of an always evolving, growing industry, we're kind of like locked into this idea of like clean.
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_02: We've seen that with like Sephora Clean, they have like their own, you know, sections of the story that are like label, yeah.
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's like, oh, this is yeah, and it's I'm really curious.
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_02: I think we're gonna like look back at this conversation of like five years and be like, wow, things have really, really changed because you know, it I don't want it to be like a club, you know?
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_02: No, this like exclusive, oh, I wear clean, oh you don't, you know, it it it needs to just be beauty is an art form, it's how what makes you feel beautiful, it's how it's it's honestly the only time in the day often we have to ourselves is getting ready.
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, and to not shame based off of what product you're using, what brand you're using, but because it's good, it makes you feel good, it makes you look good.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_02: It it the brand aligns with your values and you you know that that decision that I think that's where we're going.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm really, really excited because I don't I don't love a fear-mongering industry.
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_02: I really don't.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_02: I am yeah, me too.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_02: I'm with you on that.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_01: No, nothing done out of fear, nothing done out of fear, and nobody, you know, anyone who's fear uh oriented and nothing, anything, any brand that's fear-oriented or whatever, that is never going to lead to results.
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's never going to be a solution.
• 1:00:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I really believe in the mindset of if there's a fire, the person who's screaming, oh my god, there's a fire, shoot that person the head and move on to the person who says, How are we going to fix this?
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_01: Let's put out the fire, right?
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm sorry, I'm not saying I'm I'm anti-violence, by the way, everybody.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just, I didn't mean to, you know, say that.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_01: But like I just I really don't believe in the idea of just, you know, if there's a fire and there's something wrong, then you're just like exclaiming, you know, just just shouting it.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, why don't you find a solution and why don't you like try to educate people and try to make this a more like understandable thing and a more like fixable thing.
• 1:00:52
  SPEAKER_01: There is no such thing as impossible, you know, like being from the backgrounds that we all come from, you know, whether it's you and I, Sahar, or I know anyone listening, like you learn that, you know, anything is possible.
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there are people out there that have overcome so much.
• 1:01:07
  SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, this world is not based on the idea of finite, right?
• 1:01:12
  SPEAKER_01: We're based on infinite solutions.
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so even mathematics teaches you that, you know, there are infinite solutions to the same problem.
• 1:01:20
  SPEAKER_01: There's infinite ways to get to the same solution for a given set of, you know, a set uh equation.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_01: So if you just think about it logically, then you realize that there are so many solutions and there's so many approaches to things, and we have to be like, you know, curious enough and we have to be just more just you know integrated into our understanding of what society needs to really make those solutions come out.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I think when I when I look at your brand, that's what I think of.
• 1:01:47
  SPEAKER_01: I think of, you know, just you've really done an amazing job, you know, from the packaging.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_01: I can tell you one of my favorite features about the brand and the aesthetic of the brand, I can off the bat tell you I love that you've included a Caucasian model and a uh uh a melanin-rich, you know, African-American model on the cover of your um the pamphlet that comes in the box and the website because you've shown immediately, transparently, this is what the mascara is gonna look like on this shade of skin and this shade of skin.
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_01: And and you you've covered, you know what I mean?
• 1:02:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like so that by itself, like this is this is a conversation that I think is so important because you know, I was talking to Karen Chambers of um Iman Cosmetics, and we were talking about how you know, um, inclusivity and diversity is not about 50 shades, it's about creating a product that works for everybody because shades don't define us, shades change, you know what I mean?
• 1:02:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like skin shades change, like complexions change.
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_01: But if you have a product that's genuinely working, then it's gonna work no matter what.
• 1:02:49
  SPEAKER_01: And that's exactly like I feel like by making that as like something that you've put on your website, you've put it into the packaging, like it's making a statement saying, like, from the lightest tones to the darkest tones, we are showing you that our product works.
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_01: So and it's you know, yeah, yeah, totally.
• 1:03:04
  SPEAKER_02: So a couple things that I love that you're bringing this up.
• 1:03:07
  SPEAKER_02: One, the point about the fire.
• 1:03:09
  SPEAKER_02: My cousin, when I got when Soshi launched, he called me because I was stressed.
• 1:03:13
  SPEAKER_02: And he goes, You're now a firefighter, and your job is to just put out fires.
• 1:03:18
  SPEAKER_02: And that is like something that I think all of us can take and just be like, you know what?
• 1:03:22
  SPEAKER_02: This, like you said, like let's be solutions oriented, let's not just like dwell on this problem, let's move forward.
• 1:03:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I wish you could talk to my co-founder Aiden.
• 1:03:32
  SPEAKER_02: We are getting into color, which is really, really exciting.
• 1:03:35
  SPEAKER_02: And he's like, he's like, this is a no-brainer.
• 1:03:38
  SPEAKER_02: This is a no-brainer that we need to get every single shade and every single skin type and every single skin texture and concern.
• 1:03:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't even know why people wouldn't put that into their how they create products.
• 1:03:55
  SPEAKER_02: And a huge part of it.
• 1:03:57
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to talk to Aiden.
• 1:03:58
  SPEAKER_01: We should do a part two where we all just come together and talk about it because that's yeah, I agree with that.
• 1:04:03
  SPEAKER_02: But uh something that we are really excited about doing is getting the community involved in testing it, you know.
• 1:04:11
  SPEAKER_02: The well, who better to test our products than the people that are going to be getting it?
• 1:04:16
  SPEAKER_02: Not the formulas, not models, you know, the the swatches on the models' hands, like you know, perfect skin, perfect color, like all these things.
• 1:04:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's like that's that's where we're going.
• 1:04:29
  SPEAKER_02: That's how where this industry is going, where these conversations are like, it's a no-fricking brainer to be able to say, like, we're going to include as many people to represent the world that we walk in.
• 1:04:41
  SPEAKER_02: Because the time of the like romanticized western features is it's over, put to put it plainly, you know, and it is.
• 1:04:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:04:54
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to buy from a brand that when I see their swatches, it's only on very pale hands.
• 1:04:59
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want that.
• 1:04:59
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want that.
• 1:05:00
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not, I'm not into that at all.
• 1:05:02
  SPEAKER_02: I I don't want a brand where when I see you know products on their face, they're only showing like one type of lashes or one type of skin.
• 1:05:10
  SPEAKER_02: I there's that's just not realistic.
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_02: That's not realistic in any way.
• 1:05:14
  SPEAKER_02: And it's really cool as a young brand and as a brand that at the end of the day, as individuals, me, Aiden, and Juni, we all agree on the same ethics and we all align with our moral compasses.
• 1:05:31
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's so, so important.
• 1:05:33
  SPEAKER_02: Whenever whoever, whenever we work with someone outside of our group, we make sure that they understand that this is a priority for us, that this is something that we need to put first, right?
• 1:05:45
  SPEAKER_02: And if they don't agree or or they have different opinions, sorry, buy.
• 1:05:49
  SPEAKER_02: Where you you can find someone else that's gonna align with your brand.
• 1:05:53
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the same thing as consumers from with buying products.
• 1:05:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm not gonna buy from a brand.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_02: That you know doesn't take these really, really serious social issues into account because there's probably another brand that has a product that's just as good, you know?
• 1:06:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, a good condition of being able to, you don't have to sacrifice, you don't have to compromise.
• 1:06:15
  SPEAKER_02: And it's so so cool.
• 1:06:16
  SPEAKER_02: And brands need to realize that this is the world that we're living in where the consumers are at are are are not okay with the standard, what's been normal, you know, what's been the way of doing makeup and testing and formulating, you know, way back in the day.
• 1:06:38
  SPEAKER_01: It needs to exactly.
• 1:06:40
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 1:06:40
  SPEAKER_01: It needs to change and it needs to be like really well thought out, and it needs it needs a group of individuals behind the products that are willing to really think and to really test new ways.
• 1:06:50
  SPEAKER_01: And that's you know, that's exactly what you're you're explaining here.
• 1:06:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think, you know, it's is the idea of like, don't just, you know, think that just because of, you know, and this is my message actually, more so like, you know, then don't just think that because a brand is clean or whatever, that the same amount of passion and vision and you know, just moral compass is behind it as what Sahara and I are talking about here.
• 1:07:12
  SPEAKER_01: There's a huge difference.
• 1:07:14
  SPEAKER_01: You have to like, you really have to dive deeper.
• 1:07:16
  SPEAKER_01: And for me, like with skincare anarchy, one of the biggest questions I've always gotten is Ecta, why do you interview just like just founders and like why don't you have more consumers on them?
• 1:07:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like, because consumers want to know or they should want to know who is behind these brands.
• 1:07:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 1:07:31
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 1:07:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why the heck would I interview consumers when they have no idea what they're even buying?
• 1:07:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I need to interview founders, you know, to like tell people, well, this is why you should buy it.
• 1:07:41
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I think that it's it's really about knowledge, it's you know, really taking it back and bringing full circle.
• 1:07:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's about, you know, having founders who are really on board with this idea of education and being flexible in their mindset to be like open to, you know, information coming from professionals.
• 1:07:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, we talked about optometrists, we talked about doctors.
• 1:08:03
  SPEAKER_01: They should be open to that.
• 1:08:04
  SPEAKER_01: And they should be open to including that information into the next product that they may launch or even modifying a product they may have that's not the best, you know.
• 1:08:13
  SPEAKER_01: So you need to have that same passion.
• 1:08:15
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, you know, your consumers can believe in you because that's what they're doing when they buy your product.
• 1:08:21
  SPEAKER_01: They're putting their in you as an entrepreneur and as somebody who's creating a product that is for them to put on their face, that is a very personal experience.
• 1:08:29
  SPEAKER_01: And that's really where I think this industry differentiates between good versus bad uh products, is that passion and that enthusiasm and that real genuine place of wanting to make a change because there's you know, we have words like you and I talked about.
• 1:08:44
  SPEAKER_01: We there's clean beauty, natural beauty, organic beauty, but there's also this word called greenwashing.
• 1:08:49
  SPEAKER_01: And greenwashing is a there's a lot of things I think of.
• 1:08:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't just think of saying, oh, well, we're kind of clean.
• 1:08:56
  SPEAKER_01: No, when I think of greenwashing, I also think of fake, fake news.
• 1:09:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 1:09:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like fake, fake everything.
• 1:09:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like you're just putting out words to make yourself yeah, you're sugarcoating it.
• 1:09:07
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 1:09:08
  SPEAKER_01: There's no real substance to what the heck you're making.
• 1:09:10
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, you know, at the end of the day, we don't need any of that anymore.
• 1:09:14
  SPEAKER_01: And we as a as a community, as a beauty community, like Sahar said, like this is a place where everyone should feel comfortable, safe, and wonderful, and and and you know, the time that we spend on our routines, it's time to get away.
• 1:09:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's time to like, you know, just focus on ourselves and be happy.
• 1:09:31
  SPEAKER_01: And if you can't do that with the brands that you're utilizing, and if they those brands don't make you feel like the best version of yourself, then they're failing as brands, and you have to figure out why, you know.
• 1:09:42
  SPEAKER_02: And also it there's there's an unfortunate amount of people that on social media aren't the nicest or they have different views, right?
• 1:09:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and a lot of them will comment and being like, I don't want to know about sustainability, I don't care about, you know, the health, I don't care about you talking about social issues on this platform.
• 1:10:02
  SPEAKER_02: I just want to see makeup.
• 1:10:04
  SPEAKER_02: And we've seen that with also other brands, other brands that are in our space, these these people that comment these hateful things, being like, do your job and stick to makeup.
• 1:10:13
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, no, no, no, no, no.
• 1:10:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm gonna do it.
• 1:10:15
  SPEAKER_02: I think especially in the beauty industry, I love what you said, but like creating a community that feels safe because I don't care if I lose a billion customers, you know, that are sick and tired of seeing trying, you know, us trying to educate about uh hygiene and health and replacing mascara and also other bigger issues that are needs these conversations need to be had.
• 1:10:39
  SPEAKER_02: I would rather have a community that feels like they are comfortable coming to our social media, are comfortable sending us an email, knowing that we're going to uh treat them with love and respect and kindness.
• 1:10:53
  SPEAKER_02: And it's it's interesting because I have I went to a chiropractor one time and he asked me, he says, Well, I told him what I studied, and he says, Well, what do you do now?
• 1:11:06
  SPEAKER_02: I hope it's not makeup.
• 1:11:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, it actually is.
• 1:11:12
  SPEAKER_02: And it took me a long, long time, I'm gonna be completely honest with you, a really long time to feel confident that I am in the beauty industry because of you know, coming from a Middle Eastern background, there's a lot of uh, I said this in the very, very beginning of the podcast, there's a lot of validation and pride that comes with, you know, being an engineer or a lawyer.
• 1:11:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um and it it was a struggle for me in the beginning to be like, yeah, I'm I'm full in in the beauty industry.
• 1:11:42
  SPEAKER_02: But if you think about beauty and you think about these brands, we're not just creating products for them, we're creating experiences, we're making them feel beautiful.
• 1:11:52
  SPEAKER_02: And we should be a part of these bigger conversations about how to take care of yourself, how to take care of take care of others.
• 1:11:58
  SPEAKER_02: I see these amazing brands that you know their focus is on mental health or their focus is on giving back to you know the NAACP or any LGBTQIA plus organizations where it's this is an incredible industry to be in because we are so aware and cognizant of the human experience.
• 1:12:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:12:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't think you know, I even think that we should rename the industry, we should rename it to innovat, you know, the innovative wellness industry or like something else.
• 1:12:29
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 1:12:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 1:12:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like the beauty industry does not encompass everything that's going on and all of the innovations that are taking place.
• 1:12:37
  SPEAKER_01: That just it doesn't do uh justice to really the efforts of the entrepreneurs that make up this space.
• 1:12:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, and I completely, by the way, I completely know what you're talking about when someone says something like that, because I will not, I'm not joking.
• 1:12:50
  SPEAKER_01: You're the first person I've actually shared this with, is that I was given so much grief by um not only like not my parents, my parents are amazing people, but like my extended family for even starting a podcast, because I've always been a very like um, you know, science person.
• 1:13:06
  SPEAKER_01: I've been very like scholastic and like all about that whole, you know what I mean?
• 1:13:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like that that life of just books and like really hardcore science and all that.
• 1:13:14
  SPEAKER_01: So they were almost kind of like, Well, why are you even doing that?
• 1:13:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, just just stop, you know, just just go.
• 1:13:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you don't get it, you don't get it, you're you don't want to get it.
• 1:13:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I really, you know, and this is a really big point because and I'm mentioning this because you brought this up in a very beautiful way that anyone listening out there, if you are somebody who comes from a culture like Sahars and I've, you know, where it's like kind of looked down upon to not be an engineer or a doctor or, you know, like these big words like that stand for I guess stability, you have to you have to stop fighting with people who are so close-minded that they'll never change, and you have to focus on what you're creating, you know what I mean?
• 1:13:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then eventually that's yeah, what brings you happiness?
• 1:13:57
  SPEAKER_01: What brings you happiness and what is your way of creating change in this world?
• 1:14:01
  SPEAKER_01: So, like that's really what what it comes down to.
• 1:14:04
  SPEAKER_01: So, but Sahar, I wanna, I wanna just thank you.
• 1:14:06
  SPEAKER_01: I know we've been talking for a while, and I could honestly talk to you for days.
• 1:14:09
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to do a part two because there's so many things I want to touch upon, and I would absolutely love to have Aiden on and anyone.
• 1:14:15
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, you know, he would love to be on.
• 1:14:19
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm I'm super down to do that.
• 1:14:20
  SPEAKER_02: That would be so fun.
• 1:14:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I would love it.
• 1:14:23
  SPEAKER_01: And everyone, by the way, you guys, if there's really, you know, if you really have taken away anything from this um episode, I hope it's like, you know, just how unique and how genuine this brand is.
• 1:14:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's again, go to socibeauty.com, s-o-sh-e beauty.com and check it out, you guys.
• 1:14:42
  SPEAKER_01: I promise you, you know, I say this every episode and I mean it.
• 1:14:46
  SPEAKER_01: I do not invite brands onto the show that I don't believe in.
• 1:14:49
  SPEAKER_01: I don't invite entrepreneurs on that I don't believe in.
• 1:14:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I really, really believe in what Sahara and her team are doing.
• 1:14:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so I urge you, it's the holiday season.
• 1:14:58
  SPEAKER_01: If you know that person that needs a new mascara, here you go.
• 1:15:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 1:15:02
  SPEAKER_01: This is your chance for the for better hygiene, you know.
• 1:15:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, all for the hygiene.
• 1:15:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 1:15:09
  SPEAKER_02: Educate your mom, your friend, your aunt, your cousins.
• 1:15:12
  SPEAKER_02: Just tell them, hey, when's the last time you replaced your mascara?
• 1:15:15
  SPEAKER_02: Just ask them that.
• 1:15:16
  SPEAKER_01: You'll be shocked, by the way.
• 1:15:19
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 1:15:19
  SPEAKER_01: No, you know, make that be the person who asked that question.
• 1:15:22
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I really hope you guys you love this episode.
• 1:15:24
  SPEAKER_01: I want to I I want this conversation to keep going because we've talked about so much more here than just a brand.
• 1:15:30
  SPEAKER_01: We've talked about so many topics, and I would love to hear your thoughts.
• 1:15:33
  SPEAKER_01: And if you have any questions about Sochi Beauty, leave them in the comments.
• 1:15:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'll definitely pass them to Sahar's team.
• 1:15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, stay tuned for part two because I'm going to bug her till she comes back on.
• 1:15:43
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you so much.
• 1:15:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's honestly been such an honor.
• 1:15:46
  SPEAKER_02: I was I was very transparently nervous um to get onto this podcast, but I agree that I could probably talk to you for hours on end, and it's been such a fun conversation and so many amazing topics.
• 1:15:59
  SPEAKER_02: I'd love to continue.
• 1:16:01
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 1:16:01
  SPEAKER_01: Me too.
• 1:16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much, Sahar, and thank you everybody for listening.
• 1:16:05
  SPEAKER_01: Hey guys, so I hope you love that episode.
• 1:16:08
  SPEAKER_01: Please make sure to hit subscribe if you're tuning in to us on any podcast platform.
• 1:16:13
  SPEAKER_01: We are available on so many different platforms.
• 1:16:15
  SPEAKER_01: So wherever it is that you're tuning in, just go hit subscribe.
• 1:16:18
  SPEAKER_01: You will be immediately notified when we publish new episodes.
• 1:16:22
  SPEAKER_01: This way, you're able to tune in to amazing insights from experts, brand founders, industry leaders, authors, all the wonderful people that we host.
• 1:16:30
  SPEAKER_01: And that's very important for me because I love to hear from you guys and really understand what you love and what you want to hear more of.
• 1:16:37
  SPEAKER_01: Also, make sure to give us a follow on all of our social media outlets.
• 1:16:40
  SPEAKER_01: We're available on Instagram, TikTok, X, you name it, we're there.
• 1:16:45
  SPEAKER_01: We also have a blog on Medium.
• 1:16:47
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're a reader and you love Medium blogs, check us out on Medium.
• 1:16:51
  SPEAKER_01: We publish some really great articles on there that do deeper dives than just what's available on the podcast.
• 1:16:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it's really a great place for all of you science geeks out there that want to learn a little bit more.
• 1:17:01
  SPEAKER_01: We go above and beyond with our research and making sure we're bringing you information that you usually probably won't hear about in other outlets.
• 1:17:07
  SPEAKER_01: So check us out, leave us a comment, leave us a review, and we'll be back next time with another episode.
• 1:17:12
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.