Women with Cool Jobs
Women with Cool Jobs
Beauty Brand Founder Celebrates South-Asian Culture While Appealing To The Mainstream Market Because of Community, Representation, and Inclusivity
Beauty brand founder, Priyanka Ganjoo, created Kulfi Beauty with a mission to celebrate South-Asian culture and allowing room for embracing diversity, community, and joy.
In just a few years, Priyanka went from being on the corporate side of the beauty industry to launching the first South Asian-owned makeup brand in all Sephora stores across North America. She is driven by a mission to celebrate individuality, and the result is that Kulfi has cultivated a thriving, engaged community while also tying in to her original purpose of filling a major gap in the beauty market. Her company is successfully bridging South Asian beauty with mainstream appeal, which is easily demonstrated by looking at their social media, models, branding, and more.
Priyanka worked on the corporate side of the beauty industry for 5 years and saw first-hand how South Asians were underrepresented. After constantly searching for products that matched her skin tone and feeling like an outsider in the industry, she wanted to create more inclusive products.
She launched Kulfi in 2021. Shortly afterwards, Kulfi’s cult-favorite kajal eyeliners, concealers, and eyeshadows won awards from Allure and Byrdie.
Contact Info:
Priyanka Ganjoo - Guest
Priyanka Ganjoo (Instagram)
Kulfi Beauty website
Julie Berman - Host
www.womenwithcooljobs.com
@womencooljobs (Instagram)
Julie Berman (LinkedIn)
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Julie. Alright, hello everybody. This is Julie Berman, and welcome to another episode of women with cool jobs today. I have an amazing guest, and I was so excited to, like, discover that you existed in the role. I love what you're doing, and I think it's so powerful, not only that you've created this company in a really, actually epic amount of time that you have such just like a natural a natural following for people who really love and seem really excited about what you're doing in your products. So thank you so much for being here. So Priyanka Ganju, and you're the founder and CEO of COFI, a South Asian inspired makeup brand that values inclusivity and cultural representation. So I'm so happy to have you here. Thank you for joining.
Priyanka Ganjoo:Thanks for having me here, Julie. So I
Julie Berman - Host:would love for you to describe, like, just as we start, how do you describe your cool job? Like, what do you tell people that you
Priyanka Ganjoo:do? I make things that are fun and hopefully inspire people to bring joy into their beauty routines.
Julie Berman - Host:That's awesome. And I think it's, it's funny, because I was telling you, like, right before we started recording, I ended up, like, which I don't go in, I don't wear a lot of makeup, I don't do a lot of fancy stuff with my hair. It's like, I'm a mom. I have three boys, like, you know, chaos is like, sometimes I'm lucky if I look at myself before I before I run out and do all these things for the day. But with that said, I was so happy because I ended up, I decided to change things up for my my hair routine and, like, get a little bit, you know, nicer products. And I was waiting in line at Sephora, and I was, I was like, Oh my gosh. It was the longest line for, like, me getting one thing and and so. But then I saw your product and, like, your whole section, and I was like, This is amazing. And so I was chatting with an employee about it. And so it was just so cool knowing that I was having this call coming up with you, because it gave me a bit more context, and also I am imagining it's a really big accomplishment to get into Sephora. So so with that being said, like I would, I would love to hear, can you explain a little bit about and you don't have to go too deep unless you want to, but just kind of like about yourself, and how did you come to create kofi? Like, what was the mission behind it, or what was the reasoning behind it? Because I think this part is so powerful, which is why I really was excited to have you on.
Priyanka Ganjoo:Thank you for sharing that. And yeah, we I love seeing Kofi in the stores. It's always such a amazing affirmation of how far we've come from my apartment where I started, but I honestly didn't grow up thinking I'd start a beauty brand. I actually never even wore makeup in my late 20s, and I think part of that was because I just never felt that makeup was something that I was given permission to play with that I fit into the stereotype in my mind at that time of like, what someone who looks like wears makeup looks like, you know, I didn't feel like I saw people who look like me in beauty campaigns. And every time I had, like, one of those experiences going to the department store, they would tell me to use these products to make my nose look smaller or my lips look bigger, and like it made me feel like, not really happy about wearing makeup. It almost made me feel overwhelmed and more insecure. And so I had a pretty negative relationship with makeup. So it's kind of crazy that now I have a makeup company, but, you know, I think that's what adulthood is all about. It's about unlearning and learning new things, and that's what I'm enjoying right now. And what actually happened was that I ended up working in the beauty industry from a business perspective. So I joined Estee Lauder companies, and I worked in their strategy team, and then I worked for Ipsy, which is a beauty subscription service, and I did merchandising from for them. And when I started doing that in my late 20s, I was exposed to one all these people around me who love beauty and who did dream of these jobs growing up, but also exposed to all this product, and I gotta, like, Rediscover or discover it for the first time, really, on my own terms, and as an adult, playing with like a highlighter and like a fun, blurry eyeshadow. And it made me realize how joyful it can be. And that's really my aha moment. Was being like, recognizing that just as I'm having this discovery so late in the game, because I just didn't see people who look like me in those positions, there's probably other people out there who are feeling the same way. And this seems like a big gap, both from a product perspective, because we couldn't find shades that really complemented us. And you know, we've all. Had experiences wearing foundations that are too orange, or, like, lipsticks that are too pale, or whatever it is, but also from, like, an emotional perspective of really feeling celebrated and seen for who we are, and showing up as we are, and all of those things sort of came together in a beautiful way, and just just really, really proud of, like, how far we've come since then. So that's that was 2019 when I had, like, that aha moment, and then I left my job, and then we launched in 2021
Julie Berman - Host:wow, that's awesome. Yeah, I love hearing that. And I think, you know, even, because I was just going through your Instagram and some other things, and it's really apparent how much you celebrate diversity. And I think, like, one of the things that stood out to me is that there were so many people who looked like they did different things in life, and, you know, their their skin tones different, and they come from different places, and they have different backgrounds. And I think there's something so beautiful to be said from the fact that, like, you came from a place where you felt like you couldn't find something that felt like it fit you, and so you created that. So such, such a cool thing. I want to go back like, you know now to use the younger person, like, what, what did you think you were gonna do growing up? Like, what was your it sounds like you got a degree, if I'm not wrong in something. So I love to hear about, like, kind of, you know you as a younger person, and then, and then we'll, we'll also head into, like, what you're doing now a little bit later in the interview. But like, what, what was it like being Priyanka as a young, as a young woman or girl
Priyanka Ganjoo:as a young girl, I was definitely very argumentative, and that trait continues on.
Unknown:I love that I
Priyanka Ganjoo:was constantly told that I thought, actually for a long time, that I would become a lawyer, even though now I have friends who are in the legal profession, and they're just behind laptops. They're not necessarily arguing all the time. I thought that that would be something that I would do, but I ended up studying computer science in undergrad, completely unrelated. And then I went into business. Actually, I realized it wasn't really sort of where I was, what I was passionate about at that time. So went into business. And then in my exposure to the business world is kind of how I got exposed to beauty, but very, very different career. Yeah,
Julie Berman - Host:I love that. I, um, that's so interesting too, because it's funny, my dad's a lawyer, but he actually isn't the type that that argues a lot either, yeah. So I love that. I
Priyanka Ganjoo:thought he's very successful, because you gotta be very, very, like, savvy, I think, more than argumentative,
Julie Berman - Host:yeah, that's well said, yes, yeah, that's well said. I love that. And so you know now what you're doing. You were on the business side of of things for a while, and then you launch your brand in during COVID, because it's still 2021 How did you end up, I guess, like, developing something. What was that process like? Like, how had you seen anyone develop product before in your previous job? Or, how did you like, what was that process like, as far as like, ideation to actually creation, like having something physical.
Priyanka Ganjoo:Yeah, I so when I was doing my job at Ipsy, we did have, I built a team that was helping us do some product development for our brands. So basically, we would work with some of our smaller brands to help them scale production. And so we had an in house product development team. I started going to trade shows where you meet, like, manufacturers and labs and vendors. So I started to get a little bit of an idea. But I would say, by the time this was maybe like, I had like, one year of exposure to this, but I still had to learn so much, right? And I think I say that about, like, marketing as well, and every step of the way, like, you can wait till you have all the answers, because you're not going to, but I had a little bit of exposure to profit. To product development during the time I was in my last job, and that helped me, at least kind of have that first sort of point of view. Of like, a lot of time people ask me, like, where do you get products made? And I'm like, you know, this is how you do it. Is like, you find labs, you find chemists to create formulas. You find contract manufacturers to start with, and there are avenues to explore that, but having done a little bit of that in my corporate
Julie Berman - Host:job helped, yeah, and then so it sounds like you knew kind of like the basic elements, but you still had to go through, obviously, you're creating a whole new company and a whole new product. And then what did you like? What did you start with? Like, it, and how did you get that idea to start with that particular item? Like, what was the beginning like?
Priyanka Ganjoo:Yeah, there were. The first product I wanted to develop was a concealer, because for me, I have dark circles under my eyes, and one of the things that I always struggled was finding a concealer that matched my undertones. I. Have like or olive, kind of like a mix of yellow and pink undertones. It's very hard to shade match. And so peach, like, there's a mix of a Bucha undertones. And so I wanted to create concealers that really helped with complexion like mine, and also, like, a range within the olive undertone, a lot of South Asian undertones aren't studied super well, and I knew that that was a huge white space, and it still continues to be. So that was kind of what I first started developing. But I actually, when I left my job and I started ideating coffee, I wanted to make sure it wasn't just in my head, and there was actually other people who who were, like, looking for things, and so I did a lot of, you can call them consumer research, but it was really me getting on a Facebook group and being like, Hey, I'm starting a beauty brand. Come chat with me. And like meeting people in coffee shops in New York and bribing them with a coffee bring your makeup back, tell me what's missing. And I think one of the one of the things I learned from that was that a lot of South Asian women had Kajal, which is a traditional eye pencil used in India. It's an eyeliner that sometimes we make at home. There are some traditional brands. Obviously, a lot of them had that in their makeup bags, but they weren't happy with it because it was smudging, or it didn't feel like contemporary enough for them, or it didn't feel like it was delivering the performance they wanted, or maybe the look felt outdated and looked like, you know, something my mom would wear, and so I'm not gonna wear it, and so, but it was still very integral to their makeup routines, because it because It is something traditionally, like, we don't even consider it makeup growing up, because it's something we use just daily, you know, at home and you know, you're almost like, feel like incomplete without having worn a little bit of casual eyeliner. And so that's kind of while I was developing the concealer in the background, I got this idea because I kept hearing this again and again as like, something that people weren't excited about, but really still were using, and I felt like there was an opportunity to maybe redesign that for our generation.
Julie Berman - Host:Wow. And what do you use casual for in like, in the traditional sense of what, how do you usually use it or what, what purpose or meaning does it have?
Priyanka Ganjoo:Yeah, it's a lot of cultural significance across different regions. So what I can speak to is my personal experience growing up. We use it to ward off evil eye or another, as they say. And so even like, when I was born, actually when babies are born, you got there them with, like, Kajal black casual or, like, wear black eyeliner, because it's supposed to basically bring good vibes and repel the bad vibes or another evil eye. So it's kind of a layer of protection. And that, like feeling of just, you know, like you feel connected a little bit to this ritual of love and care, and I think that's sort of what it symbolizes
Julie Berman - Host:for me. Yeah, I love that. I've never heard of that, but that's such, like a lovely idea in general. I appreciate you sharing it. Yeah.
Priyanka Ganjoo:And we made that the cornerstone of our campaign when we first launched. We call our campaign Nazar no more, and the way we spoke to it was saying, like, evil eye is the patriarchy, and like, the beauty standards that we that have been like, you know, imposed on us. And I think that message really resonated even beyond South Asian people. I think it really resonated widely, because it's true that a lot of beauty in how we've sort of absorbed. It is through, uh, through a patriarchal lens and through this like, idea of, like, looking good for someone else, versus just like expressing yourself through color.
Julie Berman - Host:Yeah, I love that. That's really interesting. And so after you did um, so you started with the the eyeliner, the cudgel, and then what, I guess, like, what was it like after that? Like, what? Because I know now you have several products, and how like, So, how did you decide, I guess, like, what to create when you know, like, launching it because you have a really big, strong following, and not kind of like we talked about to be, not just people who are of, you know, the South Asian descent, or like, have that skin tone, you have a very wide and very diverse amount of people who, like, love your product. So how are you deciding what to develop and when? And how do you, I guess, how do you decide on, like, there's enough desire for this that, like, you're going to run with it and then see how it goes? Because I feel like that must be I'm imagining kind of like, a really exhilarating but also scary decision to make. So I would love to hear what, yeah, like, what are the next variations of the process? Of like, how you built,
Priyanka Ganjoo:yeah, it's absolutely scary. It's like, you know, just a little launch we're doing every time, and we only launch two to three products at most a year. And so it's like, very important for us that each product like, really hits, and it's like, and also like, the more we launch products and like, now we have this community who loves us. It's growing, the higher the expectations become. And I think, like when we first launched, I was like, let's just launch. Yay. No more people are watching. And people want to, want to make sure that we they're holding us, like, accountable to a higher standard, which I appreciate, but I think it's kind of a mix of art and science. I think there is part of it which is like inspiration, either from a conversation we had with one of our consumers, or something that sparked within my like experiences, or something that I'm hearing and then part of it is they are driven to we do like, you know, ask our consumers regularly, through interviews, through focus groups, like, what do you want to see from us next? So it's kind of a mix of the two. Like, for example, if we take our eyeshadow, for example, I think part of it was really I had this personal experience where I found eyeshadow really overwhelming. I wanted to create something that was like, really easy, approachable, but still gave you this beautiful one and done eyeshadow look. And then sort of validating that idea with our consumers was really important. And so it kind of came together. And then finally, we called it Zari eyes. Zari is like the gold and silver threads in South Asian garments and specific type of embroidery technique, and I thought was really not beautiful, how we kind of blended some of that inspiration and a lot of colors. Our colors are inspired by South Asian textiles, and, like, just really vibrant jewel tones. And so it all kind of came together really beautifully. And I don't know if it's a linear process, but we usually have, like, I don't know, seven or eight ideas running at the same time, which drives my product development person a little bit crazy, but I think it all sort of like, sometimes makes sense what it makes sense? Like, usually product development will take us two to three years, which is a lot as a small company. But I also think it's because, like, sometimes we're waiting for something to click. There's a product we're gonna launch this fall, which I'm really excited about, but really, we started working on it since, like, the past three or four years, and it just never quite felt right, like either the formulation was wrong or the colors weren't coming together. And then finally, when it comes together, it's just, like, exciting, and then you put it out in the world and hope that they're as excited about it as well.
Julie Berman - Host:I love that, and that's fascinating to hear, and it makes me think, as you're talking, you know, like, how was it when you started? Did you have a team at that point? Was it just you and your apartment or in? Like, how, you know, how is your business run now? Like, I'd love to hear that. Like those stages I'm imagining, it's very different, but maybe not,
Priyanka Ganjoo:it's different, but still feels very, very intimate and small, which I which I'm like, holding on to. I think it's really important to feel really connected. So when I first started, it was just me, but I would say there was, like, almost this, like, you know, how they say you need a village to raise a child. But I kind of had this village come together where I had friends who helped me, you know, on launch day, and friends who helped me, like, make connections or do things and help me out. So there was like a community around me that was helping me. And then after that, after we launched, I hired my first hire who had worked with him at my previous job, actually, and she's amazing, and she does product development, so she's been part of our team the longest. Then we hired someone to run our social and influencer, and she's amazing as well. And so now, at this stage, we have about six employees and just really like kind of close knit team, but I'm still very intimately involved in everything, which I'm sure sometimes can be frustrating for my team, but I also feel like it's important, because I like, I really feel like that founder connection is really important with with products and sort of just having a having that like, emotional connection with the products you put out without being too, like, philosophical about it. I think it's like the heart and soul. When you put it in into a product, it does show up in the community. Can tell that you've put that effort into it.
Julie Berman - Host:Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, thank you for explaining that. I it's, I think it's interesting to, you know, I was, I was looking at some of the, you know, like your website and the social media and everything, and it is really, I loved seeing that you were in, you know, some of the things, like very present. And also, I love how you've been mentioned that, like the the names of things and the colors. Things that, like, there's a story that you've kind of woven into those, like, there's, there's an attention behind it. So that's really cool. And I was curious for you, you know, when you got the opportunity, you know, to, like, I'm guessing you were selling mainly from, was it from social media, originally, in like, word of mouth, was that kind of how you were selling before you got in Sephora? Or were you in, like, smaller shops or smaller places? What was that before process? Like, primarily,
Priyanka Ganjoo:we would just not D to C, like, Shopify website, and it was through social that we were kind
Julie Berman - Host:of okay, yeah, and so I'm imagining like, when you were in that stage, did you feel like you were like you already had ideas of, like, how you wanted to share or like brand things, or did you feel like you had to experiment? Because I I know for myself, even in like, creating the podcast, like it's like, sometimes marketing your own stuff is, like, so much harder than when you just naturally are, like, talking about someone else, right? You just think they're amazing, or you think some product is amazing. So I'm wondering, like, how did you start that at the beginning, and, and did you end up, you know, like, hiring people part time, or how, like, how did that part work? Like, how did you sort of balance? And I asked this, I guess, with the context of, I think it's cool, because I think the fact that you're in Sephora is, like, so great. And I want to touch on that too, because that's I am imagining. Because I have never, I have never really talked to anyone in your shoes, but I'm imagining that is a true, like, beautiful feat that you have achieved to get in there, that it's not a small thing to do, but I want to, like, take people back to kind of see like the pieces of you building, because I think there's such beauty to that and that, like, acknowledging that that part also existed, while also allowing people to see like where you are now. So that's why I'm asking. And I because I would just love to hear, like, how did you go about all that? Like, spreading the word, getting the business going, things like that,
Priyanka Ganjoo:absolutely, I mean, I knew nothing about marketing at all. Like that was not something I knew at all. I'm also someone who, for the longest time just wanted to be behind the scenes. And so even just like you said, like, kind of talking up myself, or being like, I have the best eyeliner out there, was just not something that naturally sort of came to me, even though we do have the best eyeliner out there, um, but I think it all started from a blog we had so before we launched a product in 2021 it was the pandemic that was like, really it was Things were moving really slowly, right? Like production, getting lab samples, everything was moving slowly, and it gave me this opportunity to connect with a lot of up and coming Gen Z writers who were also looking for community, and they hadn't really had an opportunity to write for a platform before, and we became that platform. We had a blog called coolfib bites, and it was really for these Gen Z writers to talk about, like intersection of culture and beauty, or just anything on their mind, really about beauty and wellness. And it became such a beautiful platform, because, I think that approach to storytelling of showcasing people who have different lives, I think you mentioned, like, you know, you see in our feed we have people who have different professions. And it's not just beauty content in the traditional sense that we're putting out, or, like, beauty tutorials that we're putting out. That idea really emerged from that blog, and now it's now we do it in video format for Instagram and Tiktok and whatnot, but that was sort of how we initially got the word out, because people were reading our blog, and then that community was like getting the word out there for us when on launch day. That's awesome.
Julie Berman - Host:Yeah, that's really interesting. And what was that transition like, then to getting into Sephora, and then was it like you were testing in a few locations before you got to be across, like all of North America? Or, how does that work? Like, what? And I imagine Was that like a long process to have that happen? Yeah,
Priyanka Ganjoo:it's definitely a long process. So we actually got into a Sephora incubator program called Sephora accelerate, which was back in 2020 so before we get even launched, and all I had was some lab samples and my presentation of my vision.
Unknown:I love it.
Priyanka Ganjoo:Please someone. I saw it and thought it was a good idea. So I'm grateful for Sephora for identifying our potential so early and giving us that opportunity, because that gave us the program ran from Jan to June 2021, so it allowed me to connect with Sephora merchants, understand how they do business, and they all. Also through the program, you know, promised us that we would get a shot at launching at Sephora. So that was really, really great, but it still took us 18 months after that to launch at Sephora, and only on.com so we only launched on their website first, because they said, start by launching on our website. And I'm glad they said that, because I was like, No, I'm gonna launch in store. Like, how can I not be in store? They were like, no, no, take a step back. You're not ready. And I'm glad we did that, because we launched on the website in August 2022, and we and that's when we also launched our concealer. So at that point, we had two products, the casual eyeliner and the concealer, and we sold out within three weeks, and that was amazing, but then I had no stock, and I didn't recognize the scale of Sephora. So I know the sold out story is fun and like, great to talk about, but then you when you don't have inventory for the next five months because you just didn't anticipate that demand. Like, that's challenging, right? Like, and then support us, like, Okay, you you need to, like, fix, like, some of these processes. And so that took us another year. And then in September of 2023 we launched in store in about half of the stores, which is still a lot of stores. It was 350 stores across western Canada, and we basically had to grow up really quickly. I feel like every year with Sephora, we've had to, like, really be like, Okay, how do we get this next thing done? And definitely, I made my set of mistakes. And, you know, just grateful to keep building from there.
Julie Berman - Host:I love that and how, I guess, like, when you because you've done, I mean, an incredible amount of things, actually, in a very short time. And I'm imagining that you've had just from your experience before, like you had sort of maybe seen some of this, or like you've heard about it, but I can guess that to do it and to go through it for your own company is quite different. So how have you over these past few years as you're building your company, how have you found people with either the skill sets that you need and hired them or like you know whether you're like finding mentors? How have you gone about that part as you're building I think that's such a cool part to hear too, because, especially as a woman who's growing this company, and actually quite quickly, from what it sounds, but how do you find people when, when you're needing help, when you're needing insight, when you're needing mentorship? If you could speak to that a bit,
Priyanka Ganjoo:it's hard. I I'm not gonna say it's easy, but I think what's been good, especially the early part, was like, I was just, just like, trying to get out of my shell and put the message out, right? So the first time around, actually, again, this happened before we launched. There was this one of the like competitions called Super maker, and then I applied for it, and then I wrote a full essay, like, they had an application. Why are you starting this company? Blah, blah. And I put put it on my personal LinkedIn, and I just wanted to get the message out there that I'm doing this. And what was interesting was that some people that I had not spoken to for like, over a decade reached out and were like, oh, like, I want to get on a call. Like, let's talk about this. Or like, you know, somehow, like they were like, Okay, you can talk to X, Y and Z. And then I started sort of doing a little bit more outreach. And, you know, in every social setting, I would tell people about what I'm doing, and then hopefully, hope that someone has some connections to talk to. But I think it was a lot of just putting myself out there and seeing who responds in the early days, because if someone's taking the time to respond to like a LinkedIn message or something that you're putting out in the universe, that means that they're sort of interested, and it might have something of value to add. But in terms of the team, actually, it was a lot of actually finding people who are who are engaging with the brand in whatever small form it was. So for example, our social media hire, who was the second person we hired. We actually did a while we had the blog, we did a partnership with a university newspaper, like team, like they had, like, a little theme that they were publishing, and she was one of the writers as part of that team, or the content creators for that team, and she we did an article on her, and then she kept posting about Kofi like just herself. She loved the brand, she loved what she was doing and what we were doing. And so we built that relationship. Started working with her freelance to make some content for us, for social media. And I loved her so much. I was like, let's I want you to join full time, right? And so I think some of it ended up being very much like seeing who is, like resonating with the brand and then reaching out to them. And then some of the more technical positions, like finance, for example, that was through founder slack groups, which were very active. Actually, during COVID, they've been a little less so. I think post COVID, now, people have more of. Like, in person industry events where people can meet. But at that time, founder slack groups were like, the thing, and I was in like, maybe 50
Unknown:of them. Wow,
Priyanka Ganjoo:maybe too much, but I was in at least 10 of them. And I think through these slack groups, people were connecting and sharing like, okay, who's your manufacturer who are using for fractional CFO or COO, whatever it is, and that's how I found my finance and probably even my operations, like, Help,
Julie Berman - Host:yeah, oh, that's so interesting. I know that living through COVID was like a whole other time, right?
Priyanka Ganjoo:I don't even remember, like it was Yeah.
Julie Berman - Host:It was Yeah, yeah, but no, I appreciate you sharing that, because it's really always so interesting to me to hear how people start and how people build. And I think to your point about how you were just really open with chatting to people, even to begin with, like, when you would ask people to bring their makeup bags and, like, have conversations with people. I think that's really that's really cool. I can tell that seems like just part of who you are is to, like, be very open having conversations with people and gathering information and making making decisions. So that's neat. What you
Priyanka Ganjoo:could have been investigator or something. I love
Julie Berman - Host:it. I love it. Well, I feel like that, doing this job. So, you know, doing podcasts, I'm like, you know, I'm investigating all these different history. So I very much identify with that. Yeah. So I'd love, will you share now, like, kind of, where are you in your company now, like, what are your products? If you want to explain a little bit, and then if you want to share where you're headed, if you're you know, whatever you can share in that realm, just to to give people an understanding, because I did all this research, but they obviously have it, probably so, yeah,
Priyanka Ganjoo:we have a lip staining oil that's been going viral right now. So definitely as an introduction product, if someone wants to check it out, I would definitely check out our lip staining oils. They're a one of a kind formula that is an oil, so it's very hydrating when you when you put it on, but actually leaves a stain. So kind of like the Goldilocks formula, where it's not drying, but it still lasts long, which I think is really, really beautiful. And then one of the products that I'm really proud of is our concealer. We have our concealer, which is a hydrating, medium buildable coverage, self setting concealer, really great, especially if you have mature skin or, like, lots of, like, under eye creasing, which I do, I obviously make sure I love the products we launch, and they work for me. And so that's a beautiful product. It comes in 21 shades, and we've done undertone research on those shades. So I think that's a product that I'm really proud of, and something we want to build to as well. And, you know, get into skin tense foundations other complexion products, because I think those undertones are really not studied, and we don't have enough makeup lines that that include olive undertones in them. And I think this is a really great path for us to continue building. And then we're, I would say, like the editor, cult favorite, or definitely our eye products. Like three of our eye products, actually, three out of three of our eye products have won the allure best of beauty seal, which is our eyeshadow, our eyeliner and our brow gel. So they're definitely like, if you know, you know, kind of products and just make, making, having doing a quick eye look a breeze. I
Julie Berman - Host:love that. Yeah, I was watching, I and this is the caveat for anyone who's listening. And for you, I really not, I don't put on makeup, especially like since COVID, and so I'm really out of the loop. But it was fun because I was, I was watching people do the the lip stain, and I was like, this is the most fascinating thing I've ever seen, because I had never seen something like that, but, yeah, but it was really cool. But I do remember going into the store and I was looking at the the glittery I'm not going to get the the title right, but it was like the glittery eyeshadows and thinking how fun they looked. So I think my kids, they'd be like, Are you going somewhere, Mom, if I, if I wear makeup, they're like, You look so nice today, which, but I love them. They were so cute. Um, and then I, you know, I wanted to ask you to like for someone who's growing a business, do you feel like between when you worked in a you know, you're working in someone else's business. Essentially, you're in the corporate world, versus being an entrepreneur growing your own business. You are a younger woman, also and diverse young woman. And so like, have you? Have you felt like you've had to adjust your way of like? Moving through the world. Do you feel like you have, I don't know. Do you feel like there are certain things that you think you know now that maybe you didn't, you just didn't think that way back then? I would love to hear some of that stuff too. I think it's really powerful. I know for me, like the difference between being, trying to be an entrepreneur versus working for someone else was, like, a very shocking thing. So I can imagine as being like a founder now of this very, you know, successful company. So I'd love to have you share just like whatever thoughts in that area. Yeah. I
Priyanka Ganjoo:mean, I think before I, like, you know, left my corporate job and started, uh, cool fee, like, a lot of these statistics I read, you know, like, for example, percentage of women, especially women of color, who get funding, for example, all these things. Just felt like, you know, okay, statistics. But then when you experience it yourself, when you're in these meetings and you're hearing NO and NO and NO and NO, and even though you feel like you have a compelling pitch you have, you know, there's no logical reason why what you're saying shouldn't get some traction. That's when you sort of realize and start kind of connecting the dots and recognizing that there is like more at play here, right, even more than corporate. I mean, I think those tensions exist in corporate as well. I wouldn't say like, being a woman of color and fully bringing your full self to work is necessarily like true and corporate either rewarded in corporate, I think I mentioned like, I am definitely the person who will, like, be vocal about if something doesn't feel right. For example, in in my corporate jobs, one of the things that I did want to do was make sure we were supporting more inclusive shade ranges and creating products or supporting products that had shade ranges. And usually in corporate like, if things are working and nothing's broken and you're happily serving 90% of the customers, you don't want to change anything, right? And I got a lot of pushback in those roles, and so, um, kind of coming out of it, you see that it's it's like it you see it real time. You realize you're not entitled to anyone's time, anyone's money, anyone's, uh, consideration or kindness, even. And I think that was definitely a shock, and kind of recognizing to not take it personally, but kind of like just associated as part of the process, and just be like, You know what? I will find my community. I will find people who will support me, but there will be lots of people who will say no to me, and especially being a woman of color, like they will think that my needs or like the brand that I'm creating isn't something that's needed in the world, even though I know that there are people out there who telling me it
Julie Berman - Host:is, yeah, I appreciate you sharing that. And kind of like your experience, you know, in corporate and even now. And how do you feel like, you know, for people who are listening to this and and you know, whether they're women, whether they're women of color, do you have any advice for people who do want to start something, whether it's in makeup or whether it's in something else? But just as kind of, from the founders perspective, that you feel is really important for people who do want to start something, and they have it in their heart,
Priyanka Ganjoo:I always feel like, I know, just do it. You know, I think Go for it, because you can be the pattern breaker, right? Like, I always say, like, oh, all these VCs or beauty industry, everyone has, like, patterns of what they think will be successful, but you can be the one who breaks that. And you can achieve that. You have sort of manifested for yourself, and then you have to put the hard work behind it. Obviously, I think manifestation on its own isn't gonna happen, but manifestation is important. I think, like, we get so many signals from the world telling us to make ourselves smaller, to dream smaller or not dream at all, and to put other people's needs in front of our own, but it's really important to believe in yourself, and, like, really believe that your dreams can come true, and then obviously, get the work. And, you know, put your head down and get the work. Yeah,
Julie Berman - Host:yeah, I love that. And is there anything, you know, because you have started this, this brand, and you do intentionally make it applicable, like, to really diverse people, how, I guess, like, how have you created, or and continue to create, like, with this in mind, because I love like I have here, for instance, that you know you created, and I have to find it like, if I can, if I can find this specific thing. But you, you said, like that, you successfully bridge the South Asian beauty with mainstream appeal. And I think, you know, I'm very, clearly, very pale and very, very white, but, like, I agreed with that. Like, I was like, oh, like, this stuff looks really fun, and I'm totally up for trying it. And so I think. How have you been able to be true to your mission? In creating, because I'm imagining, even you know, and in mentioning, like in the corporate setting, there's like competing, there's competing sort of desires and needs and wants. How do you manage that with being a small company, growing and seeing true to that mission of really providing first for, you know, people of South Asian descent, or, you know, with those maybe similar skin tones, and just like having that diversity in mind, but also yet be appealing to others who may not be in that in that bracket of people,
Priyanka Ganjoo:and it's really just staying true to the brand. I think what's been amazing, and I'm grateful for it, is that we haven't had to make too much of a trade off, like, we're like, we're gonna call ourselves kofi, like, over time, hopefully you'll know how to pronounce it, or you know we're gonna, we're gonna, like, create these shades. And I think the beauty community has been and like consumer, consumers have been very open to that, and they want to be part of it. So I feel like sometimes we feel like we have to make our trade off, but we haven't had to, and I'm glad that the brand resonated with you. And you know, eventually, once you're out of your mom's zone, you will get olive oils a shot. But I think it's really staying true to the brand people want something fun, playful. Hopefully they'll grab it, regardless of, you know, their background, and then always listening to our consumers, like, you know, at the end of the day, like, I want to whether they are South Asian, whether they're white, whether they're black. Like, I want to listen to the consumers and listen to what they want and create for them, because everything else is noise, right? Ultimately, I want to listen to the people who listen to the people who are actually buying our products and design for them. And if they tell me, Hey, your shade range needs to get better, or I really want and I the lips. The lips actually came out of our lipstick launch. So our first lip launch was a lipstick, and I think what we heard from our consumers that these are beautiful, but I need something that's like, super on the go, long lasting. I don't need a mirror while I'm putting it on, on like, you know, it's hydrating, but I also needed to not wear off with two coffees I have and, like, that's kind of what led to the lip stain. And, you know, now it's become successful. So I do think kind of just listening to the consumer helps us hopefully manage that, but still staying true to the brand, because, you know, that's what makes us special. Like, I don't know I love
Julie Berman - Host:that, and I think it does make you special, because it's like, you're still really carefully listening to what people want with an intentionality behind it, and then if other people love it and fall, you know, like, feel like it's for them that they can join the fun. I want to ask because, like, when you talk about the, you know, the the idea of, like, having something moisturizing, and then having the lip stain, and like putting the combination, and how does that work when you're actually, like, going to create it, have you learned all these like crazy things about, you know, chemicals and products and, like, do you Who do you work with to do that? Because I'm imagining you have to work with, like, a chemist of some kind. Or, like, who? Um, how does that happen? I like, when you decided you wanted to create this, who do you work with to be like, I love, I love this idea. This is what I'm hearing. How do we make this a thing?
Priyanka Ganjoo:Yeah, I mean, happens all the time. We're like, how do we make this new idea? And so I will typically work with our product development director to like, write out what we call a product brief, and that really has this ideas of, like, the qualities we're looking for, and not necessarily at the chemical composition level. And then we'll work with a chemist or a lab to typically understand, like, what are the potential modalities of where this could lie? So, for example, our lip stain is a oil in water emulsion. So it kind of has that hydration for the water from the water, and then the oil is providing the like, kind of layer of glass on top, and then the pigments are in, kind of like interspersed and that. And so some of that stuff, like I've sort of learned through the process, I think the other piece is also components, like the which is the packaging. The packaging is so, so, so important. And you learn so much about we had to actually update the packaging of our lip stain because the wiper that you know when you take out the product, the seal there the wiper. In the heat it would it was the right size, but in the heat it would expand just a little bit, causing a little bit of leakage, and a very small percent of our lip stains. And so we had to, like, quickly figure out, like, what's going on, and then we had to update packaging. So I think, I feel like all of that has been a little bit of a learning process where we're typically working with our chemists and then also working with our manufacturer, because they typically know, you know, what happens when we scale production. And then we also have, like, packaging manufacturers, so you're kind of working with all these different parties to, you know, rely on their R and D, and then, you know, match that with what you're looking for.
Julie Berman - Host:Yeah. Wow, yeah, I can see now why it takes a while. I was, like, iterating. I'm imagining, because, like, you're testing, probably at several steps. And then even the packaging. I didn't actually think about the packaging, which is ironic, because it makes sense that you have to have it go in something to contain it. Yeah, so that's really cool. Thank you for explaining that. So I want to ask, like, you know, if we can touch a little bit on being a woman as we kind of get to the tail end, like, how have you felt? Like it's helped you, you know, be a woman in this industry, because it is beauty, has that affected anything at all? The fact that you know you are, you know, a minority, woman of color, like, has that affected anything in the business side, and how people receive what you're doing? Do you feel like it's helped? I'd love to know. And because I think, especially in this industry, it's interesting, because it is beauty, like, if, if you feel like it's helped in some ways, because you are a woman, so I'd love to hear what you think
Priyanka Ganjoo:I feel like. I try to remind myself It is a place of strength, right? Because I wouldn't be doing this if I weren't in these situations, and I hadn't seen this opportunity, because it hadn't been done before, right? Like it almost came to me because of the fact that I'm South Asian and, you know, minority living in New York who live, work, in beauty, like all these things happen almost for a reason, but it is challenging. I think one of the things that I've also learned is that, because there's so few of us out there, the standards we have to meet seem to be higher and like and I know it's because there's a lot of expectation. I think part of the love equation is also expectation. Right? We get so much love from our community, which I really appreciate, but they also have very high expectations. And we were, we have the right intentions always to serve them to the best of our abilities, but the expectations get higher, and like some of the things were sometimes like, expected to do, maybe other brands that don't have some guy behind the scenes who never even shows his face might not ever be asked about, right? And I think that's where it becomes a little bit tricky. But overall, like I'm I do try to frame it in my mind, as you know, this is what, again, my secret sauce is my experiences, who I am, and that's why I'm doing this. And I think it's the cool part is doing something you are a customer for yourself, you know, building for yourself. I think that's such a cool part of my job, that I get to create products that I love, using myself. And maybe if I was like, a white guy, like would not necessarily be the fun job. I wouldn't be a woman with a cool
Julie Berman - Host:job. Yes, that's very true. You would not be Yeah, you would not qualify for the podcast. Yeah. And I appreciate that answer, because, like, I could imagine there's so many nuances to that, but also it's like, yeah, it creates, why? The whole reason behind what you've created and why you're doing what you were doing, which I think is so powerful. And I love the idea, oh, go ahead. Did you want to say so? I was
Priyanka Ganjoo:just like, reminded of, you know, we get letters from high school girls who are like, of South Asian descent, and, you know, they're all like, you know, just diverse women who will write like, Thank you for creating kofi. And I'm like, just crying, you know. And I just like that just makes it so special. This just, it just makes everything worth it, like, all the work. And I, I think, like that. It goes beyond like, creating a company or creating a startup. It's a little bit of like, doing some good in the world, which I which I love?
Julie Berman - Host:Yeah, well, I think there's beauty to being able to see yourself represented in different ways, like and to being able to find things that feel like it's a fit for you, and it enhances who you feel like you are versus what you were experiencing before and why you had the ideas like it just didn't feel like positive. It didn't feel like it was empowering. And so that it's interesting to think about, because I think about even me as like a young person, and I never really, I mean, I wore makeup, but I don't know if I would have ever called it empowering, because I was like, it just felt like you were doing it, to do it, because it was what you're supposed to do, which is a horrible reason to do anything right, like, so with that being said, so I love what you're doing. I think it's so rad. And I love that you know you have just this really intentional way of doing things, and that you've had so many people who love what you're doing, who are diverse themselves. So cool. What do you have planned? Like, can you share where you're heading in the future? Or, like, what your vision is for your for your growth, and especially now that you are in Sephora, like, how. Do you manage those pieces going forward as like a businesswoman? Yeah, I mean
Priyanka Ganjoo:longer term. I want to be a global brand, and I say that because that's where our consumer is right, like they are everywhere. And I feel like there's something special about a brand that no one has done before. And I want to bring that message of joy and fun and feeling celebrated and seen everywhere. But before we get there, I think it's really just kind of taking it step by step. And, you know, again, continue to build our relationship with Sephora, launching more products, kind of getting to a full face of makeup and, yeah, taking it from there.
Julie Berman - Host:I love it. Thank you so much for explaining. So I will end with my favorite question. Oh, you know what? Before I do that, I just realized, if women are listening to this and they're like, oh my gosh, I love makeup, I love beauty, I love everything about this industry. Do you have advice for them on how they could step into this industry, whether they want to be a founder of a company themselves, or they just, like, love being an industry. Are there any, you know, resources or places they can go, you know, like, whether it's Facebook groups or whatever, just things that you found over the years that could be really helpful and bring insight to them?
Priyanka Ganjoo:I love reading all the trade publications. There's a lot of business publications. There's beauty independent. Business of fashion has a beauty section. There's beauty matter. Those are the ones that are now, like sub stacks that are beauty industry specific, that I think are really interesting reads, because you can kind of get a little bit of like the behind the scenes of what's happening. They typically feature interviews with founders or business people or, like, just little things, of like, how do you secure a line of credit, or something very specific, like that. So those trade publications have been really, really helpful resource for me, outside of, of course, like trying to immerse yourself in industry networking events, which is just hard, right? Like you just sometimes don't have time to do that. Like, I think this almost kind of creates this, like, you got a daily or weekly newsletter, and I just It keeps you up to date.
Julie Berman - Host:Okay, awesome. Yeah, that's great advice. And I wouldn't have thought about stuff like sub stack as resources, but I love that idea. It's such a good idea. So really great
Priyanka Ganjoo:a human element. There's some founders, beauty founders, who have sub stacks. There's some beauty editors who have sub stacks. And it's almost like humanizes. Some of the like stuff you're reading are just numbers, but it's all still very helpful from a business perspective, because it can also feel lonely, you know, just kind of like building a company by yourself. And so it kind of keeps me company. Yeah, I
Julie Berman - Host:love that. Those are great ideas. And so I'm going to ask my last question, which I ask everybody? Because I just love knowing, like, what is the lingo or the abbreviations of people who are in a particular field? Because they all are so different. So this is the question I'm going to get my my handy sheet so I can read it. So to end our conversation, will you share a sentence that uses verbiage or jargon from your field, then translate it so it's understandable to us?
Priyanka Ganjoo:I thought one that was like operations related, because that's been on my mind these days. Sure, something like, what are the mOqs on this queue and in what inner carton and master pack. Is it going to be
Julie Berman - Host:backed? I love that. So what does it mean?
Priyanka Ganjoo:So mOqs is minimum order quantities. So typically, when you're producing things, you know, manufacturers will not start up the fireplace, basically, or the engine without guaranteeing a certain minimum quantity that they need to produce. So it's really important. I think it's important because whenever you say, like, we get requests to be like, can you launch this in like a lavender shade? And I'm like, I would, but we need to make sure we're going to sell at least 5000 of these. Because typically 5000 is the MOQ. So MOQ is minimum order quantities. Q is a stock keeping unit. So basically, any single iteration of a particular product is as typically it has a specific ID. So what I'm saying, what are the mOqs for this queue? I'm really asking, like, what is the minimum we need to purchase off this specific iteration, whether it's a shade or whatever, off this product? And then when I'm saying, what are the inner pack and master cartons? Is basically how you package. So typically, you know, you don't put, like, let's say you're producing 5000 units. You don't put all 5000 in one box and ship it off. Try to break it up into smaller packages, because when the retailer orders like, Sephora will make place an order. They want to order in smaller quantities, right? They like to be very conservative. And they're like, we'll just keep ordering 12 units every week, or something like that, right? And so you want to make sure you have case packs that are broken up into like, a small enough number, ideally between, like 24 to 50 units per case back. And so you would then say, like, my case. Back needs to be 30 units, or whatever it is, and then they'll put that 5000 units in like little boxes of 30 units each. But, yeah, that's super, super, super jargon. I love
Julie Berman - Host:it. So that was a great example. It's perfect. Yeah, I love that. Well, thank you for explaining that was a very interesting yeah, I can imagine having, like, one giant box of 5000 of anything would be very overwhelming. So, yeah, okay, awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on Priyanka. It was such a pleasure, like learning about you and your cool job and your company. I would love for anyone if they want to go find you, how can they, how can they find you and what you're doing with Kofi.
Priyanka Ganjoo:Thanks so much, Julie. I love being in this conversation. It was so fun and chill. I love it. You can find me at at Priyanka gunju on Instagram, and then definitely check us out Kofi dot beauty on Instagram, and Tiktok and Kofi beauty.com
Julie Berman - Host:online. Awesome. Thank you. Such a pleasure,
Priyanka Ganjoo:same. Thank you. Bye.