Can Hair Oiling Really Regrow Hair? with Dhana & Amarja Pawar

Discover how sisters Dhana and Amarja Pawar, along with their physician sister, transformed a major hair loss incident into a thriving wellness brand rooted in Ayurvedic tradition. 

In this conversation with Jeanne Collins, they share the story behind Sage & Veda, the power of intentional self-care rituals, why scent plays such a profound role in emotional wellbeing, and how authenticity, community, and purpose have guided every step of their entrepreneurial journey. 

Whether you're passionate about wellness, entrepreneurship, or creating a life aligned with your values, this episode offers practical insights and meaningful inspiration.

More about Dhana and Amarja

Dhana Pawar is the Co-Founder & CEO of Sage & Veda and founder of Veratempo, an AI services company for retail. A product executive who has built at the intersection of AI, consumer tech, and wellness for 15+ years, she is a founding member of Silicon Valley Girls in Tech, sits on the Advisory Board of the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, and is a fierce advocate for women in entrepreneurship.

Amarja Pawar - CO-FOUNDER · CHIEF BRAND OFFICER

Marketer and chef with a sensorial obsession. Amarja's culinary training sharpened her instincts for texture, scent, and taste. A decade of building consumer brands from the ground up gave her everything else. She guides every brand experience with warmth, precision, and a nose that rarely misses.

www.sageandveda.com
www.instagram.com/sage.and.veda

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Transcript

Introducing Dhana & Amarja Pawar

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Welcome to Building the Best You, a destination for you to reimagine what is possible in your life and then create it. Welcome to the show, everybody. I'm your host, Gene Collins, and today is such a special day. This is the second time that I get to have two guests on the show. But this time we have sisters. We have Dana and Amarja Poir who are on the show, and they are the founders of a company called Sage and Veda. Sage and Veda, folks, and they're actually two of the three sisters who started this wellness brand. And I know Dana from my past world working back in corporate. And I followed her on LinkedIn and I saw that she launched this wellness company. And I was like, oh my goodness, you're into wellness? We have to talk. So I'm so excited that they agreed to join the show. They're coming to us from California. Marsha lives in Paris. I am so jealous. So welcome, ladies, to the show.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Thank you so much for having us on the show. And it's an endopity, right? You and I go way back. And when you reached out, I'm like, oh my God, you're doing something so amazing. We're doing something so different and cool. And I'm so excited to share our journey.

SPEAKER_02 1:15

It is so great. And Amarja, I've never met you. So it's a pleasure to meet you. And you are in the United States coming all the way from Paris. So I love that I secretly had a little moment with you in the beginning. Because I was like, Paris? You live in Paris. I don't get a lot of guests who live in Paris. So this is very cool. All right. So before we get into the brand and the business and the products and you guys as a family and the ingredients, like there's so much cool stuff happening with your business. I would love to learn a little bit or share with the audience, because I know for some of you, what your career journeys are like, because our careers are not linear. And I think it's really important for women in particular to be inspired by what other people have done in their careers that have landed them in something that feels really purposeful and passionate now. So, Dana, I'm going to start with you.

From Corporate Tech and Culinary School to Entrepreneurship

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Yeah. So my career journey has been very fun and interesting. I jokingly used to say I'm like the prince of tech because like the artist formally known as Prince, because every single company that I worked at, if you look at my LinkedIn profile, you know, has always been like formally known as, because I either uh worked at a startup that got acquired or went public and hence changed its name. Um, but have been super lucky to have been part of incredible companies like coupons.com, where both of us worked, as well as TripAdvisor, have been in tech, like I said, all my life. And I started as a product manager, continued, you know, running products for companies. And then, you know, COVID hit in 2020. And as you know, life took a turn for everyone. And I started reassessing, you know, what my priorities were, where I really wanted to spend my time, how I wanted to show up and give back. And that's when Amarja and I um decided to actually start our own consulting company, uh, building brands from the ground up. And as we were building other brands, we'll get into how Sage and Veda was born. That kind of became a national progression for Sage and Veda. But uh, yeah, it's been a really fun ride. So now you do both.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

You guys work together and run two companies together, which is so impressive. Most people can't do one thing with a family, let alone two. So that's amazing. I love it. All right. So before I get to my next question, Amarja, I want to know what your career background is.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Yes, I moved to France for education. I thought I'm going to be there a year, you know, in and out. And I fell in love with the country, the city. I was in Paris and I stayed back, and then I had a couple of jobs. I mostly worked in higher education and marketing. I loved it. I loved organizing events, traveled to around 52 countries and really love doing what I do. And then I had my baby, and I wanted to change uh career paths because I was always interested in cooking, in cuisine, and culture. And that's when I made a move to going to culinary school. So I had a baby who was not even six months old, and then I went into culinary school, did my degree, and started my own company in catering. And COVID hit. So that was, you know, a very difficult time. And then took a you know, pause, and Dana and I decided we should do something together, going back to marketing. And so that's where Vera Tempo came in and just until a couple of years. We started with Sajan Veda, and we'll get into that, but that's that's been my journey so far. So I live, I still live in Paris with my daughter and my dog, and uh yeah, very, very uh enriching experience.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

Which is really cool though, because culinary, and I read this about you when I was doing some research for the show. I read this and I was like, oh wow, she has a culinary background. How interesting. You have a culinary background, yet you're running a business and you're running marketing, and yet you're now in the wellness space, and it's similar yet drastically so different. And I thought that is so cool. I'm sure there are many pivots, and we don't have this whole show to talk about the pivots, but I'm sure there's so many pivots there that were just really cool that got you to that place. So that is a really special story. Okay, so let's talk about the business. Where did the business come about? When did that happen? And there are three of you. So if somewhere along there you can talk about where your other sister falls in this, that would be

How a Hair Disaster Inspired Sage & Veda

SPEAKER_02 5:20

great.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Yeah, so the three of us are very different. So the company Sajan Veda was co-founded by three of us uh with three sisters. And we always wanted to do something together, but our backgrounds are so varied. My our oldest sister, Dr. Arundati Pavar, she is a medical doctor and she also runs administration for one of the largest hospitals in India. I've been in tech all my life, and Amarja has been a chef and a marketer. And we always wanted to find that one thing we could do together, but it really wasn't, you know, like something that was happening. And then serendipitously again, two and a half years ago, believe it or not, I went into our hair straightening, you know, I went into a salon to get a hair straightening procedure done or a thing done. Next thing you know, the entire top layer of my hair is gone. I mean, I literally lost the entire top band of my hair in the hair straightening accident. And, you know, it's just hair. It's vanity, but just losing your entire like crown is just insane. And I was devastated. I was sobbing and I was like, my life is ended. And my sister's like, it's just hair, it's gonna grow back. Let me help you. And so the three of us decided, you know, this is a sign we've always been very heavily into clean living, into wellness, uh, into hair oiling. I mean, we grew up oiling our hair with our grandmother on our farm since we were like as far as I can remember, and we're like, we need to go back to our roots and fix my hair. Next thing you know, you know, it actually worked. So, you know, we formulated our own oil because none of the oils in the market were really helping me. And so that's when we got together and we're like, maybe there's something here. We formulated our own oil, grew back my hair, and we're like, okay, this is what we need to bring out to the world. And that's how Sejan Veda was born in uh 2024.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

Okay, first of all, I'm so sorry about your hair. And to say it's vain, it is not vain at all. We have to look at ourselves all the time. And like losing your hair, especially for women, like whether it happens from an accident like that, perimenopause does it 100%. I lost like 90% of my hair in perimenopause, menopause, it's even worse. And so that is a common problem for women, of which there's an entire industry now about hair growth, shampoos and pills and all the things. So people don't have to suffer. But I have, and I've done a lot of research, but I've never heard of the concept of hair oil, which is cool. So talk to me about hair oil.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

How does hair oil even work?

The Ancient Ritual and Benefits of Hair Oiling

SPEAKER_00 7:47

Hair oiling has existed in India since centuries. It's uh a very Asian practice that has been passed on from generation to generation. As Dana mentioned, we grew up having oil in our hair. And I think it's the fact that you're massaging your scalp and the oils that have the therapeutic properties, they help rejuvenate your hair follicles. Because your hair goes through different phases, and the antigen phase, which is the hair growth phase, helps the hair oil penetrates into the scalp follicles and helps stimulate that hair growth. It also helps in the act of hair oiling is the best act of self-care. And so when you're doing it for yourself, even if it's five minutes in the day or you're doing it for somebody else, that's another act of self-care, um, of love to somebody else. And when you're doing that, you're basically just giving yourself five minutes or 10 minutes, whatever time permits, to actually go in and just relax, reset your nervous system. And that really contributes because we all know stress is a huge factor in hair loss and hair fall. And so this really resets the system a little bit. And we'll get to the parts where we'll talk about the ingredients as well. But the act of hair oiling really helps in promoting hair growth, hair strength, and also prevents from hair loss.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

This morning, we she woke up at like 6 a.m. The first thing we did, my older sister was like doing a hair oiling, deep scalp massage for her just before this podcast. So yeah, it really works.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Yeah, well, and you two have stunning hair, beautiful hair, by the way. So that was going to be my next question is like when during the day is the best time to do this? Like, what is the ritual or the practice around this?

SPEAKER_00 9:36

So usually it's always done in the mornings. It's also a very Sunday ritual kind of thing. You know, people have Sunday brunches or Sunday pot roast. We have hair oiling, but it's it's really fun because, you know, everybody gets together. And it's normally the matriarch of the family who will do it for the kids, the grandkids, and even men actually. And it's really whenever you get time, obviously it will have to be when you are going to go for a shower and you know, because you know it needs to be washed off. So you can do it in the morning and you wash off your hair. You know, you do it in the morning for five minutes, go for a shower, or you can do it in the night and you apply it so that really, again, calms you down and resets your system so you have a really good night's sleep. And then the next morning you wake up and you wash off your hair.

The Emotional Connection Between Scent and Self-Care

SPEAKER_00 10:23

That works as well.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

I cannot wait to try this. This sounds amazing. So, one of the other cool things, because I definitely want to touch on the ingredients, but I want to talk about the emotion that you have that is related to your products. And I thought this was really fascinating when I went to your website to look and understand your brands. You categorize your products based on the different emotions you're looking to feel as you're using them. So, share with me where did that come about? The emotional part and the emotional connection to the product use and the ritual of it.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Yeah, I can take that one. So I think again, going back to my story about and not finding the right oil for my hair when I had this crazy devastating thing happen to me personally. For me, it was devastating. There's tons of oils out there, right? We're not the only ones making hair oils. But for us, the reason I hated hair oiling as a child was this fragrance. Like it, it was this strong medical, like like Ayurveda, right? Like it's this herbs. I wouldn't say medical, sorry, herbal smell or fragrance. And as children, we hated it. And we didn't want to leave it for more than 30 minutes at our hair. We just wanted to wash it off and go away. And that was one of the things I really wanted something to smell amazing because I do feel, or we've done a lot of studies and there's been so much research out there, that the fragrance can really change your mood, right? I mean, lavender can calm you down, for example, or rose can make you feel peppy and happy and bright. Jasmine has a memory connected with it. So for us, it was really important that the oils are, of course, super efficacious because it has to fix the hair first. But I also want it to smell great. And I think that was really where the emotional connection came in that when I wear the oil, whether it's to do a scalp massage or just oil it on, like just apply it to my tips and at the top of my hair and walk out as a finishing oil, I want to feel something different when I put on the oil. And I really do. I mean, one of our oils is jasmine as a fragrance, it connects me with home. The rose makes me feel just very bright and happy all day. And we hear the exact same thing from our customers that the reason we keep coming back to your oil, there are so many oils, but the repeat purchase is so high. It's over 40% because it's the scent that like gets people feeling it ties them to an emotion that they can't, you know, sort of replace with another oil. So that's really, I think, been our emotional connect and the mood that we we we feel when we put on our oils.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

Yeah. Well, and just so everybody knows, your three emotions are calm, confident, and lifted. Yeah. So all like, and I can see how that could apply to all different types of the day. And I do love that you said you could put it on your ends and stuff, because I have an oil product that I do sometimes put on my ends, and that is actually great to know that you can use it in that way as like a finishing oil as well. And I think scent is really important. And I don't remember there was something on your website, and one of you can correct me because I'm not gonna say this correctly, but there was something about the scent as a sense and that how that works with your brain. Does that sound familiar?

SPEAKER_00 14:11

Yeah. So um scent is the only sense that bypasses all the other pathways. So when we eat something, when we look at something, it goes through our neural system into our brain, our brain processes it and sends the information back to us. But scent goes uh through directly through the limbic system and goes into the amygdala, which is the part of your brain that has emotions and stores memories or makes you feel something. And that's the really the superpower of scent. And that's why we call it the skin-brain loop, which is we'll get to that as well. But scent has a direct access to your brain and to your neural system, which immediately either it's a good scent or a bad scent, and our memories are tied to that. So that for example, when you like when when I smell a cinnamon bun, which I love, it reminds me of my trip to Sweden because that's a you know like a local speciality over there. And it instantly transports me back to my trip when I went to Sweden.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Yeah. Oh, and that and think about it, as you're saying it, that's true. I'm like, oh, thinking about different scents and different baking scents from when I was a child and cinnamon, for example, or butter and cinnamon, or even, you know, cooking onions. It's like a mirepoix, like that scent is like no other bacon. Nothing smells like bacon. Exactly, right? Like you cook bacon, your house smells like bacon for days. Um it brings back memories. So I'm wondering, and maybe you don't even know this, but I'm wondering what is the connection between, okay, if so, if you have a scent like, let's say jasmine, for example, and you're using the hair oil, and the jasmine reminds your brain that you feel calm when you smell that. Is that sort of helpful in terms of like then your brain might be actually craving that smell to help you feel that emotion? Like, does it work the other way around? And you might not even know the answer. I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

I think it definitely works the other way around. I think because the scent is calming, and that's why we chose the three different moods, right? Because uh our product, which is Amrit face oil, it's got really calming scent. It's got warm spices, it's got patchouli. So that really sets the mood, and your brain automatically tells you to relax, right? Whereas we have our radiant gold roll-ons, they have a lifted scent, you know. So you feel when you apply it, you already feel like oof, I'm ready for the day. I'm, you know, I'm all happy, I'm ready to do whatever comes next. So that's, I think, sense have this magical power. And as Dana said as well, you know, when you you have a lot of room pillow mists or pillow mists that are made of lavender, because that automatically just calms you down and resets your system to feel relaxed and takes a little bit of the stress away so that you're not focused or fixated on stress.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Yeah, but to your point, Gene, I mean, you know, the good part is again, most scents have hopefully a good, good memory associated with it. But when you go to hotels now, every single hotel, like a you know, really great resort, will have a signature scent. And in India, there's a group of or chain of hotels called the Taj, you know, the Taj Hotels, and they have their signature scent. And like for me, I stay in a Taj just because when I walk in, there's this familiarity of like, and and that's like again, there was but there have been so many studies where you know there's a shoe store company that tried different fragrances, and once they found their signature scent, they saw that the sales of their products actually went up by over 30% because the scents just made people feel a different way and resonated with them and said, okay, I'm gonna spend more. So it's just, I mean, we don't think as much about scents, but the the power that scent has is just amazing. I mean, we've been seeing the results in our own um products as well.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Yeah. So how do you decide? I mean, that there have to be so many scents out there. So you have how it smells,

Choosing Powerful Natural Ingredients and Sustainable Packaging

SPEAKER_02 18:18

but then you also have the ingredients that go into making it. So that sounds like a very complex process. Can you share a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_00 18:26

Yeah, I mean, scents are boundless, right? And the combinations is like food, bearings are uh endless. So I think what we also try to do when we are formulating a product, of course, the ingredients definitely are on higher scale, but you also want something that is complementary and also that is going to give the desired effect that we want at the end. So if we are designing a product, and I'll just give you a sample product, like our face oil, we wanted people to use it anytime during the day and for them to feel a sense of calm, right? So we chose the scents that would pair with the product that is going to be in application. So and studies have been done, as Dana mentioned as well, that every scent has a kind of power to it, in which way you want to feel at the end of the application. And so the sense that we choose, we try to we definitely focus on how we want the customer to feel and to look at the end of the application. And that's a great point.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

I mean, one of the things that we do, and you know, you'll start seeing this more and more, as you go into a store and you see our product, we have a QR code, you scan the QR code, and we'll ask you, how do you want to feel today? And then based on your feelings, we'll actually give you a scent. You know, do you want to feel calm? Do you want to feel lifted? Do you want to feel rooted, powerful? We'll actually just recommend a scent. And again, you know, scents are just so personal. So some people might not like the scents uh necessarily, but so far we've been, and that's that's the hard hard part, right? Is figuring out scents that are unique, but also more or less loved by most people. Yeah. Um, but yeah, it's it's it's hard. That's why we have specialists formulating the scents for us. It's there's just so many scents.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

Well, and because it's not only the scent, your products have lots of ingredients that like, you know, like ashwagandha. Uh like you like you have really products that are known, you know, like I put ashwagandha in my tea. Um, and so products that are known that we actually eat and consume in our food, especially people who are really into herbs and wellness and nutrition. So you have those in your oils as well. So, how do you decide what you know variation of those are in there too?

SPEAKER_00 20:47

Yeah, so we we definitely we take the adaptogens, ashwagandha is an adaptogen, and we take adaptogens that are complementary to the effect. So, for example, as you said, ashwaganta, right? Ashwaganta has is known to lower your cortisol levels and to help with stress and anxiety. And that's the effect we wanted it to have on the face oil. I keep coming back to the face oil because it's the most easy one to understand. And so that's the reason we choose product ingredients that have actually have a place. They're not filler ingredients and not there to just fill up uh the formulation, but every ingredient is selected for either its therapeutic properties or its, you know, plant properties as well, and also for the effect that it will have on your nervous system.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

Yeah. And I like that. That is, and I mean, when I read some of the ingredients, I was like, now, while not everyone will know what these ingredients are, these are real things. Like I was like, oh, those are real ingredients, like those are real items. Like you might not run into the grocery store and find those, but I've heard of most of those. So they are really natural and they come from nature. And you guys put everything in glass and you do something special by not using glues, I might want to say, and you have a special paper. Talk to me about the importance of the environmental component in producing a product like this.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

Yeah, that was really top of mind for us. And again, you know, it's so interesting because there was a lot of greenwashing going on for the longest time, especially in the beauty industry. And for us from day one, we it it just was natural to us. It wasn't because it was a trend or it's something that everybody else wanted to show themselves as green. Um, we always wanted to be sustainable because that's how we grew up. We actually grew up on my grandmother's farm, and that's how they live. They use every part of the fruit, you know, every part of the plant. And we've never really, wastage has never really been part of our lifestyle. And if you look at my home, it's super minimalistic. So we always wanted to be very mindful of our impact on the environment, especially, you know, with so many beauty products out there. So while it was very hard to do glass, everyone was like, just do plastic. It's easier, cheaper, lighter to ship. But we really wanted to stray true to who we were. And we did it the hard way. And like you said, our packaging, right? It's all made with 100% compostable FSC grade paper. We don't use glue anywhere. And it was great. We went to a large retailer, a national retailer recently, and they were trying out our product. And when the person was opening our packaging, our mono, like the outer carton to get to our bottle, the only thing he said was, like, wow, this feels like I'm opening up an Apple product. So, you know, we don't really need glue and crazy colors and dyes. Our products look amazing and they're really, really good for the environment. It's like a very sensorial experience of tearing through the through the outer box to get to our product. But yeah, it's always been core and also the ingredients, right? We are trying our best not to get ingredients from like tens of thousands of miles away. Our our focus is we grew up on a farm. We want to try and find everything that grows on or around our farm as much as possible.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

Yeah. Ooh. And I love when you talk about the experience of opening the box. It goes back to what Amarja said in the beginning about the experience of how do you feel and taking that moment for yourself. And I think it helps women create these rituals of time where they are actually giving back to themselves. They are focusing on how they feel, they're giving gifts to themselves. It helps them feel worthy, helps them calm down, helps them feel beautiful and special and unique. And so you've taken it all the way to the moment the box arrives at your house. So face oils. Can we talk specifically about face oils for a minute? Because we we talked about hair oils for a second. So I want to make sure we give face oils. It's fair due. How do you use a face oil?

SPEAKER_00 24:45

So I think the easiest way is, you know, like you apply a toner, you apply a moisturizer. That's a

Face Oils, Daily Rituals, and Modern Wellness Practices

SPEAKER_00 24:51

simple way that anybody would apply a face oil. You take a few drops. We always recommend that people massage the oil between their palms and apply it to their face. One thing that we have been doing on repeat at Sajan Veda, and we always recommend that people do it. Again, a five-minute ritual in your day, in the morning, or in the night, whenever you have time, is to do a simple massage, a simple face massage, a lymphatic draining massage. It's very simple. It's we have multiple videos on our Instagram, on our website, and we do it even at live events. And people love it because it's so simple. And we think, oh, this is going to take so much of time, it's so difficult. I'm not going to remember. And it's literally a five-step process that anybody can do. And you feel so good. Your face is, you know, depuffed. You feel fresh and taut. And you know, it's it's also the feeling that you our oils are not greasy. So that's a really good texture. We have worked very hard on it. As you can see, we have 20 oils and plant-based extracts in our products, and especially the hair in the face oil. And that was a big challenge as to because we didn't want it to be viscous or thick.

SPEAKER_03 26:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

So you don't feel like you're lathering on a heavy foundation. Yeah. But we really worked on the sensorial feel, again, the feeling, the mood, the emotion. So you you want to reach for those products. And going back to what Dana said as well is that using less of many products is always good. And so this face oil is so versatile that you can use it as a regular face oil in place of moisturizer before sunscreen, or as a base for your foundation before you put on makeup. It's just you can put it on your fingers as a cuticle oil, on your body, as a body oil. So yeah, going back to your sorry, it's a very long answer, but the way you put on face oil is just very can be very simple to a bit more detailed depending on how much time you have and how you want to feel that day.

SPEAKER_02 27:00

And you're cutting down on the number of products that one needs because you know, the older we get, I feel like I have so many products in my drawer. Because the older you get, the more you feel like your skin needs more things at an older age. And you two, of course, have stunning skin. So you are perfect examples of using your products really, really definitely help. Yes. And I do love the idea, and I always encourage women, you know, I'm a huge proponent of trying to make your skincare more of a ritual than feeling like, oh, I have to wash my face. I have to get like, you know, taking a pause and your brand really fits and aligns with that. It's like taking a moment and yes, take a pause and take the oils and rub it in and take a moment to feel and help it rejuvenate your skin and feel alive and feel fresh instead of the quick, quick, you know, I say this about the shower too. It's like, don't make the shower like as fast as you can get in and out. You know, it's not like you have a newborn that's like dying for you to jump right out. And if even if you do put the newborn in a seat next to your shower, like try as much as you can a few days a week to make it a place where it's a little bit more zen to be able to treat yourself to some beauty and some wellness and some calm. Wow. So, where do your ingredients come from? Where are you sourcing them from? And where are you manufacturing this product?

SPEAKER_01 28:18

So, our ingredients are currently all sourced from India. Like I was saying, we wanted it to be as local as possible. Um, also, our goal is always to give back. So, because farming is what we know is how we grew up. Uh, my dad was in the government services and the foreign services, so he traveled constantly. He was abroad all the time. So we grew up with our grandparents on the my grandparents' farm in India. And that really, I think, was our base that we don't want to get stuff flown in from tens of thousands of miles away, like I mentioned earlier. So it's very much sourced in India, but we try our best to be as local as possible. Uh, manufacturing is also in India right now, again, because we are using the ancient Ayurveda practices that have been proven for thousands of years and just brought to the modern world. So we have our team of formulators, medical doctors, um, that Arundati leads, the third co-founder and sister leads that's that part of the formulation, because that's her background. And so, yeah, uh, it's really taking all the wisdom of Ayurveda but bringing it to the to the modern times.

SPEAKER_03 29:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:21

So, what does sage and Veda mean? Great question. So, um, again, going back to our grandparents, clearly we were very close to our grandparents. I love it. Uh, because they they truly did raise us for like for the you know initial parts of our growing years. Um, so my grandmother's favorite color was green and hence uh sage, because that was her favorite color. And she was also super wise. I mean, there was no problem in the world she could not solve. So sage came from her wise, you know, nature as well as the color, and Veda is because it's Aur Veda inspired, um, hence sage and Veda.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

Perfect. I kind of was getting the Veda part, but the sage, I was like, well, you know, you have green packaging, but it's probably maybe a little deeper than that. So I'm glad I figured there'd be something a little deeper than that. So what what's next? What's next for the brand? What do you want to launch next, or what are you working on? It's a little bit of a secret. No, just kidding.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

We are working, we are working on uh different products at the moment. Again, focusing very much on sensorial, plant-based vegan products that will, I can just say that will lift your spirits or calm you down or make you feel confident for the day. Okay. And when are those coming out? Approximately. Approximately July, end of July to August. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

So yeah, I mean, I'll just add to that a little bit. We're really doubling down on fragrances. So while the oils are amazing and we've had phenomenal success with our customers, loving it so much, we really do want to double down on the fragrance aspect of it. And so the products, we can't see a whole lot, unfortunately, because we just wrapped up lab testing and we're in the midst of um user testing right now. Um, and so if anybody wants to join our beta test program, please reach out to us from our website. We are looking for beta testers. But uh, it's gonna be very fun and stuff that you can use every single day. Um, you know, again, doubling down on fragrance is all I can say right now.

SPEAKER_02 31:23

That's perfect, though. But you know what? That just shows that you're not done. We didn't stop with face and hair oil. You're going to keep going, you're going to keep expanding. So, how like the beauty and wellness space is crowded, not to, you know, discourage anyone,

Building a Community-First Wellness Brand

SPEAKER_02 31:38

but it's crowded. So, how are you working on getting the word out and getting, you know, people to buy your product and all the distribution? Like, A, how do you do it? And then B, my next question is going to be how do you not get frustrated doing that? Because I think that challenge can apply to so many other entrepreneurs where it's like, I'm in this space, and there's so many of me, but I know I'm better than the rest of them. And that can be super frustrating. So it's a two-part question, and either of you can answer either part, but it's how do you, and then how do you personally, as a working woman, deal with that?

SPEAKER_01 32:15

So um, I was gonna say marketing, we have a super power, aka Marija. She's our no, she's literally our marketing whiz. I'm not even lying when I say that, she's brilliant to a fault. But it's a really good question. It is so crowded. And I'm sure you've seen those reels, oh, yet another beauty product. Do we really need yet another beauty product or wellness product? So the way we really started differentiating ourselves very early on was we're not yet another beauty product. We do not want to just launch yet another hair or face product. We really started with the whole topical wellness aspect. Um, for us, not all wellness has to be ingested or is ingestible, right? Wellness can also be topical. And skin is the largest organ of your body, believe it or not. And so we decided, you know what, we're gonna take the path of the topical wellness because that's something we feel very passionately about. That's something we believe in. And we saw a white space there where the topical wellness space was either very medicinal, very, like I said, herbal, or it was filled with chemicals on the other side. There wasn't really anything that was a medium ground that's affordable luxury, that's clean, that really is so efficacious. Uh, and your touch point from morning to night on your largest organ. So that's really how we started differentiating ourselves. And I think that really worked. I mean, that story resonated with our audience. The products speak for themselves. But also when we did our launches, we didn't go down the usual pathway of like hiring influencers and spending tens of thousands of dollars on like splashy launches. Our launches were so thoughtful. We our first launch was um a yoga session. So we did our two hours of come and do a backyard pool yoga. Then we had two hours of like deep scalp massage and face yoga masterclass. And then we did another session again around wellness. And people were like, this is so refreshing. We've been to so many launch events with like champagne and wine. And we do that, those two, by the way. But this one was so relaxing, calming, and different and true to who we were. And I think that set us apart. And every event, we are our events, by the way, that we host sell out with within 24 hours. It's because everything we do is so thoughtful. Like we did Mother's Day events. Again, it was all about the mom, not about us. And so I think it was we started with events that were super successful, that we reached out to like more digital experiences. Like Amarja was saying, we do live face yoga masterclasses, we do scalp passage masterclasses. But I think it's really a connection building the community first. We really went with a community first approach, being authentic to who we are versus doing the splashy launches. And now, two years in, we're also doing the splashy launches. So the next product that you're gonna see is gonna have a lot of splash around it, um, but always still staying true to who we are. That's that's our core. But yeah, it is super crowded. It is so, so hard to differentiate yourself. And I think we've just been very lucky by just being authentic from day one.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

Okay, that makes sense. So, Amarja, how as a businesswoman do you deal? And congrats with the marketing. Kudos to you. That's amazing. Um, everyone needs a great marketer because you're an entrepreneur, so that's truly a gift. So, how do you personally, since you're really the front lines of this marketing, how do you personally deal with the many no's that happen and the crowded space and the I believe in my brand and I don't want to, you know, people who say, oh, but if you just change this, you know, because that happens as an entrepreneur. It's like, well, if you just change this, then maybe. How do you deal with that personally and professionally?

SPEAKER_00 35:53

Yeah, I think it's can be super frustrating and super difficult at many times. And as entrepreneurs, we're often we often work in silos as well. So I think that's a difficult part to overcome. We are really lucky we have an amazing support system, whether it's our family, we have each other, we have three sisters, and we have an amazing family that supports us. So that always helps. But I think what we have realized is that if you are true to yourself, and as Dana mentioned, being authentic, be yourself, and that could be different versions of yourself as well. Like she's very different from me, I'm very different from my third sister. But just being authentic to who we are and portraying who we not who we want to be or who we as, you know, not trying to chase trends, I think that's the rabbit hole. If you fall into the rabbit hole of trying to chase trends and trying to be like the next big person that you see on Instagram or on or on TikTok, and you know, it's a very different life virtually versus real life. And I think we just stick to our belief and our philosophy that what we're doing is good, but it will be out there and you know, people will see it and just show up for your community every day, whether we do it through Instagram, whether we do it to events. Most of our events are always focused on how do we do something for the people who have come, who have made that huge effort to come and see us. And we do the different master classes as Dana said, but really showing up for them, if they have questions, you know, we get DMs on Instagram like my skin is breaking out. Do you think I can use the hair oil? Uh, my teen wants to use this. Is this safe to use for my kids? And it's our product is multi-generational. So we explain to them why it's good and just being there auth authentically, not with the purpose to always sell. I think that really, really helps. Really helps.

SPEAKER_02 37:47

Yeah. And you can feel the passion that the two of you have. I mean, you can feel it. You can feel it. You can see it for those who are watching the video. You can feel and you can see the passion that you have for this product and for the brand and the mission and the vision and for I love Donna that you said creating community. I think that everyone wants community. And so I think leading with products that have that in mind and are just so pure and come from such a place of heart. There's a big space for that in the marketplace. Cause I think people really want authenticity. And I, you know, you see all the time, especially on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, people are like, just be your authentic self. That is actually what's going to sell. That's what people are going to resonate with. And since I come from a sales background, I'm like, people actually buy from people they like. And let's just be honest, that's what sales is about. You buy from people that you like and you want to work with people that you like. And you tend to be gravitated towards people that you like. So if you're putting out a product or you're marketing or you're talking about your brand, and you are just being you, living the life of wellness and the lifestyle that you want your customers to embrace and get to enjoy and experience, then people resonate with you. And they're like, okay, yeah, I yes, I connect. I yes, I'm interested. And that's probably why you have such a high repeat rate too. Plus, your products work. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's amazing. All right. Before we run out of time, is there anything that I didn't ask you about or anything that I missed or you want to summarize, or like a period at the end of the sentence of all of this? Did I miss anything?

SPEAKER_01 39:18

I think no. I mean, I was just going to leave with what you just said. Um, you know, community. I think for us, that has been the cornerstone. And I'll just leave with one example. You know, when we do user testing, we thought our product was going to sell one way. And users told us, you know, this smells so good, but it's such a big bottle. How on earth am I going to carry this big bottle like to work? And they made us, you know, come up with a tiny roll-on that they can just rub on and leave. And our community has helped us in so many ways, not just, you know, buying, but actually giving us input and feedback. And a lot of our successful products have come from the community testing and feedback. So I think if there's just one advice, if at all I could ever give anybody who wants to start their brand, invest in community first. It's so easy to like just chase influencers, throw money at them. But I would really encourage community is your everything. And um, yeah, that that would just be my leaving thought. Yeah. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 40:13

Amarja, anything I missed or anything that you want to communicate about your journey, the products, your marketing,

Give Yourself Grace and Stay Authentic

SPEAKER_02 40:18

anything that I haven't covered that you think is important.

SPEAKER_00 40:21

I think just one thing I would say is just give yourself some grace. That's all. You know, give yourself get grace. You are doing your best. And best is also a yardstick measure that nobody knows, right? Like strive for the best version of yourself, not for excellence. Um, you know, that's I think that's really something that we we believe in as well. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 40:43

Oh, and that's great. And don't look for the outside for that. It's it that comes from within that really comes from within. And do

Closing Thoughts

SPEAKER_02 40:49

the things that are best for you personally and your wellness and making yourself a priority in your life. That's one of the reasons this podcast exists. So uh, Donna Amarja, thank you so much. Sage and Veda, guys. Sage and Veda, it's gonna be in the show notes. I am definitely gonna try your products. We're gonna create some teaser reels. We'll put it out on Instagram to help spread the word. Um, and I just love that you are creating products from the heart. So thank you for taking the time. Congratulations on your brand. I'm excited for what's gonna come out next this summer. And thank you for being guests. I really appreciate it. Thank you for having us. Thank you for having us. Thank you for joining us for this week's episode of Building the Best You. If you are ready to take a deeper dive into transforming your life, check out my Empowerment Fundamentals course on my website, houseofgermar.com. Thank you, and I will see you next week with another inspiring guest.