Brown Queen Diaries
Welcome to the Brown Queen Diaries, a podcast that celebrates the diverse experiences of women of color. Join us as we explore personal stories, cultural heritage, and the challenges and triumphs of navigating life as a brown queen. Each episode features insightful conversations with inspiring guests, touching on topics like identity, empowerment, wellness, and creativity. Whether you're seeking inspiration or connection, our community is here to uplift and empower you. Tune in and embrace your inner queen!
Brown Queen Diaries
Bridging Art, Culture, and Entrepreneurship
Deepa's journey from corporate strategist to cultural entrepreneur showcases the powerful intersection of heritage, passion, and purpose. As founder of both Chandralaya School of Dance and POC Beauty, she has created platforms that celebrate and empower South Asian identity in Australia.
Her dance odyssey began at just five years old in Chennai, eventually blossoming into a school that serves students from age six to sixty. What makes Chandralaya special isn't just the teaching of Bharatanatyam—it's how Deepa has expanded it into artistic commissions, cross-cultural collaborations, and community building. For many adult students, the school provides not just cultural connection but therapeutic benefits, with some crediting the dance practice with helping them through significant life challenges.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn when Deepa reveals how her 25-year corporate background in IT strategy and transformation gave her the tools to succeed as an entrepreneur. The turning point came during motherhood when, working 60-70 hour weeks, she questioned her purpose and made the bold decision to launch her dance school. "If I fail, I fail," she recalls thinking, but those corporate skills proved invaluable in building her businesses.
Particularly compelling is Deepa's insight into her beauty brand. POC (Proud of Color) Beauty emerged from her frustration with mainstream skincare that doesn't address the specific needs of melanated skin. Her first product—a natural lip scrub with ingredients like fermented papaya and beetroot extract—exemplifies her philosophy of creating skincare-infused beauty products that work with the body's natural systems rather than against them.
Throughout our conversation, Deepa advocates passionately for embracing cultural heritage, recommending minimalist skincare routines over trending 10-step processes, and encouraging women to support each other professionally. Her parting wisdom resonates deeply: "Build slow, take your time, own your story, and don't be afraid to take up space." For anyone balancing multiple roles or contemplating entrepreneurship, these words offer a roadmap to authentic success.
Brown Queen Diaries by Priyanka Nomula
Directed by Sandeep Raj
Presented by Aussie Talkies
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Hello everyone, welcome to Brown Queen Diaries, season 2. This is the platform where we celebrate fearless South Asian women who are breaking barriers, redefining success and carving their own paths. So today we have a guest who is multi-talented and passionate and has merged art, culture and entrepreneurship into creating impactful work. So let's welcome Deepa, who is the founder of Pog Beauty and Chandra Laya School of Dance. Welcome to the show, deepa. How are you? I'm good, priyanka. Thank you so much for having me, and pleasure is ours. So let's start from the beginning. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Who's Deepa?
Speaker 2:Deepa is a happy girl, lucky girl, who wants to create some impact in today's world. Simple.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it resonates with what you do as well, right? I hope so. So you have Chandralaya. It's a school of dance, yes. And then you have Park Beauty. What is the ideology behind it?
Speaker 2:I think Chandralaya was born out of this necessity to impart cultural grounding and identity in both the young and the wise in Australia. That's my passion and love for dance, particularly Indian classical dance. Bharatanatyam, whereas Proud of Colour Beauty or Pork Beauty, was out of a frustration that we are in an industry that does not quite adequately represent us, and it was really born out of an that was also born out of a necessity, but more out of a frustration. So okay but both are deeply rooted in core values of culture, empowerment and heritage.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So both are very rich in terms of the idea behind it. There's a little bit of culture, there's a little bit of, obviously, representation, there's a little bit of obviously market gap, right. So let's talk about Chandralaya School of Dance, right. What's the? How does it run? How did you start? Were you a dancer before? Or like, yeah, I was always.
Speaker 2:I think I started my dancing journey when I was about five and a half. Okay, that's when my mom pushed me to my first guru back in Chennai and said you know, go about it. And Chandralaya is actually a tribute to my late mother, who has been an inspiration for me to kick off this journey, and both my parents were like, just go and do this for six months, and if you don't like it, you know you don't have to worry about it, because I went crying almost every day to dance class.
Speaker 2:We're talking 80s, yeah, when there was not too many activities there's only a couple of activities a child would do and after six months I never looked back. Yeah, I used to spend hours in the studio with my guru watching people dance, watching her dance, and spending a lot of time with my dance mates. Some of my dance mates are, some of my best friends are my dance mates are some of my best friends are my dance mates.
Speaker 2:Um, so I think that's how this passion started growing inside me, and every time I moved to a different continent, the first thing I would find out is where is the next dance studio? Yeah, and where is my next guru? How can?
Speaker 2:I continue this journey yeah um, and that's really how I've started to build Chandralia because, after doing about 30 years of dancing and I thought there's so much of knowledge built inside me, I have to start pushing it out to the younger generation and to anybody who wants to pursue this beautiful form. And that's how I wanted to start Chandralia.
Speaker 2:So, I started small, with a very small group of people, and it's grown today to a reasonable size where we do not just classes, we do quite a lot of services Verticals, I call it. We do a lot of artistic commissions with organisations, we do a lot of projects, intercultural projects, we do a lot of cross-genre collaborations with other artists. We do also, obviously, take classes for kids and adults. So there's so much fun in terms of exploring this form.
Speaker 1:It's fascinating. Right Dancing is amazing For people who can pull it off. It's amazing. I can't. I feel like I have two left legs.
Speaker 2:I know you all say that, but when you come back into the studio, that's our job to train you, yeah okay, so anybody can join Chandralaya, or do you have to have certain experience and go there? Can somebody of my age oh yeah, age no bar to dance to be, honest with you. My youngest is six and my oldest is like 55, 60.
Speaker 1:Okay, 55, 60.
Speaker 2:So a lot of people come into our school with this. Kids obviously come in at a very young age because they want to explore this form. A lot of adults who have actually pursued this form at some point in their life but, due to so many constrictions and journeys in their life.
Speaker 2:They've just said, okay, they put this on a hold and so now they feel like they've got this time and energy to kick this off and our doors are open to them to explore this as much as possible. So it's really their interest that motivates us to give this art form to them, and we've got a lot of adults in our school who are professionals young professionals, mothers in our school who are professionals, young professionals, mothers.
Speaker 2:We also have had grandmothers who just want to understand the cultural element of it and it's quite mind, body, spiritual journey and it keeps them fit, it gives them a sense of community and belonging, which I think is so good.
Speaker 1:It's awesome. So you have a background from corporate as well. So, yes, you were working full time and then you had School of Dance. At some point in time that you established that and then decided to transition into completely into you know, your business. Yes.
Speaker 1:Which we'll come to, yes, but touching base on your corporate experience. Right, and tell us a little bit about it. What were you doing and what was your role? Will come come to, yes, but touching base on your corporate experience, right, tell us a little bit about it. What were you doing and what was?
Speaker 2:your role? Yes, so I. I have an IT background, so I'm a. I mean I did my bachelor's in engineering and then masters in computer science management and I've been working for almost 25 years in different industries across financial services, management, consulting, transport, healthcare but my background is mainly business strategy, architecture and transformation. So little did I know that I was going to transform people from an artistic perspective. So it's the same thing, but different industry and different tools that I'm using. So I'm very grateful for my corporate career because that has given me such a vast variety of skills that are quite transferable into the entrepreneurial space. Okay, it's given me a network, a professional network to sort of really imbibe myself and really grow and dance was always happening, happening yeah.
Speaker 2:I've just sort of parked that in 2014, when I have my, when I had my little one and then I went back into full-time. That's when I realized what am I doing? You know, having a child and then putting 60 to 70 hours of work and, and you know, as mothers, you start to question the true purpose of your journey. And don't ask me why it happens when you're in motherhood. I think it just happens. It just happens. All sorts of thoughts come then.
Speaker 1:All sorts of thoughts, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And then I was sitting thinking I've got this dance that I live and breathe every single day. What am I doing? Why can't I just start something? And that's when I said to my boss. Then I said I'm just going to quit and give myself three months to kick off this journey and if I fail, I fail, I'm just going to come back into corporate. And that's how I just made that plunge into the business world and I felt like I could all of my IT skills and management skills I could really push into make. It was never a waste for me. It was quite transferable and quite. It gave me the tools to sort of really manage through my marketing side and other aspects of running a business, which I thought was quite handy.
Speaker 1:That's a good base for building your business. A hundred percent yeah. Okay cool, that's awesome. So you've been in corporate for a while and then you've switched on to business, right? I have this question that I'm really asking a lot of people, which I know the answer, but I want to have an opinion from other other people as well. Yeah, so do you think there's enough representation in leadership roles within corporate?
Speaker 2:I think my short answer for you is we can't have enough. We have, but our ratio is not quite there and it really depends on the industry. So, for example, I worked for the transport industry my very, very last one and I used to be probably one woman among 10 to 12 men in a meeting room. Wow. That was the ratio, and I think it really depends, but construction is one of them. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I think, I think, in terms of parity, I think we don't have enough people, enough women sitting in the higher positions, in the executive positions. That consistency has to be coming through in the years, with all of the narratives changing at the moment. So the short answer is it's happening, but not enough, and we need to see more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and why do you think just in one word or one sentence, why do you think that could be the? What could have caused that? That we are in a situation where we do not have many leaders sitting in that position, women leaders sitting in the position it could be? Is that the opportunities that they don't have, or is it because they're not catered for? Women?
Speaker 2:I think it's a combination of everything in this and I would say, to be honest with you when it comes to women is we sometimes underestimate our capacity and I think that is the and that narrative is changing in the entrepreneurial space, particularly in people of color. Yeah, and I think the narrative is you can do whatever you want to do and excel in anything, as long as you put your mind to it. So a lot of times we've got the societal pressures, the pressures from coming out of families and commitments that women often feel that we have to cater for that and then, at the end of the day, we give in to our own, we give up rather to achieve our own milestones and our own goals, and I think that's.
Speaker 2:Yes, there are external factors, for sure, but I think we can beat all of those external factors yeah if our mind is strong enough to say you know what I'm going to go for that, because that truly will make me happy but, I will.
Speaker 2:We will work this out in terms of managing the commitments we have in family and other sort of sectors. I think I think if we can have that consistency in women, I think the sky is the limit. I mean the sky is not the limit, but beyond the sky it's limitless. I would say, and I think empowering each other is important and you know you can. Only you have to rise together. You have to help other people rise with you. You cannot just go to the top by yourself. No.
Speaker 2:It takes a village to raise a child. It takes a village to raise a child. It takes a village to bring people together and it takes a village to help women succeed. Yeah, but when I say village, I mean village of other women, women like-minded women Supporting each other, and I think the more we do that, the more it's going to people are going to excel.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's amazing. You've got a good journey right. You've got a little bit of your passion, there's a little bit of a purpose-driven business, and then you have this corporate thing. It's an amazing journey. What was the most rewarding part of it?
Speaker 2:Well, it was challenging yet rewarding, so it's kind of a mixed bag, but I think it's rewarding because for Chandralia it was rewarding because when I hear testimonials and people actually come to me and say it's like my students come, my adult students come and tell me you've actually got me through, say, menopause, for example, that's very fulfilling to know that I have really been a beautiful part of their journey to help achieve their, their real problems and when I have a parent come to me and say you know, this child of them is is actually more confident because of the training.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you feel like you're really doing something. You're creating an impact in the next generation. So I think that is very rewarding. And knowing that I'm passing this beautiful form that is nearly 3000 bc old to the next generation, I'm keeping, and I'm a messenger, keeping this art alive in people. It's it's the most rewarding thing that um one can have and I'm so blessed to have inherited this form from all of my gurus to be able to pass it down so it's amazing to see something like this in here in Australia, right?
Speaker 1:so there was one point in time I was actually looking for something like this and I think I saw you. Then you had this whole campaign on Instagram going. You had a video going on in Instagram possibly yes, you were dancing and everything.
Speaker 1:So I was like, okay, there is actually a school that trains people and I wasn't sure if it catered for everything. I didn't invest into it because I feel like I'm not there yet to go for it. But it's really good that we have that cultural side of the things in the dance and actually a school which means that they go lesson by lesson and they get trained properly from basics.
Speaker 2:So yeah, that's amazing, thank you, thank you. I think I'm truly blessed to be able to do this um, particularly living in in a multicultural society like australia, I think it's so important that people of south asian and we have people of all walks of faith who has our students.
Speaker 2:So we've got people who are of sri lankan heritage, of, obviously, south asian heritage, which is a vast area in itself. We've got people who are um, coming from multiple ethnicities families. So I think it's so good when you, when you mix them, yeah, you create, you have this beautiful, uh, community feeling of belonging yeah, yeah which I think is really good for young minds, to you know, to really hone in.
Speaker 1:Correct. So Park Beauty. Yes, it's a nice catchy name. What's that? What's the full form of Park and what does it stand for?
Speaker 2:So Park Beauty actually stands for Proud of Colour which is a very inclusive skincare brand catering for all people of color requirements. But it was coined and I was sitting and thinking what? What should I name my second business to be? And it was the hardest thing then and I thought to myself okay, I'm an artist and I'm a person of color, and POC in the artistic world is people of color, so why can't I just change people to proud of color? Because you have to be proud of your skin, the color you represent. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's how I really coined it. So it was a simple change of word, but I felt like the impact was greater in terms of inclusivity. Yeah, and that's how it came about.
Speaker 1:That's a beautiful name and it's very catchy as well right, yes, yes. So that's good. So let's talk about the idea behind it. And what are the values of POC Beauty? What are you trying to deliver to your customers?
Speaker 2:right. So POC is all about inclusivity, representation empowerment. So what? I, as an artist who has been performing on stage for years, and something that I do on a regular basis is pack on layers of makeup. Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2:And with that comes some side impacts. Yes, so, as an artist, as anybody who's learning art form at a very deeper level, starts to explore beauty inside out and I was the same so you start to nourish yourself inside out you start to think about what's really good for your skin. How do you manage it, especially if you have to put yourself on stage on a regular basis and pack on so much of makeup? So it was important for me to educate myself on ingredients, things that work for my skin tone.
Speaker 2:Because, the people of color are highly melanated people and our melanin ranges. As where we come from and we, just like every other ethnicities, we have our own pros and cons, and one of our cons is we. We tend to have pigmentation, hyper pigmentation, discoloration, dryness, acne and all sorts of things, and I felt like we were not represented widely to to be able to give solutions for all of these issues but, we had this makeup we we tack on, but then the underlying skin issues are never looked out, looked up in a in a deeper level.
Speaker 2:So I wanted to explore that and see if we can provide solutions to cater for this. So pock beauty is looking at skincare infused beauty. Okay, that is so if you are to pick a, pock beauty is looking at skincare infused beauty okay, that is so if you are to pick a pock beauty product, you're rest assured that it is not going to disturb your skin's natural microbiome which is the good stuff that sits on your skin right so it's not going to rip all of that okay yeah, and that's the the core part of our ethics, our values so it's not just about representation.
Speaker 2:It's also about ethically sourced ingredients that are going to actually elevate your skincare hmm, rather than do the opposite. Yeah, so that was really the core of POC Beauty's you know existence mm-hmm nice.
Speaker 1:So you started off with lip care yes scrub as part of the first product, as part of POC Beauty. Why lip product? Something that stands out right?
Speaker 2:Yes, it's a story actually. So I pitched when I started POC.
Speaker 2:I pitched to a cohort of I was part of a cohort and I pitched to a panel of judges on what POC Beauty's lineup would be and yet the first product I put in was lip scrub and I feel now that I've delivered to that promise and the reason I choose lip and I know other people would be like, oh, why not everybody like, why not a moisturizing cream or anything I said to myself as an artist, I feel like the lips and yet it is the most important part of your face because it is the source of things going inside your body first thing because it's closer to your mouth, essentially, and it's the most sensitive part of your face.
Speaker 2:So there is a fact that our skin is the largest organ in the body. So anything you put on your skin actually goes to your brain, but anything you put on your lips actually goes to your lungs and your brain. Wow. Lungs yeah, it does go into several parts of your body.
Speaker 1:Okay, I thought it would go to gut.
Speaker 2:It goes there too, but everywhere. So the receptors are very turned on there turned on there and it's important that the kind of so.
Speaker 2:An average woman actually consumes about two to three kilos of kilograms of lipstick in her lifetime, wow, okay and these days probably more, because we're we're always wanting to have our lips, and it was important and it was important for me that I look into that component, that part, part of our face, to see how we could nurture it and take care of it and not strip away all the good stuff that happens as part of our natural microbiome.
Speaker 2:So, and that is where I thought, ok, you know, let's think about a scrub that's going to help not just brighten but exfoliate, hydrate and plump. So it was a hard one to achieve all four in a more safer way, rather than have a lot of chemicals. So I wanted to have ingredients that we consume on an everyday basis, that people would be comfortable to put and even if it slips into your mouth, it's okay because it's still. We've got papaya ferment, fermented papaya extract, which is so good to brighten and lighten your lips, right. We've got beetroot extract that is going to really also exfoliate and nourish your lips, and pomegranate extract. So all of these.
Speaker 1:Delicious.
Speaker 2:Yes, a lot of my folks who've got the lip scrub say it tastes really well, because it really tastes yummy and it's because it's got these powerhouse ingredients that's going to nurture your lips on a regular basis, so you can still go out in the public without having a lipstick on and still feeling very confident about your lips in its restored condition.
Speaker 2:So I thought about that and I said, okay, let me focus on this little yet essential part of our face and see how the market responds. And that's how the lip scrub came into play.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Can't wait to try it.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Yes, sounds delicious, so first of all, I'll definitely try it. Yeah, to try it, yes, yes, sounds delicious, first of all, but I'll definitely try it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, go for it. Yes.
Speaker 1:Yes. So with the current sort of beauty brands and all of those different chemicals around in the market, what is the one thing that you would suggest to women in terms of like their must have or must do skin routine? Because you've done a lot of research around, like you were talking about. As an artist, you, you dwelled a lot into skincare, right? So what do you think they're the must do for in terms of skincare for women or men?
Speaker 2:yeah, anyone for that matter. I think the first thing I would say, as an artist, is discipline and consistency. So, whatever is your routine, my suggestion is, my advice, is stick to that and keep that going, because your body loves consistency. As humans, we love consistency, and the thing I would say is keep your routine very simple. Don't add 20 products. Have three to four staple products in your routine that you absolutely can't live without and you utterly know that it is going to do the best for your skin. Yeah, and secondly is never go to bed without cleansing your face. So, ma, as a rule of thumb, I would always cleanse my face, double cleanse my face at nighttime, mm-hmm and make sure that if the skin is completely hydrated with a really good moisturizer before I get to bed. And a tip in the morning is if you're not working out, don't wash your face with a cleanser.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Unless you're working out. Obviously, then you have to, but because when you sleep for eight hours, your skin is, your body is actually reviving a lot of doing the hard work when you're sleeping and it's really conditioning your skin right and when you get up in the morning and if you wash your face with a lot of um, you know the cleanser um, you're kind of stripping that beautiful work that your body has already done for you right, yes, so I never heard of this.
Speaker 1:But I know it's it's an inside secret.
Speaker 2:I'm giving you that beautiful work that your body has already done for you, right? Yes, never heard of this. I know it's an inside secret. I'm giving you, okay. But the real thing is, if you're going for a workout, absolutely because you're sweating and you know all of that, but if you are not, and it's a relaxing day, I would just say, just wash your face with cold water.
Speaker 2:Cold water, yeah, and just go on with your moisturizer and sunscreen and whatever makeup and then go forward. Okay, yeah, because otherwise it's that layer of goodness is just going down the drain.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's a good tip, I'm going to try that. Yes for sure, so okay, what's?
Speaker 2:next for POC Beauty. So POC Beauty, we are very excited about the line of products we've got for this year. So obviously we are into skincare. But we're also targeting cosmetics with skincare infused cosmetics. So we are excited about that line upcoming sometime in the middle of the year.
Speaker 1:Okay, sometime in the middle of the year.
Speaker 2:Okay and yeah. So, without revealing too much, there are going to be products lined up for body and your face.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about beauty standards. On one side, we are talking about embracing the self-beauty, natural beauty, self-love and all of that, and on the other side we're saying we are looking at these beauty influencers who are coming with this fillers, cosmetic injectables and promoting aesthetic you know, treatments, you know which which is basically contributing to a lot of pressure for the beauty at the moment for the current generation, right of pressure for the beauty at the moment for the current generation right.
Speaker 2:So what's your take on it? Look, I'll keep it simple. I think if you differ from the natural way of aging, you will have to face some side effects hmm, I mean when I say side effects, the impacts. Hmm, the impacts can be positive, can be negative, depending on your ethnic group. So I think it's a huge debate that's going on in the beauty industry and my only advice is don't let these processes and these treatments define who you are as an individual.
Speaker 2:Your self-esteem is not based on a Botox treatment or an injectable or a normal facial is good, because you know, in our culture we have age-old facial massages and things like that. But anything from an out external thing going into your skin that is injectable, they shouldn't define who you are as a person. Who you are as a person has to come from inside out. Yeah, it's the food you can consume, it's the conversations you have, it's the relationships that you have nurtured in your life. That must create bigger value for one's happiness. And I think if you don't, if one doesn't, forget that, then you know you can go about sort of really wiggling your way through what's good for you, what's not good for you.
Speaker 2:But I think, if you're completely dependent on these treatments to define your happiness levels. I would question that. Yeah, I think that's're completely dependent on these treatments to define your happiness levels. I would question that in its entirety.
Speaker 1:Very good answer. I think people fall prey for these because they are not happy with one or the other element in their life. But given a chance, would you try it, Phyllis, later in life?
Speaker 2:No, I don't think so. Uh, I mean, having been an being an artist and being in the skincare uh industry, now I feel like there's so many other ingredients that can work for you with high potency, that can work for you in the long run. And aging gracefully is a good thing, it's not a bad thing. Um, our mothers and grandmothers have aged gracefully is a good thing. It's not a bad thing. Our mothers and grandmothers have aged gracefully. I think it's really depending on what your inner score looks like, and one needs to always have a checkpoint on that. So the simple answer would be no. There's so many other things that you can do. I could just be eating a lot of turmeric just to have that, just to have that anti-inflammatory uh, you know thing going in my head.
Speaker 1:So yeah, true, um, on that right, we have whole korean beauty taking a full, you know viral moment at the moment, um, in the you know beauty side of the things. And then, like you know, there's a whole process of how you take care of your screen skin, this 10-step process for that, and then we also have the South Asian side of the beauty. So do you actually follow the Korean beauty trends and glass skin and everything? Yes, the glass key.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's beautiful to look at, beautiful. I think glass skin is available across all Asian, all ethnicities. It just depends on what ingredients we all use, based on our cultural upbringing. I think look, it's the Korean beauty works for Korean people or from their ethnic groups. But I think what we're missing here is we should not underestimate the, the ethnic group that we South Asians represent. We've got a lot of key ingredients, a lot of beautiful, well-established practices that our ancestors have given us. Why aren't we talking about that in a great deal? For example, our best chumpy South Asians have the best hair. Let's face it, we do have the best hair. We really nurture our hair. The beautiful head massages that the northern part of India calls it as chumpy Our grandmothers and mothers have really given us those beautiful head massages with nurturing oils. That's a beautiful practice to keep long, luscious hair going. So there's so many aspects of our South Asian beauty industry that we need to be talking about.
Speaker 2:We need to be educating the audiences, so they know that they need to go back to their roots to figure it out.
Speaker 2:Own it. Yes, 100%. You need to own where you come from. Own your own practices rather than looking at other areas. Other areas may well work for you, but not compromising where you come from, on your own practices, rather than looking at other other areas. Other areas may well work for you, but but not compromising where you come from. Because your dna is a certain type and certain food groups go with well with your dna, certain practices go well with your dna. Why don't we nurture that? And that's.
Speaker 2:That's that would be my suggestion. Advice to the young generation is own your identity, understand your practices and make the best out of it.
Speaker 1:Lovely answer. Yeah, so I have something. A rapid question round let's just say yeah. I'm just randomly pulling it. Go for it. It's like a this or that. Okay, you have two choices, beautiful, you can choose from one and otherwise you can say not applicable or none, something like that Gotcha it's one word answer Okay, okay, awesome. So natural beauty or cosmetically enhanced beauty?
Speaker 2:Natural beauty.
Speaker 1:I know I knew the answer no makeup makeup or full glam makeup.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's a hard one, because when I'm on stage, full glam, but in most other times no makeup, makeup.
Speaker 1:Okay, same, no makeup. Makeup is my go-to as well. Thick bros or thin bros. Oh, thick, bros yeah it's a current thing, right Lip fillers or natural lips. Natural lips, 100%, of course, you have a lip product. I've got to own it. Yes, glass, skin or matte finish.
Speaker 2:Oh glass skin or matte finish, oh glossy Middle bit Middle, okay, minimalist skincare or 10-step skincare. Oh, 100% minimalist.
Speaker 1:With that, I think it's easier to maintain the.
Speaker 2:Yes, something has to be sustainable.
Speaker 1:Yes, okay, cool, embracing grey hair or coloured your hair.
Speaker 2:I'm kind of in the middle actually, like I can't go and get my greys coloured every four weeks, no way, yeah, so I'm embracing the greys that are popping out, okay, so I'll stick to wow, go color. It's situational.
Speaker 1:It's situational, yes, yes okay, uh, shaved body hair or let it grow naturally, oh man oh no, please no, yeah, shaved body here, yeah.
Speaker 2:Next one is straight hair or curly hair? Oh, hundred percent.
Speaker 1:Curly, curly baby, yeah, wavy curly, yes, okay, that's more, you know more texture. Yes, more volume. Yes, hundred percent. Skinny or curvy.
Speaker 2:Oh curvy any day. Yes.
Speaker 1:Embrace the curves. Yes, beautiful, yes, beautiful. All right, it was a lovely session. So, before we wind up, right, um, what's your advice to anybody who's um, you know, trying to juggle with multiple roles, as you know, as part of a corporate job or being a business owner, and have ideas? You want to, you know, jump into something that they want to own, like you are. What's your advice to them?
Speaker 2:My advice to me is build slow, take your time to build your story, own your story and don't be afraid to take up space and don't be afraid to take up space and create a close-knit circle that will help lift you any day, every day.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. I think you stand up for it. Even with the little chat that I had with you, you were like you should do that, you should do this, you should do this. So you're pretty much a cheerleader.
Speaker 2:I'm always supporting women. So go women, lovely Go everyone, but go women.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thanks for coming on the show, deepa. It was lovely chatting to you.
Speaker 2:Such a pleasure. Thank you so much, priyanka.
Speaker 1:Thank you for watching this episode with us. I'm your host, priyanka. Signing off until next episode.
