Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal care but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Shalini Seneviratne, founder of Wildpatch, located in Hoboken, NJ, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
We are in the business of reframing the beauty narrative and adding spirituality to beauty. Wildpatch launched the world's first range of coconut oils infused with ayurvedic adaptogens, made with food-grade ingredients. Inspired by ancient Ayurveda and beauty rituals in South Asia, we want to end cultural appropriation of beauty ingredients and ensure the communities these practices originate from benefit from it.
Our custom blends are sold together with soulful beauty rituals, beauty recipes, and relaxation music to create a holistic wellness experience. Because for us, beauty means a healthy body, mind, and soul. We want to be the antithesis of vanity and promote a minimalistic, ritualistic approach to beauty. This is the opposite of a wasteful multi-step routine that the beauty industry is built on. Our oils are the ultimate multi-taskers, thereby promoting less product use and less wastage, all leading up to more sustainable beauty industry.
Tell us about yourself
I spent 15 years in the beauty industry and saw firsthand the impact of un unattainable beauty standards. I believe in a different approach to beauty; I believe that it's time to reframe the narrative that you can only look beautiful by correcting your flaws.
That's why inspired by my grandmother and her homemade beauty concoctions; I wanted to create a brand that celebrates 5000 years of wisdom passed down through generations. That was built on the idea of promoting healthy skin and hair, promoting community, promoting mindfulness, and the female bond.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
To be honest, the launch itself is my biggest accomplishment. It was almost two years in the making, and now to see it in the wild, to have people use it, talk about it feels surreal. Although we haven't been around for long, I can see the early signs of the difference we are making - the feedback from our customers has been phenomenal. We even made it to Byrdie's Best New Launch list!
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Complacency. The grind is real, and it is HARD. There are no off days or even moments, and that can be tough. Being a business owner means that you are running a marathon with sprints in between and no downtime. You have to be on it constantly; you just can't afford to switch it off. I'm sure as Wildpatch grows and I grow as a business owner, I will learn to overcome this, but for now, this is my reality. I constantly feel guilty, knowing that if I work harder, there is so much more than I can accomplish.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Do not compare yourself with anyone - we don't know the circumstances and support behind other businesses; comparing yourself and wondering why you don't have the same success as someone else will only pull you down.
- Build a community of peers that you can reach out to - I launched my company after a few years of moving to the States, but I knew no one. But sliding into people's DMs really helped me build strong relationships and made a huge difference.
- Murphy's law is real. All you can do is know that everything that can go wrong will go wrong, so always be in a solutions mindset. If you need a moment to recover, take it. But you have to bounce back and be willing to let things go.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://wildpatch.co/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildpatch_/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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