Innovation and Clean Beauty with CEO and Co-Founder of Wander Beauty Divya Gugnani

/

Raise your hand if you have ever done your beauty routine on-the-go. Wait a minute, so I’m not the only one that has sat in a parking lot applying make-up? Ok, then I’ll admit it, that mysterious stain on the roof of my car? Mascara. How you ask? An over-packed schedule and a last minute dash for a touch-up gone wrong.

Meet Divya Gugnani, a serial entrepreneur who has taken the beauty industry by storm. She is the CEO and Co-Founder of Wander Beauty, a brand built for the modern woman that offers a line of multi-tasking beauty essentials so that you can take your routine on the go, mess-free, and stress-free.

Read on and tune in below to hear more from Divya as we discuss the power of clean beauty, how to differentiate your brand, her tips to growing a successful business by following your instincts, her beauty favorites, and much more.

DivyaBravaPodcast.png

SHOW NOTES:

Divya was inspired to launch Wander Beauty while on the NYC subway. She was applying make-up and realized many others were doing the same. She realized she was continuously finding herself doing her beauty routine on-the-go all the time (1:20.)

The need of an innovative solution emerged from a multitude of experiences and situations: from wanting a clean and safe beauty alternative to a product that fits a multitasker’s daily lifestyle (2:30.)

Wander Beauty focuses on real women in the context of their real lives (4:14.)

The driving force behind Wander Beauty’s fast five year success? Outworking the competitors. Divya speaks to the passion and intelligence of her team that has helped drive the incredible outcome and success of her brand (5:00.)

Wander Beauty is created by products that skin loves. (It’s free of parabens, phthalates, synthetic fragrance, and mineral oil. Wander Beauty is also gluten free and cruelty free.) The “clean” beauty movement is very important and a current topic of conversation in today’s industry. What makes Wander Beauty stand out is that their mission was developed from a personal story, not a trend (7:15.)

“The average woman is ingesting 5lbs of damaging chemicals from her beauty products every single year. ”
— Divya Gugnani, CEO and Co-Founder of Wander Beauty

Divya’s go-to tips when shopping for clean beauty products? She steers clear from parabens, phthalates, and sulfates (10:00.)

Her must-have products that she uses daily include 1) Mist Connection Essence and Toner, 2) Baggage Claim Gold Eye Masks, 3) Dualist Matte and Illuminating Concealer, and 4) Mile High Club Volume and Length Mascara (12:12.)

Let’s talk morning ritual: to balance her days with her busy schedule, Divya meditates for a few moments each morning, drinks ginger water, has breakfast with her kids, empties her inbox, streams a 15-minute workout, then starts her day. This allows her to focus on what she calls “deep work” when she gets to the office where she focuses on key projects that uses her full brain power (14:00.)

One of the things that Divya has learned through the years is to trust your gut (17:05.)

“It’s great to take feedback. As an entrepreneur you should listen to everyone: your team, your retail partners, your customers, and read every comment on social; but, you need to react only to things that make sense to you when you see the wholistic picture.”
— Divya Gugnani, CEO and Co-Founder of Wander Beauty

Looking to enter the beauty space as an entrepreneur? Find an opportunity in a white space and innovate. Divya advises to “innovate, don’t imitate” (22:25.)

Follow Divya and Wander Beauty on Instagram to stay connected and continue following along!

Thank you readers for tuning into the Brava Podcast. If you like the show please leave a review on iTunes! 

What from our conversation inspired you today? What do you hope to hear next? Tweet or message us on Instagram @BravaPodcast to tell us what you want to hear, even if it’s your own story! 

5 Episodes to Inspire Your Monday Morning Routine

/

New week, new start, who 'dis?☕🌟 Raise your hand if you have ever let the "Sunday Scaries" get the best of you. 🙋

It's hard not to...with growing anxieties from the productivity of your past weekend (or the lack their of) and the potentially portentous week to come weighing heavily on you. Don't get down on yourself for not accomplishing what you wanted to do on the weekend.

Allow yourself to bring new light and energy to your Monday morning routine. A fresh page in your book to start again. You deserve it.

So let’s kick off this morning right! I pulled together my top 5 favorite Brava episodes that will help to inspire your evolving vision, revitalize your workflow, and jumpstart your week with positivity!

MorningRoutineBravaPodcast

Leading Yourself Well With Marissa Nash | Episode 20

Marissa is a Certified Professional Life Coach and Team Coach that specializes in helping YOU to make an impact whether it be within your own organization, your community, with your family or the world. Tune in this AM to lean more about incorporating self-care into your routine and how to perform your own life audit. Use this next 20 minutes with Marissa as your own personal time with your new life coach. She’s got your back because she knows you have big plans for your future.

Celebrating Life’s Moments with Entrepreneur and CEO Kristen Ley of ThimblePress | Episode 19

Meet Kristen Ley, CEO, er, actually I should say, “Chief Confetti Maker and Founder” of Thimblepress. Tune in below to get real with Kristen and her start-up story, learn more about differentiating products in a competitive space and advice on how to make your dream a reality.

Differentiating Your Product with CEO and Beauty Guru Lauren Napier | Episode 16

In this episode Lauren highlights key takeaways of how you can differentiate your brand, gives details about how she launched her beauty line and products, and talks about how she pays it forward along the way. Tune in below to how this make-up artist turned CEO is changing and challenging the beauty space.

Rooting Your Career in Self-Love with Ta’lor Pinkston | Episode 15

Prioritizing self-love and self-care is essential for your career. Tune in to meet Ta’lor Pinkston. Ta’lor is the founder of LADYHOOD journey, LLC and has made it her mission to help women and girls know their worth by making self-love a priority through creating a community for women empowerment.

How to Craft A Life You Love with Amy Tangerine | Episode 14

Let’s discuss how to craft not just creativity, good habits and a good environment, but also a life that you love. To help walk us through this how-to, meet creativity and craft maven, Amy Tangerine! Amy is the author of the colorful and amazing book, “Craft a Life You Love”.

Which episode inspired you this morning? Comment below! #YouGoGirl

Differentiating Your Product with CEO and Beauty Guru Lauren Napier

/

Today on Brava we’re uncovering the success of the entrepreneur and expert behind Lauren Napier Beauty with the founder herself. In today’s episode, Lauren highlights key takeaways of how you can differentiate your brand, gives details about how she launched her beauty line and products, and talks about how she pays it forward along the way. Tune in below or on iTunes to hear more about how this make-up artist turned CEO is changing and challenging the beauty space.

SHOW NOTES:

Lauren loved her career as a make-up artist but one of the things that propelled her to start her own brand was learning from her surroundings and wanting to create her own working environment (2:20.)

She believes that you have to have resilience as a leader (3:30.)

There is a transformation that people take when they put on make-up but also a transformation when they take it off. Lauren saw first-hand how her clients were hesitant to take off the “veil” of sorts they put on which upset her because they were beautiful just the way they were with or without make-up (4:20.)

The quality of Lauren’s beauty products is key to differentiating her product (7:50.)

“The beauty industry is really focused…on playing up and preying on our insecurities. The philosophy of itself [Lauren Napier Beauty] is that there is beauty in taking it off.”
— Lauren Napier

My goal is to make people feel good about their authentic self (10:30.)

Shoutout to Squarespace (not sponsored) for being an amazing partner for entrepreneurs (and podcasters alike!) That was Lauren’s first step in finding a space for her idea to flourish (12:15.)

Lauren thinks it is key to be “everywhere” - different search engines, website support, social media and more! (15:00.)

How did Lauren start her beauty brand? She was traveling and was using a face wipe that was completely dried out that just would not do! Her first step? Putting her idea into action (18:00.)

“Ask question, research, fact find, you will find the answers! ”
— Lauren Napier

She cutout all of the extras and the frills for a year to help save her money and utilize it to launch her company (21:00.)

“Be patient with yourself. It’s very important to know you don’t have all of the answers.”
— Lauren Napier

There is powering in sharing! Some people want to hoard information but Lauren believes what you give is what you get and shares her manufacturing lists, her contact lists, etc. with your colleagues. You can be generous without wanting something back (23:00.)

Lauren believes it’s important to be able to stand proudly behind her product and that is why she manufactures her product with solar energy and has created completely recyclable packaging (26:15.)

She’ll be celebrating five years for her business in May! Check out LaurenNapier.com now to support her next steps! #YouGoGirl

Thank you readers, to tuning into the Brava Podcast. If you like the show please leave a review on iTunes! 

What from our conversation inspired you today? What do you hope to hear next? Tweet or message us on Instagram @BravaPodcast to tell us what you want to hear, even if it’s your own story!