At BrilliantRead Media, it is our constant endeavour to bring meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. As part of this, we invited Preeti Choudhury for an exclusive interview with us. She is an Entrepreneur and Founder of Kzen Skincare. Let’s learn more about her incredible journey, background, and advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Preeti;
We are aware of your contribution to the ecosystem, talk us through your background and your journey as a women entrepreneur, please;
I was born and brought up in Cuttack, Odisha. I did my school and college from St Joseph’s Girls High School and Ravenshaw College. Then on, I have completed my MBA from IILM, New Delhi and worked with corporates in sales and marketing for 8 years and also, pursued corporate communication with an NGO for a few months.
I have an A1 certification in French from Alliance Francaise, Gurgaon. During my school and college days, I was an active member of the Rotaract Club, organizing and participating in various community, social and cultural activities.
During my teens, I was troubled by acne. During those days, in the early nineties, there weren’t many treatments or medicines available to treat acne. So I ended up doing DIY remedies at home using ingredients like neem leaves, honey, ice rubs, lemon juice, gram flour, turmeric, etc and it did work to rid me of acne. Here, I should also mention that eating right and staying active played an equally important part in this process.
Mixing various oils and ingredients, and picking up the same during my travels was something I always enjoyed. I started reading up and researching about skincare ingredients and formulating a small range of products. That’s how Kzen was born.
Being a solo woman entrepreneur has a huge set of challenges like time management, finances, and limited access to various marketing and sales channels. When it comes to the skincare industry it is highly competitive. It’s crucial to understand what consumers are looking for and provide them with genuine solutions that work.
What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
To me entrepreneurs are dreamers. Also, being a single parent and able to be a hands-on mom for my daughter has set me on the path of entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship is a journey of learning and hope and it helped me discover my re-silient side. It is a journey shaped by self-exploration, pursuing my passions, making mistakes, and using those lessons to move ahead.
Being able to get back up and on after a fall is what entrepreneurs are about. Today, I understand that focusing on small wins along the way is more important than the end goal. To be able to create something that is solving a problem in itself takes a lot of perseverance, and then to be able to market it, takes a lot of planning, strategy and execution in today’s extremely competitive business scenario.
My decision to be an entrepreneur strengthened when I realized that I would be working on something I love – formulations. At Kzen, we value transparency, safety, effectiveness and sustainability.
‘Kzen Skincare’ is such a unique name; talk us through more about it, please. Our audience would also love to know what kind of problem you are solving?
Kzen is derived from the word Kaizen, meaning to continuously improve and get better. Contrary to the general perception that Kzen is Korean, it’s not.
Kzen is purely Indian where we focus on Indian herbs and plants in our formulations. Kzen’s philosophy is also rather simple: We believe that good skincare has the power to make people feel confident about themselves.
The skincare market today is loaded with so many products offering various remedies and solutions, that it is truly overwhelming for a consumer. The anti-aging market has a huge gap in terms of the availability of high-quality effective products.
At the same time, we also realized that consumers were getting confused with so many products and skincare routines. Hence, we have created and are working on more products that are market fit for the anti-aging segment (youth boosting products as we call it in Kzen) with simple and effective skincare products and simple routines that are easy for the users to understand and indulge in.
What does your company specialize in?
‘Kzen Skincare’ is into youth-boosting (anti-aging) products with a focus on keeping skincare simple. The products are formulated to keep the skin looking youthful for a longer period of time.
Kzen was born through a passion for healthy and effective skincare and in-depth traditional creativity with natural ingredients. Our compositions are skin and environment friendly and we use plant extracts to a large extent combined with science-based actives to formulate safe and effective products, and visibly improve skin’s youthful appearance.
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
Self-motivation is a key strength that has only gotten stronger with time. The clarity in thought process, prioritizing work, self-awareness and acceptance of people and situations are what propels me in my journey.
It is important to inculcate and stick to one’s own values and beliefs. Everyday I start my mornings with a bit of yoga/cardio and a few minutes of meditation. These help me in acquiring a balanced and optimistic approach for the day ahead.
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
Discipline in my daily routine, being spiritually inclined and my biggest blessing – my daughter – are my biggest sources of motivation everyday. My daughter has been someone who contributes on & off with her creative inputs for Kzen.
What are some of the strategies that you believe has helped you grow as a person?
Being open to feedback and constructive criticism, inward reflection, mindfulness and acceptance have helped me understand my strengths better.
I am a risk taker and being exposed to new challenges has helped me to adapt to the situation or work towards solutions. Lastly, taking ownership of my decisions and actions – all of these are helping me grow as a person.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
Purpose: To know why you want to do what you want to do.
Consistency: Put in the efforts for the above every single day even when it’s difficult, which is the most challenging part.
Resilience: Never give up attitude.
People/Team: Businesses have various functions and the right people need to be aligned with the right functions to make it successful.
What advice would you give students and young professionals who want to have a successful career?
Start early in life if you can. Starting early gives you more time to help you understand your interests, options and choices better and plan better. There’s also more time and opportunities available to learn and develop relevant skills.
Focus on personal skills and ambitions, while developing a sense of purpose. Starting early gives you ample scope to build the career that you want instead of finding one. Do not take failure seriously, but move on with lessons.
Last but not least, what are the three most important lessons you have learned in your life?
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
