It is a known fact that multiple skin products found in the market contain ingredients that are considered controversial. But Kosas Cosmetics founder Sheena Yaitanes is here to change the game.
In the market, there are other clean brands as well, but we are here to focus on Kosas Cosmetics and how Yaitanes succeeded in competing in the tough beauty brand market.
5. Don’t Be Scared To Start Small
We have this notion that every great thing must also have a great beginning, but if you really look at it, it’s not the case. Even the tall oak was once a tiny acorn.
Kosas Cosmetics founder, who is now a proud owner of a clean beauty brand, started her business in 2015 from her kitchen table. Can you believe it?
Sheena Yaitanes’ mother used to work in retail as a representative for Clarins and Clinique, and her early exposure to makeup shaped her to make a career out of it.
If Sheena can follow her passion regardless of the place, whether it be her own kitchen, then so can you.
ALSO READ: RockinBeauty CEO and Founder Lydia Marcos’ Husband
4. Education Always Comes in Handy
The LA-based founder and CEO of Kosas is not just a businesswoman but also holds a degree and used what she studied to build a business.
In an interview, Sheena told Forbes that studying fine art helped her to know the anatomy of color, which led to formulating products based on skin tones.
The knowledge of organic chemistry helped Yaitanes build the right formula and fine-tune ingredients to get them just right.
Sheena also holds a business degree because she always wanted to start her own business, and the degree from the same subject helped her learn the basics of business.
It can be taken as advice to all young entrepreneurs that the degree won’t do any harm to your business plan but can help in a way you never expected.
After all, it is always better to know things beforehand in theory prior to jumping right into the real-life scenario. It gives you a sense of preparedness.
3. Start With What You Are Certain Of
Another thing to take from Kosas Cosmetics founder Sheena Yaitanes is that you can launch your brand with only a few products that you are certain of.
The pursuit of creating a brand that sells hundreds of products since the day of launch and not meeting the quality is way worse than launching only a few products of top quality.
It is always better to launch a few products first and set a base in the market, then, according to the consumers’ response and demand, work your way up.
Sheena launched Kosas Cosmetics with only four products, the Weightless Lip Color Collection, and shipped the received orders from her kitchen table.
The founder of Kosas (which means Sheath” in Sanskrit) revealed her reason for choosing lipsticks for her initial launch was her experience with not finding the right color.
In the market, there are literally hundreds of colors to choose from, but picking the most flattering one for yourself is quite a challenging task.
Hence, Sheena put her knowledge and faith in a few universally flattering colors and began her journey as a founder of the beauty brand.
Learn about another inspiring beauty brand owner of KNC Beauty, Kristen Noel Crawley.
2. Things Takes Time
We lack patience. When we start something, we tend to expect instant results but remember, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” So was Kosas Cosmetics.
Sheena started her beauty line business dream from her kitchen table with just four lipsticks in 2015. Even though the initial response was not that bad, it took her a while for her brand’s breakthrough.
Kosas‘ best-selling are Tinted Face Oil, which took two years to develop, and 10-Second Eyeshadow, designed to make eyeshadow applications less stressful.
Five years later, in 2020, Kosas Cosmetics grew up to build a $20 million business. Now Sheena’s brand is sold in giant retails like Sephora, Credo, and Goop.
1. Work-Life Balance of Kosas Cosmetics founder Sheena Yaitanes
Yaitanes is not just a successful founder of a multi-million dollar business but is also a family person. She is married to Greg Yaitanes, an American television and film director.
The couple also has a beautiful daughter together, and her name is Electra Yaitanes. Sheena’s Instagram is an actual representation of how she keeps a healthy balance between her work and personal life.
The takeaway from this is the narrative of starting a business means Sheena debunks less personal life.
It is very much possible that we can run a business and at the same time become present mother and a loving wife.
Sheena is considered to be a role model for many, and we wish her and Kosas Cosmetics further success in the coming future.
