The Billion Dollar Empire – Exclusive interview with beauty mogul Huda Kattan

The Billion Dollar Empire

What started as an online blog over a decade ago has transformed into a billion dollar empire. In an exclusive interview with Emirates Woman, Huda Kattan, Founder of UAE-based brand Huda Beauty, tells us what it takes to create a timeless brand that’s dominated the beauty space on a global scale

three brands. With the help of my sisters, we launched Huda Beauty in 2011 a er seeing a gap in the market. We launched our false eyelashes in Sephora, and they sold out in a matter of days and the brand grew from there! It’s been an incredible whirlwind and we honestly have been so grateful to have the community of all of our day one followers and supporters from the blog who have helped grow the brand into what it is today. They have been one of the incredible constants since we began this journey. Can you talk us through all of the brands under the Huda Beauty umbrella you have now? Today, we have Huda Beauty, WISHFUL, and KAYALI. WISHFUL was born from my personal quest to solve my skincare needs. With WISHFUL we’ve created an assortment of gentle, simple, and Can you talk us through your career? A er getting fired from e ective products that provide instant and long-lasting my first job out of university working in finance, my sisters results. Huda Beauty is the ultimate one-stop shop for convinced me to go to beauty school. I truly loved beauty makeup lovers. Our products are created with high-end and makeup and I took their advice to invest in my passion. formulas and textures, with the ultimate goal of helping I worked as a freelance makeup artist for several years and my everyone feel empowered, confident, and joyful. KAYALI sister encouraged me to start writing a newsletter about beau- is a brand born from my sister Mona’s passion and admity products that I loved, which I loved and would send out to ration for fragrance. The inspiration for KAYALI is firmly our friends. That grew organically, so we decided to start the rooted in our Middle Eastern heritage. We wanted to comHuda Beauty Blog and the rest is history! bine the best of our culture and our Western background to How did you find yourself entering the beauty space? I was encourage perfume layering and inspire everyone to create always drawn toward beauty. I’d always watch my big sister, their own unique combinations. Alya, put on her makeup and was fascinated at how it could Social media has played a huge role in growing your brand. transform the way you feel. Once I started using beauty for When did you realize just how much power platforms like myself, there was no turning back and I was totally obsessed. Instagram have? Our social platforms serve as a tool for I would test and try anything that I could get my hands on. us to connect with our community. The fact that I can I even started creating my own at-home beauty remedies, connect directly with our followers, and ultimately our which I would share on the blog and have now grown to be the customers, is so unique to Huda Beauty since we were esbasis of a lot of our products. I think I always had beauty in sentially born on social media. my heart. It comes as second nature to me and I truly enjoy It’s incredible to see you build this empire with your famthe creative outlet that it is for me. ily around you. Would you say this family feel resonates You launched your blog, Huda Beauty, over 10 years ago and throughout the entire business? Absolutely. We honestly now it’s grown into this huge beauty empire. What has the jour- think of our teams around the world as a family. We’ve built ney to get to where you are now been like? I honestly can’t be- a company that’s based on the principles of kindness and lieve how far we’ve come. When we started the blog, I honestly family spirit. It’s this family spirit that we also try to mainnever envisioned that we would have one brand – let alone tain in the way that we interact with our consumers. We

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consider them a part of our Huda Beauty fam and are a big part of the machine that keeps us going. More recently, you launched GloWish which we’re obsessed with! You’ve made a point to not retouch or edit your photos which we really admire. What led you to this decision? It has been a lot of work learning to love and accept myself just as I am, so part of this involved getting used to seeing myself exactly as I am. I think that everyone should feel beautiful for who they truly are in their rawest states, and I felt the need to be more vocal on the issue of being a part of the beauty industry who is responsible for setting the standards for what’s beautiful. So I wanted to take a stand and speak out about this through GloWish. What are the hurdles you’ve experienced during your career? Securing our investors was one of the most challenging things that I’ve ever done. It was so hard to get anyone to take us seriously. My sister and I were literally laughed out of so many boardrooms, but once we finally found a firm that believed in our vision, that was one of the most rewarding moments of my career. On the opposite end of the spectrum, what are the milestones? Securing our investors was such a defining moment. It was such a huge milestone because many doors were shut on us, so to finally find investors that not only believed in our mission but were prepared to champion us was a special moment. What’s next for Huda Beauty? Everything! There are so many things that we’re working on not only in terms of product but also messages that we want to share with the world. Watch this space… This is The Timelessness Issue – how would you define this? To be timeless, you need to create things that are everlasting and for us at Huda Beauty, that means leaving behind a legacy. For us, we want to be known for not only creating an incredible brand experience and products but also for changing the conversation around what it means to be and feel beautiful. This year we celebrate the UAE’s 50th Anniversary – what makes this region unique to you? There is so much richness in our culture and that’s what I love the most about this region. The talent and tenacity are what constantly push and empower me to think big. This region is such an incredible place that really nurtures entrepreneurs from all fields, so we’re so glad to call the UAE our home. We also celebrate Emirates Woman’s 40th anniversary. How would you now describe the brand and how does it support women in the region and beyond? Emirates Woman was one of the first titles that truly embraced us from the start. For 40 years, you EW has done an incredible job highlighting and supporting women, who like me, have felt like they didn’t have a seat at the table. I look forward to breaking more boundaries and shattering stereotypes with EW in the next 40 years.