WORDS: OLIVIA MORRIS
Laser Focus
With a clear vision and passion for skincare that has never swayed, Vicky Tsai discusses how she has built the beauty empire known as Tatcha
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hen it comes to building a successful brand, laser-focused vision is a must-have. However, when it comes to beauty entrepreneur Vicky Tsai, you could argue that this was the case tenfold. Having founded Tatcha – now one of the best-selling skincare brands at Sephora US – in 2009, Tsai sought to bring the healing power of Japan’s skincare and spirit to others, but it wasn’t an easy ride. Tsai began her career on Wall Street, but quickly realised she needed to find a role with, as she describes, “greater purpose”. One day, she woke up and decided to quit everything without a plan, despite being pregnant with her first child at the time. “I remember waking up and saying out loud, ‘I choose happiness’,” she recalls. After an eye-opening and healing trip to Japan, the idea for Tatcha came into play. “I never thought I would start my own company, but when my experiences in Japan healed my skin and my spirit, I wanted a way to keep learning these wellbeing practices and to share them with others,” she says. By sticking to her vision and business acumen, Tsai has built a beauty empire adored the globe-over. Having just entered the Middle Eastern market, Emirates Woman sat down with the beauty entrepreneur to delve into her journey building Tatcha, the highs, the lows and everything in between. Talk us through your career. I began my career in finance on Wall Street but realized early on that if I was going to spend so many of the waking hours of my life working, I needed my job to have a greater purpose if I wanted my life to have a greater purpose. After a few years, I went to business school and moved into marketing and general management at some of the leading companies around the world, thinking I would eventually find a way to marry purpose and work. But the fancier
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my resume looked, the more worn and empty I felt physically and spiritually. The stress of corporate life also came through on my skin. I developed acute dermatitis, which meant having painful blister-like hives on my entire face including my lips and eyelids. I had to take steroids and antibiotics to keep the inflammation invisible, but after three years, I was desperate to stop taking these drugs
because of the side effects and because I was pregnant with my first child. Around this time, I woke up one day and just quit without a plan. I remember waking up and saying out loud, “I choose happiness.” I started travelling to find myself and that’s how I ended up in Kyoto where I was fortunate enough to begin studying rituals of wellbeing and beauty. My experiences in Japan healed
BEAUTY
6/29/22 5:11 PM
