Be Your Own Muse (BEAUTY)!
Interview with muse BEAUTY founder Geraldine Khakshouri. Europe’s largest magazine for startups, founders and entrepreneurs, START-UP VALLEY not only offers the latest news from the business world, but also regularly interviews successful founders about innovation and creativity. We are very happy that muse BEAUTY founder Geraldine Khakshouri was also able to answer the questions for these “Hall of Founders”.
Geraldine Khakshouri, briefly introduce yourself and the online shop muse BEAUTY!
Geraldine Khakshouri: muse BEAUTY is a BEAUTY and lifestyle online shop founded in 2021 for high-quality and luxurious cosmetics and care products as well as exciting niche brands that are previously only known to beauty and fashion insiders. We pay special attention to cruelty-free, vegan and sustainable brands in the assortment. The beauty and care needs of men are of course also taken into account. The medical beauty products of the MBR ® brand occupy a special place in the portfolio. These start where normal skin care ends. They can thus certainly be described as skin care on the borderline of medicine. We also have home and lifestyle accessories such as scented candles in our range.
Why did you decide to start a business?
Starting muse BEAUTY was actually predictable. Through my jobs in the fashion industry for BOSS and s.Oliver, I kept coming into contact with the beauty scene. My job as a photographer has increased my enthusiasm for the world of cosmetics and care products. But the decisive factor in the decision to start a company in the beauty sector was a completely different one, a very personal one.
I suffered from acute skin problems for years. This led to the point that a few years ago I had to be hospitalized with severe inflammatory reactions of the skin. The diagnosis was chronic utopian eczema. The right choice of beauty products, a conscious lifestyle and the supply of nutrients through a healthy diet and selected food supplements have helped me in the long term with the healing. Today, this main problem is largely under control for me. Since then, I follow the beauty market with different eyes and increased interest. The path to an own online beauty shop with convincing care products was basically the logical consequence.
Can you start with an idea if everything is not yet perfect?
If you wait for the time for everything to be perfect, there is a high probability that you will never start. If you are convinced of your idea and can present it credibly to others, you should dare to start and follow the path. When the first step has been taken, further ideas and possibilities often arise. In this way, you should view your idea as a dynamic innovation lab and not as a rigid construct.
What is the vision behind muse BEAUTY?
Our slogan “Be Your Own Muse” stands for the vision of empowering every woman and every man to feel good in their own skin, to believe in themselves and to inspire themselves. We would like to support this with the selected niche products that muse BEAUTY offers. Of course, well-cared for skin is only the external aspect, but conscious care and the provision of daily me-time through a care routine can be a step in this direction.
Of course, we also take the current trends in the digital sector into account. muse BEAUTY should offer an emotional, highly useful and personalized world of experience with sensibly used, digital innovations.
What is important to us: The customer is our focus. We act on an equal footing with him. We also want to guarantee a positive user experience through customer service and communication with the customer. This proximity, for example through a personal conversation with customer questions, creates trust and is valued by our target group.
What 3 tips would you give prospective female founders?
Go for it! And: Be your own muse.
See your idea as a dynamic construct and allow modifications and changes.
Stay flexible! In the Covid 19 pandemic in particular, we learned that we always have to react flexibly to new situations that can certainly lead to setbacks and to find creative solutions.
You can read the entire interview on Start-up Valley .