It’s a veracious adage that passion is the oxygen for an entrepreneur’s soul. The one which never gets old. Winding back a few years, a full-time Corporate Lawyer, Eesha Bhatia (Founder, Myra Veda) was at a crossroads in her life when she had to choose between a financially secured job opportunity and her passion – reviving the scientifically natural, handcrafted cosmetics culture. Proving the old adage true yet again, she embraced her passion and built Myra Veda Luxury Organics – a women run clean beauty brand that became an instant hit after its launch amidst the first national lockdown. By creating the world’s first sustainable clean beauty brand that combines exotic ingredients from different cultures around the world with Ayurvedic botanicals, Eesha is on a mission to change the way people perceive natural beauty and perhaps completely shift the boundaries of consumerism, especially in India. She strongly believes that consumers should have the opportunity to make an informed choice about what goes in and on their bodies.

A young Turk who grew up seeing her mother and grand-mother make homemade products for personal hygiene and beautification, the idea of naturally enhancing beauty was entrenched in Eesha’s mind right from childhood. Her thirst for knowledge and quest to fathom her curiosity grew alongside her. It in fact was a series of cancer-causing deaths around her that got her thinking of what could possibly go wrong, despite those people leading a seemingly healthy lifestyle. Ever since, the young, exceptionally brilliant girl filled her summer vacations with elaborate research and excessive reading, and it didn’t take much time for her to zero in on a scientifically approved conclusion – one of the major reasons for the development of carcinogens could be the chemicals that people are exposed to on a daily basis. Her journey towards creating a sustainable Indian clean beauty brand originally began there.

Cut to the present, while most of the cosmetics brands use a wide range of toxic ingredients in their personal care products to increase their profit margins even though it comes at the cost of the health & well-being of their consumers, Myra Veda’s products are absolutely free from Sulphates, Parabens, Palm Oil, Mineral Oil, Silicones, Plasticizers, Phthalates and over 400 typically used harmful & toxic chemicals.

Myra Veda is also an all-women organization, wherein women not only own and run the brand from upper management to the base level, but they are also provided skill training. The company even has a strict policy that prefers employing women in need of financial independence, especially widows and single mothers. It goes the extra mile to help underprivileged girl children through various NGOs.

On the other hand, Eesha being an animal activist who has actively worked with various Animal Welfare NGOs including being a member of PETA since she was 14 years old, it’s not actually surprising that Myra Veda is a 100 percent animal cruelty-free and vegetarian brand. It doesn’t shy away from using its platform to raise awareness & funds for animals and promote adoptions instead of the cruel practice of breeding and buying pets. WE recently got to talking with this young inspiring entrepreneur and Eesha told us about her exciting journey.

The Indian Cosmetics And Beauty Industry Has Been Growing Rapidly, Especially With The D2c Trend Picking Up Momentum. What Opportunities Do You Foresee For New Age Brands Such As Myra Veda In The Market?

The Indian Cosmetics Market was valued at $13191.23 million in 2020 and is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 16.39 percent to reach $28985.33 million by 2026. Needless to say, the opportunities are humongous. The anticipated growth can be attributed to the growth in disposable income leading to increasing purchasing power of people, especially women. As a reputed brand, we at Myra Veda believe that the emergence of safe and efficient online retail will drive the cosmetics market, during the forecast period. Enabling direct access to customers digitally with safe payment experiences, and the rise of social media have given a lot of young brands like ours the exposure which was impossible to get in a short span of time, not too long ago.

Tell Us About The Inception Story Of Myra Veda. What Was The Motivation Behind Creating A Cosmetics Brand That Combines Ayurvedic Botanicals With Different Beauty Practices And Ingredients From Varied Cultures All Over The World?

Having been raised by a well-traveled mother and an ardent Ayurveda practitioner grandmother, in a joint family, I’ve had the perfect exposure needed to create Myra Veda. My inside-out beautiful mother has travelled across the world and lived in different countries just long enough to keep grasping their local beauty regimes, as well as understanding the roles of various local natural ingredients in them and how they could be implemented to holistically benefit our health and enliven beauty.

On the other hand, my paternal grandmother, whom I still regard as one of the most knowledgeable women of her generation, has also played a huge role in my upbringing. She raised my curiosity towards questioning things scientifically and never failed to assign reasoning and logic to why things are the way they are. Her extensive knowledge of Ayurveda, Naturopathy, Homeopathy and life sciences in general that she put into execution and into significantly improving the health and life of people around her was enough proof for me to absolutely disregard the accusations of these concepts being ‘pseudo-scientific’.

As early as six years of age, I’ve been my assisting mother and grandmother, which eventually paved the way for me to independently create different natural alternatives to commercially available chemical-ridden products. It all began when I got so exhausted with herbal powders like Shikakai, Bhringraj, Bhrami and others that I turned to paste with Reetha water, instead of using an easy-to-use shampoo to wash my hair. The paste not only made my hair feel dry, but also made the whole bath area messy. Moreover, the time consuming nature of the process also interfered with my fast paced day.

I knew well about toxic beauty, but when I started looking for natural & safe shampoos, moisturizers & make-up, I then realized how messed up the market situation was and how brands fooled unaware consumers with words like ‘herbal/natural’. It’s not just that; I realized that there are many extremely prominent brands in the mass-market as well as luxury beauty segments that even today don’t mention the complete list of ingredients used in the product. They hide toxic ingredients under the term ‘Base Q.S’ or even by mentioning just ‘Active Ingredients’. Amidst such a huge deception, how would an unsuspecting customer even know about what is going on their skin or hair? Indeed, not many are aware of the fact that whatever you apply on your skin has a chance of penetrating the dermal layer and getting absorbed into your bloodstream. It could potentially cause harm upon being used in the longer run, including but not limited to endocrinological disorders.

That’s when I began studying cosmetic science – out of pure interest. Back then, I was just a law student, merely trying to simplify my life and I had no idea I would end up leaving my corporate law career to start a beauty brand eventually. I used to study, experiment and create shampoos, lotions, soaps, body butters, toners, serums, lipsticks, lip glosses, and eventually pretty much everything under the sun. It didn’t take much time to become my passion. I really enjoyed scientifically creating beautiful natural products out of cold pressed organic oils, butters, flowers, petals, roots, barks, steam distilled floral waters & essential oils and so on. In the aftermath, since I used to experiment so much, all my loved ones kept on getting these products because I’d hate to waste such precious products. Before I knew it, I had them coming back asking for more as well as asking for solutions to their other sophisticated skin and hair problems. By the time I kick-started my law career, I was simultaneously working in my own single-room laboratory to be able to discover scientifically natural solutions to their various concerns. Word of mouth increasing the demand for my creations ultimately was the foundation of Myra Veda.

What Was Your Motto While Transforming This Experience Into A Business Concept? Also, What Is The Brand Philosophy For Myra Veda?

I believe that every single human being has a responsibility towards our planet. I’m a passionate animal lover and I love and respect nature because of all that it gives to us. It pains me to see how much humanity takes it for granted, which makes me even more determined to make a difference by doing my bit.

Our brand philosophy is centered on Sustainability, Women Empowerment, and Clean Beauty.

We have a completely sustainable sourcing practice. For instance, we have completely discarded palm oil, the excess usage of which results in environmental damage and loss of habitat to different species of wild animals. Furthermore, we only use 100 percent recyclable packaging material which is printed using vegetable ink; not to mention our Green Goddess Recycling Initiative which stands to be the only one of its kind in the country, possibly the world but I’m not certain about that.

On the other hand, we employ women on all levels of the organization and provide them with skill training. We also favor employing women in need of financial independence, especially widows and single mothers. We strongly believe that women empowerment begins in childhood and hence contribute towards Girl Child Education in India through multiple reputed NGOs including the Nanhi Kali Foundation.

“Myra veda, among other things, has a wide range of extremely beautiful gift hampers consisting of several fancy options to choose from, which i’ve personally designed and copyrighted, since they’ve received a lot of acclaim”

We’ve additionally been sponsoring gifts for underprivileged or orphaned girls on special occasions as well as auctioning our gift hampers for their welfare.

Our Clean Beauty vision stems from the fact that our products are free from sulphates, parabens, palm oil, mineral oils, silicones, plasticizers, phthalates and over 400 typically used harmful chemicals.

What Are The Various Products Offered By Myra Veda To Its Clients? What Are Some Salient Features About These Products That Make Them Different And Unique In The Market?

Our customer retention rate is over 90 percent because they love our advanced formulations that are scientific, safe, effective and natural. The current range of our products includes Lotions, Scrub-Masks, Therapeutic Hair Oils, Shampoos, Cold Processed Soaps, Steam Distilled (edible grade) Rose Water, Skin Glow Tea, Bath Salts, and Natural Deodorant Balm with Amazonian Lily Extract. In addition to these, we also provide Loofahs and Anti-Breakage Wooden Hair Brushes as well.

We also have a Clays Of Earth collection of pure unbleached clays with options such as Glacial Green (Volcanic) clay from New Zealand, French Green & Pink Clays, Brazilian, Serbian, Moroccan and Egyptian clays that our customers can safely add to their DIY home beauty practices – to detoxify their face & body in a 100 percent natural way.

Myra Veda, among other things, has a wide range of extremely beautiful gift hampers consisting of several fancy options to choose from, which I’ve personally designed and copyrighted, since they’ve received a lot of acclaim. We’ve recently come up with a wide range of Occasion Based Greeting Cards to go with the gifts, in which we provide our customers’ messages handwritten on their behalf. That’s another aspect that makes such a luxury brand personal and different.

Tell Us About Your Manufacturing Procedures. How Do You Formulate And Design Your Products So As To Ensure The Highest Quality?

Our products are handcrafted in GMP-certified FDA-approved state-of-the-art industrial units around Mumbai and Delhi. We have Non Disclosure Agreements signed with our manufacturing partners in order to protect our formulations. Our organic ingredients are Ecocert Certified and we meet the COSMOS standards while keeping up with the latest advancements in cosmetic science. Our pH balanced products undergo rigorous stability and microbial testing.

As far as the Research and Development is concerned, besides me, we have in our core team a brilliant and hard working cosmetic scientist who brings in an experience of having worked in Revlon (US) in the past. We additionally have unlimited support of renowned cosmetic scientists, reputed formulators & herbalists, dermatologists, trichologists & Ayurveda experts, our teachers & professors, ex-classmates, the strong international cosmetic science community, the latest advances, researches and so on.

Even though we provide our consumers with access to so many authentic global ingredients, we ensure that they are very sustainably sourced with the least possible carbon footprint – for the same reason that we don’t use Palm Oil in our formulations. As our brand slogan says, ‘World’s Finest Ingredients, From Soil To Soul®’, we ensure that every single product is handcrafted with the best of hygiene practices.

For every single product launched, we had conducted large scale crowd-sourced feedback surveys with over 600 people categorized based on different parameters such as age, gender, geographical location, climate, lifestyle choices and skin and hair concerns. Their feedback helped us ultimately launch the kind of products people really desire.

What Are The Different Channels That Myra Veda Utilizes To Reach Its Consumers? Give Us A Glimpse Of Your Clientele.

Besides our own website, www.myravedaluxury.com, we leverage leading e-Commerce portals like Nykaa, Amazon, Flipkart and other niche new age websites like Vanity Wagon and Sublime Life among others to reach out to our individual customers. In fact, we are one of the very few Launchpad Certified Companies that has also been given the “Luxury Beauty” tag by Amazon. When it comes to our offline presence, recently during the third or fourth National Lockdown, we became available in a select-few 50 Wellness Forever 24x7 Lifestyle Stores that have a luxury beauty segment. We’re also now in an exclusive contract with a Singapore based company and will be soon available in Sephora Singapore among other premium stores. We’re also in the process of entering eight marketplaces across the UK and the European Union.

In addition, we are currently the favorite ‘Bulk Gifting’ partner to reputed corporations, including luxury hotels. We also create customized gift hampers in various budgets for wedding favours and important event souvenirs. To make our offerings versatile, we’ve partnered with India’s leading Sugar-Free Chocolates brand called Zevic. We incorporate their delightful Sugar-Free Stevia-plant-sweetened Belgian Couverture chocolates, and coated berries & nuts.

From conception to delivery, I personally look into our bulk giftings and ensure the best client satisfaction. In fact many of our clients have directed their family and friends our way for their gifting needs which ended up making us one of the most preferred gifting partners in elite Singapore circuits, among other HNI social circles in India and abroad.

What Is The Roadmap Ahead For The Brand? Are You Looking To Add Any New Products Into Your Roster In The Days To Come?

Even though we had to launch in the middle of the pandemic, I can safely say that we’ve managed to do well given the circumstances. There are multiple new products on their way such as a wide variety of cold-pressed organic oils, steam distilled pure essential oils, serums, hair masks, organic skincare based makeup and so on.

However, I’m the most excited about our upcoming Zero-Waste Shampoo & Conditioner Bars with their specialty being that they are made with Vegan Keratin instead of commonly used keratin that is cruelly derived from various body parts of animals, something that there is still very less awareness about.