From Influencer To Entreprenuer, Aanam Chashmawala Is Making Her Mark

Everybody has many aspirations in life, and so did Aanam Chashmawala. The only difference was she grew up discussing them with family and friends. She made her path as she kept exploring her options. Entrepreneurship came from her parents, who themselves are entrepreneurs in the fashion Industry. However, Aanam Chashmawala decided to make a mark in the beauty industry as she felt that was her calling.

In ">conversation with SheThePeople, Chashmawala spoke about her journey, challenges, and insight into how the influencer industry works.

Journey of Aanam Chashmawala

Chashmawala started her career 12 years ago by creating content on fashion and now moved to the next stage - she founded her own company Wearified. Today, in what we see as an industry, back then terms like content creation, and influencer were not popular. She has been a visionary and did groundwork before laying hands on entrepreneurship.

Chashmawala stated, “While growing up, I have seen my parents having their own businesses, and my other family members to had their own ventures. So for me, this was normal, running a business came normally to me. The aspiration came from the dinner table, the conversation around what business we wanted to start. However, to start a beauty venture Wearified came while being a content creator, I found my niche.”

According to Chashmawala, every little work of hers has added to what she is today. She started her blog at the age of 19. During her college days, she did 14 internships, to learn how every part of media works. She worked in marketing, PR, and admin, and also took up gigs in social media. Chashmawala added, “All my experiences helped me when I started as a creator and today as an entrepreneur. I am always saying yes to trying something new, one never knows how some idea might open up big opportunities.”

On the concept of Wearified, and how it happened, Chashmawala pointed out the idea came up in 2017 but launched in 2021.  Chashmawala said,

“I spent four years on intense market research, product R & D, and working on the USP of my product. When I say democratized beauty, the main goal is to put forward beauty that is different from conventional standards. I want to make women realise with makeup or without makeup you are still beautiful, it is a matter of choice. For instance- I never saw growing up my skin tone girls get featured in magazines or something. So, I wanted to make beauty standards more approachable. Our one of the first few campaigns featured everyone, LGBTQ, people with disability, acid survivors, and elderly women, it has been inclusive. To me this is democratised, I don’t want beauty to look in a certain way, beauty to look like what u feel inside."

Chashmawala had a clear picture of her venture. But her biggest challenge was putting up the capital for the first few line of products. Extensive product research and development is required to ensure the product is effective and better customer experience. For that, capital is required Chashmawala said, “Every month I kept money aside as a Wearified fund. Juggling my way around money and figuring out how to put the capital together.”

Another challenge for her was dealing with legalities, approvals, and licenses. “Logistics has also been a complex part of the business because, in the end, the product should reach consumers smoothly. Also, being a creator and the face of my brand, there has been a lot of pressure. In case, one thing goes wrong entire brand’s credibility is put at stake. People would easily call she is here for a cash grab", added Chashmawala.

Chashmawala finds the space in the beauty industry very welcoming. Chashmawala said, “I hardly feel the competition, in fact, connections with other brand founder has helped. Sometimes, when you are stuck you can use the help.” Creator-wise, she states, “When I started there weren’t really big influencers, we created a community. The ideology of competition doesn’t fit in my head. I am not programmed or wired to think this as a competition but more of community.”

While discussing the future of Wearified, Chashmawal said, "In my head, it looks fantastic. In 18 months, we have 70 products. I see 500 to 1000 new products in 10 years. As long as brand ethos stays the same, I am comfortable with growth taking time. I am not somebody to chase numbers, I go deeper than wider. I don’t want to just for the sake of what everyone else is doing. I am more of first aced what you are doing and then going on next level. A lot of many products are in the pipeline. The focus will be on offline distribution and sales on third-party online.

Chashmawala concluded, "No dream is too big, aim for the start and work towards it. Sometimes it's not about the destination, it is about what u make of Journey. I want everyone to believe in themselves and start working hard."

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