At the skeleton of a business plan, there’s an innovative idea blended with the potential to blossom. Along with a family-made product, KAZANI Hair fuses its creativity and passion to help women achieve the healthiest, best-looking version of their hair yet. Read our interview with the CEO Ms. Selmin Karatas below.
Please tell me about yourself. What inspired you to get into the beauty industry?
After ten years in the corporate world, I embarked on bringing to market a shampoo my father created based on an ancient Mediterranean formula he used growing up. Withstanding the test of time and containing over 2,000 years of Mediterranean inspired formulation perfection, KAZANI was built on four generations of hair care expertise. It is sold in select pharmacies, health stores and hair salons in Manhattan, Queens as well as on the KAZANI online shop.
Please tell me about your company and its goals.
We are a women-owned company specializing in luxurious personal care products such as shampoos and serums. Our company’s products are made from age-old recipes and plant-based ingredients that nourishes the scalp and makes your hair look lustrous and healthy. A high-performance formula infused with essential oils to help create volume and stronger hair, it penetrates the roots to spring your hair back to life so that it looks good and feels great.
My father’s, Mr. Karatas’s passion is to revive ancient formulas and bring these marvelous products to people’s daily beauty rituals. I am dedicated to the preservation of plants around the world. When combined, our goal is to enhance women’s and men’s self-confidence and create sustainability for future generations as we donate a part of our proceeds to iucn.org. By bringing traditional formulas to the modern world, KAZANI aims to be the bridge from the past to the future.
Our goal is to conserve the plants around the world for future generations. Thus, we decided to donate a portion of our proceeds to iucn.org. It is the largest organization that is backed by countries around the world. UCN has evolved into the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network. It harnesses the experience, resources and reach of its 1,300 Member organizations and the input of some 13,000 experts. IUCN is the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.
Our goal is to enhance women’s and men’s self-confidence and create sustainability for future generations as we donate a part of our proceeds to iucn.org. By bringing traditional formulas to the modern world, KAZANI aims to be the bridge from the past to the future.
Would you say your dad is the most influential person in your life?
Yes, my father is the most influential person in my life. This is a 2,000-year-old formula passed on from generation to generation and now from a father to a daughter. It is very special.
The one thing that I learned from him and about him is that he makes quick decisions and never asks anybody for their opinion. Just as ‘Nike’s’ slogan says, “Just Do It.” That is his mantra. I, on the other hand, have to think about things before making decisions.
As a business owner, have you had any struggles, and if you did how did you overcome it?
Yes. I am a single owner and I have to do everything myself. I also have to make sure everything is done correctly because I’m a perfectionist. Another struggle is finding and hiring the right people. People who are really excited about the company itself and its goals. That matters to me a lot.
What has been the happiest moment in your career so far?
It makes me beyond happy to hear customers rave about our product. It gives me joy to hear that they are not only satisfied with our products, but that it also gives them self-confidence.
How do you find yourself creative?
I loved creative writing ever since I was a child. Mrs. Henderson, my grade school teacher, advised my mother to send me to a creative writing class at La Guardia Community College. I wrote and read a lot of fiction books when I was younger. I also started playing piano at a young age and I pursued it to the next level by attending the Royal School of Music in London. I believe creativity comes from within. Whenever I hear music while I’m watching television or hear it when I’m outside, I come back to my piano and try to figure it out. It challenges me and I feel good when I can figure it out. I also write my own jingles.
Being creative is a process. The more I think creatively, the better my ideas get. Just like a raw diamond, it has to be cut and smoothed out. This comes with working. I also find myself more creative when I listen to baroque or classical music.
I believe that if you are independent and if you are creative, you can be an entrepreneur.
If you could give one piece of advice to a large group of people, what would it be?
Make sure you are passionate about whatever you’re doing. You have to believe in yourself that you will persevere. Passion, perseverance, research, learning and be open to constructive criticism. Follow your intuition and follow your bliss.
Do not listen to naysayers who are discouraging you because whatever they’re telling you is their own reality. You create your reality and as a result, you create your own outcome.
For more information please visit KAZANI hair website.
