My interaction with entrepreneur and global influencer Diipa Büller-Khosla, on Zoom, was inspiring. She was warm, inviting and eager to answer all the questions floating in my head, despite having had a late night with her daughter Dua. The sheer sincerity with which she spoke about what she does was impressive and gave me a rare peak into the world of a glitzy Instagram star. It’s not all fun and games, behind the tinsel and glamour there are crazy hours and intense strategising. We conversed with her about her recently launched skincare brand, indeÌ„ wild, all that it stands for, some lessons she’s learnt over the years, and more.
To begin with, what was the starting point for your skincare label?
To be honest, one could argue that the starting point was right when I was born, because I was born in a family where my mom was a dermatologist. So we were surrounded by skin care and hair care, whether it was more from a medical point of view, when she was treating her patients, or from diabetic point of view, where we created concoctions in the kitchen like a typical Indian family. And so, I think, it was all of my upbringing. Then, when I became an influencer about seven years ago, initially I was just doing fashion. However, I noticed it was mostly when I spoke about my acne journey or what I do for my hair, especially videos with my mom, that went viral. It made me realise that people relate to such content more. So, there’s something lacking in the market, a demand that is not being met.
My own journey of curing my acne was also a big factor. I learned a lot about how skincare is an entire lifestyle. I finally realised that maybe it’s time to actually share that with the world. And western ingredients and Ayurveda are incredible, but so is innovative chemistry. There’s so much goodness in both worlds. Why is there not a brand that brings them both together for the modern woman? A brand that really celebrates our culture. A brand that celebrates everything that we stand for, but at the same time, caters to our needs, because we have certain skin issues that people globally don’t. I think all of those things came together about two years ago, when I finally decided it’s time to start this brand.
A few months later, the pandemic hit and I was scared. It was quite a challenge building the brand from scratch pretty much entirely in a pandemic. And so this is like my second pandemic baby after my real baby. I also think the main essence of the brand was truly doing it together with my followers. So it’s a very people powered brand and people powered ecosystem because they have been part of the journey right from the start. Even on our Instagram we say founded by me, but co-founded by you.
You just talked about facing challenges during the pandemic. What was your biggest challenge?
Not being able to meet people face to face. I think, in the beginning, it was just really hard to understand how to show your personality and speak online. Also, just being able to do so much online time in a day. So I think that was very challenging. And then, of course, everything was shut down and you never knew how long things are going to take. For example, months on end, our manufacturer was just closed. We couldn’t get a single sample out of them. There was a lot of uncertainty.
What, according to you, is beauty and wellness. What would you say is the importance of it in your life?
The answer has changed over the years. When I was a teenager and in my early twenties, it was more about changing how I looked and becoming a version of what I saw in magazines, or wanting to be like the A-list celebrities. I would even go to hair salons and make-up people and wanted them to make me look like someone else. It was more like becoming somebody else instead of owning who I was. And I think that, for me, beauty now is just being who you are, the best version of yourself. Which is why, with skin care and hair care, taking care of yourself is more important than changing looks by contouring like crazy and changing the shape of one’s eye. It’s more about enhancing your features. I think the message we want to give across with indeÌ„ wild is that your difference is your superpower. So just enhance your difference, enhance how you look and don’t change yourself.
That’s amazing. Also, what would you say inspires you today?
I think it’s a very cliche answer, but I think my family, my baby and leaving the world better for her, leaving the world better for the next generation. I think that also really inspired the sustainability efforts. So it’d also be something that inspires the next generation to be conscious, to be thoughtful. The way we’re very transparent about things as well, like not using Photoshop in our images, all of it is a way to make the world a little bit more conscious for the next generation.
Also, you’ve been in the spotlight now for seven years, like you mentioned. What have been some of your most important learnings?
My most important learning is that you need to have a thick skin in this industry. You’re going to get a lot of hate and face a lot of trolls. Make sure you keep family and friends close. At the end of the day, they’re the only ones who really care. So, you know, make sure you have time for them. And then, the definition of success will keep changing, so make sure you evolve with it. Like for me, what success was when I started out, to what it is today, is completely different. It keeps evolving. So be open to that. And I think it’s vital to be kind and work hard. I feel it’s such a simple thing to say, but a lot of people forget it.
This article is an all exclusive from our January EZ. To read more such articles follow the link here.
Text Unnati Saini
Date 30-01-2022