TheGlitz ‘Super Woman’ – Aakriti Suri, Founder of Happier Skincare

Share this on

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on whatsapp
Share on email

She resigned from a prestigious job in New York to come back to India and build a brand of her own. TheGlitz ‘Super Woman’ – Aakriti Suri is the Founder and CEO of Happier Skincare. However, before establishing her own skincare line, Aakriti commenced a Sanitary pads business to create awareness about menstrual hygiene and proper usage of sanitary products. After spreading awareness about menstrual hygiene, Aakriti then embarked on an entrepreneurial journey to spread awareness about holistic beauty.
Happier Skincare came into being and it became the top preference for clean beauty enthusiasts by delivering highly efficacious products that simultaneously garner happiness for the skin and soul. In fact, she also introduced braille-friendly packaging for the ease of visually impaired people. No wonder, Happier skincare has established itself in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, making Happier skincare available globally.
So why is Aakriti Suri TheGlitz ‘Super Woman’? …because Aakriti isn’t just any other entrepreneur, she’s also a socially aware young woman whose perspective goes beyond skincare. Read on…

Your journey has had many momentous milestones.

Long before I launched my skincare brand, I had a feminine hygiene venture called Pankh that I started in my hometown Parwanoo, Himachal Pradesh, aimed at providing affordable sanitary napkins in the region. As a young adolescent girl, I noticed a gap between the lack of menstrual hygiene and the lack of access to safe, affordable sanitary products in my small town which led local women to resort to old cloth and rags as alternatives.

Additionally, a lot of girls my age were dropping out of school at the onset of menstruation. To solve this problem, I set up Pankh to manufacture affordable, safe cotton sanitary napkins and employed local women to work on this project. Quickly I realized the problem was deeper – menstruation was stigmatized which led to a lack of awareness about feminine hygiene and diseases that could stem from a lack of proper use of sanitary napkins.

To eradicate this problem, I started conducting educational workshops in local schools and community centers to break the stigma associated with menstruation. I believe this initiative has helped to create a positive impact on the women living in the small town and received a favourable reception from the community.

After this, I went to New York for my undergraduate degree and started working as an investment banker in the city soon after. During the pandemic, I had a burning desire to return to my roots and embark on another venture that empowers women. I have always had a deep passion for skincare and even started a blog to spread awareness about self-care and self-love. With a leap of faith, I moved back to India at the end of 2021 to launch HAPPIER SKINCARE, a holistic, clean and intentional skincare brand to help women look and feel their best selves.

As unpalatable as it is, societal norms have always conditioned people, particularly the feminine gender, to strive for perfect-looking skin according to the set standards. I believe that skincare rituals are a form of self-care that empowers women to feel confident in their own skin, regardless of the societal pressures of having to look a certain way.

Women are embracing their inherent beauty as a result of this newfound focus on holistic beauty. In light of this, Happier Skincare aims to become the top preference for clean beauty enthusiasts and create a community of happy self-care lovers in India and overseas by delivering highly efficacious products that simultaneously garner happiness for the skin and soul.

Could you tell TheGlitzMedia about your life-changing journey that has moulded you to be what you are today?

Choosing to leave a prestigious, stable and lucrative finance career and my friends, my community and my favorite city behind to bring Happier to life has been a tough and monumental decision in my life. It has taught me to listen to my heart and intuition and have faith in my dreams. I have always been a risk-averse person who shied away from the road less taken.

I had drawn a 10-year career and life plan for myself in New York and choosing to deviate from it was very uncomfortable at first and brought a lot of nervousness and anxiety in my life initially. But choosing to listen to my inner voice that was screaming to follow my passion and goal of providing a medium to empower women helped overcome moments of doubt and has fundamentally changed me as a person. Ever since I have learned to trust goals that are in full alignment with my true self and my values.

Could you list 3 of your major achievements?

Happier Skincare was founded in 2022 so our journey is still nascent and our achievements modest so far. One of our goals was to make Happier a global brand from the …get go. We were able to successfully achieve this when we launched in the Middle East within the first few months of launch. Our second achievement was achieving Amazon’s Choice status for a couple of our products within the first 6 months of launch and selling out those SKUs completely within a couple of months.

This achievement was small but made us proud that the products are well-liked. Our third achievement has been creating a vibrant community of skincare enthusiasts on our social media channel that share the same values as ours and believe in the power of self-love and self-care. We believe the end consumer makes a brand and winning the trust of people might be an intangible achievement but it is priceless and extremely special for us.

What are the setbacks you have faced? How did you tackle these setbacks or challenges?

I faced several challenges during the inception of Happier and the biggest one was the impact of COVID on our supply chain. With every wave of the pandemic, the timelines and my nervousness around the launch grew further. The high level of uncertainty and loss of lives all around almost made me want to drop the idea of Happier.

The paramount aim of Happier from the beginning was to spread happiness in people’s lives and after deep reflection, I realized that self-care is even more essential during times of uncertainty and gloominess. Another setback that we faced was difficulty with sourcing and manufacturing. We met a lot of third-party manufacturers and started the process with a couple only to realize that they do not meet our ethical and quality standards.

After several failed attempts, we finally met a team that understood our vision and was willing to support us in bringing it to life. The moral of the story – is never settle for subpar quality even if it leads to delays and failed attempts. My goal has always been to provide accessible, efficacious and clean products to people and sticking to this mission has helped me overcome the setbacks.

…And what lesson have you learned from it?

Through all the setbacks so far, the biggest lesson I have learned is to have faith and trust the universe as long as your intentions and actions are right and aligned with your true self.

When you look back, what are the three qualities in you that have helped you become what you are today?

I believe entrepreneurship requires a huge amount of persistence, patience and passion. Being an entrepreneur, things don’t always go your way, hard work takes time to reap results and setbacks come your way every now and then. Persistence, patience and passion help me materialize my goals and achieve milestones.

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on whatsapp
Share on email

Tags

Related articles

Ricky Vasandani is a true visionary, a dynamic entrepreneur who’s redefining the future of luxury diamonds. With roots that stretch across four continents and a family legacy in the diamond jewellery industry, Ricky has seamlessly blended tradition with innovation. As the CEO and Co-founder of Solitario Diamonds, he brings unparalleled expertise in marketing and operations to lead the brand’s meteoric rise. With his forward-thinking approach, Ricky has earned a well-deserved spot on TheGlitz 2025 Catalysts -cementing his position as a true game-changer in the world of luxury, sustainability, and modern entrepreneurship.
There should be more trailblazers like Natasha Tuli in the world! Why? Because she’s not just a Founder; she’s the Chief Formulator and Storyteller behind Soulflower, the clean beauty brand redefining what it means to be fabulous from farm-to-face. It’s no surprise that Natasha Tuli is part of the esteemed TheGlitz 2025 Catalyst list, acknowledging her as one of the most influential figures in the beauty world, a true game-changer who's shaking things up, one eco-conscious bottle at a time!
Arnesh Ghose is a maverick genius in the world of brand strategy, visual communication, and content wizardry. With over 14 years of trailblazing experience, he’s the go-to mastermind behind some of the most iconic brand stories and global collaborations. From shaping the pages of Vogue, Rolling Stone, and GQ to crafting narratives for luxury powerhouses like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Armani, Arnesh is the ultimate storyteller who mixes creativity with strategy like a well-curated cocktail. Arnesh's forward-thinking approach to brand storytelling earned him a well-deserved spot in TheGlitz 2025 Catalysts.
Frolic Fields Festival is back on February 8-9, ready to turn an ordinary weekend into an unforgettable family adventure! Remember the pure joy in your child's eyes when they stumble upon something extraordinary? Do you recall that enchanting moment when learning transforms into play? Get ready for thousands of those moments, where curiosity meets excitement and memories are made. Read on…
Paritosh Ladhani is a force to be reckoned with in the world of hospitality and business. As the Managing Director of Sincere Developers, he has orchestrated some of the most iconic landmarks in India, including the prestigious Taj Hotel and Convention Centre in Agra and the glamorous Hard Rock Cafe in Delhi. His visionary approach to luxury and innovation has reshaped the hospitality landscape, earning him a seat at the table of the country's most influential entrepreneurs. As a forward-thinking leader, he has now ascended to the elite group of TheGlitz 2025 Catalyst, an exclusive collective of changemakers and trailblazers who are redefining industries and setting new standards of excellence.
In an exclusive conversation with TheGlitz, Dr. Pooja Malhotra reveals how she blends her medical expertise with a passion for fashion, creating PowerSutra, a brand that redefines 'Desk to Dinner' dressing for the modern woman. A confident, well-dressed woman at heart, Pooja’s mantra is simple: to feel powerful, you need to look powerful. And through PowerSutra, she’s doing just that, empowering women to dress with purpose and poise.