When Purvi Desai moved to Arizona with her family, her skin didn’t acclimate. Instead of going to the make-up counter for the cure, the corporate executive went to the supermarket.
“Growing up [in India] I’ve always seen women around me making their own products using the simple kitchen ingredients like yogurt, turmeric, and chickpeas,” said Desai. “I talked to my grandma. I talked to my mom…and based on that, I created a face pack.”
That face pack was Desai’s first product. In her kitchen she kept creating, soon she was up to three staples that she loved: a lip balm, face mask and face toner.
“I started selling that in the farmers’ market and when the customers were really coming back and asking for more products, I decided to go full-time with this business.”
Desai’s company, Zaaina, which means beautiful in Hebrew, now has 40 products, all handmade by 12 employees in Arizona. She sells her products on Amazon, using Fulfillment by Amazon to package and ship directly to customers. Every week, her team ships pallets of product to Amazon for fulfillment teams to handle the rest. And, every month, Desai speaks to her Amazon account representative for inspiration and support.
“She’s helping us in every way,” Desai said. “Our business has grown almost 300% since last two years.”
Desai said she plans to expand Zaaina into men’s care next, then Canada, Mexico and Europe. If they can keep growing, retail too, with an Arizona storefront or three.
“I call myself an accidental entrepreneur, because I never imagined having a brand which can scale up to this level.”