We recently connected with Haben Girmay and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Haben , thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
I always had a love for skincare, makeup and science ! As I child I was very artistic and creative I love to paint and draw ,and loved science ! I never imagined that today I would be able to do the things I love as a career. I also never even thought about being a business owner. While in high school and college I was a makeup artist i glam not only my friends ,but family and others . I would always get asked about how my skin was always radiant and smooth . I would tell them oh it’s something I made a soap and this diy moisturizer. Everyone could t believe I made my own stuff and they wanted some! I was surprised because I never thought about selling it . I than started to share small diy videos on YouTube and my community grew and as I grew my knowledge while in college about chemistry and how these things work when it comes to cosmetic science my diy products end up being products that were not so much diy ,but more advanced products ! I thought that when I graduated school i would work for someone else never for myself ,but that changed when I started to see my diy skincare products grow in sales ! From there I thought I’m going to create more formulas and once I got out of school snd graduated I went full force into creating more products ! Especially with all the knowledge I learn while in college and in my chemistry classes! I was also excited to see that not only did I love my diy products that were just only facial soap and moisturizer,but to see how others love my products as well and they were seeing changes in their skin concerns like dryness and irritation of their skin . As I grew in product development /research . I took my approach more to focus on Melasma and other forms of hyperpigmentation. Even though there was products that were being created for this matter there wasn’t any that were helping the skin without damaging the skin like for example hydroquinone which is gold standard,but can’t be used long term and was damaging to the skin barrier , so now finding the products that would work well with each other and were safe for every skin type and that’s when the products for hyperpigmentation came about !
Haben , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Haben Girmay also known as Habi . I started Shikorina by Habi which is a skincare and wellness brand which focus on not only improving your skin ,but also helping you improve your over all wellness to glow from the inside out ! Shikorina means beautiful in Tirganya in my native speaking language from where I am from which is Eritrea. I wanted everyone to feel beautiful! No matter what skin conditions, health conditions and etc are going on in their life . You are beautiful and we want to help you feel that way every day! A lot of our clients and customers who work with us at Shikorina come to us to get help with dry skin, Melasma ,acne and other forms of hyperpigmentation. Our goal is to have them not only treat their skin but also help them understand why is your skin reacting this way. ? Sometimes the exterior issues have a lot to do with internal issues especially like Melasma which has a lot to do with hormones, health issues like thyroid conditions, stress, medication,and pregnancy. Helping them under their root cause and helping them unlearn some of the errors they’re making in their life from dietary to lifestyle that are causing it and also help them improve the skin health as well with topical and dietary and lifestyle changes which help them have long term improvements to their skin health . One thing am so proud of is that I want to make other feel fabulous internally because how you going to win if you aren’t right within ?! It all start from the inside! I create treatment plan and that includes skin and wellness apoarch and I get so happy with our clients and customers tell us wow I feel great now ! I sleep better and I see my skin clearing up now that I been eating better, now my gut issues have improved,I no longer feel anxious am more calm , and am losing weight which was so hard for me ! Some clients who didn’t understand how their hormones have a lot to do with some of their skin concerns finally find the solution to helping there skin and they become not only happy with there radiant skin ,but there mood changes and there are confident and feeling better and moving better !
How did you build your audience on social media?
A lot of people always ask me how I built my audience and honestly sometimes I don’t even know how I grew them the way i did ! I always say be yourself ! Also take risk ! When I was starting off I didn’t have the best lightening or the best camera ,but I used what I had and just showed up as myself am very bubbly person and I can be silly at times . So I showcase my personality and found my niche which was talking about the things I was passionate about which was skincare, makeup and sharing some DIY skincare mask they can make at home ,but also doing these things while laughing ,talking about my day, talking about things that hurt me or things I loved . I would share uplifting words and encouragement . Which is something I always do speaking life not only to myself but others as well and from there my community grew and as I grew I brought more equipment and lightening and better editing software to make my videos look more professional!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Starting a business is not easy sometimes and when you do start you want to make sure you have capital now starting off I didn’t have a whole lot of capital ,but I invested $800 to start my first few formulas and well there was a lot of trails and errors . I remember feeling like the errors with the formulas kept happening and I thought did I waste $800 ? I thought am I really cut for this ? I would think those things ,but I also would tell myself shut up ! Yes shut up ! You got this ! Look what the diy products you made look at how fast they sold ,now you will sell even more and new products will improve ! Giving up is easy ,but working even when you get pushed down and picking yourself up and trying again each time ; the reward is so much more greater ! I knew I didn’t have the biggest capital and I know I had to work and even if I had to work 2 jobs to save up I said I will ! I remember working two jobs to pay for college and I said well if I have to do that to make my dream happen I sure will ! Luckily I didn’t have to do it long but not giving up even when challenges came ! Reminding myself how great I am for pushing through and I have people who not only believe in my products but also in me and my dreams were also big motivators and that’s why even with some issues I faced I still pushed through. My faith as well helped I believed that God would make a way for me because he sees all of the long nights and the work I was putting into my dream. I remember praying and saying God I walk in faith am blind and I want you to lead me . I believe in myself and even when the errors and trails of creating formulas and testing them would not work couple months later they improve they became stable . And they performed better than I even imagined!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shikorinabyhabi.com
- Instagram: Shikorinabyhabi
- Youtube: Shikorina by Habi
