We recently connected with Edris Naseri and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Edris thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear how you think where to draw the line in terms of asking friends and family to support your business – what’s okay and what’s over the line?

When I founded Orzala Beauty, I knew that I was on to something special. I was confident in the products I had created, all of which were infused with Himalayan saffron. But as any entrepreneur knows, success doesn’t come easy. I had to reach out to friends and family to support my business and spread the word for bringing traffic and spreading word-of-mouth. And of course, social media was a key part of this campaign; I needed to get more followers if I wanted my business to succeed. Thankfully, with a little hard work and a lot of luck, Orzala Beauty took off. Our unique saffron-infused skincare line is now available in stores and online, and we continue to grow daily.

Edris, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was always fascinated by the power of natural ingredients. As a child,I would watch my mother and grandmother use saffron to care for their skin and add it to the food as a spice. They would grind the saffron into a paste and apply it to their faces, leaving them with radiant skin. Saffron has been used for centuries as an anti-aging ingredient due to its high levels of antioxidants.

After moving to the United States, I was surprised that saffron was relatively unknown in western beauty products. I knew how much good bringing the ancient beauty rituals of the middle east could do when combined with modern technologies. So, I founded Orzala Beauty, a new clean, luxury beauty brand founded on the premise that all women should have beautiful skin without using harsh chemicals. I and my GF, Rowan Foley, began researching how to start a business and how we could find a lab to help us start our first product within the USA because we wanted to produce it in the USA so we could gain the trust of the people to trust our product, It took us around 2.5 years. Rowan became the company’s partner, and I invited my close friend Sebastian Zelger, an expert in marketing, to join the company as well. He also became a partner in the company, and finally, the Orzala Beauty team completed. We worked non-stop to spread awareness via our website www.orzalabeauty.com or social media and even went door by door to Spas and beauty salons in Laguna Beach and around Orange County to spread the word.

We aim to honor past traditions while creating luxurious, exclusive, and clean products. But what sets Orzala Beauty apart from other skincare brands is our dedication to providing employment opportunities for women in Afghanistan. The saffron used in our products is sourced directly from Afghan farms, creating jobs and boosting the local economy.

Our goal is to provide our customers with high-quality skincare that can positively impact the world. We believe that every woman deserves beautiful skin without using harsh chemicals.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I have been supporting my family financially due to conditions in Afghanistan, but I was very lucky that I had saved up some money before starting my business. I also had some money that I had invested in the stock market, which turned out to be a wise decision, as the stock market had been doing well before 2021. I used all of my savings and investments to start my Orzala Beauty business. I was also fortunate to have a full-time job providing a steady income, which I used to invest in my business. Overall, it took a lot of hard work and determination to put together the initial capital needed to start my business even though I am still in debt from my credit card, it was worth it in the end.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

When we first started, we were working with different labs and trying to find the right ingredients and formula for our skincare line. We did a lot of research on what ingredients are important for skin care and what product to start with. We worked with 3-4 labs and got samples of their products, but we weren’t happy with the results. Then we came across a lab in New Jersey that was knowledgeable about saffron and its benefits. He offered to help us develop a product and provided us with the best product. We were lucky that he also accepted to work with small quantity products. Along the way, we’ve learned a lot about manufacturing a product, such as choosing the right lab, what ingredients are important, and how to develop a product.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.orzalabeauty.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orzalabeauty/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OrzalaBeautyline
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/orzala-beauty/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPT0T5rqzoVxBmrIljgZc1A

Image Credits
The second image is team Orzala Beauty, from the left: Sebastiaan Zelger, Edris Naseri, and Rowan Foley.