We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Natasha Kepekci a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Natasha, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

The concept for HSÜAN came to me a couple of years ago while I was in a really dark place. I felt disconnected from myself and from others and I was desperate to figure out how I could start feeling better. That’s when I discovered traditional Chinese medicine. TCM is the theory that sickness stems from an imbalance in a person’s life force energy. The goal of TCM is to restore harmony, keeping in mind that the body knows how to heal itself and that every part of the body is connected. That is when I began delving into various herbs and practices. Once I realized that the effects were astounding both physically and emotionally, I knew that I wanted to create a company that would bring these concepts to the world. I blended this new knowledge with a passion of mine – skincare, and HSÜAN was born.

HSÜAN aims to raise awareness around the fact that skin problems are a sign of an internal imbalance. As within, so without. Most skincare companies only offer a topical solution which is why I realized that I wanted to help people heal their skin in a deeper way. I see HSÜAN as being the start of a new way of approaching skincare. Having truly healthy and beautiful skin is a by-product of having a body that is in balance. I hope to help change the way that people view their skincare and most importantly, I want to help them realize that these concepts are not only applicable to skin. Addressing any imbalance from the root ensures that we can live a healthy, fruitful life.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Natasha, I’m 30 years old and I live in Montreal, Canada. I’ve always been an entrepreneur. I knew from a young age that creating a business would be my path. I definitely tried many things before I landed on skincare. I think this is an important part of being an entrepreneur, the confidence to execute and put ideas out into the world until something sticks. In 2016, I started a home-based business where I sold skincare and bath products. I made creams, serums and bath bombs from my moms kitchen. It did incredibly well for many years, but over time, I grew frustrated with the business model. At first, the home-based, delivery system worked for me, however as I gained more experience, I imagined myself creating something bigger scale.

The concept for HSÜAN, blending herbalism and skincare, got me so excited that I completely devoted my time to making it happen. This was my first experience working with a manufacturer, having a big inventory and actually investing a lot of money into something. I remember feeling so confident about my brand that it didn’t scare me to take that leap.

I started HSÜAN with 3 set options. The Glow was for people who wanted to improve their skin but didn’t necessarily have a specific issue. The Golden Milk was for eczema and the Moon was for hormonal acne. Upon launching, I immediately felt overwhelmed marketing 3 different sets. I realized that it would make more sense for me to focus on one hero product, that way I can really establish my brand message. This was a big learning curve for me. I started off eager to put myself out there but quickly realized that building a brand takes time.

Today, we have our Glow set. It comes beautifully packaged with a cream, a serum and herb capsules to be taken daily. I am incredibly proud of our formulation and ingredients. Our capsules are Health Canada Approved to reduce inflammation and support the liver. The nutrient dense blend contains chaga mushroom, milk thistle, chlorella, turmeric and black pepper. HSÜAN approaches skincare in a complete and holistic way. Every product in our set has been carefully crafted with herbs that nourish the skin from the (inside) out.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

HSÜAN was my first big-scale company. With that comes A LOT of trial and error. A big mistake I made was starting off with 3 different sets. Having so many different audiences diluted my brand message. It was also very expensive to design the different boxes, load up on inventory, come up with content and advertise each one separately. I began losing sight of my own brand message and it affected my confidence.

As someone with a limited budget, I also made the mistake of using ads in the beginning. I didn’t have enough of a budget to sustain the ads and I quickly drained my bank account. This was the first time in my journey that I felt immense pressure. I needed to pick up odd jobs to be able to sustain myself.

Once I realized my mistakes, I stopped running ads and I reached out to a manufacturer in BC to formulate my capsules for me. I wanted to focus all of my energy on the Glow set, making it as amazing as I possibly could before relaunching the company.

There were many moments of self doubt during this trial and error period. I felt like I was taking 1 step forward and 10 step back. Taking a chance on ads and draining my bank account was a huge turning point for me. I knew that I needed to re-evaluate my approach. Looking back, every pitfall lead to the next revelation. I think it’s really important to learn to pivot. Mistakes are inevitable, learning from them is crucial. In retrospect, one thing I would have changed is that I would have hired a mentor. I have always had a “do it myself” attitude, but as I grow, I’m realizing how much value there is in asking for help.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A big lesson I had to unlearn was that I had to do it all myself. I grew up fending for myself in a sense. I was very independent and I rarely looked to others for support. I think this is why entrepreneurship was particularly interesting for me. I was able rely solely on myself to create success. The issue with that perspective is that it was lonely and it didn’t give me the opportunity to learn from others. There is such an incredible entrepreneurial community. There is immense beauty in helping others and allowing others to help you. A sense of community makes life so much easier to manage. I used to cut myself off from that entirely because I was scared of letting others in. I was starving for connection and I didn’t even know it.

Today, I have an incredible community of people around me. I’ve had to break down a lot of my walls to be able to accept support. This has been a huge personal journey for me, prompted by my company. Life is such an incredible journey of unlearning the defence mechanisms that we’ve picked up along the way. Entrepreneurship has been a huge catalyst for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.hsuan.ca/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hsuanglow/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088161536088