We recently connected with Rachel Boles-Harfouche and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Rachel, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

My mission statement is something that I make sure I always mention and it is what I am most grateful for when it is shared. Throughout society and history, there is always certain groups that are celebrated. Groups that the media tries to force the masses to conform to. It gives a suffocating pressure to suppress who you really are and just tow the line. Because if you don’t, you’ll be discarded. I have always been different. And I expressed my unique fabric of my subconscious through my expressive appearance. I grew up during the Y2K era but never felt as if the Britney Spears or Paris Hilton aesthetic was me. I have always been in the alternative niche. And no matter what anyone said to me, I never let it stop me from expressing myself. Trying to force people to all look, think and act the same creates extreme mental health crisis and a loss of self identity. So I am determined to inspire girls and boys to be outside the box. To ignore the influencers and trends and truly be who they are and express that proudly. My mission statement is about liberation from crushing societal expectations.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

How I got into this industry probably long predates me ever deciding to open my own cosmetic brand. I had a rough upbringing, especially my teenage years. I was so frightened and alone. I started living on my own around 15 years old. And you can image how terrifying that is for a teenage girl to be alone in the world. I realized that using different colored liquid lips made me feel brave and powerful. It was armor in my mind. It gave me an alter ego that felt as if I could take on anything and wouldn’t be taken advantage of. This progressed into college where I really felt cosmetics as a way of showing the world how different and unique I was. And how proud I was of that too. Then when I went into law school, makeup was an escape for me to let off some steam from all the stress I was under. No matter what phase I was going through in my life, makeup was a constant for me. So when I finally decided I wanted to make my own cosmetic company after graduating law school, I knew I wanted to make a brand that not only gave people the space to be themselves and feel inspired, but to also make it accessible. The cosmetic industry prices are continuously getting out of control and turning into a capitalistic dream house where they can become billionaires in just a few years. It is turning into a place where only the people with excess disposable income can enjoy themselves. So I wanted to build something that had high end formulas that compete with ABH, Huda Beauty, Jeffree Star but at an affordable price range. That way most people could afford a luxury that makes them feel happy.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

There were two times in my professional life that I have had to pivot. The first was when I made the decision to not solely focus on law. That was something that was extremely hard for me to grapple with. I went to 4 years of undergrad, 3 years of law school and just spend a year studying in my post bar year and then decided to change career paths. Now I am still a practicing attorney, I did not give that up, but instead of picturing my life as a full time practicing lawyer until retirement, I pivoted to realizing that I will practice in a smaller capacity in order to also give me the time to focus on growing a business.

Another time I had to pivot was after I launched my business. When I first launched my “niche” was everyone that wore makeup. Right after launching, I entered my MBA program at Pepperdine and I quickly realized that if you have too broad of a niche you will fail because your marketing and message is so broad it won’t target anyone. That in order to really grow a business, you have to spend a lot of time thinking of who your perfect customer is. Who you want to sell to. And then build a company niche off of that.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn a lot of childhood trauma. Throughout my lifetime, I have always helped my friends reach their goals. Goals they never thought possible. I would have them move in with me for free and help build them up everyday until they were ready to move onto the next big thing. And they’re all unbelievably successful! I had unconditional love, support and belief in their abilities. But I realized I didn’t have that for me. I couldn’t figure out why I could see all of these amazing potential in others but I only saw myself as a failure. I saw my dreams as too big. Not meant for me. It could never happen for me. And I realized through a lot of work, it’s because for a large portion of my adolescent years I was conditioned to believe that I was not enough. I wasn’t smart enough. I wasn’t hard working enough. I wasn’t pretty enough. I wasn’t thin enough. I wasn’t unique enough. And the list goes on and on. And when that is told to you everyday for YEARS by the people that are suppose to love and raise you, it seeks into your subconscious and you end up believing it for the rest of your life without even realizing that is what you’re telling yourself. So I had to unlearn my self-hatred and self-sabotage. In order to really push myself to strive for success, I had to first learn that I was enough just as I am.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

There were two times in my professional life that I have had to pivot. The first was when I made the decision to not solely focus on law. That was something that was extremely hard for me to grapple with. I went to 4 years of undergrad, 3 years of law school and just spend a year studying in my post bar year and then decided to change career paths. Now I am still a practicing attorney, I did not give that up, but instead of picturing my life as a full time practicing lawyer until retirement, I pivoted to realizing that I will practice in a smaller capacity in order to also give me the time to focus on growing a business.

Another time I had to pivot was after I launched my business. When I first launched my “niche” was everyone that wore makeup. Right after launching, I entered my MBA program at Pepperdine and I quickly realized that if you have too broad of a niche you will fail because your marketing and message is so broad it won’t target anyone. That in order to really grow a business, you have to spend a lot of time thinking of who your perfect customer is. Who you want to sell to. And then build a company niche off of that.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn a lot of childhood trauma. Throughout my lifetime, I have always helped my friends reach their goals. Goals they never thought possible. I would have them move in with me for free and help build them up everyday until they were ready to move onto the next big thing. And they’re all unbelievably successful! I had unconditional love, support and belief in their abilities. But I realized I didn’t have that for me. I couldn’t figure out why I could see all of these amazing potential in others but I only saw myself as a failure. I saw my dreams as too big. Not meant for me. It could never happen for me. And I realized through a lot of work, it’s because for a large portion of my adolescent years I was conditioned to believe that I was not enough. I wasn’t smart enough. I wasn’t hard working enough. I wasn’t pretty enough. I wasn’t thin enough. I wasn’t unique enough. And the list goes on and on. And when that is told to you everyday for YEARS by the people that are suppose to love and raise you, it seeks into your subconscious and you end up believing it for the rest of your life without even realizing that is what you’re telling yourself. So I had to unlearn my self-hatred and self-sabotage. In order to really push myself to strive for success, I had to first learn that I was enough just as I am.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.myroyaltycosmetics.com
• Instagram: @myroyaltycosmetics
• TikTok: @myroyaltycosmetics

Image Credits
morphineprince jordiemakeup noctisaristry _stephbeswickmakeup