Aneela Zaman’s road to Dallas, where she will exhibit Zaman Skincare at the Indie Beauty Expo on May 9-10, took 23 long years to travel.
It started when, working as a makeup artist in Toronto, she launched her first beauty brand, Notorious Colors. The brand’s prescient products anticipated the emphasis on inclusivity from color cosmetics players like Fenty, Reina Rebelde and The Lip Bar on the beauty market today.
“I’m of Pakistani descent,” she told Beauty Independent Editor in Chief Rachel Brown earlier this year, “and I had friends of all different ethnicities who were having difficulties finding colors that matched their skin tones.”
Life interrupted Zaman’s plans to focus on her brand — or make that love. She met her soon-to-be husband on a set and, as she says in the Road to Dallas video, “I packed up everything and moved to Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the marriage didn’t work, but it brought me to this to beautiful place and gave me a career in real estate.” A trailer for the video and a full-length version of it are available for viewing below.
Along with a bank loan, her thriving real estate career would eventually help provide Zaman with the startup capital for her luxe skincare brand, Zaman Skincare, powered by the beneficial properties of black cumin seed. It has two products: The $65 moisturizing morning serum Rise & Shine and $80 night serum Sleeping Beauty.
When Indie Beauty Expo, owner of Beauty Independent, came to her hometown with its LA show in January of this year, Zaman jumped at the chance to attend the two-day BeautyX Media & Influencer Summit prior to the trade show. She liked what she learned – and wanted to participate more. With her brand gaining traction at the Salon Fodera at the St. Regis Hotel and the Beverly Hills Beauty Lounge, signing up for the BeautyX Retail Summit and Dallas IBE were musts for Zaman.
As she relates in the BI video, “If I had to say anything…one message I’ve have to give out to every single founder, every single brand whose launching…for the fears that you have, for the doubts that you have, if you even just know about IBE, you should just go to their expos and check them out because it’s one of the most supportive organizations I’ve ever come across.”
Zaman will join more than 70 brands on the floor of IBE and 100-plus attendees at the BeautyX Retail Summit that will bring together the most retailers focused on indie beauty ever assembled at an entrepreneurial education event. Beauty Independent will carry news from both events throughout the week.
