Female Disruptors: Ruchita Acharya of Glow & Green + Green-Beauty Co On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
Be consistent and persistent. This advice came from my mom. She was a working woman who knew the struggle to be consistent and persistent as a working woman. So many other priorities can come in the way of your end goal. Thus, she suggested that I develop a practical routine that can help me become more consistent. Doing something at the same time every day becomes a habit, and you’re more likely to stick with it. It will help you long term.
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, we had the pleasure of interviewing Ruchita Acharya.
Ruchita Acharya is a beauty business owner, and the creative mind behind Glow & Green(blogging plateform) and Green-Beauty Co(skincare brand). She run this brand Green-Beauty Co which is clean, sustainable, and first minimalistic ayurvedic brand in USA. Ruchita’s mission is to empower women with the tools to transition to a sustainable non-toxic lifestyle, explicitly focusing on beauty and personal care. She is a passionate advocate addressing issues of toxic personal care products, unsustainable practices, and environmental issues.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
Sure! I grew up in a very traditional household back in India. My parents always thought for me to achieve a conventional career path. And I completed my traditional career path and became an architect. After coming to the USA in 2007, I also studied Infrastructure Planning for the New Jersey Institute of Technology and secured a job in the public sector. But throughout this journey, I was always drawn into sustainability, simple living, and a non-toxic lifestyle, which I lived in India. Whether it’s working on the New York City Bikeshare project and thinking about Greenhouse Gas Emission (GHG) or what I am putting on your skin or having as food. In my ten years of public sector experience, I always thought that public policies on a sustainable environment are always good initiatives. But reaching people personally — there must be more than just public policies. That’s why I started getting into personal care and wellness through my blog, Glow & Green when I dealt with my own personal health struggle. I returned to my Ayurveda roots and wanted to understand what’s inside conventional personal care products. I studied Skincare formulation at a London-based online school, formula botanica, and I was depressed by the amount of toxins we put on our skin and also emitted into the environment. Thus, I decided to dig deep into all, and Glow & Green and Green-Beauty Co started. By this, I wanted to reach a personal level and provide a sustainable, minimalistic, and non-toxic lifestyle to all.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
In today’s fast-paced world, women and men do not have time to follow lengthy skincare routines. Thus, they generally opt for convenience and rely on an average of 12 beauty products daily, accessible in drug stores. However, these conventional products may pose various dangers. According to a survey by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), an alarming number of women, 4.3 million in total, are exposed daily to personal care product ingredients that are harmful to reproductive and developmental health. Not to mention, those ingredients are detrimental to the environment, too!
From Green-Beauty Co (my brand) and Glow & Green (our educational platform), I would like to give accessibility to sustainable, natural beauty products that are non-toxic for you and the planet Earth. I want to break this vicious cycle of an unknown, long ingredient list that is hard to pronounce and bad for the environment. My approach is to create sustainable, minimalistic skincare products that only contain up to 10 pronounceable ingredients, which will give the customer full transparency. From a sustainability perspective, overall carbon emissions generated through sustainable ten ingredients are always less than a long list of harmful ingredients to you and the environment.
The Beauty Industry has never thought that reducing ingredients in the product formulation can be a sustainable practice. Regarding sustainability in the beauty industry, beauty brands always thought of refill/reuse or biodegradable material packaging but never in terms of ingredient selections. By doing this, I am pushing the envelope regarding sustainability and non-toxic living in the beauty industry. This will be revolutionary because this will make the beauty industry remove those toxic fillers and look for more efficient ingredients that are effective for the skin, too.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
There are so many mistakes, but one is particularly funny. When I came to the USA in 2007, I worked as an intern architect under a solo practitioner. I started this job while I was preparing for my master’s applications. In India, I learned everything about English and architecture in the matrix system and British English, while here, it is all about an imperial system and American English. So, my boss asked me to design an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) and develop a plan drawing for city approval. I started drawing a matrix system, printed that plan, and took it to the city planning office. City officials saw my mistakes in terms of dimensions, and some of the spellings are in British English, too. I felt embarrassed at that time when City officials laughed about it. However, my boss immediately realized and corrected my drafting software setting. He also pointed out that some words and pronunciations differ from British English. He became my first mentor in American English.
Although I have lived in the USA for more than 15 years, many of these mistakes do not happen at all, but it was an actual lesson-learning experience for me. Whenever I write my blog post or any emails, I double-check if I am not using British English as my serve United States audience.
And another one is the date. The format in the USA is always in the form of MM/DD/YY.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
I work in the beauty industry now, but when I started all this, I was a total outsider as my background is in architecture and urban planning. When I started this whole initiative, the first thing I did was to find a good community and mentors. I joined female founder collectives (founded by Rebeca Minkoff and Alison Wyatt), where I found excellent mentors; you can also book those mentors based on your need for the business. They will provide 1:1 mentorship on your business hurdle. I don’t want to pinpoint a mentor, but there are many.
For example, when I did product-market fit, I consulted with a brand strategist inside a female founder collective group, and she helped me with every aspect of the brand development. It’s good that I can still lean on them whenever I face any problem.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
Disruption is a complex phenomenon with far-reaching effects. It can lead to both negative and positive outcomes, depending on the situation and how it is managed. Disruption, as the name implies, is about breaking the norm. It’s about challenging the situation and bringing something new to the table as a part of the solution. In the world of business, it’s an innovation that creates a new market and value network, disrupting established market links and displacing established market leaders. But disruption isn’t always beneficial. It can be a destructive force, leading to negative outcomes and harm to industries, products, or processes.
For example, introduction of Apple iPhone in 2007. It is another excellent example of positive disruption. It transformed the way; we perceived cell phone. It helps to think cell phone an instrument which focus on calls and texts to a multi-purpose device that offers everything from internet browsing to high-quality photography. The iPhone’s success spurred innovation across the tech industry, leading to the creation of new products and services.
While One of the most infamous examples of negative disruption is the collapse of the US steel industry in the 1970s and 1980s. The advent of mini-mills, smaller and more efficient steel producers, disrupted the industry by offering cheaper products. This led to the closure of many traditional steel mills and significant job losses.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey?
My parents are always the best advisors for giving me life lessons, whether for business or life. They are indeed my cheerleaders since I always feel the best version of me around them. They have always supported my goals and given me the best advice to put me in the right mindset as I pursue them. These three are some of my favorites from them:
“Don’t lose focus and think of the end goal.”
When I had my baby in 2021, I was thinking about starting my business. They came from India to help me out with the baby. My parents realized the time commitment needed to work on my business. They told me, you have a newborn baby, your full-time job, plus you are running this home; if you are getting only an hour a day to work on this business, then focus on one task and efficiently complete those tasks. Give total concentration on the job, and try to finish it efficiently and satisfactorily. Don’t spend an hour aimlessly. With this advice, now assign each hour and goal. I try to finish it as much as I can in the most practical way possible.
“Be consistent and persistent.”
This advice came from my mom. She was a working woman who knew the struggle to be consistent and persistent as a working woman. So many other priorities can come in the way of your end goal. Thus, she suggested that I develop a practical routine that can help me become more consistent. Doing something at the same time every day becomes a habit, and you’re more likely to stick with it. It will help you long term. Thanks to this advice, many of my tasks in my business are now become second nature of it.
“Don’t compare your journey with anyone.”
Coming from a joint family in India, the comparisons become second nature. My parents lived through this; they know how negatively impact the overall development. Thus, they gave me this advice. This advice helped me build this business because I constantly see what other brands and entrepreneurs are doing in today’s social media. This visibility is always good, but it can affect you negatively, especially not every day in business is the golden days.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
That’s correct. At Green-Beauty Co, we have three products (two serums, and one cleanser) and one beauty tool. In this holiday time, we are trying to bring more products into the market. We wanted to develop face and body skincare routines with no more than 30 ingredients. We wanted to share this routine with all women who unknowingly apply those hundreds of ingredients daily on their skin, which might cause cancer or affect their reproductive system. I want to empower women to live a non-toxic and sustainable lifestyle and bring back a practical and modern form of Ayurveda.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
Women are increasingly taking the lead in disrupting the beauty industry, which is fascinating news. They’re launching their brands, advocating for inclusivity, and challenging harmful beauty standards. The challenge we often face is breaking through the industry’s glass ceiling and securing funding for their ventures.
Also, women always face age and gender-biased opinions while they try to fund their businesses with venture capitalists. In contrast, their male counterparts face little struggle in those scenarios. These challenges have been enlightening and frustrating but have also motivated me to push harder and more vital. I have heard many experiences from other women founders in the beauty industry. As women disruptors, we should strive for a more equal startup landscape in the beauty industry in general.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
I love listening to podcasts and audiobooks. Early this year, I read Atomic Habits by James Clear, which impacted my daily life. I always liked the idea of journaling and trying to write down a to-do list. But, I felt I never successfully implemented some of the good habits. This book gave me those actionable tips and tricks. One of the standout elements of this book is its focus on incremental improvement or the idea of getting 1% better every day. This concept resonated with me deeply as an entrepreneur. Often, we are caught up in seeking big wins, but Clear emphasizes that it’s the small, consistent changes that lead to remarkable results in the long run.
Regarding podcasts, I am obsessed with the Work Party Podcast by Jaclyn Johnson(founder of Create & Cultivate). She interviewed women entrepreneurs who are cutting their path through the crowd. Some of the talks are so inspirational and motivational to me. Sometimes it also gave me a solution for my business.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
As a beauty brand owner with a brand consisting of water-free formulation, I would love to inspire a movement on safe water accessibility. Despite being a fundamental human necessity, access to clean and safe water remains a major global challenge. At Green-Beauty Co, we do not use any water in our formulation for this reason. But with this movement, we can aim to address water scarcity, inadequate sanitation facilities, and lack of awareness regarding water conservation.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.― Maya Angelou
As a beauty brand owner, feeling and touching my products are the best way to reach people. Thus, this quote resonates with my ambition quite well.
How can our readers follow you online?
Sure! You can find me here:
Website: www.greenbeautyco.com
Instagram @green_beautyco
Email: contact@greenbeautyco.com
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
