Hello world!
Welcome to my first blog post. My name is Lizara, the owner of Vibaecious Beauty, a new cosmetics brand. In this blog post, I'm going to tell you how I got to the point of starting a cosmetics brand.
When I was a little girl, my class and I were asked by the teacher what we wanted to be when we grew up. I remember thinking about and it and simply going with "business woman". I suppose my reasoning behind it was that my dad was a businessman and I looked up to him at the time. So I thought "you can't go wrong with 'business woman' " haha! Throughout my life though, I remember wanting to be many different things starting from when I was a toddler.
At first I wanted to be a fashion model because everyone told me that I was so tall, I could be a model! And then I wanted to be a singer and dancer. I loved to sing and dance to the music that my parents would put on in the house. And when the relatives came over for visits, I would be center-stage (in the middle of the living room carpet) in my floofy dress singing and dancing my heart out for them until they were bored of me! My love for singing and dancing lasts until today.
When I was a teenager, my mother had asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I told her that I wanted to be a singer. She laughed at me, told me how unviable of a choice it was, and told me that was just a hobby. She told me to find a more viable career option citing "doctor, engineer, lawyer, etc". In my mind I assumed those were the only viable career options in this life, the careers that had something to do with being a professional. I thought that everything else was "not a real career option".
Thus, I had to think hard to come up with something viable. At the time, I loved to draw and I was interested in science. Since art and science were the main components of architecture, I deduced that I should be an architect! Also, I was in love with building houses in the game, The Sims 2. I loved observing how architecture can influence and shape people's lives. On top of that, my mom had approved of that choice. So I decided that was what I had to aim for.
I did everything I had to to get into university to study architecture and I did. I spent 4 years of life as an architecture student and I graduated, bagging myself a Bachelor of Science in Architecture degree, and all the life experience and knowledge that comes with it. You know how some people have the idea that you HAVE to get an education and go through school and college, I think the real reason behind it is to learn more about yourself, what you like and don't like and gain some experience. Because really, it doesn't determine the rest of your life for everyone.
Even though I went through all those years of studying and have a degree, I did not manage to land a job in that field. Moreover, I never really believed that it was for me in the first place. I did love learning about architecture, its history and terminology, but the practical work was absolutely not for me. What was the practical work like? I experienced it when I was working in a firm for my internship. Long, extended hours of work everyday, chained to a desk and expected to constantly produce like a farm animal or a factory. I felt so depressed and I gained 10 kg from that experience. Definitely not my best moment in life. I had actually wanted to quit when I was only in my 2nd semester because I knew I had to give up my colourful life if I wanted to really become an architect and give away all my time to it. But I was too scared to disappoint my mother so I stuck to it until I graduated. Today, I'm not sure if I should have just stuck to it instead of going for another course like marketing or business. It's too late now though.
Since I'm not practicing as an architect, I still had to make a living. Well, from uni-life onwards, I discovered game streaming, shoutcasting, selling second hand items from the house, real estate, running my own homestay and sewing masks. All of which I have proudly made a living from and all of which I am my own boss. I am not chained to a desk from 9 to 6, Monday to Friday. I work when I want, on what I want. And I am absolutely passionate about the things that I do. It's liberating to be able to do what you really believe in. I just had to step away from someone else's expectations and listen to myself and what I really wanted. I guess, if I had to sum up everything that I did in 1 word, I'd call myself an entrepreneur, selling services and items that I have. But I wanted to have something even more special. I knew I wanted to sell products of my own, start a company and grow it. I've done so much already, why can't I do this?
And so, I did months and months of research trying to figure out what would be my next big entrepreneurial venture. I narrowed it down to 3 things: What I loved, what I believed in and what works. I always knew that I could never resist the way lip gloss and cosmetic products looked and I believed that there were others out there that felt the same. I saved a bunch of money from shoutcasting (it does take money to make money) and made my first business purchase in March 2021. After that, it's all about a process of just doing it. And here's where I'm at. A brand called Vibaecious Beauty. The website is already up with products of my very own. Feel free to have a look see.
- Lizara.