Meet Aanam C | Content creator since 2011 & founder and CEO of Wearified

We had the good fortune of connecting with Aanam C and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Aanam, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Starting out as a content creator in 2011, in Mumbai, wasn’t as commonly heard as it is today. For one, I was still in college and was yet to complete my graduation. And secondly, there weren’t any Indian creators to see the path of and follow on. I was doing content (blogs, videos, photos, writing) all as a hobby whilst studying for my bachelors degree in Mass Media (with a major in Advertising) and also freelancing in social media content for various brands across the fashion and food space. So I depended on my freelance gigs for my income, but over the next 2 years, my blog took off and I had no more bandwidth to take on clients. When it came down to it, I had to prioritise and opted to focus on my potential as a creator.

Similar to that, when I completed about 6 years in the space, in 2017, I started to ideate on my own brand. I know what I had in mind, but I needed to figure out the roadmap on how to get to it. The vision was clear: a community driven beauty brand that would simplify routines for people on a daily basis. Focusing on luxurious formulas, but on a budget. And to address one of the biggest market gaps in India: the issue of finding the right shade matches for medium to deep skin tones. And so I spent 4 years on research, development, saving capital and then going into launch mode for my clean formulas based, Made in India beauty brand, Wearified. We launched in October of 2021, and have launched almost 70 unique SKUs since.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
As an indie brand founder, the toughest part of the job was building capital. Every Rupee in the business is my own, and I saved up for four years to bring this dream to life. I’m someone who you’d call a risk taker, but I also don’t do so without taking all calculations into consideration. I remember telling myself in 2020, when I had to pay the first few instalments in for legal advise, registrations etc, that the money I spend on this needs to be money I’m okay with losing because I knew I was launching a beauty business – more so launching with lipsticks – during the pandemic. But too much work has gone into it, too many commitments and line ups had been made, and I absolutely needed to see it through or I would regret it what a ‘what if’ a decade or so later.

So around the 10th anniversary of my blog, I decided to go with the launch of 10 bullet lipsticks as Wearified’s launch product.

I think the main thing that made Wearified different from others was that I have TRULY put the Indian consumer in mind while formulating these products. They’re built for Indian weather, keeping Indian skin tone with lipstick shades in mind. The #1 compliment we received at the time of launch was how absolutely NO shade looked ‘off’ on anyone, and that was a huge compliment for me because I felt like I had met my goal. While formulating, I would literally dismiss ANY shades that didn’t work on medium to deep skin tones because I knew the market I was catering to and I wanted to be different from what the other brands were bringing to the table.

I also feel that as a content creator who has been around for almost 12 years now (10 at the time of the launch), I have this unique advantage of having my ear so close to the ground. Seeing what the DMs, comments, requests are like so I know exactly what the audience is happy, unhappy with or craving in general.

The second product we launched, the IRL Paris Filter Airbrush Powder sold out twice over in under 3 hours both times. And I remember it was then that I knew I had hit the sweet spot between being a creator, marketer and brand founder.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Suzette is a french Creperie close to where I grew up and live, I always take someone new to the city there for a chill time. I’m also someone that loves to show my friends something thats so local to Mumbai, so a vada pav stand or the local Pav Bhaji joint is an absolutely must. And I would never send anyone who visits Mumbai back without witnessing the sunsets from Carter Road. I grew up on that street and have special place for it in my heart, but its also one of the most calming views to end your day with.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Its going to sound really cliche but the people who have consistently had my back and have told me how no dream is too big have been my mom, dad and my husband. As confident as I’ve learnt to be over time (I do believe that confidence is like a muscle you need to work on over time), I’ve had my many moments of self doubt. Being a public person from the age of 18/19 is not easy and so I turned to the people in my life for a little assurance from time to time.

My mom deserves a special mention for sure, because she always nurtured the entrepreneur in me telling me to try new things and see how they could fit into my life. Whether it was selling doll clothes at the age of 8 or going into the pageant world at 17, she always had my back no matter what and cheered for me the loudest.

Website: wearified.in

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aanamc/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aanamc/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/aanamc

Youtube: www.youtube.com/AanamC

Image Credits
@aanamc