After leaving a secure corporate job, Susan Jit embarked on a new journey with her two sisters Shelina and Rovina. Sulina Shop was initially their side hustle that was born during the wee hours of many weekdays and most weekends.
Sulina Shop is an all-natural, organic, Ayurvedic skincare company that makes products like face oils, masks, body butters, scrubs, lip balms, deodorants, toners, moisturizers and more. It was founded in 2015 when the three sisters wanted to create a business that used natural ingredients they were raised with back in Fiji like charcoal, turmeric, moringa and neem.
After Susan’s family moved to the Bay Area in 1986, her mother soon realized that she had to make skin and hair products from scratch to ensure that her daughters were using healthy, natural ingredients like the ones back in Fiji. When the three sisters got older, they realized their mom was onto something special, so they decided to create their own natural products.
Use code TIANA to receive Free Shipping and 10% off your total order. This is not an affiliate link; I’m just supporting a great women run business.
Susan’s background is in digital marketing with agency experience in the Bay Area and corporate experience in Southern Oregon. She discusses what her last straw was at her last corporate job and what gave her the courage to step out to focus on her own company. She tells it like it is: the crying, the questioning, the self-doubt. She shares how she was able to move past dark moments when there didn’t seem to be hope.
She decided to do a lot of the leg work herself along with her sisters rather than pay for outside help for each task that needed to get done. Because of this, Susan took all the photos you’ll see on their site using just an iPhone. Plus, with help from YouTube tutorials she figured out Photoshop and other tools to create graphics and video for the site and marketing collateral. It’s impressive what a trip to Home Goods and an iPhone can do!
“Leaders need to listen more, especially to the people who do the actual work.” — Susan Jit
Things we cover in this episode:
- How she built an Instagram audience
- What made her quit a well-paid, comfortable corporate position and take a risk embarking on her own company
- Mistakes leaders tend to make
- How Sulina Shop started with just one family phone call
- How to work with family, one sister being a stay-at-home mom and the other sister having a full-time job
- How her family dynamics played a role in her inner drive and curiosity
- How to keep a positive outlook when times get tough
- Crying and picking yourself back up
- How years of meditating bring answers and solace
- How to not be “careful” with your own brand
- Start-up challenges when working with large distributers
- Applying good leadership skills from lessons from bad leaders
- Why you don’t need a fancy camera to build a website or marketing collateral
Links
- Shop sulinashop.com and save with code TIANA to receive Free Shipping and 10% off…this is not an affiliate link
- Follow Sulina Shop on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter
- Try Calm, my favorite meditation app that I’ve been using it for years
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