BERRY BEAUTIFUL
SORAYA HENDESI, OF AUCKLAND, FOUNDED SNOWBERRY SKINCARE Berry necessary
Soraya’s skincare secrets
When I was a little girl in Iran, I would spend many hours in our fragrant Persian garden making perfumes, skincare and little potions for my mother and grandmother.
My mother was a very elegant woman, and a huge influence on my interest in beauty brands and products from an early age. My grandmother was in charge of UNICEF’s humanitarian nurse’s organisation in Tehran and was a true example of a living angel. That’s why on the Snowberry packaging there is a lady with a lantern. It symbolises my grandmother, who is holding the guiding light. The artwork also features a girl giving a gift to her mother, which is me as a child making things for my mum in the garden.
I was always taught that it’s important to look after yourself because it makes you feel good. Beauty is not just putting on a mask, it’s about the feeling. And I believe you are born with what you love doing and your gut feeling will guide you. That’s what has happened with me throughout my life.
I have moved around the world quite a lot! When I was younger, my family moved to the UK, where I went to a very traditional English school. Traditionally, people believe their kids have to be doctors or engineers, nothing in between will do. So I thought I’d become an engineer, all the time knowing deep inside I loved the world of beauty! When I went to college, I’d spend all my pocket money in Harrods and Selfridges on the most amazing face creams.
A friend suggested I do a doctorate in chemistry, but I became a cosmetician. I thought I could learn about the world of beauty and skin, and nurture my knowledge and, when the time was right, get the help of specialists. I was young at the time and didn’t realise what an undertaking that would be!
As I travelled around, I worked a range of different jobs, including in a Spanish embassy and in oil companies but wherever I went, I would always attend beauty exhibitions.
Life took me to Dubai, where I met the man who would become my husband. He’s a Kiwi, so my destiny was New Zealand. I believe that.
When we moved here in 2002, I realised I wanted to start my business. I made these beautiful cleansing bars and, when my husband went on a business trip, I packed my car with them and drove across the country to little shops trying to sell them. That was a big learning lesson!
My advice to anyone starting a business is to follow your dreams, but fasten your seatbelt because the ride is rough. No university in the world teaches you how to deal with people, but the world is your university.
After moving to Abu Dhabi, then back to New Zealand, we launched Snowberry in 2007.
But five years before, we had started working with scientists from the University of Auckland to begin formulating our products, which I believe is the reason for our international awards.
New Zealand has the most amazing forests and there is so much potential in terms of anti-ageing beauty here. Of course, with traditional Maori medicine, many remedies come from New Zealand’s plants, which is why we have our own plantation here.
My advice to women – and all consumers – is to learn what they are buying and to educate themselves. I don’t think it’s fair people are bombarded by false claims. Hope in a jar should not cost $500. You cannot stop the process of ageing, but with technology, you can slow it down. That’s why I never reveal my age – and my skincare definitely hides it!
When we started, my husband said that business should be about necessity and I said beauty is necessity! In World War II, women didn’t have much money to spend on skincare, but the brand Yardley London did a campaign that declared not looking groomed is like giving in to the enemy. Today, if you visit the Imperial War Museum in London, there is a pottle of Yardley right next to the planes. That’s the power of beauty!”
How I live...