SAHAR SAIDI

Founder & CEO LUS BRANDS

BIO: Sahar Saidi has never been one to shy away from a promising venture. In 2017, she founded LUS (“Love Ur Self”) Brands, a Toronto-based direct-toconsumer ecommerce brand devoted to creating innovative products that help consumers embrace and love their own natural features, starting with their hair. Her proprietary formulas for consumers with curly hair with a direct-to-consumer sales strategy and proven early stage quantifiable success drew the attention of high-profile backers such as Y Combinator, Comcast Ventures, Sound Ventures (co-founded by Ashton Kutcher) and others. Since 2017, the company has grown close to 3,000 per cent and she continues to drive for aggressive year-overyear growth as it enters its fifth year of business. Since her teens, Sahar displayed a strong work ethic and an entrepreneurial spirit that has led to multiple successes throughout her life. Her first full-time job at 18 was with Ontario Energy Savings Corp., a commission-only job selling energy contracts doorto-door. During first year at university, she continued with her sales job on the side. She left school after completing that first year to pursue a full-time career in sales (and earning a six-figure income in a strict commission-based environment), and by the age of 23, became a Regional Manager and later Vicepresident of Sales at Truestar Health.

Looking for a change in lifestyle, Sahar then decided to move to the Turks & Caicos Islands, where she worked in marketing and business development for a private jet terminal. From that point she transitioned to independent consulting in marketing and business development for SMES in a variety of industries, from travel and food and beverage, to telecom and entertainment. She returned to university in her 30s to complete the Global Executive MBA program at Rotman School of Management (University of Toronto). Even with a dual MBA degree, her non-traditional and non-linear career path stood in the way of landing the type of executive role she desired in conventional and larger organizations. True to form, she took matters into her own hands by establishing LUS, which she is now in the process of expanding to markets beyond North America. LUS Brands was ranked as one of Canada’s fastestgrowing companies in 2020 in the startup category by Maclean’s and Canadian Business Magazine.

BEST/MOST-VALUED CAREER LESSON IN THE PAST YEAR: Having open and transparent communication with your team is critical, especially during tough times (like 2020 was). I have always believed in honesty and transparency; I share A LOT with my team. Being able to share both good and bad news openly with everyone has allowed us to build a more cohesive culture at LUS.

BEST CAREER ADVICE: Hire slow, fire fast. Especially when you have a small team, adding a bad apple to the bunch really messes up culture.