Shalini Vadhera is a mission-driven three-time serial entrepreneur. Known as a global beauty authority, Shalini has created many award-winning beauty brands and was recently named one of the most influential people to watch in 2021 by Yahoo Finance.
She is the best-selling author of Passport To Beauty, founder of the Power Beauty Living foundation, and a recipient of the Mahatma Gandhi Award at the British House of Lords.
Her makeup company Ready Set Jet aims to change the beauty industry by empowering the next generation of beauty entrepreneurs. Shalini's mission is to pay her company's talents and resources forward to underprivileged girls and create significant social impact at the intersection of innovation and community.
Shalini believes that every woman needs some type of inspiration and impact to live her most powerful and beautiful life. That's why she decided to go one step further and build an online academy where female entrepreneurs can access learning resources and training tools designed to help them fulfill their personal and professional development goals.Â
In this week's episode, Shalini joined us to talk about her journey as an entrepreneur, building confidence, and how she was able to create a community of women investors through crowdinvesting.
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Confident women can change the world: Shalini’s success story
Before becoming a renowned authority in the makeup industry, Shalini had to overcome the pitfalls and challenges that women entrepreneurs face in a typically male-dominated group.Â
She was just 19 when she decided to become an entrepreneur, so she understandably felt intimidated by people who were in a place of leadership and authority. She quickly understood that to navigate the ecosystem effectively, she needed to build confidence.
Like countless first-time female entrepreneurs, Shalini faced a lot of rejection early on, but this didn't stop her. Instead, these experiences helped her develop key entrepreneur traits such as persistence and resilience. She learned that no matter what happens, she will always have herself to count on.
As she progressed through her career, Shalini honed her skills and acquired authority in the field, which only helped solidify that sense of confidence.Â
Now, Shalini’s belief that “confident women can change the world” resonates across all of her brands. For Shalini, it's all about knowing inside what you're good at and just letting it happen. She believes that the more tools and resources you can give women entrepreneurs, the more confident they become and the more unmatched leverage they have.
How to turn your passion into a business model
Many incoming entrepreneurs have passion and also want to create a positive social impact. However, the business world is inevitably competitive. Achieving success, especially as a woman, can be very challenging.
Fortunately, Shalini believes there's a significant shift happening in the way women in business are relating to each other, especially by getting back in touch with their true feminine power and focusing on collaboration, generosity, and nurturing.
Being able to use beauty as a vehicle for change is Shalini's mission with Ready Set Jet. It's not only about introducing innovative beauty products to the market—it’s about leaning into the social impact side of the business.Â
For Shalini, it's pretty gratifying to see her customers and investors taking part in this story of change.
Crowdfunding is changing the game for women
Shalini points out that there is still a critical lack of resources and funding for women entrepreneurs. Women are often willing to take bad deals because it's the only money they can bring in. At the same time, very few women have learned how to invest and create wealth for themselves.
This is why Shalini chose to launch her crowdfunding campaign through Republic—to create more female investors worldwide and let them have a seat at the table. She's very proud to have taken this intentional way of fundraising, since nowadays, 90% of Ready Set Jet's cap table is composed of women.
For Shalini, the crowdfunding campaign was not just about raising funds for Ready Set Jet. It was a mission to level the playing field by allowing more women investors to join the community, regardless of their income level.
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This content is provided for educational purposes only by Republic. Nothing discussed should be construed as legal, tax, accounting, or investing advice. The views of the presenters may not be the views of Republic and its affiliates. Always consult with trusted professional advisors before making investments. Private investments are inherently illiquid and may result in a total loss. All rights reserved.