Best of Weekender: Shahnaz Husain on changing consumer patterns, clean beauty with Neemli Naturals, and more

In the first week of April, YS Weekender brought to you stories of clean beauty, and the business of music, and ayurvedic yoga.

Here are the top stories by YS Weekender from the week that was:

With The True School of Music, Bollywood composer Ashutosh Pathak is tapping India's music talent

"One only thinks about the stars as the pinnacles of success but there are many people who are busy within the industry and successfully living fulfilling lives...," says music composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Ashutosh Phatak about the Indian music industry.

A student of Western Classical Music Theory from the University of Pennsylvania himself, Ashutosh realised how travelling abroad for music education was financially prohibitive for most Indians. As an Indian-ised solution, along with former colleague Nitin Chandy, Ashutosh founded The True School of Music in September 2013.

The music school provides practical, career-oriented education with a curriculum that is specifically designed to reach a level of success in the industry. So far, approximately 30 batches have graduated from The True School of Music. 

Entrepreneur Shahnaz Husain on putting India on the world’s herbal beauty products map

When you talk about Indian ayurvedic skincare and haircare, you cannot not mention Shahnaz Husain. The founder of Shahnaz Husain Group has in the last five decades developed more than 375 formulations based on herbs, flowers, fruit extracts, essential oils, and precious minerals and gems. 

Not just beauty and skincare, the Padma Shri winner's vision has always been to promote the Indian herbal heritage to every corner of the globe. Shahnaz Husain’s products — through a network of franchise ventures and direct product distributors today — reach South-East Asia, Japan, Australia, Middle-East, Africa, the US, the UK, and Europe. The products are also available in the Netherlands, Norway, Czech Republic, Belarus, and Russia. 

In a recent conversation with YS Weekender, Shahnaz Husain talks about how beauty has evolved over the years, changing consumer preferences, skincare and haircare trends, and clean beauty. 

Ayurvedic Yoga: This ex-banker is using her corporate learnings to run her wellness venture

Mumbai-based yoga practitioner Namita Piparaiya, after serving as a senior corporate executive at MNCs like Citibank, Aviva, and Generalli, Namita founded her true calling — yoga. She completed over 700 hours of Yoga Alliance certified training in Hatha Yoga, also studying pranayama, Ayurveda, and yoga philosophy. 

In 2018, she took the entrepreneurial route and founded Mumbai-based Yoganama Wellness LLP, which brings yoga and Ayurveda under one roof with the objective of making ancient practices accessible and relevant to all. 

Namita's videos, which are available on platforms including TataSky, Voot, Disney+ Hotstar, and Cure.fit, reaches lakhs of viewers.

Building a national skincare brand: How Neemli Naturals tapped 50k+ clean beauty enthusiasts

Founded by actor Rameshwari Seth and son Bhaskara Seth, Mumbai-based Neemli Naturals is a homegrown and hand crafted clean beauty brand. With a client base of around 50,000 customers, and a retention rate of 30 percent, Neemli Naturals focuses on providing high-quality products that truly work, accommodating the company’s vision of using natural and vegan ingredients.

Neemli Naturals’ products are available on leading ecommerce platforms such as Nykaa and Amazon, besides its own website. Offline, the brand’s products are available in Foodhall and boutique stores across the country. Additionally, Neemli Naturals is also available overseas in the US and South Africa.