Meet the Female Founder: Vida Glow
This International Women’s Day, we’re shining a spotlight on some of the best female founders in the business, talking all things beauty, empowerment, and the key to launching a successful beauty brand. We sat down with founder of the number 1 global ingestibles brand, Vida Glow's Anna Lahey, to discuss the key to success, how to tackle any challenges, and the importance of finding that elusive work-life balance.
What inspired you to launch your brand?
“I discovered marine collagen over 13 years ago when I was travelling overseas," Anna tells us. "At the time I was losing so much hair that it would clog up my shower, and I had been searching for whatever remedy I could find to help with the reduction of hair loss with not much success – until I started consistently taking a marine collagen supplement. It was costing me a fortune to ship this product into Australia, and at the time, there was no ingestible beauty category and collagen wasn’t the beauty buzzword it is today.”
“It was through my own personal benefits, the transformation that it made to my hair but also to my skin and nails, that inspired me to give other people the opportunity to experience the benefits of a really good quality marine collagen supplement."
Did you face any challenges in your role as a female founder in beauty?
“I have faced challenges as a female entrepreneur, especially navigating business and motherhood. I am a mother of four very young children, and I have travelled the world pregnant and breastfeeding and lugging little kids around or leaving them behind for long periods of time,” Anna shares.
“When you own your own business, there aren’t many boundaries and there’s no such thing as balance. And so I’ve had to be comfortable in making sacrifices – and you have to decide what is going to be the most important thing on that day and be comfortable with it. You’re not always going to be the best founder or the best mother or the best wife. And I think the narrative that women can have it all and do it all really sets us up to fail.”
How did you overcome any obstacles faced?
“Over the last 11 years there have been so many obstacles,” Anna admits. “Going into business certainly isn’t as pretty as it looks on an Instagram grid. Ingestible beauty was once met with so much scepticism, so many people sitting on the fence about whether or not this product worked or whether it’s pseudo-science. We had to work really hard to shift those perceptions.”
“We have collaborated with dermatologists and scientists and trichologists – people who really support and advocate for the product’s efficacy. And also, we’ve had to invest millions of dollars into clinical research, going beyond the standard of what’s required in the industry, to validate our formulations but also to reinforce trust in the category and trust from our consumers.”
How do you hope the beauty industry will evolve in years to come?
“I hope to see more emphasis on clinically-backed solutions rather than quick fixes. Consumers are becoming more and more educated, and there is a growing demand for transparency and science-driven formulations. I really do think that this will shape the future of beauty.”
What advice would you give to female founders in the making?
“Don’t wait for permission or the perfect moment. Too many aspiring entrepreneurs wait instead of just starting. I can guarantee you’ll make mistakes – there will be failures – but you’ll learn along the way, and in the end you’ll be in a better position for it. My number one advice is to just start.”
What makes your brand stand out against others on the market?
“Vida Glow is the global number 1 marine collagen brand in the world, and quite simply the success we’ve had is because the products work,” shares Anna. “Every touchpoint is considered for our customer to achieve that – it must taste delicious, it has to be palatable, convenient, on the go formulas, so that people can really adopt this every single day – just like they would apply their SPF. And then the results come, and they come quickly.”