How CEO Heela Yang Infused 6 Brazilian Beauty Lessons Into Sol De Janeiro

Sol de Janeiro Coco Cabana Cream, Brazilian Bum Bum Cream and Bom Dia Bright Cream

Courtesy of Sol de Janeiro

Heela Yang had all of it deliberate out. With her thriving profession at Estee Lauder firms, she anticipated to at all times stay and work in New York City. But typically life has different plans. Yang met her now-husband at a bar with some buddies one night time when he was passing by way of from Brazil. The subsequent factor she knew they had been assembly one another in Miami, New York and Brazil, quickly acquired married and he or she discovered herself dwelling in Brazil in 2008. “I left my metropolis—I grew up in New York—my buddies, my job, my household and I ended up in Brazil, the place I spoke no Portuguese,” Yang remembers. “I assumed I’m going to get a job, however then I acquired pregnant straight away, and in order that was form of a surprising introduction to shifting to a international nation.”

But Yang embraced her new nation—and was instantly struck by the cultural variations. Living in Brazil for 2 years, she soaked up the Brazilian method to magnificence and life. Before shifting there, Yang had put in time at Lancôme and Clinique after incomes her MBA from Harvard. Prior to that, she labored within the funding banking division of Goldman Sachs, so she mixed these worlds to finally change into the CEO and co-founder of Sol de Janeiro, an American model that captures Brazilian magnificence in a jar. They launched with the Brazilian Bum Bum Body Cream and Samba 2-Step Foot Fetish Care in 2015, kicking off a physique care craze. Yang shares the six classes she discovered from dwelling in Brazil that inform each Sol de Janeiro product.

Sol de Janeiro CEO and co-founder Heela Yang

Courtesy of Sol de Janeiro

Flaunt what you’ve acquired. When Yang tried to put on a one-piece bathing swimsuit to the seaside, her husband mentioned it was time to go purchasing for some conventional Brazilian bikinis. “The entrance and the again of the underside are precisely the identical measurement,” Yang says. “And my husband’s like, ‘it is advantageous. This is how it’s. Why do you wish to cowl your self; you need to be displaying off your stomach.’ I get to the seaside and I’m trying round and it is simply such a beautiful, heat, open and enjoyable expertise. Everybody round me was so centered on having a good time. They’re simply folks of all shapes, all sizes, all colours. I actually didn’t really feel like an outsider, in the best way they accepted me precisely as who I used to be. There was little or no, if in any respect, judgment based mostly in your look and I cherished that feeling. I assumed the sweetness trade might actually use extra constructive messaging.”

Grooming doesn’t cease. Even on the seaside, folks had been busy taking good care of their hair and pores and skin, from slathering on sunscreen to placing oil of their hair. That’s when Yang realized how essential taking good care of your hair and pores and skin is to Brazilians. “They had been continuously enjoying with their physique and pores and skin and hair,” she says. “I seen that particularly as a result of I got here from the sweetness trade. They had been placing plenty of issues on their physique.”

Sol de Janeiro Dry Shampoo

Courtesy of Sol de Janeiro

Self-care is a part of the tradition. Sol de Janeiro not too long ago partnered with Brazilian mega pop star Anitta and the tagline of the marketing campaign is “boldly love your self.” “She’s just like the Beyonce or JLo of Brazil,” Yang says. “Our tagline is all about self-love and self-care. Those are phrases which can be fairly stylish now right here within the US, however they’re simply baked into the tradition in Brazil. All the sweetness routines and the way you maintain your self is absolutely baked into their DNA.”
(*6*) messaging is essential. Yang met one in every of her co-founders, Marc Capra, whereas dwelling in Brazil. “He went to go to for work and simply fell in love with how he felt when he was there,” Yang says. “He felt lovely. He felt needed. And he felt assured. He and I actually bonded over that have and that is how we ended up engaged on this model. A whole lot of founders search for a product to unravel an issue they usually cannot discover it. Marc and I felt like there was an emotional whitespace and so we labored on the model mission assertion. What will we stand for? What’s the message we wish to unfold? We actually crafted that story and the model and we mentioned what merchandise ought to we launch that might amplify and unfold this message around the globe? The means Brazilian girls carry themselves, 70% of your communication is finished by way of your physique—the best way they transfer, the best way they hug you, the best way they flip their hair. That was good for a model.”

Sol de Janeiro SOL Cheirosa ’62 Eau de Parfum

Courtesy of Sol de Janeiro

Don’t overlook the bum. Despite its identify, the Brazilian Bum Bum Body Cream—which remains to be a prime vendor at Sephora—can be utilized everywhere in the physique, however sure, it was the bum that impressed the product. “It’s their favourite physique half, to the purpose the place Brazil is the one nation on the planet that has a bum contest,” Yang says. “It’s like Miss Universe, besides it’s extremely particular. They are obsessive about their bum bum, and that is another excuse why they’ve the most effective becoming denims. We mentioned we should always create a physique cream that is impressed by that and makes your pores and skin really feel actually smooth, and in addition firming and smoothing. Why would not you wish to put it throughout your physique? That was inspiration.”
Think exterior the perfume field. When the Brazilian Bum Bum Body Cream launched, it was uncommon for a luxe magnificence model to make use of a gourmand perfume as an alternative of one thing citrusy or floral, nevertheless it was the suitable match for Sol de Janeiro. “Our model is joyful and sensual,” Yang says. “We wish to contact all of the senses; it is a very sensorial product. What you place in your physique smells actually scrumptious and we thought was good for our model.” All Sol de Janeiro scents have a signature base of almond and vanilla. “Cheirosa” means to scent extremely good and scrumptious in Portuguese. All of the numbers within the Sol de Janeiro fragrances have that means. For instance, Cheirosa ’62—a mix of salted caramel, pistachio, jasmine and vanilla—is called for 1962, the yr Brazil grew to become globally recognized for its tradition, when Havaianas flip flops grew to become widespread, Bossa Nova was performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City for the primary time and “The Girl from Ipanema” music was launched.

https://www.forbes.com/websites/celiashatzman/2021/07/19/how-ceo-heela-yang-infused-6-brazilian-beauty-lessons-into-sol-de-janeiro/

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