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Ruhela Begum
Ruhela Begum is the powerhouse behind the organic, vegan friendly skincare brand Mona Living. For adults and children alike, the collection embodies simplicity from its ingredients right down to its packaging. The she-EO has understood that not every customer will like every product, however she has ensured that there is a product for everyone in the Mona Living range. Also an advocate for women, Ruhela tells WOTC how she has unified women from different backgrounds and career paths and why time for yourself is key.
WOTC: Where did it all begin?
Ruhela: I've been in skin care for a long time. It's kind of evolved from just loving to take care of my [own] skin. I think I'm more skin than makeup and one of the reasons is probably because I can't even apply makeup, [she laughs]. We have a few other businesses, so I wanted to do something that was standalone from that, because we already have an in-house team that does everything. We wanted another arm to the business.
WOTC: And prior to this, what were you doing?
Ruhela: Many different things. Our story when we started, we didn't have any money. We got married, had kids, and I was working for other people. I worked in mental health for a long time. Then because of the kids, life was very hectic and I decided to leave that and stay at home, but I always wanted to do something for myself. So, I took a year out for myself, to figure out what I wanted to do just for me - not being a mom or a wife or anything like that.
WOTC: We love that and what did you learn from that time?
Ruhela: I learnt that I'm quite good at things that I didn't think I would be good at. So I think I learnt a lot of things about myself. A lot of the things I dislike about myself; that I'm so anal or I want everything to be perfect - these things were kind of my strengths as well. So, in that time that I was off, I was networking with people, I was going to events and looking at how other business women did it. I have another platform called ‘Boss Women’, and while I was doing that platform, I decided I wanted to hold events for women to inspire one another. It wasn't about just business women, it was about all women from all walks of life. So she could be a cleaner, a stay at home mom, a CEO or someone who is career driven. I feel like because I've learnt from so many people, these little nuggets of information, I wanted everyone to be on a level playing field, and so I got many women together from all different jobs and backgrounds. While I was doing that, I was working on the skincare side, so it all happened in that year that I took out for myself. I ended up creating two brands.
I created those two and then I then joined our family business and then that's when Mona Living really started to grow. So, we did a soft launch and invited a few people around Manchester such as celebrity stylists, just to get a taste of the brand and we invited Ikram Abdi, the hijabi supermodel, so she came and we just got a feeling for the product. We do a lot of projects, which some may take the sideline a little bit, so we start and stop, start and stop, but we always continue to gift people. One thing I say when I gift people is ‘give me your real you. Don't do it because it's an ad or because it's a gifted product’. Because if it's something that you're not enjoying, you could take a look at the website and maybe say 'well that hasn't worked for me, could you give me this other product'. I want to work with real reviews.
The whole thing with Mona Living isn't just skincare, because it's an extension of my personality. I do have good skin and a lot of it could be genetic, but on the other side, I take care of what I put inside my body and I am a non-filtered person and I try to advocate that to my friends and to my children, because, when you're doing filters for fun, it's great, but I know people that can't look at themselves without a filter. I think it's really sad to have that so close. To me, Mona Living is not only skincare, but it's a practise of what you drink, what you eat, what you read, it's all of those things. To me, it's definitely a whole package. It's not just a magic cream. It’s about being consistent with skincare, because this is a foundation product. So these are your good based products and then you build on them with all your other products. So for me, it's definitely skin first.
WOTC: What are some of the customer favourites?
Ruhela: The customer favourites have to be the body scrubs, the cleanser and the micellar water. Those are the standalone products that people absolutely love. The body scrub not only exfoliates, it gets your blood circulation going, and afterwards you feel really nourished because it has Vitamin E oil in it, so it's not a dry scrub. The cleanser takes off makeup really well and is just a really good creamy cleanser.