The Unexpected Path
Hey Glow Up Girls!
I’m Vasavi, a volunteer at Glow Up Tech!
At our first virtual day party in August, we had the pleasure of listening to speaker Christina Louey of Aralea Beauty! Christina, whose professional career began in the corporate tech world, shared the story of how she was able to start her own small business. Originally from Houston, Christina left her home state to receive her undergraduate degree in Economics from U.C. Berkeley and started her career in Silicon Valley working as an IT consultant with Yahoo and Netscape. She then decided to pursue a Masters in International Affairs, which she earned at Columbia University. After working an international finance career that took her from New York to Hong Kong, Christina and her family decided to settle down in Vancouver, Canada, where she currently resides.
Although she was satisfied with her tech career, Christina’s time in New York sparked her interest in the fashion and beauty industry. She had this interest throughout her career, but as a mother, she looked at the industry with a different perspective. Christina began to pay a lot more attention to the ingredients used in her beauty products. After realizing that there weren’t many clean beauty brands that fit her standards, Christina decided that she would be one to fill that spot in the market—with Aralea Beauty!
Having an idea is one step of the process, but following through and starting one’s own business proved to be difficult. Because she was starting from scratch, Christina had to work out all the kinks that came with a brand new business. From creating a website, to working on formulas for her products, Christina had to do everything herself. She had to think about her target demographic, what kinds of products she wanted to develop, the packaging she wanted to use, among other major business decisions.
Christina did have a lot to learn, but she was able to use many of the skills that she developed through her previous corporate tech career. She had learned valuable skills that helped her in areas of her company such as marketing, negotiating, and finance. She also took bootcamp classes on starting a company and beginning the manufacturing process that just added more knowledge and resources to her toolbox. After working through many formulas, Christina has released her Vitamin-D infused lip balm and gloss at araleabeauty.com!
Like many girls these days, choosing a major in college and an eventual career path stresses me out! There are so many options and it’s impossible to have a clear idea of what you want your future to look like at such a young age. Christina’s story truly inspired me because she showed me that even though you might choose one career path in college, you may end up doing something completely different down the road! What I liked most about her talk is that even though she did end up switching career paths, she was able to use the skills she learned from her previous corporate job to help her launch Aralea Beauty!
Make sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok (@glowuptech) to hear more about Christina and her journey creating Aralea Beauty! Also don’t forget to sign up as a member so that you don’t miss out on valuable learning from our speakers!
