Actor-turned-entrepreneur Aashka Goradia Goble, who is best known for television shows like 'Kkusum', 'Baal Veer', and 'Naagin', ventured into the beauty business with her cosmetic brand Renee, as its co-founder, and hasn’t looked back at showbiz as of yet.

The boss lady speaks exclusively to The Free Press Journal about building a business, her new line for pre-teens, challenges encountered, and more.

Excerpts from the interview:

What are your earliest memories of makeup?

My earliest memories of Makeup are of me trying to dress up like my mom. Sneaking up her lipsticks and blush to add a pop of color to my face and wear my hair like her. And how can one forget Maa’s kajal, every time she would put that small dot on me, I felt that I had a piece of her. I also recall playing with dolls, dressing them up and lots of pretend play with cousins.

What motivated/inspired you to switch from a successful acting career to a full-time entrepreneur?

After a two-decade-long career as an actor and experimenting with makeup for my various looks, I realized the power of makeup to transform an individual. While I was always inclined to be an entrepreneur, fate took me towards acting, and yet the flame of delving into business was always alive. As life gives what your strongly manifest, I started this brand with a single product, eyelashes. And later, I partnered with my friends who were looking to start something in the cosmetics category and had already disrupted the male grooming sector.

What were your biggest challenges when you started off?

Every kind of work, irrespective of the field, comes with its own challenges. But, facing those and overcoming them is what helps you grow as a person. Set life is very different from a corporate office. There are new issues to deal with every day and I take every task as an opportunity to learn something new and grow as an entrepreneur. It is important for a person to evolve. It has always been my dream to be a successful businesswoman and I’m living it.

You’re also competing with other personalities from showbiz who have forayed into the beauty business.

Right from its inception, our brand has always been unique in its approach. We always wanted to stand out from others and pave our own way into our consumers’ dressing tables. The objective was to imbibe the power of makeup and come up with innovative products and change the way makeup is perceived, and to achieve that we kept innovation as our core and presented our consumers with never seen before products, not just in terms of packaging but provide them with an overall experience of applying professional quality makeup with ease.

Did anyone underestimate or try to talk you out of it?

Whenever you start something new, setbacks are bound to happen, and I feel they are essential to understand failures and celebrating successes. What matters is that you take them as a learning and ensure that you turn to the positive aspects of the journey. Yes, there were some people who were concerned and said that running a business is not easy and you’re an artist, how are you going to manage it, and many things. It's just that most people underestimate you and make primitive judgments about you but if you believe in yourself, all of that is just noise and you should just focus your energies on your goal.

What makes your latest line for pre-teens safe? Some might question if it’s too early for kids to haul on makeup.

I believe there is no age that comes with makeup. We all have longed for makeup as kids and we've seen kids do the same too. There's no denying that makeup draws us inherently at some time or another but “when” is the question, what is that right time? This is the right time! If all of us can have a makeup kit in our dressers, then why not for our pre-teens? By providing makeup that's carefully created with safe ingredients and dermatologically tested, we can introduce makeup to our pre-teens safely. All the products are designed by keeping pre-teens in mind, they’re playful, colorful, and easy to use and also infused with nourishing ingredients like avocado oil, shea butter, olive oil, and more. Mothers won’t have to deny their little ones the colors they’ve been using for all these years. It’s time to give wings to what they want to be, safely.

As a woman entrepreneur, what do you have to say to those who are hesitant to take the big step?

I believe that skillset has no gender, and nobody can limit your capabilities because of your gender. Your risk-taking appetite, creative streak, and overall passion are quantified and relevant to run a business successfully and justifying your end goal.

Have you really bid adieu to the entertainment industry forever or is there a chance of coming back?

You never know when an exciting opportunity can come knocking, so never say never!