Zach Charalambous, Founder & CEO of Discovered Brands
Why is CEW membership important to you?
I have always emphasised the power and importance of developing and maintaining relationships, both in business and personal life. CEW is an amazing network of incredible people in different parts of the beauty industry. I love that CEW aims to connect and empower people from all over the globe and encourages a collaborative mindset instead of a competitive one. As an entrepreneur myself, I know the struggles of starting a new business and the excitement of it taking it off and sustaining success. It’s amazing to see how CEW helps new and small businesses grow and helps larger existing businesses sustain their success. I hope to become a CEW member to help others and discover new brands to help them grow as well.
What is the most exciting aspect of your current role?
I love being part of a journey and making a difference. My favourite thing about my career is seeing results and the ongoing success stories for our brands upon launching them into new markets. I am in such a fortunate position to have amazing relationships with retailers and partners, which I then share with our brands to create a successful launch and sustain that success afterwards due to these relationships becoming stronger and stronger every day. The feeling of a successful partnership never gets old.
What are you most excited about for your business in the next twelve months?
I’m excited for us to continue to grow and work with existing brands and new brands on their evolution and growth, generating existing exposure and visibility in the UK and Europe markets. Since day one, we have been all about growth without sacrificing our integrity or our key relationships, and we are constantly evolving to keep up with the constantly changing industry. We have some exciting new brands in the pipeline who we will be working with later this year – all to be revealed very soon!
What do you feel is the most important quality for someone to possess in order you have a successful career?
Hard work. As cliché as it sounds, there truly is no substitute for hard work, and there is no quick fix for success. Dream big, work hard, take calculated risks and treat every day as an opportunity to learn.
What advice would you give to someone starting in the industry today?
The beauty industry is complex and highly competitive, but the key is to get started. Work hard each day and when you reach your “crossroad” be in a position to seize your opportunity. Another important piece of advice is to establish and nurture a network – do not underestimate the power of people and relationships.
What are the values that you believe are important in developing a successful beauty business?
There are three main values that come to mind: authenticity, quality, and trust. Authenticity for a brand is all about a reason to believe. This can be in the in the form of a mission, image, products, formulations, branding, packaging, and communication. A successful beauty business also needs products that work, packaging and branding that resonate with consumers, the importance of sustainability, transparency and, more importantly than ever, make people feel good about themselves.
What learnings have you taken from the unprecedented events of the past two years?
Over the years so much has changed right before our eyes. We have had to adapt and be open to change. Consumers constantly navigate online and offline worlds, and transparency remains at the forefront in terms of products, progress and giving the audience the tools to express themselves across all platforms.
How can we better support women in the workplace?
We can better support women in the workplace by ensuring they are given the opportunities they deserve and the tools they need to help achieve success. Through working with brands like Briogeo and OUAI, I see how hardworking and dedicated these female founders are and how amazing their products are. I feel so lucky to have been able to help these brands launch in the UK, and I will continue to do the best that I can to support these amazing women and others.
www.discoveredbrands.com
@discoveredbrands