Yarden Natsia's, GS '21, "Self-Discovery" Through Skincare

Upper West Side NY

27 September, 2021

3:47 PM

Description

Columbia Daily Spectator BY JULIET TOCHTERMAN SEPTEMBER 26, 2021 Yarden Natsia, GS '21, spent much of her time at Columbia seeking out skincare preferences from her peers. During her three years at Columbia, Natsia often reached out to fellow students, asking for their advice on her skincare brand "Yardè." According to her, these polls were quite effective. After its launch in 2020, Yardè and its products began appearing in celebrity Instagram stories and selling out online in Israel, where the brand currently exclusively sells. While the novelty of her products, which are sustainable and aesthetically pleasing, partially accounted for her initial success, Natsia maintains that it was her initial "stupidity" that drove the brand forward. "If you want to be an entrepreneur, you need to be stupid because if you're going to be realistic, nothing's going to be done," Natsia said. "You're going to think, 'this is impossible.'" Upon transferring to Columbia from New York University in 2018, Natsia quit her job, took out a loan, and began working on Yardè. She spent the next three years developing her product, first conceptually and then watched the brand come to life after samples began processing. From the start, Natsia relied on in-person feedback from her Columbia classmates who aided her in formative decisions that informed the brand's direction. Additionally, insights from Natsia's coursework dictated some of her major decisions—Natsia conceived of Yardè during her second semester at Columbia while taking Lisa Dale's course "Challenges of Sustainable Development," which revealed to her a discrepancy in the skincare market. As Natsia saw it, the same skincare companies advertising their use of natural and sustainably sourced ingredients were those selling single-use products in plastic packaging and shipping them in packages stuffed with tissue paper. The material costs of this disparity are not insignificant. An alarming amount of cosmetic packaging is produced by the skincare companies per year—in the range of 120 billion units—most of which is not recycled. All of Yardè's products are packaged in glass containers, which are more energy-intensive to produce than plastic but can be easily recycled. Natsia ultimately hopes to offer a service that refills these glass containers and returns them to the customers. As of now, Yardè stops short at picking up the containers and recycling them. With sustainability in mind, Yardè was always a deeply personal affair, or as she puts it, a journey of "self-discovery." Natsia describes the development of Yardè as a process that critiqued, exulted, and reimagined her personal history all at once. According to Natsia, she sold creams, lotions, and serums, products that her mother never wore. "In my family, being a woman—how I was taught—was very different," Natsia recalled. "My mom doesn't wear makeup. She doesn't take care of her skin. She doesn't even apply SPF." Natsia also credited Yardè with reconnecting her with an underexplored aspect of her identity. Yardè aligned Natsia with her Iraqi grandmother, who Natsia says "is 74 but looks 50″ because of her enthusiasm for skincare. Even to this day, her grandmother is deeply intertwined with Yardè and is one of the first people Natsia confides in about her brand. Like most other students at Columbia, Natsia was forced to vacate campus and take online courses at the start of the pandemic, around when Yardè was first being launched. For Natsia, who thrived off the energy and insights of others, the quarantine threatened the lifeblood of her creativity and resolve. She also had to reckon with launching a sensorial product virtually that was best sold in person where it could be touched and used. Without the option of in-person salesmanship, Natsia turned to social media to spread her brand. Social media advertisements that began on Instagram and expanded to Tiktok, Twitter, and Facebook, started simple, mostly featuring Natsia and her close friends, but it was not long before social media influencers and local celebrities chimed in with endorsements for Yardè. Photographers and models began reaching out to Yardè and, according to Natsia, sales soared. "You know it's so stupid thinking it's going to sell," Natsia recalled. "Why do you think it's going to sell? But it worked." When Natsia received the first batch of her skincare line, fully packaged in all its glory, she cried. However, the tears were short-lived. Natsia's mind was—and still is—on the next steps. Her present focus: bringing Yardè to the U.S., a move which would entail expanding production from about 2,000 to 300,000. However, Natsia is not daunted even by this task. "It doesn't matter," Natsia states, "Hopefully we will sell out even at 300,000." Staff Writer Juliet Tochterman can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow Spectator on Twitter @ColumbiaSpec. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.