How Floriye Elmazi did it: I Sold My Car & Built a Cult Haircare Startup Founder Story
Floriye didn't mean to start a hair care brand. She had been in the beauty industry for 16 years, doing facials and hair styling, and she formulated her own skincare for her dad, who has psoriasis all over his body. When she set out to create a new skincare line, her business partner Rina joined the venture — and as they talked about skincare, they realised they both had hair care problems too. Floriye's view was simple: "we should be treating our hair the same way we do the skin on our face." Sisterwould became a premium hair care brand, scientifically formulated with skincare ingredients for the hair and scalp.
The inclusive mission came from Rina. Floriye recalls that Rina asked "how about people that can't read packaging," because their own mums couldn't read the packaging on the bottles and didn't know which one was which in the shower. There are 2.2 billion people who suffer from blind and visual impairments, and only 15% of them can actually read Braille. The brand added Braille, then went further with its own tactile system — lines for shampoo and dots for conditioner — and a sensory layer of texture, scent and tone to help blind and visually impaired people differentiate the products further.
Getting there took two and a half years. The development was hard, especially the packaging: one manufacturer made the bottle molds, but when the bottles came back they collapsed and had no structure, so the team had to start from scratch and find someone new. Different beads in the shampoo were melting away in formulation. Floriye sold her car and thought that would be enough to start a business, but the costs kept coming — website, branding, things they didn't even know about when they started. They were afraid to launch and didn't feel ready, but they needed to launch to sell product and keep the business going. Her conclusion: "just start even if it's not hundred percent" — "perfect is unachievable."
To avoid launching to crickets, Floriye and her partner built a community before they had a product. Both already had their own social Instagram — Floriye had been doing makeup for 16 years and Rina had been a beauty blogger in the US — and they used those platforms to grow a following, run giveaways, build an email list and a landing page, and DM girls to ask what their hair concerns were. The brand gained thousands of followers pre-launch. They reached out to retailers from the beginning, landing Revolve in the States as one of their first partnerships and later Chemist Warehouse in Australia. And by contacting celebrity hairstylists on Instagram and messaging their agencies, they got Sisterwould onto the heads of A-list celebrities — Lindsay Lohan even gave them her personal number to ship out her products.
Underneath all of it is a personal story. Floriye became a single mom with no finances to start a business and didn't know how she was going to take care of her boys. Her background was accounting; she missed art, did a makeup course, and found her passion. She built Sisterwould — a name that means the brand would be there for others "just like a sister would be" — because she didn't want to get old one day and realise she never tried.
What you'll hear
- A skincare idea that became hair care — formulating skincare for her dad's psoriasis, then realising hair should be treated like the skin on your face
- Why every bottle has Braille — 2.2 billion people with visual impairments, only 15% who can read Braille, and a tactile lines-and-dots system on top
- Two and a half years of trial and error — collapsing bottles, beads melting in the shampoo, and starting the packaging over from scratch
- Selling the car to start — bootstrapping as a single mom with no finances, and why she launched before feeling ready
- Building a community before a product — Instagram, giveaways, an email list and DMing girls about their hair concerns so launch day wasn't crickets
- Getting into Revolve and Chemist Warehouse — reaching out to retailers from day one and using one win for credibility to get the next
- How the celebrities happened — DMing celebrity hairstylists and agencies until Lindsay Lohan handed over her personal number
Key claims from this episode
Chapters
Quotes from this episode
we should be treating our hair the same way we do the skin on our face — Floriye, on the insight behind Sisterwould (03:06) there's 2.2 billion people that suffer from blind and visual impairments and only 15% of them can actually read Braille — Floriye, on why the product has Braille (03:29) I sold my car and I thought that'll be enough to start a business — Floriye, on what it really takes to bootstrap (07:40) opportunity doesn't just come you have to go and get that opportunity — Floriye, on landing retail partnerships (16:45) Lindsay Lohan gave us her personal number to then ship out her products — Floriye, on how the celebrity placements happened (17:43) perfect is unachievable — Floriye, on launching before you feel ready (08:18)
Themes Floriye returns to
- Everyone deserves to be seen and included — the accessibility mission, from Braille and tactile imprinting to lowering the price so more people can access it
- Just start, even if it's not 100% — launching before feeling ready, because perfect is unachievable
- Go and get the opportunity — opportunity doesn't just come; reaching out to retailers, hairstylists and agencies from the beginning
- Build the community before the product — using existing Instagram followings, giveaways and DMs so launch day isn't crickets
- Purpose over outcome — it doesn't matter to her whether the business fails or succeeds; it's about how it impacts someone's life
- Celebrate the wins along the way — remembering how far you've come, because you get lost in the journey