Nature's Touch

Ishween Anand, founder of Nyassa Bath & Body, tells Tatiana Dias how her natural journey began.

- Tatiana Dias

From pursuing an MBA in New York to earning big bucks at Wall Street, she found the entrepreneur within her, and chased her lifelong dream. Ishween Anand, founder and CEO of Nyassa, opens up about her transition from a lucrative career in finance to beginning her journey as a successful entrepreneur in the beauty and wellness industry.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR LIFE BEFORE NYASSA WAS FOUNDED.

After completing my chartered accountancy exams, I did my MBA in Finance from NYU Stern School of Management. I worked in GE’s asset management division and then joined Ernst & Young in Manhattan, where I began handling mergers and acquisitions for the consultancy.

But given my financial background, I’d spend most of my time on soapmaking.com instead of the wallstreetjournal.com. This interest and hobby became an obsession for me and therefore, Nyassa was founded in 2007.

HOW DID NYASSA COME TO BE? WHAT INSPIRED YOU?

Nyassa was a modest but passionate attempt at creating world-class soaps with ingredients that are natural and wholesome. It was the wonderful and mysterious fragrances that lifted me on the days I was stressed with my job in New York. I wanted ‘fragrance’ to be the key theme of Nyassa. We now call this way of thinking ‘From Heaven And Earth’. One after another, over the past 10 years we have added several other products to our existing range, but we have never wavered from our philosophy of natural, wholesome products with heavenly fragrances.

HOW DID YOUR CAREER HELP YOU ESTABLISH THIS BRAND?

Being in financial services and consultancy, I certainly had the insights and understanding of pricing and cost, of many other businesses. Clearly, having insider knowledge helped me set up my own business—Nyassa Bath and Body.