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Diipa Büller-Khosla profile imageDiipa Büller-Khosla

As a to-be-mom and founder at the same time—Diipa Büller-Khosla learnt that she couldn’t have it all. Here's how she stayed focused.

Diipa Büller-Khosla on the challenges of launching her skincare line indē wild while pregnant

At the age of 12, I promised myself I’d be pregnant by 30. I had this life plan mapped out since I was young. Being a goal-oriented person, the ideas of building a family, growing my personal life and starting a business were always top of mind for me. People can say that I plan too much and that I’m a control freak, but on the flight back to India this time, I watched King Richard [the biopic about Serena and Venus Williams] and a phrase from the film really resonated with me: “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” My whole life, therefore, is one grand plan, and I’m always trying to figure out what’s next, and what I have left to achieve. But this also meant that I did two of the biggest—and most important—things at the same time. I got pregnant and gave birth to my daughter Dua, while creating my skincare line indē wild as the COVID-19 pandemic was raging.

What happened during the pandemic was that I finally had time. It was the perfect time to start giving shape to this idea of a skincare brand I’d had for a while, but was unable to focus on earlier. When you’re a full-time influencer, you’re always pulled in different directions, between all the trips and brand collaborations and shoots, that you don’t get the time to think about your own business. I was realising that from a career point of view, I was desperately looking for more. Honestly, being a Punjabi, entrepreneurship was in my blood. As an influencer, I had achieved everything there was to achieve—the brand deals, the parties, the collabs, the magazine covers. I had been the first at a lot of things, and in a lot of ways, I walked so that several others in my field—people who looked and sounded like me—could walk. I needed a new challenge and wanted to try my hand at something different.

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"My whole life is one grand plan, and I’m always trying to figure out what’s next, and what I have left to achieve." Photo: Instagram.com/diipakhosla

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"Being a goal-oriented person, the ideas of building a family, growing my personal life and starting a business were always top of mind for me." Photo: Instagram.com/diipakhosla

But straddling these different roles was an uphill climb. In the beginning, as I grew both my babies—my real baby and my brand—mentally, physically and spiritually, I was totally overwhelmed. I was struggling with insane morning sickness, and since I was in the first trimester, I couldn’t even tell anyone. I’d sit to work on stuff with my team and have to leave midway to puke my guts out. There was this one time I had a major investor call, and I’d spent the whole morning throwing up. I was sitting on the call, nervous as it is, pale as a ghost, feeling ultra sick, and feeling like I wasn’t doing anything right. I was talking to people about investing in my business, but I was crying on the inside—it all felt too much.

But it was a time of major learning. When you’re put through the wringer like that, you learn a lot about what kind of mom and what kind of business owner you’ll be. I decided to be a very open one—I spoke to my family, my team and even the investors I was talking to about what was going on. You can’t compartmentalise the two—I was a to-be-mom and a to-be-founder at the same time, and both were super important roles to play.

I also learnt that I actually can’t have it all. It might be what you’re told, but I learnt that you have to start giving some stuff up for the important things to really stay focused. The content creator facet of me will always be important—content is the core of everything for me. But I’m also learning to say no a lot. When I went to the Cannes Film Festival this year, I was so sick. My face was swollen, I had crazy allergies. I was just being stretched way too thin, and this was my body’s way of saying that I had to pick and choose what I was going to make myself available for. While I would do six red-carpet events earlier—just because I could—I’ll do just one now.

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"I learnt that you have to start giving some stuff up for the important things to really stay focused." Photo: Instagram.com/diipakhosla

Figuring out your own definition of beauty

When I decided to create indē wild, I knew I wanted to create a brand that signifies the two worlds that I was living in. Ayurvedistry—or the coupling of superfood ingredients with conscious chemistry and actual science—is where that midpoint lies. I got to learn what the audience was looking for thanks to my social media following. I wanted to create a truly global Indian brand that spoke to everyone I engaged with. Why does the design for all Indian brands have to be gold and covered with elephant motifs? I wanted to make it modern and make it look and feel like a product from 2022, not something that our moms or aunts used.

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"When I decided to create indē wild, I knew I wanted to create a brand that signifies the two worlds that I was living in."

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"I wanted to make it modern and make it look and feel like a product from 2022." Photo: Instagram.com/diipakhosla

Raising funds for Indewild was a crazy journey. In the very early stages, I raised $1.2 million in the first round through primarily female angel investors—they believed in me as a person steering this ship of a product line I just had in my head at the time. In the second round, where we raised $3 million, we had the numbers to back us up. We did in the first few hours what we did in a month, and that meant that we were able to sell our story to a lot more investors who were interested in coming to the table.

I might have started a skincare brand, but I’ll never tell you that my products are the vehicle to perfect skin. They’ll help you take care of your skin and help it look the best version of you. That’s my definition of beauty—whatever helps me feel good about myself. I would tell my daughter—and everyone who follows me—to create your own definition of what beauty is to you. Don’t let brands or the media give you an specific ideal to feel like you have to match up to: figure it out for yourself along the way instead.

Also Read: Masoom Minawala on failure, privilege and staying honest on social media

Also Read: Aashna Shroff: “A bold eye, a bright lip feels more like artistry and experimenting than a routine”

Also Read: How entrepreneur Michelle Ranavat re-imagined some of the most time-tested Ayurvedic beauty rituals


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