Hi fam,
I want the 'ÂN-UPDATES with Aly' to be unedited, uncurated, transparent, real, and raw because you guys are the EPITOME of the ANIFSA Skin family, so it only makes sense that I am utterly myself with you guys.
Unedited - because life and business are not a perfectly edited highlight reel. They're messy and hard at times but also amazing, crazy, and beautiful.
Uncurated - because building a brand is anything but that unless you are, of course, looking at our Instagram feed, haha.
Transparent - because building a brand, building a company, building a team is freaking HARD, and not enough people share what it's reallyyy like.
Real and raw - because behind every company are real human beings that experience everything you too, experience. Doubt, fear, frustrations, but also joy, fulfillment, and love.
We sent out a beautifully edited newsletter blast earlier this year on our actual 6th birthday as a company. But I also wanted to write one from my heart - the unedited, uncurated, transparent, real, and raw version.
ANFISA Skin came to fruition in early 2018, and I still can't believe how quickly six years have flown by—but we really are JUST getting started!
Thank you to our community; you are at the heart of literally everything we do here at ANFISA Skin!!! And to those who have supported us from day one, I see you, and I appreciate you. Your support has not gone unnoticed; our community makes everything worthwhile. Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your grace as we've grown, learned, and evolved, something we will keep doing forever because what is life, what is a brand without growth!?
Thank you to my co-founder, husband, partner, and best friend for always believing in me even when I couldn't believe in myself and for building this brand alongside me. You are the real MVP.👑
Thank you to our incredible team for being the smartest, most creative group of humans I know. We have some genius-level humans building this brand alongside us, and we would be NOTHING without them. Go, team GO!
The journey of building ANFISA Skin truly has been a rollercoaster; the Entrepreneur Rollercoaster is real (a must-read, btw). The highs have been high, and the lows have been, well, low, and at times, it's felt like you're free-falling altogether with no net at the bottom to catch you. And just when I ask myself if any of this is really worth it, I am reminded that adversity is an inevitable part of it ALL: building a brand and life in general. Challenges and hardships in business, as well as our personal lives, force us to find that inner strength we never knew existed, building resilience as if it were a literal muscle, learning ohh the MOST valuable lessons through it all. When I tell you perseverance has REALLY taken on an entirely new meaning, I mean it.
No amount of research or preparation can prepare you for the actual journey of building a bootstrapped brand from the ground up. Unfortunately, the mistakes have been expensive (as they usually are in business), but building a brand does not come with a blueprint, so you are growing, learning, pivoting, and evolving as you go. And just when you think you've overcome your biggest challenge, an even larger one presents itself. But that is the essence of building something; it's like you are constantly solving a puzzle but a really hard one that you will never completely solve. Not recommended for the faint of heart, haha.
I only understood what people meant when they said entrepreneurship is a hard and lonely journey once I embarked on this journey myself. I always thought, oh, the people who say it's hard and lonely just aren't doing it right...and boy, am I here to tell you they were unfortunately right, it is so, so, so HARD and so, so lonely. The few friends you have mostly can't relate to or understand you, and some of your once closest friends become your biggest frenemies, saying nice things to your face but doing everything they can to tear you down behind your back because crab mentality is a REAL thing.🦀
Despite it all, every hardship and every challenge that has broken me has also built me, shaped me, and molded me into the person I am today, and for that, I am so immensely grateful. Building this brand has been a journey that forced me to grow and build myself. I am not the same person I was six years ago. Today, I am stronger both mentally and physically. I am more disciplined and resilient. I don't get offended or hurt as easily. I've become kinder, more patient, understanding, and forgiving. Every obstacle has, in turn, contributed to this never-ending journey of building myself, and finding myself, and that has been the greatest gift of all. 🫶🏻 🎁
Thank you for being here; thank YOU for allowing me to create and pursue my life's passion and purpose. I am beyond blessed and fortunate to do what I love every day (even the days that bring me to tears), and I don't ever take that for granted.
"The same wind blows on us all; it's not the blowing of the wind but the set of the sail".
All my love,
