As a group of women working towards common goals for STYLE Canada‘s brand and business, we understand the value of peer support in the workplace and this feature is on Sarah Cheung . So, after our last Supper Club at Soho House, we decided to bring like-minded women in business together and feature them in an ongoing series: #LeadingLadies.
In the exclusive interview with Digital Editor Anastasia Barbuzzi below, learn more about Sarah Cheung: founder of SACHEU Beauty.
SACHEU Beauty founder Sarah Cheung
AB: If you were introducing yourself to someone for the first time, what would you tell them?
SC: I’m a pretty private person IRL so I probably wouldn’t tell them anything unless they ask – ha ha.
AB: Who or what has been a strong influence in your life?
SC: My mama! She’s the biggest inspiration behind SACHEU Beauty and everything else I do. Everything I do at the end of the day is just to make her proud. Her and Megan Thee Stallion.
AB: What is your greatest achievement over the past decade?
SC: Professionally, definitely SACHEU Beauty. I had no idea what I was doing when we first launched and now we’re selling in retail internationally, formulating new launches, and even the Kardashians are showing some organic love to the brand – all less than a year after launch!
AB: How did your formative years in Hong Kong inspire your beauty ritual?
SC: I think there’s a much stronger ‘skincare first, makeup second’ mentality in most Asian countries. My grandma always told me how important it was to take care of my skin since a young age so it’s no surprise how much of a skincare freak I turned out to be.
AB: What makes you so passionate about skincare?
SC: My upbringing definitely played a part but my turning point was definitely when I struggled with acne as a teenager and realized how much misinformation was out there. I didn’t understand why there were so many irritant heavy skincare products and that prompted me to start doing my own research on ingredients.
AB: What’s your skin care routine like? Give us all the details.
SC: I’m always testing out different products, especially now that I’m the number one guinea pig for SACHEU Beauty. But, I always follow the same formula: cleanser with roller or gua sha, toner, serum, moisturizer, and SPF in the morning.
AB: You’ve said that you believe in no-nonsense beauty. What do you define that as and how does it apply to your brand?
SC: The ‘nonsense’ I see a lot is unnecessary fear mongering in skincare marketing. Ingredients that have been deemed to be safe for decades such as silicones and mineral oil are now unjustly demonized in the skincare industry due to marketing. Despite the fear mongering we didn’t shy away from controversial ingredients like silicone when we formulated our Thick Skin Serum because it’s a perfectly good skin conditioning agent. We also don’t include unnecessary irritants like fragrances to make a skincare product more appealing. Bottom line is we just want what’s best for skin.
AB: What motivates you to keep creating in such a competitive, ever-expanding market?
SC: From testing and reviewing thousands of skincare products, I knew what was lacking and what needed to be improved from a skincare consumer’s point of view. But with my own brand I could actually implement these changes I’ve always wanted to see in the skincare industry from the product development stage. That’s the biggest motivator for me.
AB: A portion of your company’s profits go to Futures Without Violence, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women and children escape violence. What inspired this move?
SC: It’s always been a priority for me to uplift women, but the decision to work with Futures was mostly from my own experience of coming from an abusive home. I knew back then that if I ever am able to get out of that situation, I would try my best to help others that are still stuck.
AB: What are your goals for SACHEU Beauty?
SC: I want to start going into more bottled skincare products and making our products more easily available everywhere.
AB: What do you love most about the work you do?
SC: I’m a bit of a control freak so I love being able to decide what ingredients go into our products and learning more about ingredients with our chemist. But the best part is when someone personally DMs me to let me know how much they loved our products. It makes the months of work to bring a product to life so worth it.
AB: What advice would you give your 16-year-old self?
SC: Don’t be so hard on yourself, you’ll be okay! Also start wearing sunscreen.
AB: If there’s one message you could send through your platform, what would it be?
SC: Love on yourself and wear your sunscreen!
To read our full review of SACHEU Beauty, tap or click here! (LINK TO #BEAUTYFIND)
