A decade ago, beauty entrepreneur Sasha Aziz would never have been able to tell you the triumph of building a beauty brand. Fresh out of school, Sasha started her career working as an air stewardess for two different low-cost airlines. She found herself struggling to make ends meet. This, coupled with the strong urge to do more in life and provide for her family, encouraged her to resign from her job after four years of hard work.
The Beauty Vanguard: Empowering Women through Confidence
Despite not having a strong foundation in business, Sasha somehow always knew her calling was within the realm of beauty and health.
“I love beauty and I’m always taking care of myself and my appearance. Hence, I decided to start a business with the core offering being slimming products. I also love working out, eating well and wanted to portray that version of myself more on social media. I think it was perfect that I started this journey around the time I had my kids. It allowed me to really be authentic in showcasing my journey, inspiring people to live a healthy lifestyle through the products I sell – and that’s how my business started.”
In 2018, Sasha and her sister Bie Farah, embarked on a journey to empower women in the beauty and health industry. Their brand, aptly named “SuperWoman,” started as a humble online retailer offering waist trainers. However, fuelled by their shared passion and an unwavering sense of bringing change, Sasha and her sister quickly transformed SuperWoman into a local powerhouse, offering a range of beauty products designed to empower all women alike.
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After 6 years of putting her passion into business, Sasha is known as the CEO, founder and face of SuperWoman Sdn. Bhd. Growing her business’ Instagram platform to over 100,000 followers and her personal account to over 400,000 followers, Sasha is dedicated to sharing her daily lifestyle, diet, exercise, and routines with her fans. Sasha’s vision for SuperWoman is not just about hard-selling products; it’s about empowering women to embrace their beauty and live life to the fullest.
“I’m not a celebrity or anybody really, but I think that’s what differentiates my brand. I share my journey; I want to inspire people. Our philosophy is simple, Inspire, Empower, Transform. It’s not just hard selling a product but it’s about churning out valuable and educational content along the way.”
Poise Product Positioning
Having started as a small online retailer and with waist trainers as their first product, SuperWoman has now grown to offer over 10 signature products. This includes their detoxifying DeTea, the nutritious Koko Shake, the transformative Wonder Curve, the skin-brightening Vita Fair Skin, and the confidence-boosting BoobJob. Alongside these are their Fat Burning Creams (CurveHot Lotion), Girdle Pants, Meal Replacements, Milk Boosters and not forgetting their best-selling Bengkung Strap and Corsets. Just recently, they announced the launch of their “Tak Lapa” Chocomilo meal replacement consumable – catered for both high-end and mass consumers.
Tak Lapa is SuperWoman’s latest offering, which represents a combination of KokoShake and DeTea, made from carefully curated ingredients like L-Carnitine, Guarana Extract, 12 Multi-vitamin Stevia, Oat Beta Glucan and protein, which can suppress appetite up to 5 hours.
One of SuperWoman’s standout products is their Girdle Pants, a revolutionary garment that enhances curves and provides support, giving women the confidence to flaunt their figures. This product, along with others like the Wonder Curve and BoobJob has become a staple in women’s beauty routines, helping them achieve the look they desire without compromising on comfort or style.
When sharing the thought process behind the products she puts out, Sasha shares three main approaches:
“One, I look at my competitors. This means what they do, and more importantly, what they do not do. Two, the products I create must be products that relate to me and my lifestyle. Something I would use. For example, I wanted to wear waist trainers that were easy to use and had comfortable material, hence I created one. Three, I cater to what women need, this more often than not is based on my own journey as a mother of two. A lot of mothers especially look up to me.”
These approaches have fared well with SuperWoman – now becoming synonymous with quality, prestige and exclusivity – just what Sasha set out for her brand.
Starting from Zero
From being a one-woman show to now having a team of agents across the country, a discreet (and sometimes overlooked) strength that Sasha possesses is addressing her weakness from the get-go.
“I’m not embarrassed to admit my roots. I knew from the start that I didn’t have a business background, I was a nobody, but I’m always seeking to improve. Knowledge is important and I can’t tell you the number of trainings I attended and how much time I’ve invested in keeping up to date with business trends.”
With Malaysia’s beauty scene flourishing and new players entering every other day, one would find it easy to drown in a saturated beauty market. However, Sasha has been riding the waves in differentiating her brand and has since formed a loyal, ever-growing beauty community.
Describing her journey as a ‘roller coaster ride,’ Sasha views herself and her brand as one, where you can’t have one without the other.
“One of the toughest challenges I faced in sustaining a business across 6 years will always be the competitors. There are so many factors we’re competing with, including prices. However, I’m confident that SuperWoman’s unique offering has also been using my journey as the key differentiator. I show everyone my lifestyle, and how these products are incorporated into my daily routine. I shared my recovery journey after two children and a C-section delivery; and until today, I hear testimonies from mothers on how my products have helped them in regaining confidence.”
Being all about proven results, she makes it a practice to showcase her own story as a beacon of inspiration. Having a lean figure and practising healthy habits have propelled Sasha’s brand’s image to not only inspire mothers but to recruit agents who are willing to become a spokesperson for her brand.
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Beauty Knowing No Bounds
In Malaysia, it’s safe to say SuperWoman has dominated the e-commerce platforms. Their multiple awards, growing presence on TikTok and Lazada, as well as their widely dispersed agents across Malaysia are all a testament to the existing demand and the right strategies being deployed to address a need in the market; the need to be confident and empowered.
Having made her mark in Malaysia, her Canadian husband then threw out the idea of expanding internationally. Behind this decision was also the realization that there was too much focus going into the Malaysian market. Here Sasha realized she might be missing out on other opportunities. Quickly realizing the potential to capture other markets with bigger consumer bases and more profitable price points, SuperWoman’s operations gradually expanded across borders to Singapore and Brunei. Sasha also has plans to penetrate Amazon for better global reach.
“I do have to admit that social media is a good entry strategy. I’m not sure how I would have done it if we had a society that was not active on social media. Even in Singapore for example, I leverage on my agents in Johor to bring the products across the border and utilize Shopee Singapore.”
For Sasha, remaining grounded as international expansion takes off is the most important facet of her journey. She aspires to be a business owner who not only manages to grow organically but remains humble.
Sasha is also active in educating people on developing healthy practices through her products.
“I have never claimed my waist trainers and meal replacements are the sole ingredients to achieving your ideal body. If you tune in to my social media livestreams, I’ll always emphasize the need for a healthy diet and how my products complement your journey. You won’t lose weight or get your ideal shape solely through my products. It always starts with your diet and other influencing factors.”
SuperWoman stands by a core belief that creating a healthy lifestyle doesn’t have to mean drastic changes but instead, introducing gradual small changes to daily routines.
“There’ll always be people who disagree with my approach and products. I’ve had people tell me my products are the wrong way of doing things and can even ruin your organs. But hey, I’ve been doing this for 6 years now and I know my products more than anyone.”
Leading a Team of Inspiring Women
Sasha portrays her leadership with compassion and empathy and truly believes every woman deserves to feel beautiful and confident through all aspects of her brand. Aside from creating content collectively with her team, Sasha emphasizes the need to seek feedback from the people she works with. This means growing her brand from their ideas as well. Though firm when it comes to work, creating a healthy environment where everyone in the team looks up to each other is crucial.
“When building my team, I believe you attract who you are. I would like to think that I attract people like me, who have a vision to be successful. I recruit and make sure I impart knowledge from what I know. I don’t just see them as agents, but I treat them like sisters. Many members of my team have been with me through these past 6 years and they pride themselves on having a curious mindset that fosters growth.”
Reflecting on Her Journey
Sharing one piece of advice for budding beauty entrepreneurs, Sasha highlights the importance of being brave enough to take risks. She implores everyone to look at her story as an example – where though she started from nothing, she chose to be a risk-taker and made calculated moves to get out of her comfort zone.
Interestingly, Sasha is an introvert by nature.
“I find it difficult at times to interact with people and you can often catch me in a corner by myself in large events. That’s not always the best thing for an entrepreneur who needs to market herself and carry a brand. I initially struggled to get on stage or even be on camera. I overcame that simply through practice and pushing myself out of my comfort zone. There’s nothing to be scared of really, if you don’t give it a try, you’ll never know.”
Standing tall behind a brand that enhances beauty and helps women with their insecurities, and mistakes made throughout her journey has made SuperWoman into the brand that it is today.
As a woman, wife and mother, Sasha will continue to share her secrets of maintaining beauty and fitness with everyone. As SuperWoman continues to expand its product range and reach, Sasha assures its mission remains unchanged: to inspire women to live their best lives, full of confidence, beauty, and health.
You may purchase SuperWoman products at their official website here.
Credit
Text by: Farrah Darma
Digital Editor: Lira Jamaluddin
Photographer: Bibo Aswan
Fashion Stylists: Andrea Wong and Mughni Che Din
Clothes: Syomirizwa Gupta
Makeup: Aida Jasmeen
Hair Stylist: Aireenz Rashid
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