In our Meet the Maker series, you hear from our Makers on their journeys as entrepreneurs and how you, The Grommet Community, have changed their businesses for the better.
We’re kicking off 2018 by catching up with Simone Xavier of Sigma Beauty. Simone, along with her husband Rene, with backgrounds in civil engineering and molecular biology, teamed up to identify an urgent need and design a solution. And the result is an innovative way to clean your makeup brushes–a makeup brush cleaning glove. Hear more about what it’s like behind the scenes of Sigma Beauty.
What has been the most surprising aspect of starting a business?
The most surprising aspect of starting Sigma Beauty was the way our love for engineering and science has helped our customers solve beauty problems. Being different and developing outside-the-box solutions has been our most valuable asset and helped us build a devoted fan base that’s as hooked on innovation as we are.
What advice would you have given yourselves 10 years ago?
Get organized and be ready to grow fast. Stay true to your core values. Remain committed to excellence and innovation, and it will pay off. Quality is a universal language spoken by customers around the globe.
Where do you find design inspiration for new products?
Our product design inspiration is heavily influenced by our customers’ needs and our engineering and scientific backgrounds. We listen to their problems and work hard to provide them with a smart solution. We put ourselves in our customer’s shoes and often find that our own needs are a very good predictor of products that will be useful to them. We pay close attention to industry trends and try to be ahead of the curve, introducing products that will address the trends in a distinct and unexpected way.
What is the most challenging aspect of starting a business?
When a business grows relatively fast, building the perfect team might be considered a challenge–one that is passionate about the brand, and is as committed to its success as we are. We have been very lucky to be able to build a dream team at Sigma. 2019 marks our 10 year anniversary, and there were challenges throughout our growth process, but these challenges were always solved by professionalism and commitment from our great team.
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
Invest in quality and success will come. This has been a core value for our company. We do not launch a product unless we believe it is the best it can be for our customers. Our commitment to providing our customer with high quality product is at the center of every decision we make.
How has The Grommet community helped your business since your original feature in 2014?
The Grommet has helped us reach customers who are focused on the same cornerstones that we are: quality, function, and innovation. We love working with a community that shares our values.
Anything upcoming you’d like to share with our community?
We have just launched two new colors for our Practk® Palmat®, and are always working on developing the newest, never-before-seen tools that will solve our customer’s’ beauty problems. More to come!
To learn more about Sigma Beauty, watch our video here.