Spearheading glamorous biz of beauty

She believes in trying to set limits to work and treating personal time as seriously as one treats work time.  Samantha Kochhar, Managing Director, Blossom Kochhar Group of Companies is carrying forward the legacy and giving her best to the beauty and wellness industry in India.  She does not like dressing up in a business suit instead she prefers wearing dresses with loads of flashes of colour in them. Read more about her aspirations and plans for her company.

Give us a snapshot of your family life.

My immediate family consists of my mother Dr Blossom Kochhar and my son.  As you know, my mother Dr Kochhar is the world renowned aroma Therapist, Aesthetician, Cosmetologist and Educationist. I was a young girl when my mother started the company. I grew up in her salons and back stage in fashion shows. When you grow up around glamour, it’s what you want to do. For me, it’s been a way of life.

What drives you to work every day?

The responsibility to carry the legacy forward, the urge to give back to the industry as a responsible entrepreneur and to ensure that I am able to provide my consumers with nature derived products that are safe and environment friendly as well.

What opportunity your brand offers to the female aspirants?

Apart from being the Managing Director of Blossom Kochhar Group of Companies, I have also been the Chief Technical and Creative Director, Blossom Kochhar College of Creative Arts & Design for the past 25 years. BKCCAD acts as the apt platform for not only providing skilled and trained professionals to the industry, it also helps in improving skill quality as a training institute and encourages women who want to start a business of their own by providing then with franchises and training them to understand the nuances of the business. Since BKCCAD is well equipped with trained professionals from the industry, helps in providing knowledge and training to women who want to set up their own salons and business.  We also try to empower women by providing education and career options to make them self sufficient and independent.

Most challenging part..

It is a struggle every working professional knows well: how to balance the demands of life with those of one’s professional life. It is easy to say that career must take priority but the trick is to ensure that personal responsibilities, chores, relationships are in harmony with the professional ones.

I follow some specific rules as under since it actually helps you to get a reality check:

Try to set limits to work: This is something most career oriented people have a hard time with but eventually, one has to do it. Otherwise, work ends up running one’s life and one gets completely overwhelmed in the process. Setting limits involves learning to respectfully say no, delegating effectively, and setting time restrictions.

Treat ‘Personal Time’ as seriously as  you treat ‘Work Time’:When you tell your children you will be at their school function then treat it like any business appointment on your calendar. It is a commitment that cannot be shrugged off for something more important.

Learn to compartmentalize: You cannot just physically balance the time spent at work and the time spent at home to achieve balance. You must also balance yourself mentally. When you are spending time with your family, you cannot allow work to distract your attention. When you are doing personal activities, be present both mentally and physically.

Re-evaluate your priorities: Whenever you feel your life getting out of balance, take some time to consider what is most important. Learn to recognise what is important and what is just taking away your time, energy and attention. Set clear personal and professional goals and simplify your life to include only what is important in helping you reach those goals.

Most memorable incident of your professional life.

 The most memorable incident or rather the incident that changed my look towards life as an entrepreneur was when I use to visit the Cancer Ward in hospital where my father, Late Col Kochhar, was admitted. I observed, and realised that as an entrepreneur I am in a position to decide to do business which will help people put products that are safe and sound for them, their families and the future generations to step in. I made an aware choice to give my consumers a healthy environment. I feel my story as an entrepreneur started when I saw people suffer and I understood lifestyle has a lot to do with it, depending on what you ate, what you put on your skin, how you lead your life, choices you make and your thought process. Everything plays an important part in impacting your health. By choosing to provide the people of the society with healthy and harm less products, I steered my professional life to the direction where it has become my passion to bring about a change in the life, health and environment of the people by providing them with products that are nature derived and promotes an organic way to lifestyle through Blossom Kochhar Aroma Magic product range.

Expansion plans for 2015-16?

My plan for our brand Blossom Kochhar Aroma Magic is to create a vision for integrative and holistic wellness. The company has been growing at the rate of 20 per cent and we do expect a higher percentage in growth this year. We have a pan-India presence though with dominance in certain markets. Traditionally we have always had a strong presence in North and East India with a sizeable contribution in revenue from these two areas.  However, we are also well accepted in the Western and Southern Markets. We are now focussing our attention to the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Bangalore specifically. The next 12 months will see the launch of the first franchise Blossom Kochhar College of Creative Arts and Design, more Blossom Kochhar Aroma Magic Franchise Unisex Green Salons and COCO (company owned and company operated)  stores across various cities of India.