In our latest post featuring female entrepreneurs in the region we have Alexis Horowitz-Burdick, founder and CEO of cosmetics e-tailer Luxola. She talks about how she unwinds with a glass of wine after a long day at work; the tenacity and mindset needed to roll with the ups and downs while building a startup; and how women around her are usually the ones who inspire her the most.
Alexis will also be on our panel discussion on female entrepreneurship at the upcoming Startup Asia 2013, along with some other awesome panelists that we’ve featured before in this series: Aileen Sim, Meri Rosich, Gina Romero, and Carmen Benitez. Be sure not to miss out on that.
But first we wanted to find out before about Alexis as a person and an entrepreneur:
Tell me a little about yourself.
Alexis: I’m originally from Boulder Colorado, USA. I have been in Asia for more than five years. I originally moved here with a Washington DC-based consulting firm called Frontier Strategy Group, where I had the opportunity to start the Asia business based in Singapore for them. I love it here and haven’t been able to leave since!
What does your startup do, and what is your role?
Alexis: Luxola is the leading e-commerce platform for skincare and cosmetics in Southeast Asia (SEA). I am the founder and CEO. My daily work varies widely but I am always working on the strategic goals of the business and am heavily involved in brand acquisition, sales, marketing, and operations.
How and why did you get started in this industry?
Alexis: This is my third startup and the second one I have founded. I really fell in love with the e-commerce space and knew that I wanted to create a platform that focused on customer service and product selection as its differentiators instead of price. I knew the beauty industry somewhat from my consulting days and saw that there was a lack of platforms in SEA that were above board (meaning, not gray or black market imports) for brands to work with.
Simultaneously, we did a lot of market research with potential customers and discovered there is a huge demand for many brands which were not yet available in SEA. We wanted to create something where we can work with brands to ensure their brand equity is protected, while simultaneously creating a shopping platform that had a great selection of brands, was easy to use, educational, and inspiring for women.
Why did you choose to move to Singapore?
Alexis: Originally the consulting company I was with decided this would be our HQ for Asia, so I didn’t really have a choice. But once I was here I just really fell in love with the country. From the perspective of starting and running your own business, the ease of doing it in Singapore and the support of the entire eco-system around is just above and beyond any other country in SEA.
Did you face any challenges in particular?
Alexis: Of course! I have faced a million challenges. I think everyone starting companies does, but I would say the biggest ones have been finding/hiring the right people, we have been very fortunate so far in that area but not without a ton of effort and some mistakes along the way.
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