Working With My Mum - Mother's Day Appreciation
Hi, I'm Noor the co-founder of Sugar Coated and this Mother's Day I wanted to share a bit about what it is like working with my mum Rosie Khandwala and going on this Sugar Coated adventure together.
From a young age, I had always been surrounded by sugar waxing and hair removal. My mum would take my brother and I along to the factory every now again when production was running and we would help out by capping jars or labelling boxes, just little jobs here and there whilst she would manufacture mainly to keep us from messing about!
When I joined it was partially in a marketing position, writing press releases, running social media etc. The other part of my role was where my mum and I have spent the most amount of time and that is manufacturing. As a family business, we have always made everything ourselves inhouse and since I joined the business that has been my mum and me. We fill the batches, which is where she would teach me about the temperature from when it begins to be ready, to checking it is the right texture to start filling. Then we will spend a couple of hours the next day capping and cleaning the jars and will chat away whilst we do this; anything from current affairs, to music to family gossip (one of our favourites).
Some of our best and funniest bonding moments have come after a disaster. Last year we were running a late afternoon batch. We were both in the office working when I went to check the temperature, I saw the batch had spilled over the top. I called her quickly in a panic. We shared a couple of brief expletives, filled the batch and then set about cleaning up. It was times like this that she would remind how lucky we are to make sugar wax, because all we need was the hot water hose and some elbow grease to clean it up. We were done in a couple of hours, tired but laughing about the experience.
We have the same spirit about the vision for the Sugar Coated. She has influenced me a huge amount in my business principles. She has always put ethical manufacturing and business at the forefront. Making products that are cruelty free, vegan, natural eco-friendly has been crucial. These are our core values of Sugar Coated Hair Removal.
I’ve learned everything about sugar waxing from my mum, from manufacturing to the application to the best ingredients to use for aftercare. There hasn’t to this day been a question about sugar waxing that I have had to google. I’m proud and lucky to have learnt about this industry and the product from her. She has the expertise, now my job is to make sure that doesn’t end with her but evolve it and make sure it adapts. That’s my passion for Sugar Coated going forward. To make sure my mum’s legacy and professional career are continued.
If I’m honest, for the first few years I would be a bit sheepish about telling people what I did, it wasn’t what most guys in their 20s were doing. Now, I tell people proudly, and I’m even prouder to tell them I do it with my mum!
Noor Khandwala - Co-Founder Sugar Coated