With an extensive background in pharmaceutical and leadership, Supriya Mody is the visionary entrepreneur behind the luxury skin-care brand ‘Future Me’. She has combined her expertise to create a brand that does not only exude luxury but is embedded in quality and customer focused.
Leading with ‘Wings to your dreams’ as the brand’s tagline Supriya intends to empower women to take control of their dreams and embrace their uniqueness, beauty and imperfections.
GLAMOUR caught us with Supriya to learn more about her product and journey.
Tell us a little bit about Future me, where did the idea stem from?
I cannot talk about Future Me without talking about my story, and where I come. My family has been in the pharmaceutical industry for the past 70 years, I worked in the business as CEO of our international formulation business. Pharmaceutical is the most regulated market in the world, so I come from a background that ensures quality, and I wanted to create the most beautiful luxury brand in the world, luxury in its experience, texture, touch and fragrance, but also has efficacy.
What is the significance behind the brand name ‘Future Me’
When I say Future Me, the name has nothing to do with me personally. Future Me is every single customer of this brand - It is completely customer centric. I wanted to resonate with the customer and their dreams, it is essentially their journey to the future. Everyone of us has dreams and aspirations about who we we want to be, what we want to look like. Future Me is a reminder to work towards your future self and be defined the way you want.
How was the process of creating the product from scratch?
Future Me took 7 years to formulate, 5 years was purely focused on the product and the packaging design - for me product is not just the inherent core - in luxury packaging is as important as the product, there's no point in getting something good inside, that's not good outside vice-versa - so I did not even think about marketing, pricing or anything before I got my product right. Quality is not a requirement, it is air that we breathe, I wanted to create my own legacy and take forward my family’s legacy and not take away from it.
Do you have a favourite product from your range?
All my products are beautiful, but my serum is amazing, it is so light and works for different skin types, I also love the fragrance in the product, I am addicted to it. The fragrance is very personal to me because I know the journey and I know the challenges - to come up with something so personal and yet so appealing, to everyone. All my products are my babies. I love every one of them But the one that I can't live without is definitely the serum.
How do you define beauty?
I think beauty equates happiness, Everything in life for me boils down to being happy. When I look in the mirror, I want to be happy, when I walk out of a room It's happiness that gives me confidence. It's happiness that makes you feel good about yourself . A woman who feels beautiful always has a smile on her face and is always happy. We have many things that contribute to how we feel, there's never going to be a time where every single thing goes smoothly so you need to find a way to feel beautiful every moment of your life.
What has entrepreneurship taught you as a woman?
The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most competitive industry and there’s hardly any women, and one thing I have absorbed as a woman is that men love to underestimate you. I don’t take offence at this because I know my capabilities and I believe in myself. If you believe in yourself and not take no for an answer the sky is the limit and as a woman you must believe in yourself even more and be self assured.
What made you want to launch your brand in South Africa?
I was heading my family business and part of my job led me to South Africa and when I got here, I felt like the air was different, I was mesmerised by how beautiful this place is, and that started my love affair with South Africa, I began coming here more often, I learnt more about the people and made the most beautiful relationships and fell in love with a man from Cape Town and now we are married. South Africa changed my life and the way I think.
I have travelled all over the world and I have seen beautiful products everywhere but when I came to South Africa for some reason I felt the market was not saturated, and I discovered a lot of global brands have never launched their brands in SA, they come here last and for me the potential of the South African market is huge and I want to differentiate myself by saying we are the first global luxury brand to launch here, and this is my way of saying thank you to this country, I could not find a better way to do this than show my love, dedication, commitment and confidence with Future Me.
What are you most excited about for Future Me?
I want the women that buy this brand to start living their dreams and loving their lives, and not to think that they are just using the cream or moisturiser but be emotionally connected to Future Me.
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