Channimol Kea of BESOMA: The Power of True Self-Identity in Building a Million-Dollar Skincare Brand

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Channimol Kea.

Channimol is a Cambodian-American entrepreneur and female founder of a cruelty free, clean and effective skincare brand called BESOMA that is dedicated to providing high quality skincare products with no compromise to empower users to take control in their skincare routine and educate users on effective and safe ingredients. She launched her brand in 2019 and currently has thousands of happy users around the world.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

Growing up in Cambodia, I would see a lot of women use harmful products to bleach their skin to get a fair tone but those products are very harmful to their skin and health. Because skincare education and knowledge was very limited then and still is right now but getting better, they would use whatever sellers tell them to use to get fair or white skin. After living in the US for 2 years and finishing my school, I wanted to start to find a solution to that. So in 2016, I became a skincare seller/recommender/advocate of safe products that I curated specifically for their skin and concerns.

I would spend hours learning and doing research on skincare related topics everyday and night and doing live streams on our Facebook page to talk to our consumers about those topics from skin problems, skincare tips, solutions and most importantly skincare ingredients along with product suggestions. Back then there weren’t many sellers who were doing what I was doing so we attracted their attention and their trust as a result they kept recommending our page to their friends and family who are looking for safe high quality skincare products.

Our business started to grow bigger and bigger. We have sent out shipments after shipments of US skincare branded products that we curated. As my passion in skincare grew more and more, I started to look for a skincare lab to work with in 2017 on formulating our products using only high quality and safe ingredients. Fast forward to 2019, I launched my own brand BESOMA that focuses on safe, clean and effective products for those who are looking to get the results but don’t have to go to a dangerous route or compromise their health to get the glowing skin and bury the idea of getting fair/white tone but healthy skin that glows from within.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

When my business was starting to get noticed in early 2017, I had several of my Facebook friends who own companies and businesses in Cambodia inboxed me that they are interested in investing in my business to make it bigger because they see my potential and the way I conducted my business. Unfortunately I turned them down respectfully. However, I still think it’s pretty cool that they were interested in my business and gave it the value they saw. Recently this happened again when one of our customers asked if we are going to go public with our company and that they would buy our stocks which I think was very interesting and it was an honor actually. I am just blessed they see our potential and all.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I remember back then there was this trend going around and I tried to jump into it to try to get lots of views for my live streams. It didn’t work as I had thought but I think it was a funny experience and it only goes to show that we just have to remain being our true self and shouldn’t give too much attention to the trend because they come and go. There is only one you and that should be your forever trend.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

My whole family is my huge supporter but if I have to choose one particular person, it is my husband. He was working to support us and encourage me to follow my dream. One day, I told him I wanted to get a job and work on my business ideas on the side so we both could make incomes but he disagreed and told me to just stay focused on my business plan. Look at it now, I don’t think I would achieve what I have achieved if I had gotten a traditional job back then. I started my business as a skincare seller with 3000$ in 2016 and right now we are doing $2.5M in revenue from 2019 to 2021 with Besoma in the US.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?

There are actually a few things really that are holding back women from founding companies or creating businesses. Historically, women were made to stay home, clean, cook or look after children while men were breadwinners especially if you’re born in Asian countries like Cambodia where daughters are expected to stay at home to do household chores while sons can go out and do whatever they want. Growing up, whether we want to or not it seems like that’s all we see and it limits our ability to think bigger or do bigger things like men.

At work, women are expected to work more and get paid less which results in less savings, less time and less energy to start a business. Lack of support also plays a role in preventing women from founding companies as the system tends to be in favor of representing men in business more than women and men tend to get approved faster than women if they go to take loan to start a business. According to Harvard Business Review, women received just 2.3% of VC funding in 2020, an absolutely staggering 19.6% drop over 2019’s all-time high of 2.8% (a fraction that was disturbingly minute itself).

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

Thankfully, our society is working harder and harder everyday to fight for gender equality. Government and companies could help eliminate these obstacles by giving fair wages to women, fair hours and granting them promotions to move to upper positions. Create or host events that promote women entrepreneurs and gather aspiring women founders to share their experiences and stories. Empower them to get into it if their hearts feel like it’s the right thing for them to do. As individuals, the responsibilities of household chores should be divided equally between partners. It shouldn’t be put solely on women but both of partners. As for ourselves, we women must be confident, brave, courageous, trust our intuition and take a leap.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

More women should become founders because there’s no reason not to:

• Female led businesses generate higher revenues thus benefit the economy. Startups with women on the team are less likely to fail.
• Female founders are more likely to give back to the community and be involved in social responsibility.
• Successful female founders are seen as role models to other women so they know that they too can succeed in the business sector.
• Female founders create businesses that speak to them and as a solution to problems other women face.
• Female founders tend to recruit female employees thus creating a great working environment for other women to thrive.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?

There are definitely some myths I would like to dispel about being a founder.

• “They are money-hungry people.” It is true that to operate a healthy business, one must need a good cash flow but it does not mean that money is everything. When leaders are motivated by money, they often make decisions that do not benefit the companies in the long term. Instead, when we put our hearts and souls into doing something we are proud of with all efforts and determination to make a change in our society, money is not the most important thing that comes to our mind because it will come to us naturally. Don’t chase money, let money chase us.
• “They have a lot of funding to start their business.” It is not entirely true. Not all businesses need a huge sum of cash to start. A lot of founder’s funding, like my case, comes from our own pockets. The thing is knowing clearly what you’re doing, accessing all the risks and expenses, starting from small, then all you need is your savings.
• “Being a founder will make you rich fast.” It can take years for some start up businesses to see positive cash flows. It’s all about grinding and making your way up there. There is no shortcut if you want to have true success.
• “Founders have more free time”- While it’s true that founders have more control over their schedule, they have much much less free time. Some days they will have to stay up all night or wake up in the middle night of the night to solve problems if needed.

Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?

I don’t think everyone is cut out to be a founder. You have to be very comfortable getting out of your comfort zone because you’re going to do that very often, everyday. Another part of being a founder is having to know how to work on smaller jobs yourself before you can hire other people. In my case, my husband and I have been moving shipments out of our home garage ourselves twice a month, preparing orders everyday in our basement until we reach the point where we are comfortable moving to the fulfillment center. As a start-up business, every little thing, every dollar counts and if you’re not very careful with that, you will not go on for long. Another trait of being a founder is the ability to work with no rest, sometimes with sleepless nights and no days off. Start-up founders have control over their schedules but it doesn’t mean that they have much free time. My husband and I work 7 days a week, and an average of 14 hours per day. While others are sleeping and taking days off, we are working. To be a founder, you have to be willing to take risks. Nothing is certain in business. Risk-taking enables and encourages new ideas, products and services for the business. Failed risks aren’t always negative but they can provide valuable lessons for you to learn and do better in the future.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

Five things that i think women can thrive and succeed as a women founder are:

1. Be confident and believe in yourself- Never let self doubt or negativity get to you when it gets hard. Businesses can be slow sometimes and it might cause you to doubt what you’re doing and sometimes want to give up, but don’t, and instead, keep pushing forward and keep doing it again and again. Life is hard and so is business but you have to believe in yourself no matter what happens.
2. Know your purpose and find a deep sense of why and never treat money as the only source of motivation- It is important to know why you’re doing what you’re doing, otherwise on those days that are just hard, it will be difficult to stay positive and keep going. So having a clear purpose and a deep why you’re doing what you’re doing will keep you going forward.
3. Always listen to your customers- It can be hard to receive criticisms, however if it is a constructive one then it is so important to listen to them and make sure to do something about it so customers can see your improvement because after all they’re the ones who are using your products everyday. In addition, they will be likely to become more loyal to the brand after they see the change you have made.
4. Be resilient- Some days are hard and if you don’t know how to bounce back, you might not survive the battle. You must have a strong mentality of never giving up when you meet obstacles.
5. Focus on the result- It is so easy to get lost and overwhelmed in the process however if you keep focusing on the end result, it will enable you to be right back on track again and stay focused on achieving your goal.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

I am blessed to be where I am today and a big part of it is because of our amazing customers who have always been there for us and supported us throughout the years. I would say that we together have created a fun and enjoyable environment for consumers who are looking to gain more insights in skincare related topics as well as ingredients. So far, we have helped so many consumers understand more about their skin’s health, skin concerns, knowledge of what to look for in skincare products and identify harmful products that they should avoid.

As far as our products, we are dedicated to work harder with our chemists and scientists at the lab to formulate amazing products for our customers to benefit their skin. Skincare industry is one of the most polluted industries and as we are growing bigger, we are also looking into sourcing more sustainable packaging for our products and becoming a more socially responsible brand.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I would host an event where skincare lovers and professionals meet up once a year to empower each other and share knowledge as well as experiences. We would pick a different topic every year and go in depth on it. I think a lot of people will be greatly benefited from this event.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Definitely Emma Watson and Vicky Tsai.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.