How I Fought Gender Barriers to Build a Skincare Brand in India

When Shalaka Lawrence told her parents she wanted to launch a skincare brand in India, her parents were afraid for her.

“When I broke this news to my father, he said do you know what you’re talking about,” said Lawrence, an MBA student at HEC Paris. He was worried about people taking advantage of his daughter, 31, who would have to navigate societal barriers in a state, Bihar, that doesn’t easily welcome female entrepreneurs.

Yet her parents were used to their daughter’s independence from moving across the country at age 21 to marrying outside her faith. They would always support her.  

“My husband calls me a lioness,” Lawrence said. He reminded her that she can deal with any situation: it would be very tough, but she would get through it.

Female entrepreneurship runs in the family. After raising six children, her grandmother scaled a chain of schools during her 40s, while her mother created a toiletries business. 

To help her get started, her father used his legal background to complete the administrative paperwork and her brand Revita was born in 2024. The company name is a blend of her Catholic name, Rosalia, and that of her younger sister, Evita.

“A lot of the credit goes to my husband. I have been working on this plan for years. Implementing it was something I was not ready to do yet, because I felt like I’m being irresponsible.” 

The couple was living in Dublin at the time and her husband decided to do an MBA, just as she was hesitating to create her business. Lawrence was undecided because it meant spending their savings on a new venture while he was in school full-time. “I was in two minds—look for another job or pursue my dreams.” 

Her husband told her not to worry where the money will come from. “‘If you believe in it, it will come’,” he said. “‘I will not help you at all, but don’t worry about falling or failing because I’ve always got you.’”

Lawrence left her job of nearly seven years, as the Global Lead for Training, Change & Policy at Accenture, where she led a team spread across five countries. It took nearly a month to find the right suppliers for her organic hair and face mask. She visited the factories to be 200% sure of what they were selling.

The predominant mentality in the Indian state of Bihar does not believe women should work outside the home, Lawrence said. “You can do the maid work but not work in a company. This mindset only prevails in Bihar’s rural sector and not the urban sector.”

Many of the women she approached to work for her had accepted it as their normal, but the younger generation were excited to work in a company. Lawrence hired three women, two of them filled and sealed the packaging, while the other managed the accounting. 

“Then they started talking to their relatives as well, and they said it’s actually very nice; I get to work on my own time and look how much money I’m making,” Lawrence said. 

One of the women’s husbands, however, arrived at her doorstep with the police accusing her of female racketeering. “Thank God my husband has done public policy, and he has contacts in every state government. My husband made a few calls and they backed off.” Her husband, who was now studying at London Business School, also provided home security for extra protection. 

Getting shops to stock her masks, Goodwin, was also a challenge. Shop owners dismissed her while distributors inflated their prices.

Lawrence changed her style from casual to the traditional Indian Saris, tied back her hair and placed Sindoor, a red powder, in the front part of her hair, signifying she was married. She returned to the markets with a firm voice and posture. “Anytime I sensed someone was trying to belittle me, I would make my voice stronger, louder and sterner.”

Lawrence was flying back and forth between India and London, where her husband was attending LBS. He encouraged her to pursue an MBA if she wanted to expand her business.

“He would wake up at 3 AM to make coffee for me while I studied for the GMAT exam even though he had an 8 AM class.”  In September 2025, the HEC Paris MBA Program and received the Academic Excellence and Diversity Scholarships.

A breakthrough finally came in January 2025. She asked a large distributor in the Jharkhand state to ask the women in his family to test Revita’s products. “If you don’t find it good enough, I’m never going to bother you again,” she told him.

After two weeks of silence, Lawrence thought he wasn’t interested until he suddenly called and requested 50 boxes in the next two days. He told her to be prepared to double the supply if he’s able to sell it in one month.

Lawrence had the raw materials but had not yet packaged it. For the next 48 hours she prepared 1,250 packets to fill 50 boxes, nonstop. Her employees helped whenever they could, but Lawrence was mostly alone. When it was over, she couldn’t move her hands.

The distributor sold all 50 boxes and she signed a five-year contract. Thereafter, she sold around 20 boxes in the biggest supermarket chain, 9 to 9, during the Chhath Festival, Jharkhand’s largest celebration.

Today, Revita has approximately 20 employees with products sold in around 30 retail stores across the Bihar and Jharkhand states.

Before joining Revita, Lawrence’s first female employee could not afford to support her three children. As a result, she arranged for her teenage eldest daughter to be married.

Two years into her work with Revita, her circumstances had shifted in ways that once felt out of reach. She was able to support her second daughter’s enrollment in the police academy and send her youngest son to private school.

“She was initially renting a room and slept on the floor,” Lawrence said. “Now she has a proper one-bedroom apartment. She was very happy and said, ‘You know what, I got a fridge and a heater for myself.’ For us it’s basic, but for [her family] it’s a luxury.”

The woman who manages accounting for Revita was also able to pay for her undergraduate studies. She told Lawrence now she wants to pursue an MBA like her. “In many small matters I have been able to change these women’s lives and I’m so happy about it.”

Since arriving at HEC Paris, Lawrence wants to expand Revita to Europe and the rest of the world. HEC Paris is the best place to be to learn the market, what the French women want, and what they’re looking for. She is in the process of positioning her products to sell online and diversifying her offerings such as lip balms.

Looking back, she traces her belief in women’s independence to one pivotal moment. In 2015, Lawrence was completing her undergraduate studies when a close family relative suffered a paralytic attack. The medical fees were piling up, and she began working at Pizza Hut and teaching English on weekends to help with the family expenses.

Her mother had just launched her own business and felt that if she had a steady income, she would have been able to contribute. 

“That’s when I realized how important it is for women to be financially independent,” Lawrence said. “I’m going to make sure I include that society that is underprivileged. I really want to do something that is not just for me but will also benefit other women.”