Zoe Wasfy is co-founder of Wild Science Lab – a new range of natural, vegan and sustainable haircare and skincare solutions.
Tell us a bit about yourself, background and your current role
Mother of two children, energetic and enthusiastic, I have worked in beauty for many years, behind the scenes in both the creative and practical sides of product development. My work with front line, global brands led me to discover some extraordinary ingredients that were truly transformative for customers, it has never ceased to amaze and humble me, the power of self-confidence that healthy skin, hair and nails can bring. It is humbling that a few small changes can deliver such fundamental change in someone’s relationship with their reflection each day.
My personal revelation, the turning point in my career, was following my pregnancy. I experienced profound hair loss and I found as a customer this was an area cloaked in secrecy and indignity, defined by unimaginative and clinical products that disregarded experience and luxury.
This personal mission to find a solution was met with a devastating, deafening silence around the topic of hair and scalp health and a plethora of poor performance products that did little to nothing for my hair and scalp.
They say necessity is the mother of all invention and that is certainly true for me. I started to use the knowledge, experience I had built up over the years working behind the scenes, to investigate new formulations with a team of experts and scientists that might be effective.
With time, many iterations and experiments…we found a balance of ingredients that soothed and helped repair my irritated, inflamed and sensitive scalp and I started to see a noticeable difference in hair length, thickness and strength.
I am passionate about helping other people rediscover not only scalp and hair health, but also establish that beautiful, natural glow that simple, nutrient rich skincare can deliver.
With experience in beauty and wellbeing, I knew the answers lay in harvest of the natural world. My husband and I decided to use our experience to help build something that would help others. We started planning our innovation in haircare and skincare, establishing a team of experts, chemists, and scientists to create a line of development natural effective products. When you bring together necessity and determination; it is a formidable force that results in creativity and originality.
Did you ever sit down and plan your career?
I love planning and organizing things but when it came with planning my career- it lit up suddenly and took me down a path full of innovation and ideas.
Have you faced any challenges along the way?
Challenges are a part of daily life; they spring up from every direction and it is my goal to accomplish them. My current job, creative director, is presumably one of the most challenging roles to face. But no matter how hard or complicated the challenge is, I always find a way to fulfil my ambitions and solve it.
What has been your biggest achievement to date?
Wild Science Lab is my greatest achievement, and I had many people to inspire me and help me on the way. The products are designed carefully and elegantly, everything I do I put my absolute best into- and that’s the biggest accomplishment.
What one thing do you believe has been a major factor in you achieving success?
My family, who have inspired me every step of the way, and especially my husband (CEO of Wild Science Lab) who is very supporting and encouraging me to reach my full potential and fulfil my goals. Overall, The Wild Science Lab team of experts have been working hard as we all have aims for success.
How do you feel about mentoring? Have you mentored anyone or are you someone’s mentee?
I love mentoring, and I am both a mentor and a mentee. Learning is a life-long process and I often find time for learning, despite the fact that my schedules are very crowded and it is occasionally difficult to find time for learning and mentoring.
If you could change one thing to accelerate the pace of change for Gender Equality, what would it be?
One thing I would like to change for women to be given more rights to be able to take up higher status roles in the politics, arts, sciences, sports, and other fields.
If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self what would it be?
- Don’t let the small problems bother you- there are bigger challenges to come
- Work hard and don’t let anything stop you from reaching your potential.
- Live life, breath air and keep reaching up to the stars!
What is your next challenge and what are you hoping to achieve in the future?
My next challenge is to continue development of products, innovating, investigating new opportunities in ingredients and sustainable product creativity and to make Wild Science lab, a workplace that facilitates creativity, transparency, and innovation on a daily basis.
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