People often ask me what the name SOULU means. It is simple: soul = you. Before you try our products or sit in our studio chair, I want you to know how this brand began. Honestly, it is more of a history than a story. There is enough of it for another book.
It Started During Lockdown
The idea of SOULU came to me in 2020, during the strangest, most uncertain time any of us remember.
We were all locked in our homes. I could not see my clients, and among all the real, life-and-death worries, they were also worried about their brows. It sounds small, but it was not: for many women, their brows are part of how they feel like themselves.
So I recorded a video showing how to care for brows and tint them at home. The response was huge. And that gave me an idea. What if...
What I Learned From My Clients
By then I had been working with women for more than ten years. I got to know them closely: their lives, their problems, their dreams. And I noticed something.
Women come to me for beauty, but outer beauty is not all that matters. Inner peace and harmony are what bring out our true beauty and authenticity.
That idea became the foundation of SOULU: beauty on the outside and from within.
A Clean Slate
Back in 2020 I had just finished writing my first book, There's No Magic Button for Success. I laid my whole past out on those pages, and when it was done I felt like a clean slate: ready for new ideas, new projects and new energy.
Tony Robbins and a Promise to Myself
I have a confession: SOULU did not happen without Tony Robbins. His Unleash the Power Within event in November 2020 played a big part. Tony is all about contribution, about serving and helping others, and he definitely steered my mind in that direction.
One of the speakers at that event was Jamie Kern Lima, the founder of IT Cosmetics. She spoke about business, beauty and building a beauty brand. She inspired me so much that I made a decision and a promise to myself right there:
I am going to combine the beauty industry and charity work, and build a brand out of it.
At that moment I knew something big was about to be born.
Beauty That Gives Back
From the beginning, SOULU was built around giving back: part of its profit goes to charity that supports women. I believe outer beauty should help inner beauty. When you use SOULU products, you take care of your natural beauty on the outside, and other women get support to heal on the inside.
SOULU Today
SOULU launched in January 2024. Today it includes products for brow care at home, like Soulu Eyebrow Tint and Soulu Brow Gel, professional products for artists, and our permanent makeup studio in Edgewater, NJ and the Soulu Academy, where I train new artists.
Every product, every procedure and every class comes from the same idea: you are already beautiful. Our job is to help you see it.
With love, Nadia
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nadia Afanaseva
Founder of Soulu, AAM-certified permanent makeup trainer
Nadia has worked in permanent makeup for more than 15 years and performed over 20,000 procedures. She leads the Soulu studio in Edgewater, NJ and trains new artists at the Soulu Academy.
