Before Creating SHEGLAM, Sylvia Fu Was A "Good Little Boring Finance Student”

In Bustle’s Quick Question, we ask women leaders all about career advice, from the best guidance they’ve ever gotten to what they’re still figuring out. Here, Sylvia Fu, founder and CEO of SHEGLAM, talks about how she entered the beauty industry, how she stays motivated, and what she does before big meetings.

As founder and CEO of SHEGLAM, Sylvia Fu is at the helm of one of the fastest-growing beauty brands in the world. Looking back, this isn’t a position she imagined possible for herself as a venture capitalist, the job she had right out of college. “I was a good little boring finance student,” she tells me over Zoom, laughing.

Despite her finance background, though, Fu knew about cosmetics. “I covered consumer brands, and some of them were beauty,” she says of her early venture capital days.

Her real impetus to begin a beauty company, however, lies in her experience as an insecure teen. “I am an example of how makeup can change someone’s life. When I look back at my teenage years, I was always the top performer in academics, but I still had depression because of school bullying and toxic relationships,” says Fu. “I was afraid of being regarded as nerdy, not cool, not beautiful, not popular. At that time, makeup was really my superpower.”

As she began expressing herself through glam, she found herself stuck between choosing expensive, creative, quality products and affordable but very basic ones. “I always wished there was a better option in between,” says Fu. And that’s how SHEGLAM came about. “I wanted to build a brand that could provide affordable, prestige makeup products.”

After a serendipitous meeting with a company that believed in — and then financed — her mission, Fu built the business from scratch.

Around the time SHEGLAM launched in 2019, Fu was one of five women in their mid-20s working 90 to 100 hours a week to make everything happen. “It was a really tough time,” she says. Her guiding light, however, was the brand’s customers. “The only thing that really kept me going through that period was the customer feedback. I was really stressed and had trouble falling asleep, and I would read customer reviews to fall asleep every night,” she adds. “Positive feedback gave me power, and negative ones taught me how I could be better.”

In fact, Fu centers the brand around its consumers. “From day one, I have viewed our customers as SHEGLAM’s co-founders,” she says. “Most of our launches come from our consumers’ needs and we take inspiration from our community. It’s their support that keeps my dream alive.”

Here, Fu chats about pushing through challenges, what a typical day looks like, and her advice for women starting in their careers.

What does your morning routine look like?

I’ll often make a cup of tea first, then I will do my hair and makeup. While I do this, I’ll listen to a podcast — usually something about business trends or the beauty industry. When I do my beauty routine, I often test our new products, as well as new launches from other brands.

Lately I’ve been loving experimenting with my hairstyle. We just launched SHEGLAM Hair, so I’ve spent more time trying new styles.

I know reading customer feedback helps keep you motivated. What are other ways that you work through challenges without getting disheartened?

By running a large-scale global business, every day I face challenges from all different perspectives — competition from big brands, growth and management challenges, and how to keep delivering the best innovative products for our consumers. Though it changes by the day, they’re always there, and I’m learning my way through them.

To make sure I stay relaxed, I like to hang out with friends, find new restaurants, scroll TikTok, or watch K-dramas. I’m still working on finding more time to relax — I still face stress and anxiety when challenges come up, but it’s a process.

How do you prep ahead of a big meeting?

If I have time, I prefer to work outside and use the time to quietly go through key points in my head as I get fresh air. That helps me to become confident and stay calm.

What is your advice to women who are just starting their careers?

Be bold and take risks. It’s OK to be anxious and fearful. When I start something new, I feel this way, but it’s OK. Fear doesn’t disappear. We just need to learn to dance with it, take that first step, and keep moving. Try to learn from either success or failure.

Life is full of possibilities. Look at me — I built a brand from scratch in just five years, and now I manage a global team. I never imagined I could achieve this.

How did you improve your managing skills? What are your tips for that?

The most important point is to be respectful of everyone. You have to know what their needs are and what they want from the job. We have to reach a state of mutual understanding. Normally, as CEO, you want to leverage everyone, but it will make the team better if you can understand each other and truly work as a team.

“Positive feedback gave me power, and negative ones taught me how I could be better.”

It’s also key to stay focused. When running a big, fast-growing business, we have to be clear about our strategy and our direction so that everyone can work toward that. It’ll improve the efficiency of the whole organization.

What is the best business advice you’ve ever received?

The best advice I received is from my experience as a venture capitalist, when I met lots of brand owners and CEOs. One of them told me that you should always fix the roof while the sun is still shining. It’s a good reminder for me to always stay calm and keep a clear head for the future, even when everything’s going well.

From 2021 to 2023, SHEGLAM was growing so fast and became so successful on TikTok and e-commerce, but I decided to kick our offline expansion. It needed a large-scale investment, and I had to restructure almost all of the operation process and organization structure.

Similarly, last year, we expanded to hairstyling categories, even when our cosmetics were doing so well. Even in good times, you still need to know what matters in the long run. You should prepare yourself for what lies ahead before it is too late.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.