How Vida Glow’s Anna Lahey built collagen empire
Anna Lahey had “tried anything I could get my hands on” to stop losing “chunks of hair” with no luck — until a chance holiday find changed everything.
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Anna Lahey knows all too well the “feeling of desperation” that many customers who turn to her company for help face.
For years the Brazilian-born Sydney woman had been looking for something to help her with the “significant hair loss” she was struggling with.
“The impact was huge. Dealing with hair loss can be all-consuming, especially for women,” Anna told news.com.au.
“Every couple of days, my husband would have to cut chunks of hair out of the drain of the shower. I was losing that much of it.”
She no longer has a problem with hair loss and she’s made a business out of helping others who struggle with it.
Her company, Vida Glow has become a succesful marine collagen brand, with its product, Natural Marine Collagen peptide powder, a global best seller.
The busines recorded a $100 million turnover during the 2020 financial year and is stocked worldwide at retail juggernauts like Selfridges, Le Bon Marche and Bloomingdale’s, The Daily Telegraph reported.
‘I KNEW I HAD TO SHARE IT’
At the time Anna was struggling with hair loss collagen supplements weren’t widely available and she had “tried anything I could get my hands on” to help the issue.
“When you’re faced with something that’s impacting your confidence daily, you Google everything, and you’ll try anything that promises to help,” she said.
“I understand that feeling of desperation our customers have when they’re faced with the same thing.”
It was only during a holiday to Japan that she discovered the product that would become the foundational ingredient in Vida Glow.
“I came across marine collagen and started taking it every day. And I finally saw tangible results,” Anna said.
She began buying collagen from overseas stockists and was spending “a fortune” getting it sent to Australia, as well as researching the benefits of what she was taking.
“I was so compelled by my personal results that I invested into the research to understand the scientific evidence behind what I was seeing,” Anna said.
“And even back then, 10 years ago, the clinical data was evident. I could see it wasn’t a placebo and it was a legitimate beauty solution. I knew I had to share it.”
BREAKING THE STIGMA AROUND INGESTIBLE BEAUTY
Vida Glow launched in 2014 on the day of her wedding to husband and the father of her three children (soon to be four), Kieran Lahey.
“I still remember the moment our first purchase came through and the name of our first customer. She’s still a customer today,” Anna said.
“I don’t recall feeling nervous, but I think at the time I was greatly underestimating what we were taking on.”
Being a leader when it comes to collagen supplements has its benefits but it also comes with a special responsibility.
“One of the biggest lessons we learnt early on when we launched Vida Glow eight years ago, was that we weren’t just growing a brand, but growing a category,” Anna said.
“As one of the first ingestible beauty brands on the market, we had to do a lot of work to do to establish the category.”
There’s plenty of “trial and error” involved in creating new products and if it doesn’t work, it won’t make it onto shelves.
“We’ve had instances where we’ve done early internal trials on a formulation and haven’t been satisfied with the results, so we’ve binned the project,” Anna said.
Anna has also worked hard to “break the stigma” around taking collagen and other supplements by investing in clinical trials and working with external skin experts who “publicly support ingestible beauty”.
“There is a long laundry list of achievements that I’m so proud of and proud of our team for accomplishing,” Anna said.
“But for me, what I’m most proud of is how Vida Glow has brought credibility to the category.”
Want more beauty content? Check out our roundup of the best celebrity beauty brands, plus our guide to treating acne at home.
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