PRODUCT ALERT EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Soraya Hendesi, Founder, Snowberry, Highly Recommended by Whom You Know and About to Launch in Five Continents! Sponsored by Liz Barbatelli's The Laundry at Linens Limited and E. Braun & Co. in Beverly Hills

Soraya Hendesi, Founder, Snowberry

The first to drink The Peachy Deegan in the Southern Hemisphere at Avida in Wellington, New Zealand!

Liz Barbatelli has also drank The Peachy Deegan, where it all started at Swifty's:

http://www.whomyouknow.com/2011/06/i-drank-peachy-deegan-at-swiftys.html

It was worth the trip from Beverly Hills.

Whom You Know has Highly Recommended The Laundry at Linens Limited:

http://www.whomyouknow.com/2010/09/after-50-years-in-business-laundry-at.html

For more than half a century, The Laundry at Linens Limited has honored the distinctive nature of fine bed and table linens by caring for them in the same fashion they were created – by hand. It’s an Old-World sensibility that’s grounded in time-honored laundry care and restoration techniques and a hallmark of their business. As a result, today the company is recognized as the foremost fine linen laundry service in the country. www.linenlaundry.com

For generations, E. Braun & Co. in Beverly Hills has been the unrivalled source of the world’s most luxurious linens for the table, bed and bath. In this generation, the legend is renewed, as E. Braun & Co. emerges as the classic American linen house with the 21st century perspective. Whom You Know highly encourages you to consult E. Braun & Co. in Beverly Hills for your tailored linen needs where Liz and her team of experts will cater to your bespoke vision.

Today, E. Braun & Co. assembles the finest collections of traditional and contemporary linens, staffed with experts ready to guide you in selecting the linens that will give you the greatest satisfaction and enjoyment for years to come. http://www.ebraunbeverlyhills.com/

Someday we hope The Peachy Deegan will also be in Beverly Hills...and the Southern Hemisphere in New Zealand.

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Cosmetician, Soraya Hendesi is Snowberry’s founder. Passionate about luxury skincare but frustrated at being unable to find skincare that she felt she could trust, Soraya was inspired to begin the demanding but exciting process of creating her own authentic range.

Born in Tehran, her Persian background was an important influence on her love of beauty, especially the renowned profusion of highly aromatic flowers such as jasmine, hyacinth, rose, orange and cherry blossoms. Her grandmother too, was a very important inspiration, active as she was in UNICEF programmes to assist those less fortunate. It is for this reason that Snowberry’s Night Cream packaging shows a lady lighting the way with a lantern. Educated in the UK and Spain, after travelling and working around the world, Soraya came to New Zealand in 1993, and here she set about finding people with the cosmeceutical expertise to help her turn her mission into reality.

Committed to her vision, Soraya wanted her anti-aging skincare to be completely transparent in terms of its ingredients, and while a ‘natural’ brand, her product also had to work – and that meant incorporating the advanced skin science compounds that actively rejuvenate and repair skin.  Snowberry was chosen as the name because it instantly suggests, she says, the purity, freshness, youth and natural origins that sit at the very core of her concept. Snowberry, she says, is ‘authentic skincare’ that women can trust to be both safe and effective. Authentic skincare, she says, can take a little more time, but its effect is more enduring. “Authentic skincare means only those ingredients are included that are natural or naturally derived, and that we know will augment the skin’s own regenerative processes – it is as if those nutrients and oils, antioxidants, peptide complexes and enzymes had been produced by the skin itself. Authentic skincare is about the gentle enhancement of the natural beauty in every individual.” “Some skin care brands say they have a peptide, Snowberry has thirteen,” she says. “Some proclaim a super-fruit, Snowberry offers twelve; most make do with an antioxidant or two, but Snowberry brings twenty to bear; and where many use silicone or palm oil, Snowberry combines thirty of the world’s finest natural herbal emollients.”  We are so pleased to present her in a rare interview that we feature in the Product Alert column.  Peachy Deegan interviewed Soraya Hendesi for Whom You Know.

Peachy Deegan: What is your first memory of skincare? 

Soraya Hendesi: As a little girl I was fascinated by the beauty and the aroma of the flowers and plants in our fragrant Persian garden. I just knew that all that natural beauty must be good for skin and so I invented all sorts of skin care and fragrances for my mother and grandmother. Of course, they professed to adore my creations but I began to wonder when concoctions turned brown and sweet scent of rose became anything but…even so, I never lost my faith in Nature to give pure nourishment to skin. 

How do you define luxury skincare? 

When skin care is created with the highest quality ingredients, no matter the cost; when skin care is created for the sole purpose of helping rather than simply to make profit; and when skin starts to glow, then it is worthy of being called luxury skin care. 

What do you want all Americans to understand about Snowberry and what in your opinion makes it different in the ultra-competitive market of skincare? 

To feel as do my family and dearest friends, that they can trust Snowberry without reservation – not simply to be safe, but to help their skin to glow with natural beauty, at any age. I want Americans to understand that Snowberry is the perhaps the richest skin care they have ever encountered. I certainly want them to understand that here at last is skin care that can be applied every day for a lifetime, and it will do only good! 

If you did not work in the skincare industry, what would you like to do and why? 

I don’t consider anything else. I love to make skin care and so I love to make Snowberry. This is my passion and my business and for now it is consuming. One day though, Snowberry will provide me with the means to help more children to live happy and meaningful lives. 

What should the rest of the world know about New Zealand? 

That it is ranked the least corrupt country in the world, and that it has a greater range of gorgeous landscapes and seascapes altogether, than I have seen anywhere else in the world. And I know that some Americans confuse New Zealand with Australia. It’s a three hour flight and a world of difference! 

What are your overall goals for Snowberry both short-term and long-term? 

Short term, we will continue to formulate even better anti-aging skincare. Long term, our aim is to be the most loved skin care brand in the world. 

What or who has had the most influence on your pursuit of excellence? 

I don’t really think of what I do as the pursuit of excellence. I think of it more as a dedication to being ‘authentic.’ Both my mother and grandmother taught me that we live in a world where much is not what it seems. They taught me that being ‘true’ was much more important than being important or simply pretty. They were very loving but they were also very firm. They were not tolerant of pretense or laziness. I grew up knowing that it was vital that I do what I say I am going to do, and that I do it to the very best of my ability. It was in some ways quite hard, but I am very grateful to them both. 

What are you proudest of and why? 

My Snowberry family. Without them I could not have realised my dream. 

What would you like to do professionally that you have not yet had the opportunity to do?

I have many ideas for a range of fragrances, but for now I am more than content to develop Snowberry. I believe that Snowberry is even now, quite extraordinary skin care, but I also know we can do even better! 

What honors and awards have you received in your profession? 

Snowberry has won three international awards in this past year. First, Snowberry won a prestigious Silver Dieline for the ‘Best Design and Brand’ in Chicago. Then at Cosmeeting in Paris, Snowberry was voted by the Grand Jury, ‘Runner-Up Favourite Brand.’ Finally, at Cosmoprof USA, Snowberry won the ‘Discover Beauty Award’ for the most innovative new brand at show. I am very proud of these awards but actually, I gain more joy from the many messages I receive from Snowberry customers around the world, thanking us for bringing them skin care that some say they have been searching for, for many years. I tell them that it is the same for me! 

What is your favorite place to be in Manhattan? 

Unfortunately, I have yet to visit New York! When I do, I hope that you will make suggestions. Locals always know the best places.

What is your favorite shop in Manhattan? 

Right now, Henri Bendel. That’s because Henri Bendel is the first store in New York to carry Snowberry! But I know that I will love exploring all the shopping in Manhattan, and hopefully quite soon…  

What is your favorite drink? Freshly brewed Persian Tea in the morning, and a glass of Pouilly-Fumé in the evening. 

What is the funniest thing that has ever happened to you at a cocktail party? 

I started a conversation with a beautiful and rather large lady, by enquiring most politely, when she was due! 

Who would you like to be for a day and why? 

I love ballet. This is beauty that comes from very hard work but exhilaration also. If I could choose for one day I would be a ballerina. I do not think of a single person, or a particular ballet – simply the experience. 

If you could have dinner with any person living or passed, who would it be and why? 

David Attenborough. I cannot imagine anyone who could tell me more about the wonders of the natural world with such passionate perspective. 

What do you personally do or what have you done to give back to the world? 

I have created skin care for women that I know is better for skin than anything I have ever seen. I do think of Snowberry as a gift. That Snowberry is carbon neutral at every level, is my way of contributing positively to the challenges of Climate Change. But at a personal level, I like to think I have made a difference for those who have reached out to me in distress. 

Other than Product Alert what is your favorite Whom You Know column and what do you like about it? 

I’m a ‘Feeling & Looking Your Best’ kind of girl. I love the Donna Ricco [dresses]. 

Have you drank The Peachy Deegan yet and if not, why not?

This week I am visiting my sister in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital. We went to Avida and ordered I am sure, the first Peachy Deegan in New Zealand. Perhaps in the Southern hemisphere? 

[Note from Peachy: Huge applause from Whom You Know!  You know it is only The Peachy Deegan when it has Star Vodka, however, Star is only available in the USA right now.  If you are in another country, until Star is sold there you have Peachy's permission to use the next best available vodka if you can find a brand that is passable...!]

What else should Whom You Know readers know about you? 

Hopefully, Whom You Know readers will try Snowberry. One day, they might like to visit us in New Zealand. When they do, they will be assured of a very warm welcome!  

How would you like to be contacted by Whom You Know readers?

Email is best. soraya@snowberry.co.nz