Tiv Perfume recently launched a campaign called the Love Yourself Challenge, which is all about empowering women to love themselves, be all they can be and lead their best lives. The seven-step challenge encourages women to invest in their emotional wellbeing through self-love, and by giving themselves permission to have the things they want and deserve in life. I pose some questions to Cynthia who founded the firm and talks about women empowerment.

Cynthia, please tell me a little about yourself?

I’ve been in the fashion and beauty industry all my professional life as a model and then, at the age of 25, I became fashion coordinator at Kaufmann’s Department Store in Pittsburgh, my hometown. Kaufmann’s was the flagship store in the May Department Stores retail chain, now Macy’s.  Since that time, I was promoted to Fashion Director at the May Company Department stores in Cleveland.  From Cleveland, I moved to New York to become Director of Fashion and Beauty Marketing at Essence Magazine. I was recruited from Essence to the headquarters of Estee Lauder in Manhattan as a marketing director in the fragrance division.  After a number of years with Estee Lauder Company, I embraced my entrepreneurial spirit and developed my own fragrance line, Tiv … The Designer Fragrance of the Caribbean.

Let’s talk about Tiv Perfume. I have heard of French, Italian and Swiss perfumes. Never from the Caribbean. So, what is unique about your perfume and why should women buy it?

I moved to the Caribbean to create Tiv in its own environment.  While there were a number of local fragrances on many of the islands, there was no designer fragrance that represented the beauty, sunshine and exotic scents of the Caribbean.  For me, there was a simple solution.  Creating Tiv was the natural thing to do.  Tiv was successfully launched in the Bahamas and became a favorite with tourists from all over the world, as well as the locals.

Help me understand what is the Love Yourself Challenge all about and how does this empower women?

The Love Yourself Challenge is about empowering women to love themselves in the most profound way…by leading their best life. It’s about encouraging women to have confidence, strength, self-love, self-worth, and feel beautiful… to be successful in life, to LOVE their life. To live their dreams and achieve their goals, and not give them up to make sacrifices for others, as we women often do (for our families, kids, husbands, etc). As we get older, we let our dreams fade, and we give up on our joy. And as we fall out of love with our lives, we lose the motivation to care for ourselves. We’re so busy and stressed that we stop looking after our health and our emotional wellbeing.

We want to make sure women everywhere know it’s okay to look out for themselves and focus on self-love, that they have the power to turn their life around and start truly LOVING their life, and loving themselves. Because that’s the most critical aspect of your life… We aren’t truly whole or happy unless we love ourselves fully.

Walk me through the seven-step process?

The seven steps of the Love Yourself Challenge focus on:

1. It’s time to live your dreams and start doing the things you’ve ALWAYS wanted to do. Before, it’s too late.
2. Use affirmations instead of negative self-talk. We criticize ourselves every day, thinking things and saying things when we look in the mirror that we would NEVER say to a loved one. So why are we saying them to ourselves?!
3. Make rest and relaxation a necessity in your life, and learn how to figure out your most productive times during the day. It is critical we rest during our natural “down-times”, and not only for our health but in order to be our happiest and most successful.
4. Learn the importance of building quality relationships with friends that inspire you and encourage you to be the best person you can be. Remember, you directly reflect the people you hand out with the most.
5. How to start loving keeping your body healthy and fit. If you don’t love exercise, you’re not doing the right type of exercise for you!
6. Achieving your goals is the key to leading a fulfilling life. But your goals and dreams will never become a reality if you don’t get clear on what EXACTLY you want to achieve, map them out, break them down into steps, and start taking action.
7. How to find a creative practice. Giving yourself permission to take the time to be joyfully creative is one of the most profound ways to love yourself.

Why did you launch this challenge? Is it more a marketing gimmick or sincerely helping women?

The reason we launched the Love Yourself Challenge is because, as women, we know what women struggle with the most, and we wanted to do something that had the potential to truly change women’s lives. Something truly, deeply meaningful. Something that would make a profound impact on women across the nation, even around the globe, if we can spread our challenge wide enough. The Love Yourself Challenge aims to help women from all walks of life and all aspects of the struggle, to live the life they deserve. To live happily, healthily, and meaningfully. To love their bodies and their reflection. And to live their dreams.

Our only dream for the Love Yourself Challenge is that any woman who has found value and impact from the challenge share it with their friends and family, to help us change as many women’s lives as possible, on the largest scale we can.

What does women’s empowerment mean to you?

Women empowerment, to us, means encouraging women to be leaders in their lives. To be in the driver’s seat of your own joy, your own success, your own body, your own voice, your own path.

Young women all over the world want to make a career in the beauty and cosmetics industry. Please give me a couple of tips?

Like any other career, one must first have a natural affinity … were you in front of the mirror as a youngster, loving fashion magazines instead of comic books, at the mall in the boutiques and cosmetics counters, etc? If one has that innate sense, then it may well be for you. It’s a wonderful, competitive and satisfying industry full of energy and people who love what they are doing.

Please explain where you live, the city, food, restaurants, culture and why should we visit?

Southeast Florida is the perfect place to be outside of Manhattan for anyone interested in fashion, beauty, lifestyle, and sunshine. I live in Delray Beach which 50 years ago was a great beach town. Over the years, it has grown to within inches of its boundaries. But fondly enough, over and above some of the other rival historic beach towns in the area, Delray Beach remains a great beach town… It’s remarkable! The shopping district is alive with eclectic shops, restaurants, boutique hotels, art galleries, live entertainment, and casual culture.

The corporate offices are in Boca Raton, a relatively small city with an international reputation for excellence. It has more corporate headquarters than any other city in the state of Florida. And yet, you’re close enough to the beach to have lunch overlooking the surf and get back to the office.

Share with my audience something challenging you have been through. What did you learn and how did you come out on the other side thriving?

Tiv perfume is The Designer Fragrance of the Caribbean. Therefore, we have always had a Caribbean home. We relocated the company from the Bahamas to the U.S. Virgin Islands 20 years ago. However, when we made the decision to make online sales our first priority, we had to move to the mainland to accommodate the demands of high-speed internet capability, shipping, fulfillment and talent. The first challenge was where to relocate. And we couldn’t be more pleased with the decision to move the company to Boca Raton. The infrastructure, vibrant business community and the people make it the perfect move. But two things were happening – relocating and completing changing our direction from retail to online sales and marketing. We still maintain a marketing and promotional presence in St. Thomas, but all major company activity is in Boca Raton.  We learned that the major challenge in such a major move is research.

I am sure you lead a hectic life. How do food, faith, finance, and family come together for you?

You can imagine the answer to this question is, “It’s a challenge.” First, I try to take advantage of the markets that sell fresh vegetables, fruits, and seafood for meals at home. The area is remarkably business-friendly which is a plus for building a financial future both personally and for the company. My family and old friends are scattered but visit often. As for my faith, I wake up every morning with a prayer to acknowledge the blessings of strength, courage, and good health. Life is good.

The post Tiv Perfume: Love Yourself appeared first on Four Columns of a Balanced Life.

Fuzia is a dynamic and robust organization that empowers women and has a community of 4.5 million people around the world, as well as 50,000 active contributors.

The goal of Four Columns is to empower women to lead balanced lives in the 21st century. Women empowerment is not a buzzword in Western society anymore. However, here are some scary statistics :

Globally, 750 million women and girls were married before the age of 18 and at least 200 million women and girls in 30 countries have undergone FGM. The rates of girls between 15-19 who are subjected to FGM  in the 30 countries where the practice is concentrated have dropped from 1 in 2 girls in 2000 to 1 in 3 girls by 2017. In 18 countries, husbands can legally prevent their wives from working; in 39 countries, daughters and sons do not have equal inheritance rights; and 49 countries lack laws protecting women from domestic violence. One in five women and girls, including 19 percent of women and girls aged 15 to 49, have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner within the last 12 months. Yet, 49 countries have no laws that specifically protect women from such violence.

Shraddha Varma and Riya Sinha are game-changers in the women empowerment landscape. They are the founders of Fuzia, which is a creative community driven by women all around the globe. The mission is not only to empower creative individuals but also to work towards women’s empowerment and gender equality.  They focus on shattering the glass ceiling, forming relationships, and creating change.

I wanted to know something unique about the founders. Shraddha Varma in all her humility says ‘Aside from being a management expert, an experienced marketer, and an ambitious entrepreneur, I’m a keen learner and a creative thinker with decent communication and leadership skills. I believe that economic freedom is necessary for women to be able to break out from patriarchal, pseudo-liberal patriarchal structures. In addition to leading Fuzia’s global marketing and operations as a Co-founder, I’m also a full-time mentor to my team in diverse cultural activities! Being a firm believer in gender equality, we have together driven a million women to represent their largest untapped talent pool! My notion is to reach out to every single woman to stay empowered in the challenging world from every minute to minute. Our organization, Fuzia intuitively influences global women to assist one another to grow, live their interests, chase their aspirations, and create their own identity, thereby promoting gender equality, feminism, and empowerment.’ 

Riya Sinha tells me ‘As an 11-year-old school student at Palo Alto High School in California, I was curiously intrigued with the intention of Fuzia for women, by Women. I’m currently in my second year at UC Berkeley, California, and work part-time for Fuzia. I’m mainly focused on initiatives like Fuzia’s public relations that is supported via television as videos and interviews with notable women and partnerships with other companies.’

Shraddha Varma talks about Fuzia and its various initiatives.

What was the motivation behind starting Fuzia? Did the success of it come as a surprise?

Fuzia sparkled up with a conviction for us to enlighten the stereotypical minds of society. Riya Sinha and I bonded over a cause of uplifting our sister women and defeating our mutual frustration at all orientations! At 11, when most of us were worrying about how our freshman year at high school would be, Riya Sinha had authored a book. Her short novel “Runaway Twins” at a local bookstore in Palo Alto destined a short fan moment when a kid came running to her and exclaimed that Riya’s book had inspired her to write and create; that she wanted to become a writer as well.

This incident laid the founding bricks of what Fuzia is today. I joined Fuzia in 2015 and am relentlessly devoted to empowering women worldwide. The small writing club, at the present, is an independent international online space for women to create and connect globally that I seamlessly manage.

We have reached significant milestones during the last five years. Over a year, we achieved 1 million users and supporters on social media. For our users, we launched a high-tech user-friendly app that marks the precise version of the Fuzia website. We have even received honors from prestigious organizations, such as the Women Economic Forum’s “Iconic Teen Entrepreneur and Innovator” award. Fuzia now has a community of 4.5 million people around the world, as well as 50,000 active contributors.

Empowering women through the fusion of cultures and ideas is your mission. Talk to me more about this?

Fuzia believes that talent shared is talent fostered, thus the outcomes are numerous campaigns and contests where women from all over the world participate and express themselves. They are also given training and employment opportunities in areas of their interests and expertise. At Fuzia, we broadly collaborate with our in-house talents and experts, including social media influencers, entrepreneurs, and inspirational women, to host interactive live sessions where women can have their questions answered and receive the training they need to launch their own businesses.

With the potential that many women possess, we ensure them to have economic assistance and opportunity in a variety of ways. Consequently, we indulge in preparing the individuals with their extraordinary skills tuned in such a way that benefits both the organization and its users financially. Our zeal of organizing a variety of interviews with strong women who share their inspiring experiences on Fuzia TV assists other global women to break free from their shells.

Empowerment is a new concept in many cultures where patriarchy, misogyny, and two levels of citizenship are hegemonic. What have been some of the challenges you have faced on the journey of Fuzia?

Fuzia as a community has always kept its focus on being a cultural organization that is gender inclusive. We strongly believe that gender inclusion is not just restricted to peripheral equality but also facilitates the breakdown of the very unconscious bias. We’ve tried and made our platform open to every individual, be it men, women, or people of other genders. Anyone who supports the cause of women empowerment, feminism, equality, and mutual support/upliftment has to be of our deciding interest. Fuzia also believes that true ‘Empowerment’ is incomplete without people of all genders supporting it. Therefore, we highly support and encourage gender inclusion, which as a concept transcends mere equality.

In North America, women are outperforming men in every area. There are more women in universities and in many careers. Do you see this happening in India?

The majority of men in India emphasize that women are befitted to being homemakers than at the workspace. They show fewer interests to encourage women who are striving to become a better version of themselves. This created a wall of hindrance for many men to participate in women’s empowerment. The patriarchal system also holds back men who care about the cause and want to empower women.

But this situation is gradually changing as we see many women breaking through barriers to live their dreams. A successful woman as a homemaker is also a multifaceted professional in every field establishing herself with ground-breaking achievements. Women have effortlessly proved to accomplish things that even men fail to do. This strong setback is emerging from both the rural and urban backgrounds embarking on the real adventure of women across her unending hurdles.

Walk me through what areas that women need to be empowered?

Women in the modern world stay super dynamic to dust off their routine starting from domestic chores to the documentation at the workplace. Many other women are silently enduring their pains as a part of their existence. Discriminations, failures, false hopes, negativities, character assassinations, and many more are dragging them to the dome of darkness. Taking this forward, Fuzia anchored firm affirmations in every woman to surpass the series of discouragements.

The Fuziaties testimonials evidenced that a larger introvert community has benefited the most from what Fuzia offers to every single woman in the world. Women empowerment needs to be focused on women’s sense of self-worth, their right to have and determine choices, and get unlimited access to opportunities and resources. More importantly, enriching their ability to influence the direction of social change to create a more just social and economic order, nationally and internationally.

Help me understand how men can empower women in their lives?

Fuzia believes that men can act as allies to women by showing support for the women’s empowerment movement. They can increase their share in domestic work and family responsibilities. They need to promote gender equality when fighting for women’s access to jobs, rights, and opportunities. Men need to understand and listen to the unhidden voices of women and truly give a solid secure space for them to unleash their inner potential. Genuinely appreciating their best efforts will encourage them to perform even better at home and in the workplace. We must also understand that women’s lives would be much easier with a supportive and attentive partner by accepting their scars and making women feel worthy about who they are.

Talk to me about the cities you are from? I want to know the food scene and why should one visit them? (You can take Mumbai and Delhi).

I am heading from Mumbai, a city that never sleeps and is beautifully located in the mid-western part of India. With a population of over 18 million people, Mumbai is popularly known as the “jewel in India’s crown” is a merging pot of religions, customs, food, and thriving trade. Mumbai’s cultural diversity can be reflected in the city’s gastronomic diversity, which includes street food with Muslim, Gujarati, South Indian, Parsi, and Maharashtrian influences. Dishes with these flavors, colors ,and textures burst in your tongue without breaking the bank. If you’re a foodie, you’re in luck if you’re in Mumbai because there are so many great spots to munch over street cuisine!

The other city I can’t skip bringing up is Delhi, the country’s perennially intriguing capital, that works as a magnet, drawing visitors from all over the world. The city has its distinct charm and diverse culture that encompasses all of India. The city is proud of its rich history and possesses many well-preserved historical monuments. With its vibrant and bustling marketplaces, Delhi is also a shopper’s delight. Delhi is also known as the cuisine capital of the world, with a cornucopia of delectable street food such as parathas, chaat, butter chicken, kebabs, chole bhature, biryani, nihari with a slew of contemporary eateries. One of the things that keeps the Delhi culinary scene alive is street food. Eating on the streets of Delhi is a crash course in the city’s history and culture, which is unparalleled in its richness.

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