In the midst of the beginning of our conversation, Mehreen excused herself to greet a customer who had come in to get her hair done. While the customer discussed her preferences with a hair stylist, the owner herself stood a few steps behind, shifting her eyes from the customer to the stylist, nodding along.
In Jinnah Super, at the hub of Islamabad’s retail area, one finds the red door to Mehreen’s Makeup Studio almost as a surprise. The quaint corner where we set up for our interview was visually embellished by indoor plants while the uneven splatter of the decorative waterfall almost demanded that we sit back and relax.
“There’s this quote that I read, I don’t remember who it’s by, ‘Entrepreneurs are the only people who work an 80-hour week, just to avoid working a 40-hour week’.” Mehreen responded when speaking about why she became an entrepreneur.
Having always been creatively inclined, it was no leap of faith for Mehreen to venture into the beauty industry. Previously undertaking fashion designing as a window to the business world, she had found makeup to be her true passion.
With her father and her grandfather both being business owners, Mehreen Ejaz was not alien to the idea of entrepreneurship. However, she did admit that being a business owner was a different experience than merely having witnessed it.
“What has surprised me the most is the unprofessionalism of just about everyone in our country,” Mehreen remarked, “Unfortunately, from the small brands to bigger, international brands that supply to salons, nothing is done on time.”
While lack of punctuality does not surprise most of us, Mehreen recollected having always been the student that took the lead in group projects and organized the other students. Of course she knew that some people don’t follow through with their commitments but that etiquette seeping through to the professional arena was somewhat deplorable. This only added to her vexation of being looked down upon for being a woman. She talked about not being able to communicate with the male staff in her building because they don’t take her seriously.
“Unfortunately, in such cases, you either have to be a rude person, which is not something I would like to be, or you have to work the system so you hire a male manager.”
The beautician did stop to point out the situation that women who don’t have their families’ support was far worse than hers. With parents who had always supported Mehreen’s endeavors, she thankfully had not the misfortune of going through such a perplexity.
Nonetheless, not all is bad in Mehreen’s experience as an entrepreneur. She seemed sure that now that she had had a taste of her own business, a 9-to-5 job was out of the picture. She responded like most entrepreneurs who see their business less as a job and more like their child- with a sense of possessiveness. What set her apart, however, was the short couple of months that had passed since she had acquired the space to run her salon. With the business being so young and the work so fresh, Mehreen had not yet any need to take some time off work to recollect her thoughts. In fact, she believed she still had a long way to go before considering having achieved her goal.
“I think I’m one of those people who are hardest on themselves.” Mehreen continued, “I haven’t really set down any goals for myself, but Goal A would be people recommending you instead of you advertising yourself.”
She later went on to describing what a model relation between her and her employees would be. She highlighted the importance of respect between both parties which came from a blend of being approachable while also setting up a culture of discipline within the staff.
While to Mehreen, this may have been an epitomical relationship, seeing her a few steps behind her employee, nodding along to her suggestions with no intention to interfere or correct, a sense of respect had already been achieved.
It only went on to show that most etiquette came naturally to the 30-year-old entrepreneur and with a work ethic that came along with her set of values, it seems that Mehreen would work on her own terms, towards her own goals only for the rest of her life.
More power to women like Mehreen! <3