Cal High chemistry teacher Manmeet Kaur is the founder and main chemist of her own business she started in 2014 known as “Shfon Skincare.”
Through Shfon Skincare, Kaur sells 2,000 units monthly of products ranging from face packs to creams to serums.
“It’s so great that she’s a teacher and also runs her own skincare business,” sophomore Mia Hong said.
Hong found it admirable that Kaur has been able to juggle these two different career paths.
But having two demanding jobs is challenging. Kaur said before becoming a science teacher in 2021, she was able to produce her products regularly, with each taking about a week to assemble. But the past four years, she’s only been producing products monthly.
“I have to work here, then go home and work as well,” Kaur said. “My business has taken a bit of a backseat, but I am very very hopeful in the near future I can balance it out so I have more time dedicated to the business.”
When she does get her orders, she has a particular process she follows. Kaur said she takes raw materials to a lab, prepares them and tests their stability for samples of the produces.
“I test them to determine whether they are ready to be shipped or not,” Kaur said. “When I feel confident enough to ship, I ship my products.”
Kaur said she had always been fascinated by the way products are manufactured and got an opportunity to see those steps up close. After getting two masters degrees in pharmaceutical biotechnology and chemistry, she got her first job, which happened to be in the skincare industry.
But while working there she saw a lot of chemicals that are harmful toward customers’ skin being incorporated into their products. Upon seeing this, she wondered whether she could come up with a skincare line where fewer harsh chemicals were used in skincare products.
This thought inspired her to create her own skincare line. She recognized the way corporations were taking advantage of the general public by putting unnecessarily harsh chemicals into their products and wanted to provide the public with alternatives.
“Good for her for being an entrepreneur,” sophomore Krisha Umashankar said.
Umashankar, who is a student in Kaur’s honors chemistry class, said she found it inspiring how Kaur came up with a solution to a problem she recognized in the skin care industry.
Kaur promotes her brand through her website and digital media, such as Google and Amazon advertisements. Through this advertising she has compiled a set of customers who regularly buy from her, but she wishes to expand this number. In order to do that, she would need to spend more on advertising, which is one of the reasons why she is teaching.
But even with such advertising and the fact she sells locally, most staff and students have no idea Kaur had been running her own business for over a decade.
“That’s so cool,” sophomore Kalen Young said when she learned of her chemistry teacher’s other job.
But some of Kaur’s students knew of her skincare line before even taking her class.
“My friends who were in her class last year told me,” sophomore Kritika Khandelwal said. “When I first heard of Mrs. Kaur’s brand, I was pretty surprised. I found it impressive that she has not only a background in chemistry but also has her own business.”
To make her products, Kaur rents lab space at Allure Labs in Hayward to formulate her products. Her staff helps assemble the products based on order loads from her personal website, shfonskincare.com, as well as Amazon, Ebay, Alibaba, and Etsy.
She started her business with just one face pack and one cream, but soon her customers started asking if she had different kinds of products This prompted her to expand the products she sells. She even came up with multiple different formulas for other products but ended up scrapping those due to lack of popularity.
Kaur’s first and favorite product she has come up with is the Vitamin E lotion. Not only was it a product that her friends loved, but it is also a cream that she finds suits her skin well. Kaur’s best selling product is a coconut skin care face cream.
“I think if I were to buy something from her brand, it would probably be her face mask,” Khandelwal said. “But I think my favorite product would be her Facial Acne Therapy because it would be most useful for me.”
In the future, after retiring from teaching, Kaur plans to focus on her business more. She wants to expand the business and the products she sells in general, making it her full-time job.
But right now Kaur is busy with two jobs and raising her son, who is a freshman.
“After he gets through school I will get back to it and make much more time for my business,” Kaur said. “Hopefully in the next 10 or 15 years, this might be my full-time job.”
