From Tehran Struggles to Impacting Millions, Makeup Mogul & Reshaping Beauty Standards

[00:00:00] Entertainment, Insights, Don't Take Life Too Seriously

[00:00:06] Welcome to Brainsky Unleashed

[00:00:09] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to yet another amazing episode of Brainsky Unleashed.

[00:00:15] Remember, no less than five stars.

[00:00:18] And so today we have a very special guest.

[00:00:21] I ran into this person on the set of a commercial

[00:00:26] and she was doing makeup and she's a badass.

[00:00:29] And I got to talking to her and she was fascinating.

[00:00:32] I thought, I've got to have her on my show.

[00:00:34] So what we're going to do is we're going to be talking today with Shema Patuzian

[00:00:39] and she is a author, makeup creator.

[00:00:43] She's a founder of a makeup company.

[00:00:45] She's a total creative type.

[00:00:48] Yet she is a successful business person that has a massive following on social media.

[00:00:53] She's like the big, you know, in the big picture of things.

[00:00:55] She's like, got it all.

[00:00:56] And I thought, got to have her on the show.

[00:00:58] So welcome to the show.

[00:01:00] Thank you so much for joining us.

[00:01:02] Oh, thank you so much for having me.

[00:01:04] This is my first time being on a podcast and I'm so excited.

[00:01:08] Your first time on a podcast.

[00:01:09] I am going to be very gentle.

[00:01:11] Thank you.

[00:01:14] I appreciate that.

[00:01:16] All right.

[00:01:17] To get us started here.

[00:01:19] Let's start off with you came from.

[00:01:22] I guess you were born and raised in Tehran, right?

[00:01:26] Yeah.

[00:01:27] Yes.

[00:01:28] And as far as growing up, I mean, did you grow up where you kind of on the wealthier side of life or are you kind of struggling?

[00:01:34] Like what was the home life when you kind of started?

[00:01:37] No, it wasn't wealthy at all.

[00:01:39] And I was born in a religious family.

[00:01:41] So I was struggling with like being myself.

[00:01:45] When I became a teenager and I started like putting makeup on and like not wearing scarf and that was not really welcomed in my family.

[00:01:53] Not necessarily my mom and dad because they were like the more open minded people that I could deal with, but like mostly uncle's aunts and my grandma and it was really hard because I was like being the rebel girl that I like my cousins were not even allowed to talk to me

[00:02:08] only because I was wearing a makeup and yes, that I was not wearing a job.

[00:02:12] So it was fun struggle and honesty that made me who I am today because they learned how to fight for my own freedom from the very engaged.

[00:02:21] I was going to ask, I mean, you know, you had to obviously have a lack of freedom.

[00:02:27] But yet you fought that in your life, which is fantastic.

[00:02:31] But you just said a fun struggle.

[00:02:35] That's an interesting way of putting it.

[00:02:37] I mean, you define it as a fun struggle.

[00:02:40] Is that a mechanism for how you cope with it?

[00:02:44] You just had a very positive outlook on life.

[00:02:48] I really have a positive look and pretty much everything and that kind of drives everyone around me crazy.

[00:02:55] They're like, how are you chill?

[00:02:57] Are you okay with the problems?

[00:02:58] The only reason is that I am making money off of like the problems I had in the past right now.

[00:03:04] I can tell those stories, I can create stories out of them and they can tell the world what happened to me and they're interested to learn more about it.

[00:03:12] And voila, this became my career at some point.

[00:03:15] And I'm like, okay, I'm glad this happened.

[00:03:19] And I mean, you're in America and now you have a makeup company and you founded it.

[00:03:25] And so before I really get into that though, I've already learned enough about you to know that you are really the creative type.

[00:03:33] Typically the creative type doesn't necessarily have enough up here for really a lot of strength in business yet you do both, which I think is really impressive.

[00:03:44] Where did the creativity come from?

[00:03:51] Well, I know that I'm a storyteller and I know that I never like fit myself in a box of like I'm this person or that person.

[00:04:01] I didn't go to any makeup classes.

[00:04:03] I didn't even know how to put makeup on and everything started when at the time I was working at this company and then COVID happened.

[00:04:14] And so I was forced to go to work even though everyone was quarantined and not going to work and that was not fun.

[00:04:22] So I was like, you know what?

[00:04:24] I'm going to be the only one in the office or like with another person, but I'm going to make the best out of it.

[00:04:30] So I was waking up early in the morning putting full glam makeup on getting my hair done.

[00:04:35] And then only because I was inside desperate to just like, hey, this is not what I wanted to do.

[00:04:41] So I turned on my camera and then I started talking and I started like complaining saying things and then talking about everything while putting my makeup on.

[00:04:49] And doing this dramatic makeup looks like making dramatic colorful like eye makeup only because I could only because there was no one else telling me that you cannot do that.

[00:04:59] I was forced to go to the office and it was already bad.

[00:05:02] So and it started doing that and started posting that.

[00:05:05] And then after like a week I saw people following me and I'm like, what's going on?

[00:05:09] Who are these people?

[00:05:10] Like who's buying me followers?

[00:05:12] And I didn't even know what's going on.

[00:05:14] And then it took me two weeks to learn that there's this thing of an algorithm that it goes on an expert page.

[00:05:20] And then when you post something online, people like finding it and then they watch it and then it makes more people to watch it.

[00:05:26] And then they start following you.

[00:05:27] And I'm like, oh, that's very interesting.

[00:05:29] In a very, very short time I gained 100,000 followers.

[00:05:33] And at that time I didn't even know how I'm getting these followers.

[00:05:36] That's a huge number, especially right out of the gate.

[00:05:39] And what we're doing is just putting on makeup and babbling in front of the camera and you've got 100,000 followers.

[00:05:46] Exactly.

[00:05:47] Clearly I'm doing something wrong.

[00:05:48] I need to put on makeup and babble and get 100,000 followers.

[00:05:51] It may not look good by the time I'm done.

[00:05:53] I'm just saying.

[00:05:54] What if I have to put on makeup?

[00:05:55] It would probably be yours.

[00:05:56] I'm just saying.

[00:05:57] Well, guess what?

[00:05:58] My makeup didn't look fascinating at the end either because I wasn't a makeup artist.

[00:06:02] I was just doing get out of, I want to do something and it was my therapy session but in front of the world.

[00:06:08] And it was just fun.

[00:06:10] So I started talking about my exes.

[00:06:12] I started talking about my coworkers.

[00:06:14] I started talking about like who were that did something wrong to me and I'm so pissed at them.

[00:06:18] And I was like, this is the time if I'm going to die, let me die with saying everything to the world.

[00:06:23] And people liked it.

[00:06:25] Then I started doing it.

[00:06:26] And then at some point I figured that my followers are very, very, very interested in my eye makeup only because I was very brave with using colors.

[00:06:36] And I was being creative with the colors only because I wanted to be out of this comfort zone out of this like box that they created for girls of like, hey, black eyeliner, like sculpted eye, this and that.

[00:06:48] So I started doing like very colorful and out of comfort zone makeup and people liked it.

[00:06:55] People are like, oh my God, this is so different.

[00:06:57] I love it.

[00:06:58] And it became my signature.

[00:07:00] And so in doing that you just did one thing just a little bit different.

[00:07:07] Exactly.

[00:07:08] And you've got all these followers and they're still following you because I mean I checked because who would I be not to check right?

[00:07:16] And so as of today, looking at your insta which by the way that makes me cool if I say insta instead of the full word apparently.

[00:07:24] So looking at your insta you have over 1.6 million followers.

[00:07:32] Yes.

[00:07:33] I mean it's amazing and the fact that you did that between COVID and today is even more impressive.

[00:07:41] Yeah.

[00:07:42] I made a career out of it because I thought.

[00:07:44] Seriously you made a career out of it.

[00:07:46] I mean that's amazing.

[00:07:48] So if you were to be talking to someone who knew that they wanted to have followers on insta or on social media of some kind, Facebook, YouTube, whatever, you'd literally tell them what?

[00:08:03] I literally tell them talk and put your face out there.

[00:08:08] Pictures are not doing the job.

[00:08:12] Pinterest perfect lifestyle is not doing the job.

[00:08:16] People need to relate and people are like, I mean yes I like like someone's like perfectly matched like with the colors and everything nice picture but do I relate to that person?

[00:08:28] Does that convince me to follow that person?

[00:08:31] Probably not.

[00:08:32] But when I see someone that's like just being themselves and then having a regular like day in their regular life that's like very similar to mine.

[00:08:41] I'm like oh she's like me or he's like me and it's just like more interesting but I always tell like whoever that asks me, I'm like put your face out there.

[00:08:51] Show your face to people and talk to them.

[00:08:54] Talk to people.

[00:08:55] That is already doing 50% of the job and then the rest is like being creative.

[00:09:00] You just need to be out there and that's already 50% and then be creative and that's another 50% and then voila you're done.

[00:09:09] I mean I love how you literally just gave the recipe away.

[00:09:12] I mean you literally gave the recipe of how to get 1.6 million followers and it's so simple.

[00:09:18] I mean I haven't even, I need to apparently do it.

[00:09:21] Now granted as I said I'm probably not going to be doing the makeup but I apparently need to be just standing in front of my phone and hi everyone.

[00:09:29] Hi everyone.

[00:09:30] I'm battling today on what's happening in my life today and I'm really frustrated because you know I, you know I ran out of toilet paper and had to go to the next stall.

[00:09:39] Can you believe it?

[00:09:40] And next thing you know I might have a lot of followers which could happen I'm sure but thank you for sharing that because I think that you have a secret sauce that nobody really necessarily thinks of.

[00:09:53] And for you to have figured it out on your own, it's what three four years ago, parlayed it into what you've done and this is what I mean about fascinating right?

[00:10:03] Not only can you fascinate people by just simply looking at a camera putting on some makeup talking about your coworkers and how much that you wanted probably kill them or thank them depending on the day.

[00:10:16] But then turn it into a business you founded a makeup company.

[00:10:21] Yes.

[00:10:22] In.

[00:10:23] Yes.

[00:10:24] Four years.

[00:10:25] In four years.

[00:10:27] Yeah, it actually started the year ago so in three years.

[00:10:30] Three years after your first.

[00:10:33] Oh my gosh I'm bored I've got to do something in.

[00:10:37] Exactly.

[00:10:38] Post you founded a makeup company which is growing like crazy.

[00:10:43] Yeah.

[00:10:44] That's amazing to me.

[00:10:46] So let's transition just a little bit from the the vlogging to turn yeah to I need to start a makeup company because why was the makeup that we that you were using just not good enough the colors weren't available.

[00:11:04] Was it crap.

[00:11:05] I mean, how do you go from from I'm doing this and making myself look pretty and talking about my day to I'm going to found a makeup company.

[00:11:16] Yes.

[00:11:17] Yes.

[00:11:18] I had only three reasons only three well let's start with all three.

[00:11:22] Yes.

[00:11:23] Number one, the makeup became my signature.

[00:11:26] So I could talk I could be very serious I could be goofy I could be like telling a joke I could be just like saying like absolutely nothing important.

[00:11:35] Give me an example for my guests.

[00:11:38] I have this video that I'm in front of the camera I'm a hungover and I'm trying to record and I start laughing and I'm like what am I doing.

[00:11:47] And then I'm like okay I can't do that and then I stir into the camera and I'm like looking and I'm like I'm sure I'm not doing something right and then this whole thing is like seven minutes of me just looking the camera and then they and I'm like you know what you know what the world I'm tired you know what I don't want to do this anymore and it started

[00:12:06] like I was like like just a little and then that video got like three million views and I'm doing absolutely nothing.

[00:12:14] Oh, God this makes me so frustrated because that sounds so simple. And yet what are most of us do not that most of us are trying to be all formal welcome to the brain scheme.

[00:12:28] Five stars. And so here you are going I'm hungover you know what am I doing and okay so again for anyone that's watching it's not complicated apparently follow her instructions.

[00:12:44] Alright, so you start your makeup company. You got three reasons I totally interrupted you. So let's go back and give us the three reasons.

[00:12:53] So the first one was that it became my signature so whatever I do it includes makeup, whatever I talk about it has the makeup part of it.

[00:13:02] That could be serious that could be funny but the makeup is there never goes away. So that was number one. Number two is that I was selling.

[00:13:11] I whatever I tack whatever link I put out there, and I didn't know that until I learned how to monetize the link that I post to just tell people hey this is what I'm using.

[00:13:21] Because at the beginning I didn't know monetize link is a thing and then like slowly I learned that hey influencers do that they monetize their links they use specific platforms.

[00:13:31] So when someone buys whatever you recommend to them so you get some sort of commission or you can track how many people click on your link or buy something or don't buy something whatsoever.

[00:13:42] So when I learned that and it started like sharing those things I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm selling and I was selling like I was like there were like things when I put the link out there it just becomes sold out in like a few hours.

[00:13:56] So I learned I can sell and it'll learn people care people care about what kind of makeup I put on my face because apparently they like the final look.

[00:14:04] And then the third reason was that yes, I was going out like at the time that I wasn't really that popular for brands to just reach out to me and send me PR packages because that was not a thing at the beginning I was just buying my own stuff.

[00:14:18] And going to Sephora and all tell that was like my my every day go to place just to buy stuff. Yes, there were some shapes colors and products that I was looking to get and it was just not there.

[00:14:30] And, or because they were commercializing the product. Let's say I want a specific color next to another color but only because brands don't want to do that because they don't want to sell like things all together and want product so they make it like multiple products.

[00:14:47] And it was just like, not. It was not okay to me I was like why am I buying three different eyeshadow palettes only to create one look.

[00:14:56] And, and then I learned that hey, I can I can create that I can put those shades that I know that it's perfect for like one makeup, put them in one palette and then sell that.

[00:15:08] And I did that and at the beginning, I didn't know if I'm able to sell my own product. But it's been a year.

[00:15:16] I haven't advertised my brand anywhere other than my own platform like nowhere else. It's just my on my own YouTube videos, Instagram videos, Tic Tac videos and that's it and I haven't been selling like I have released three different products so far and I'm only focusing on what is my signature which is eyeshadow because my eye makeup is

[00:15:37] always like more popular than the rest of the makeup products that I use.

[00:15:42] So let's let's let's pause for a moment and give you the opportunity to tell everyone who is listening how to find this makeup.

[00:15:50] Yes, it's actually on Bodo makeup dot com B O D O makeup dot com that's B O D O makeup dot com B O D O makeup dot com the best eye makeup you're ever going to find.

[00:16:05] So what makes yours better than everyone else's it's it's for you the distinguishing factor is just the color palette.

[00:16:15] The quality is like next level.

[00:16:17] Okay, I have not seen that quality in any other like products with that price range that I am offering and then also it tells a story.

[00:16:27] Like it was impossible for me to release a product that doesn't tell him stories or each one of them is telling a story.

[00:16:34] And, and I just love those stories and then who would advise them they just relate to that story and they talk about this story and I'm like oh my gosh they actually pay attention.

[00:16:44] And that's that's amazing to me.

[00:16:46] Okay, so I'm going to talk up your makeup for a moment here because not that I've worn it.

[00:16:50] But I got to see the packaging and your packaging reminds me of like an Apple product.

[00:16:58] And the one thing I know about Apple products is that it doesn't matter what the Apple product is whether it's a watch or an iPhone or an iPad or you know whatever.

[00:17:06] Nobody throws away the packaging because it's just some sweet frickin packaging like it feels nice it looks nice good for you for actually thinking even about the packaging and and taking that to

[00:17:19] to a higher level than just alright well you know here's a box and there you go.

[00:17:24] A lot of people don't think in terms of that and that's what one of the things that made me even more impressed was just how your mind works to come up with that.

[00:17:33] You don't have a business background yet you are just hitting it with business and it's so impressive.

[00:17:41] What what is the what is the goal and what where do you want to see your makeup line go with what do you see for like the next three years next five years.

[00:17:50] Next three years I think I'm going to say it in the shelves of stores such as for the distributors to just like not to be only online and being in the stores but I mostly want everyone to just feel the experience of having it.

[00:18:05] Buying something or like owning something is one thing one side of it you need it or you wanted but then 50% of it is the experience is the memory that it creates for you and it just want everyone to have that memory.

[00:18:19] I want everyone to have that experience to have that feel it would be the story the packaging the look of it the colors of it it could be anything but I just I offer like multiple things for everyone who is just like looking at the product

[00:18:34] to create some memory out of it to be like hey because one of one of my palettes the story is immigrant girl and it tells the story of any girl who immigrated and just got out of their country.

[00:18:47] Then started from zero and left everything everything behind and started from zero that's not easy at all I know like everyone talks about it everyone tells like all the aspects of it but the truth is that this is very brave and those people are the ones that no one cares about.

[00:19:04] No one talks about that because they seem so cruel to the world that like oh my God you left your family like what are you looking for what are you trying to get.

[00:19:13] They don't know what what point in life they got to that they made this decision and that is one thing that I just don't I want people who feel unseen to be seen with these kind of stories and products.

[00:19:25] And so one of them is for the girls that they feel like they're unseen which is the I exist eyeshadow palette. The other one is for it's awareness rising about like the abuse like on women like.

[00:19:41] Violence against women is the black and blue and I want people like nobody talks about violence against women in makeup industry everyone talks about.

[00:19:51] Oh it's like fun it's pretty it's glory it's Halloween nobody talks about those things so I want those people to be seen to be heard a beautiful package beautiful colors and then create that experience for themselves this is my goal so I want everyone to see that and for that reason I'm ready to just put this product on the shelves though.

[00:20:10] Lots of lots of like stores so for all time I don't know a place that I used to go shop for like brands and then I want to see my own brand on those shelves so that is my goal and then after that making it bigger and bigger and bigger.

[00:20:23] So ultimately if I have anyone who's in the audience who is a purchaser for these stores I mean get in touch seriously because now you're talking about not just simply pushing a product but an experience.

[00:20:37] Yes yes that's what I care about.

[00:20:40] So you know dig a little bit then into immigrant girls so you you basically did you leave to Ron with nothing I mean was that your story.

[00:20:51] Yeah literally nothing.

[00:20:54] I don't know what it was I don't know if it was.

[00:20:58] It's so hard to say sometimes I feel like okay.

[00:21:01] What are we doing in like is it is it an individual life that we're living only I matter like only my life and my goals matter what about my sister my brother my mom dad like my whole history the life like the parts they used to play at like when I was a kid like everything that's my whole history.

[00:21:21] And in a country like America is not easy to just grow and have your history with you for one reason is that people are too busy to care.

[00:21:34] And the other reason is that people don't really have that much of knowledge about like everyone else in the world like I remember that when I was asking for like vacation or PTO from my boss at the time that I was working at the corporate shop.

[00:21:51] And I had to pronounce Iran three times, even though I wrote that on my email for her to just like say it right.

[00:22:00] And, and it just gave me a moment of thinking oh my gosh people I work with I laugh with and a and I try to grow with in my career don't even know anything about my history not even the name of the country I was born in and you know you're like what am I what am I putting behind for all this like what am I gaining and what would I.

[00:22:21] Not get forever and ever if I don't leave.

[00:22:25] And then when you put all of these things on a scale and still the decision of it's better to go.

[00:22:32] It hurts.

[00:22:33] You know what I'm saying you're like oh my gosh like how can you put your family on one side of the scale and still the other side wins.

[00:22:42] You know what I'm saying you to for you to just leave everything so your family.

[00:22:46] You got nothing here you got your husband obviously you started life here.

[00:22:49] Yes, my husband so everything you had has been left behind and I mean you know you're not that old.

[00:22:57] And so you you left a lot behind a short time ago and and when an attack the world I mean you didn't immediately go to the United States we talked before the before we recorded you've obviously been in a few different countries before you made it over here.

[00:23:11] But yet you left so much behind so let me ask you this because I think it touched on something that a lot of people in this country just don't recognize.

[00:23:20] Can you tell me why America.

[00:23:23] I know in America nobody cares about a lot of things that I'm sick of other people caring about like I'm so sick of explaining about my religion like not have like.

[00:23:34] I don't know like I came from a country that like religion is everything the law is like the lifestyle is like the way people see things and well I fought for my freedom when I was a teenager only because I didn't want to worry job I had to fight with my cousins on the noncles that's not fun but still like I was doing guess I'm like wait a minute.

[00:23:54] Wait a minute.

[00:23:56] Every time there was like a family gathering a party I go out I put the picture of myself on Instagram don't really need to explain myself forever because I'm not going to do that.

[00:24:06] And so America was one of them only because I did live in many countries by many but like good amount of them before coming here and they actually did compare America to all of those like I lived in Europe.

[00:24:21] In Europe your success has a limit.

[00:24:25] They don't let you to be an entrepreneur and then just like grow and become someone and then all of a sudden you you become like the big look at like the whole world like everything like all the biggest like celebrated that entrepreneurs like companies everything they're all based in America not Europe because they do business in Europe they may do business in Asia.

[00:24:44] Exactly I'm from a lot of people don't recognize I'm glad that you brought that up so continue.

[00:24:48] Yeah so that's that's from the business aspect so in Europe like you have a limit they don't let you to just grow for the tax reasons anything there are a lot of reasons that you cannot really grow too big.

[00:25:01] They let you to just be as big as they can control you and there are also some other countries in Asia like I lived in Emirates and lived in Turkey those countries they also have a base of religion which was not idle to me.

[00:25:17] I was coming from a religious country and I didn't want to live my life in a religious country and like leaving everything behind for that so it just didn't make sense.

[00:25:25] So that was also a no to me and and then the business and then after that when I moved to America I absolutely had no intention to stay.

[00:25:35] I just came here for like I don't know three to six months just to see how things are going and then I realized that oh my gosh here has everything I wanted to have like the language is a language that I can speak so I'm fine with communicating.

[00:25:53] The roles are very clear and they can predict things.

[00:25:56] I mean I know that there are some negative stuff going on here too.

[00:26:00] However compared to the other countries I lived in it just made more sense for me.

[00:26:05] I could and then you would not believe that I actually like at the time that I learned that I'm paying tax and then my paycheck was like half of the money that they expected to be.

[00:26:16] I cried the whole day but then I started watching YouTube videos and bought like lots of books and like have to control your tax have to pay tax have to not to pay tax and then add to learn like how to just like buy stuff so we just like lower your tax a lot of things and it was very clear and all of them worked like it worked for me.

[00:26:35] I mean one bit of advice to pay less taxes move out of California.

[00:26:38] I mean that'll save you fortune right there.

[00:26:39] That's very true.

[00:26:41] Unfortunately that's like not possible for me right now but yes that is something that I'm planning to do.

[00:26:47] That's expensive there with tax but it's again very interesting to see in which you see the way in which your mind works.

[00:26:56] You know you see these problems and you just look at them and you just put solutions to them.

[00:27:01] It's you know the sad thing is it's brilliant but it shouldn't be brilliant but it is brilliant right too many people sit there and they will complain.

[00:27:12] I mean you know what you did is you saw problems in your life and then you went around Europe in the Middle East and and try to build a life in each each place that you stopped you're essentially saying that you know what this isn't the right fit for this reason this reason this reason.

[00:27:26] And then you come over here and you like it here which is great but then you're still working on solving the problems to make things really good for yourself without just simply focusing on the problems and never solving them and just complaining so good for you for doing that.

[00:27:42] Thank you.

[00:27:44] I respect that not a lot of people do that too many people just bitch all the time it's rather annoying.

[00:27:47] I acknowledge my problems.

[00:27:49] I acknowledge them.

[00:27:51] I see them but I just don't live with them.

[00:27:54] I don't live in fear and that's one thing that I'm very different from my husband so he's just like like I even told him like a week ago when he was stressed because his tax season right so everyone is stressed out over a lot of things and he was very stressed out I was like look at you you're so spoiled you guys all of you are so spoiled.

[00:28:15] I like from a country that we just don't know how inflation is going to affect our life the next freaking day.

[00:28:24] Like the next the very next day what I knew like the bread that I bought yesterday could be a different price the next day that doesn't happen here.

[00:28:33] Like and a lot of other things that I grew up with and they learned how to deal with them.

[00:28:41] It made me this person that I am today and then when I see people anxious about like little things I'm like oh my gosh first world problems like this is this is not something that I can just like be anxious about.

[00:28:53] I mean something should be very very big for me to be anxious and to be stressed out over and I owe that to my childhood to the country I was born in because it made me tough.

[00:29:09] I'm very double like a lot of things when I when I talk to my friends when I see the way that they see the world like oh my gosh you guys are so spoiled.

[00:29:17] I would agree with that.

[00:29:19] I think I think a lot of us are too many people like I said it's sad but you know your hashtag first world problems what we can really wind ourselves up over.

[00:29:31] Meaningless crap when you think of things in a global scale and you know I'm one who's been blessed to have traveled the world and seen.

[00:29:39] You know elegant wealth and absolutely abject poverty.

[00:29:45] And so I mean you know for me I tend to laugh at some of the first world problems even though I'll bitch about some of them sometime because I can be pretty spoiled so you're also an author and you wrote a book that most of my viewers can never read.

[00:30:03] But can you tell me about the book because you've got it right now in Arabic and you should probably translate but what is the book.

[00:30:13] It's actually in Barcy.

[00:30:15] Yes it's it's a story that I wrote back in 2011 publishing a book was always in my bucket list.

[00:30:23] I when I was a teenager I wrote down this list for myself about things that I wanted to do and I still have that list.

[00:30:31] It's very strange.

[00:30:32] I wanted to do skydiving.

[00:30:34] I wanted to have a tattoo.

[00:30:35] I wanted to write a book publish a book.

[00:30:38] I wanted to become a flight attendant and well some of them never happened like I don't have a tattoo yet yet.

[00:30:45] Yeah.

[00:30:46] But I did this skydiving and I wrote the book like I wrote the story back in 2011.

[00:30:53] I was 20 20 years old at that time.

[00:30:56] And and I wrote it and it just left it there when I became popular on social media and my stories were heard.

[00:31:06] My makeup were seen and people knew me my name and everything.

[00:31:11] And I was getting enough hate to consider myself as popular.

[00:31:17] So I was like, yeah, people hate me.

[00:31:20] So that's cool.

[00:31:22] And then I published the book.

[00:31:25] When I published a book I had no freaking clue anyone would ever notice it was literally just one item on my bucket list that I was so desperate to put a check on.

[00:31:35] I was like, what's the record next to it? That was it.

[00:31:38] And the only thing I did I just posted one story on my Instagram and I said, yeah, this happened.

[00:31:45] And that was it.

[00:31:47] I still haven't touched a physical copy of my own book.

[00:31:50] I was involved with the designing the way that the look should be like the way the font should be.

[00:31:56] I was part of everything.

[00:31:57] I just knew that this is how it's going to look like.

[00:32:00] But I didn't have the physical copy in my hand yet only because it was the book for a time and then we were so late to just make it to the book for.

[00:32:08] So the next day he was getting it there but I haven't had it myself yet.

[00:32:13] So I posted a story and I said, oh my God, it happened.

[00:32:16] I published my book.

[00:32:18] It's at the book for right now you can go get it.

[00:32:20] Only two hours later I was getting pictures from people like standing by in front of the booth that's selling my book and like trying to buy it.

[00:32:27] At the end of the day it was like this whole line that the security had to close that booth only because it was creating such a mess crowd of people trying to get a hand on my book.

[00:32:38] And I'm like, this is absolutely dream come true.

[00:32:41] And it just became the best selling book for the two weeks that it was sold at the book fair.

[00:32:49] Considering the fact that for three days it was closed because of the crowd lining up to get it.

[00:32:55] And after that it made it to the bookstores and it kept being at the best selling shelves of the bookstores for the longest time.

[00:33:05] And I just, I'm so thankful to social media for that.

[00:33:10] I'm thankful to people, to those who see me, who care about my stories, who like my stories.

[00:33:16] I mean, yes a lot of people only because they get anxious over what they see on social media could be very hateful towards it being like, oh my God, there's such negativity.

[00:33:27] It's fake. It's not real life.

[00:33:29] Like you should stay away. You should face the reality.

[00:33:32] Yes we get it but we need to face the fact that this is part of our life now.

[00:33:38] Social media is not going to go nowhere from now on.

[00:33:41] Like it's going to be here forever.

[00:33:44] It's just part like whoever thought that phones are going to go away when it became a thing.

[00:33:49] No, it just gets better and better.

[00:33:51] It just gets like more useful every day.

[00:33:55] And social media is the same thing.

[00:33:57] And I'm so thankful to it because yes I could build a career, create a brand, publish my book and become someone on it.

[00:34:03] I absolutely love it.

[00:34:05] And so the name of your book translated is what?

[00:34:08] I am a fool.

[00:34:09] I am a fool.

[00:34:11] Yes.

[00:34:13] So a lot of people bought I'm a fool.

[00:34:16] Yes and never making fun of the name.

[00:34:19] My haters were making fun of the name but I'm like, yeah that's very true.

[00:34:23] I'm a fool.

[00:34:25] But I like that.

[00:34:27] For me and I've mentioned this many times before on my podcast, I'm a tremendous failure.

[00:34:33] Like I will fail like a champion because I always screw something up and then fall down and get right back up.

[00:34:39] The important thing is you fail but you get right back up.

[00:34:42] And so you're a fool.

[00:34:44] It's fine.

[00:34:46] Well, I said it to the world and they bought it.

[00:34:49] So we're coming along.

[00:34:53] I guess we're getting a little short on time here.

[00:34:55] So I want to give you the opportunity to share all of your social media outlets.

[00:35:00] We've already talked about where people can buy your makeup and where can I buy your book?

[00:35:04] Where can they find you on social media?

[00:35:05] And then also if you can just, you have the ability to talk to the universe through my podcast,

[00:35:12] which of course as we know is the greatest podcast that ever existed short of Joe Rogan of course.

[00:35:16] What kind of advice would you just like last minute wisdom?

[00:35:21] Could you give people who maybe are starting out or don't necessarily understand the power of social media

[00:35:27] or kind of want to walk in your footsteps or learn more about you?

[00:35:30] Yes.

[00:35:31] There is one thing I always tell my audience on my YouTube videos because they tell them about my own life stories

[00:35:38] and other life stories and I tell them all the time, probably every week.

[00:35:43] And I want to tell your audience too.

[00:35:45] It's amazing to write down your goals and going after your dreams and wanting something.

[00:35:51] It's amazing to plan and to go after a particular stuff that you want to have in your life.

[00:35:57] However, the reality is that that doesn't always happen.

[00:36:02] Yes, go after your dreams, but it might not happen.

[00:36:06] However, the universe might give you something that you didn't necessarily ask for, but it gave you.

[00:36:12] You were looking for a job.

[00:36:14] You were looking to work at a specific place.

[00:36:16] You got the job, but it's not that specific place, but you still got the job

[00:36:20] and you're still one step ahead of people who don't have the job or who don't have that job.

[00:36:25] And you just need to get things that the universe gives you and make it your own.

[00:36:31] Yes, it's not always your thing.

[00:36:33] It's not always that particular thing that you were going after, but make it your own.

[00:36:38] When I came to America, my whole resume or my whole job history was about humanitarian worker

[00:36:47] or flight attendant or things like that, like anything that I had experienced with.

[00:36:52] I did not have any experience in sales, let alone being cars, but I got a job at Tesla.

[00:37:01] And at the time that I got that job, I didn't know what Tesla is from the country I came from.

[00:37:07] We didn't know what Tesla is.

[00:37:09] I had no clue what electric car is.

[00:37:11] You might laugh at this right now, but it was me seven years ago and I didn't know who Elon Musk is.

[00:37:17] And I never forget that because part of the hiring process was me watching this video online

[00:37:23] and then clicking next and acknowledging.

[00:37:25] I don't know why they did that, but then I was having the hardest time of my life listening to Elon Musk talking

[00:37:32] because that guy cannot really talk well.

[00:37:34] He's not the most eloquent speaker.

[00:37:36] Right? The way he talks is like, you're like, oh my gosh, just be done with that sentence already.

[00:37:41] Like I'm done.

[00:37:42] And it was so hard for me and I didn't even know him.

[00:37:45] Like, oh my God.

[00:37:47] And it was so hard for me.

[00:37:49] I didn't even know what Tesla is, but I started working there and it made it my thing to the point that when I became popular on my Instagram,

[00:37:56] one of the ways that people were like referring to me was that this girl who works at Tesla

[00:38:02] for whatever reason that became part of my title.

[00:38:06] And the only way that this became part of my title is that I made it part of my title.

[00:38:10] I made it my own.

[00:38:13] I made it part of my resume and then learned I can sell and he started selling my own stuff.

[00:38:18] And this was never something that I was going after.

[00:38:22] It was never my dream job.

[00:38:24] It will never be.

[00:38:26] But I'm very grateful for having it in the past and having experienced with that.

[00:38:33] And I just made it my own.

[00:38:35] And that's what I'm doing with everything in my life.

[00:38:37] Whatever you give me, I make it my own and it makes it something that it seems like it happened in my dream,

[00:38:43] even if it wasn't only because I learned that not everything I want happens the way that I want it to be.

[00:38:49] But it's okay.

[00:38:51] I still keep going.

[00:38:53] And the great news is now you have a podcast that you can call your own episode.

[00:38:57] Yes, I love that.

[00:39:01] Thank you so much for joining.

[00:39:03] Where do people find you?

[00:39:05] Obviously Instagram.

[00:39:07] My name is Shima and you can search me with H-E-R-O-S-H-E-E-M-A-Z,

[00:39:14] hero Shima that I made it myself too.

[00:39:17] Not to be confused with Japan of course.

[00:39:21] No, no, because it's H-E-R-O because I'm the hero of my own life.

[00:39:25] And I tell people to be the hero of their own lives.

[00:39:28] It's not my fault that my name is Shima and I'm a hero.

[00:39:33] I mean, again, you just don't want to be confused with hero Shima.

[00:39:37] Right.

[00:39:39] I mean, look, she's going nuclear.

[00:39:42] Right?

[00:39:45] And I'm actually like, with the same username everywhere on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram,

[00:39:53] and it's just growing day by day because I'm talking to people

[00:39:57] and that's the way that you can make it happen for yourself too.

[00:40:00] Well, thank you so much for joining the program.

[00:40:02] I really appreciate it.

[00:40:04] It's been a lot of fun.

[00:40:05] I'm so happy to be here with you both and may my daughter run into a Ulta beauty supply

[00:40:11] about eight or nine years.

[00:40:13] I don't want to rush it and be able to buy your makeup then be amazing.

[00:40:17] Oh my God, that's the best thing.

[00:40:19] I just imagined it.

[00:40:21] Thank you.

[00:40:23] Thank you so much for having me.

[00:40:25] It was amazing, such a nice talk and yay, can't wait to be back here again

[00:40:28] and talk about like new things that I've done.

[00:40:30] Listen, I mean, I might have to have you on for, you know,

[00:40:33] next time you try and conquer the universe

[00:40:35] and agree with you on one very important thing,

[00:40:38] writing your goals down.

[00:40:40] How critical is that?

[00:40:42] Write your goals down because when they are written down,

[00:40:44] they can happen and most of the time they do happen,

[00:40:46] not necessarily the timeline you're looking for,

[00:40:48] but they will happen.

[00:40:50] They will happen 100%.

[00:40:52] All right. Well, thank you again.

[00:40:54] Thank you everyone for listening.

[00:40:56] Stay tuned for the next episode, which I have to record

[00:40:58] and I'm sure it will be a great one.

[00:41:00] But thank you again and Shima, it's been an absolute pleasure.

[00:41:02] Thank you.

[00:41:04] Glissiers all night.