Meet Tari Kandemiri of Hama Beauty in West Midtown

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tari Kandemiri.

Tari, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was born in Harare, Zimbabwe and immigrated to the United States when I was seven years old. My parents sacrificed living comfortably amongst family and friends to ensure my sister and I would have the best educational opportunities possible, and I am forever thankful! We settled in Silver Spring, Maryland, and I went on to attend Sewanee: The University of the South after receiving the ultra-competitive Posse Foundation full-tuition scholarship. I majored in Computer Science with a minor in Business and a handful of internships led me to working full time at a Consulting firm in Atlanta! I absolutely love my work as its allowed me the perfect opportunity to explore my passions for both business and technology. I’ve found that the intersection of the two is what really piques my interest.

I have always had a passion for business. For as long as I can remember, I’ve envisioned myself building a company that does something to make life a little easier for everyone. One of my earliest “business” memories is from middle school, when a friend and I hand-designed t-shirts with plans to sell them to our friends and family! Fast-forward to college, during my time at Sewanee I was a co-founder for an on-campus food delivery platform. Sewanee’s remote location made it quite difficult to get access to food outside of the dining hall and a few options in the “downtown” area, but students who wanted fast food or other options had to drive off campus to do so. For students without vehicles, this was a barrier and pain point we all lamented. My co-founders and I worked quickly to build the platform, and I focused on the business side from meeting with deans to ensure they were comfortable with us being on campus, upskilling myself on the legal requirements of starting a business, identifying restaurant partners, advertising, and hiring students to work as delivery drivers! I managed the day-to-day of the business and customer relations, answering calls and texts directly on my phone via google voice. Though it was tiring at times, I truly felt I’d found my calling being at the helm of a company using technology to fill a need and mitigate a pain point for consumers!

The inspiration for my new venture, Hama Beauty, came from hours spent in beauty stores such as Sephora and Ulta. I would wander the aisles trying to find products that could help me combat hyperpigmentation or dullness for my skin, but felt powerless because I didn’t even know where to start to truly identify what could work for me! It made the shopping experience quite stressful at times because I would purchase a product that was expensive and didn’t work for me or just leave empty-handed. I started thinking about building Hama over two years ago and decided to just go for it a little over a year ago. What I realized was that use of data to personalize consumer experiences was becoming more and more prevalent across different industries, but there was no single platform that could easily help someone identify suitable products using data science and user input.

I conducted market research to see what others found difficult when shopping for beauty and skincare products, and used that along with my own experiences to guide me as I build the platform from the ground up! It felt amazing to see that not only had I identified an issue that was worldwide, I also had an idea I was passionate about that could help me and other people have fun and enjoy the shopping experience by becoming better informed with their shopping experience. Hama uses data science and a specialized method to provide customized product recommendations to a consumer based on their age, skin type, skin tone, and needs, narrowing down options to ones that are more likely to work or be of value to the consumer.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The process of building Hama has been absolutely amazing and a learning experience, but it has not been smooth all the way. I bootstrapped the platform myself, funding the costs for the backend developer and all legal costs on the business side. I did not have much experience pitching myself or a company when I first started and found it difficult to rally interest from potential investors. The feedback I received was that they wanted to see the platform in action and see if consumers were truly interacting with it; proof that it was a valuable asset. A conversation with a mentor inspired me to take action and fund the Minimum Viable Product myself, which I was lucky enough to be able to do.

I strongly felt that if potential investors could just see the platform in action, they would better understand my vision and be more willing to listen to my pitch and potentially come on board. Though it was scary to put a majority of my savings into the venture, I am so glad I did because it allowed me full control of the creative vision for the platform and I could build 100% to my liking. I learned how to properly hire and onboard someone, collaborating to build the website and leaned heavily on my network and communities for support. Friends, family and colleagues were always kind and eager to provide feedback along the way from the idea’s inception to different stages of the testing process, and that validation fueled me to continue with my vision even when I felt doubtful. My family has always been very supportive of my entrepeneurial goals, and they have provided some much needed motivation and inspiration throughout this journey!

Hama – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Hama Beauty Inc (Hama) is a platform that uses data science to give personalized product recommendations. Hama gives recommendations (serums, moisturizers, toners, etc.) based on your age, skin type, skin tone, and needs (acne, dullness, sun protection, hyperpigmentation, etc.) Users take a short quiz to give the specialized method their demographic information, and then the method parses through a product database with about 10,000 products and over 500,000 data points to match them with products that meet their needs and have worked well for other people with similar skin and needs. What sets Hama apart is that this is done in under 30 seconds! In 30 seconds, a shopper can go from being unsure about what kind of product they should be looking for in the first place to receiving a list of the best recommendations for them, which they can further filter and modify to receive recommendations for a particular product type or for a certain price range.

The need to scour the aisles or read hundreds of reviews goes out of the window with a powerful tool like this quickly and easily accessible on your phone, which is exactly what I was aiming for. I am so proud that with Hama, I have been able to make it easier and a little more fun to shop for beauty and skincare products by empowering the consumer. For years I’ve been stumped when I walk into Sephora or Ulta and see 100 products on the shelf promising to do the same thing – so I used data to take the guessing work out and put more fun back into shopping! During this time when brick-and-mortar stores are closed, this has also become a safe and quick alternative to spending time in stores searching around for products or receiving one-on-one assistance from store attendants.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success, to me, is seeing people use Hama and seeing them provide feedback once they’ve both received product recommendations and gone on to buy those products from the retailers. Knowing that I am able to help others start or enhance their skincare routines makes me so happy. Hama is not only for skincare newbies. It’s truly for anyone and everyone looking for unbiased product recommendations from hundreds of brands. Success is using my passion for technology and business to fix a pain point that I have struggled with, and use that as fuel to continue innovating to make the shopping experience better for others as well!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hamabeauty.com/
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hamabeautyinc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hamabeautyinc

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