At 22, Divya Malpani set out to challenge conventional skincare with Skinvest, a science-led brand designed for Indian skin. Today, she’s proving that clinical rigour and bold ambition can change the beauty industry.
What did you have to unlearn about being a good woman in order to become a good leader?
I had to unlearn that being liked and being respected are the same thing. My team doesn’t need me to be agreeable; they need me to be clear. The kindest thing I can give them is honesty early, not politeness late.
Tell us about a room where you walked in knowing you were the least expected person to be there and walked out knowing you belonged.
At 22, Skinvest was shortlisted for the Beauty & You Award by Estée Lauder and Nykaa, alongside established industry names. We won, along with a ₹1.3 crore grant. I realised I belonged because I was solving a problem I had lived: the need for skincare science designed for Indian skin and weather.
What is something you were once told you were too much of that you now consider one of your greatest strengths?
I was told I was too particular. Today, that obsessiveness is the foundation of Skinvest. Ingredient transparency isn’t a marketing line for us; it’s the only way I know how to work.
What is the hardest no you’ve ever said and what did it cost you?
One product has been in development for 26 months and still hasn’t launched. Saying no has cost us time and money, but I’d rather be late than wrong on someone’s skin.
What is one career risk you took that looked irrational to everyone else at the time?
Building a science-first skincare brand at 22, when everyone said hype, trends and speed were the winning formula. I chose clinical rigour and Indian-specific formulations. It may not grow the fastest, but it grows the deepest.
What is the invisible tax women still pay for being ambitious?
A man’s ambition is assumed. A woman has to justify why she wants more and whether she’s sure. There’s also the quieter tax: the guilt you’re taught to feel for wanting more.
What do you think we risk losing in the pursuit of making everything smarter?
Patience. Good formulations need months of testing, real people, real weather and real results. Technology should make us sharper, not make us stop listening.
What is something about your success that people see as effortless but actually came at a very high personal cost?
I’ve missed weddings, family commitments and friendships. While people my age were partying, I was reading stability reports and rewriting labels. Being the first woman in my family to do this carries a weight nobody sees.
What are you still figuring out?
How to grow without losing scientific rigour, lead through high-pressure launches while protecting my team’s energy, and balance being a founder, wife, daughter and individual.
If PowHER STRIKERS is about women who didn’t simply enter the room but changed the room, what is the room you want to change next?
The room where Indian skincare science is decided. I want India to invent the next generation of skincare and scalp science, not just consume it.
Google knows the highlights of your career. What doesn’t it know about the choices, risks, setbacks and defining moments that made you who you are today?
It doesn’t know about failed formulas, delayed launches or labels rewritten because a claim wasn’t honest enough. My defining moment was deciding to build slowly and truthfully, even if that meant building alone for a while.