LILLY GHALICHI The Epitome of Beauty and Brains


By Inez Barberio

 

The Shahs of Sunset Cast member opens up on being an empowering female in the workforce, dating, and her girl crush Kylie Jenner.

A lawyer by trade and a former cast member of the Bravo reality show ‘Shahs of Sunset,’ Lilly Ghalichi has taken the glam industry to a new dimension.  Realizing that the world of law was not where she wanted to focus her career, Lilly took a “leap of faith” at the age of 26 and followed her dreams to working in beauty and fashion.

“I started my first company with about $10,000 in my bank account and zero experience. What I did have, however, was an unstoppable desire to succeed and the belief in myself that I could,” said Lilly.

Through hard work, failure, and sheer determination, Lilly has succeeded in the development of the Ghalichi Glam label and created an umbrella of products that include: Lilly Lashes, Lilly Hair Extensions, WantMyLook Clothing, and the Ghalichi Glam Hair and Makeup Tutorials.

Being an entrepreneur and female, Lilly faced many challenges.

“You will make mistakes, perhaps even big ones, and there is no way around it.  When you become an entrepreneur, you need to go in with the mindset that failure is often a part of success.  You can still succeed, even when you “fail,” as long as you never stop learning, and you never give up.  I’ve faced many obstacles, and I’ve made many mistakes, but I’ve never given up trying, and I never stop working for my dreams.”

Lilly also realized that being a woman in a male dominated business world would have its challenges.  She faced this obstacle by doing her best to balance being encouraging, professional and a tough boss to maintain respect in her office, from all her employees.

As Lilly pushed forward to making her dreams a reality, she used social media to her advantage with marketing.  Celebrities including Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, Lady Gaga, Eva Longoria, Paris Hilton and Nene Leeks to name a few, began using her products, most notably the Lilly Lashes.

Kylie Jenner among the other Kardashian sisters have been seen wearing Lilly Lashes on Lilly’s Instagram pages.  Lilly admitted that Kylie is her celebrity crush.

“Is it weird that I have a girl crush?”

Lilly explained that the impact of social media has made celebrities a lot more accessible.

“Celebrities are just as social media obsessed as the rest of us, and likely spend most of their day on Instagram and Facebook. We do our best to promote our products on our social media pages to get as many eyeballs on them as possible, including celebrity eyeballs!  Most celebrities get our products because their makeup artist or stylist reaches out to us on behalf of them.”

Recognizing that many women wanted to follow the fashion trends of celebrities, but did not have the financial means to do so, Lilly and financial advisor Payam Pedram created the clothing line WantMyLook.  WantMyLook featured the hottest trends and the latest celebrity looks at very reasonable costs.  The first collection was designed by Lilly and debuted at New York Fashion week in 2014.

As the company quickly grew, WantMyLook hired a full design team which allowed Lilly more freedom to focus her creativity on certain pieces within the collection and giving input and ideas to the various designers’ pieces.

When asked about the future of WantMyLook, Lilly was very enthusiastic.

“We have no plans of stopping! Our latest addition to the site for women has been shoes. I have to say, I think we have the hottest shoe collection out there right now and it is all affordable! We also just debuted the first ever WantMyLook mens line at NYFW last September. It was designed by renowned artist Etienne Ortega, and will be available for purchase on the site later this month. Why can’t men be sexy too? They absolutely can, and should be at an affordable price!”

With her major business focus on beauty, Lilly truly believes beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

“What one person thinks is beautiful, the next may not. For me, beauty is a feeling, something invoked like any other human emotion. Perhaps from their face or body, but often times from someone’s kindness, courage, or compassion that makes them beautiful. It’s that “wow” factor or feeling invoked inside that I define beauty from.”

Looking at Lilly’s Instagram page, one cannot help but to wonder if she looks as glamorous as she does everyday.

“I do not wear makeup everyday.  It is impossible when you work as much as I do. Often times I am visiting warehouses or factories without air conditioning in 100 degree weather. My entire face would melt off if I was wearing makeup and my skin would be wrecked! I would say I wear makeup four days out of the week.

Hard for some people to believe but it’s true.”

As social media is here to stay, many young women are more exposed to varying pressures from society. Lilly makes it a point not to fall for the negativity of people hiding behind their computers.

“Never stop believing in yourself and your dreams, and never stop working towards them. There will always be nay sayers that will tell you something is not good enough.  Try your best to filter out negativity from constructive criticism, and recognize there will always be those that will try to bring you down. That has nothing to do with you, nor should it stop you.”

As Lilly continues to expand her dreams, her admiration goes to working mothers.

“As a working woman, when I get home I am exhausted, mentally drained, and can’t wait to kick my shoes off and relax.  I can’t imagine how difficult it is to have children to come home to, and basically start your second shift of the day. Kids are a full-time job, so I admire and salute all working mothers out there that carry two full-time, nonstop jobs.”

Juggling her time with running her businesses, answering emails, working out, communicating with her factories overseas, and traveling, Lilly still managed to find time to date. With her continuing success and fame, it was not very easy.

“I think it’s difficult to date – period. Especially in a city like Los Angeles. Everyone has a motive or is trying to be someone. Between all the Hollywood events, parties, clubs, fashion world, and working, who has time for love, family, and kids?  The city isn’t exactly conducive to the white picket fence dream.”

It was important for Lilly to find someone who respected her own education and success and be confident within himself.

“I didn’t date for a little over seven months after my last relationship. I decided that no matter who I met, or what guy came along I would not date anyone until I was truly at a place where I felt ready to fall in love again.  I think a huge mistake among women is the need to jump from one relationship to another, mainly of a dependency for attention.  When you do that, you don’t really know yourself, the true you without anyone else. I wanted some time to myself to really focus on who I am, and what I wanted.”

When Lilly was ready to date again, she ironically fell in love with someone she had already known for two years.

“Although we had known each other for some time, we had both always been in other relationships, and neither of us had ever told the other how we secretly felt. Timing is truly everything.”

Spending much of her time traveling, Lilly appreciates her time relaxing.

“My favorite place to visit is anything with a blue ocean and without Wi-Fi. A vacation isn’t truly a vacation for me unless I can lay out and be disconnected from the world.”

When she is not vacationing, Lilly works out to relax.

“Nothing relaxes me more than a really good sweat.  I’ll hit a spin class or a Pilates class when I’m really stressed out, and after class I’ll feel so great mentally and physically.  Then I am able to go home and relax.”

The working out certainly helps to balance Lilly’s guilty pleasure of sugar.

“I have the biggest sweet tooth! Candy, cookies, cake, ice-cream, you name it!”

This Christmas season, Lilly plans on skiing in Switzerland with some friends. While she is not an avid skier, she enjoys her time out there. As for New Year’s Eve plans…

“I haven’t decided! Eeeek!”

In 2016, Lilly looks to expand Ghalichi Glam to the Middle East, Australia, and Canada by opening up distribution centers at these locations. Her goal is for all her products be more accessible and affordable to the Glam girls!

You can see all of Lilly’s beauty and fashion endeavors by following her on Instagram @LillyGhalichi and www.GhalichGlam.com.