Behind Her Empire: Divya Gugnani's 'On-The-Go' Clean Beauty Empire

Yasmin Nouri

Yasmin is the host of the "Behind Her Empire" podcast, focused on highlighting self-made women leaders and entrepreneurs and how they tackle their career, money, family and life.

Each episode covers their unique hero's journey and what it really takes to build an empire with key lessons learned along the way. The goal of the series is to empower you to see what's possible & inspire you to create financial freedom in your own life.

Wander Beauty CEO Divya Gugnani
Wander Beauty

On this week's episode of Behind Her Empire, I sat down with Divya Gugnani, the CEO and co-founder of Wander Beauty. Her latest company is a cruelty-free, clean beauty brand, designed to be the ultimate on-the-go beauty essentials.


Gugnani began her work in finance at Goldman Sachs, where she says she learned the important of being a team player.

"I believe that investing in people and investing in relationships would always be the best thing for me, both personally and professionally," she said. "And I learned that in finance you work hard, you work a lot of hours and you work on teams."

After dabbling in personal equity and then getting her MBA, she worked on weekends to create an auto parts company with her boyfriend, which she says gave her quality hands-on experience.

Reflecting on the venture, she said, "I think it's great to have very strong relationships, but I do believe they should be based on skillset. They shouldn't be based on your personal chemistry. I think that the biggest mistake is getting involved in business with someone that you're emotionally involved with, because the emotions come at work, the work comes at home and plays into the emotional relationship. That for me was the biggest mistake I made."

After launching two other businesses and becoming a mother, Gugnani started Wander Beauty. Her experience as an entrepreneur and as a mother inspired the company. She said she wanted to look done-up, despite the limited time she had in her day. Wander's first product was a double-sided makeup stick that works as a blush, highlighter, lipstick and eyeshadow.

Since then, the startup has won over 30 beauty awards in five years, including an Allure '"best of beauty" award. Wander has become a favorite of reviewers, influencers and customers alike, and has won its share of celebrity devotees, including Heidi Klum, Emma Roberts, Sarah Jessica Parker and Molly Sims, among others.

Listen to the episode to hear firsthand advice from Gugnani on starting a business, what she's learned about building her teams and how to enter the industry at the right time.

"I've been in four different industries with four different startups and I've learned them all along the way. You learn it all. Be a learn-it-all, not a know-it-all." —Divya Gugnani

Divya Gugnani is the CEO and co-founder of Wander Beauty.

Want to hear more of the Behind Her Empire podcast? Subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radioor wherever you get your podcasts.

dot.LA Engagement Intern Colleen Tufts contributed to this post.

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Relativity Space Launches World’s First 3D-Printed Rocket, But Falls Short of Orbit

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College and previously covered technology and entertainment for TheWrap and reported on the SoCal startup scene for the Los Angeles Business Journal. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

Relativity Space Launches World’s First 3D-Printed Rocket, But Falls Short of Orbit
Photo: Relativity Space

The largest 3D-printed object to ever fly had liftoff yesterday as Long Beach-based Relativity Space launched its Terran 1 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Terran 1 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at around 7 p.m. PST March 22. It was Relativity’s third attempt at sending Terran 1 to the cosmos and the nighttime launch was quite a sight to behold. The clarity of the night sky was perfect to see the blue jets of flame cascading out of Terran 1’s nine Aeon 1 engines, all 3D-printed, as the rocket took off.

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What Is ‘Embodied Audio?’ And Can It Help Professional Sports Teams Fill Their Stadiums?

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College and previously covered technology and entertainment for TheWrap and reported on the SoCal startup scene for the Los Angeles Business Journal. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

What Is ‘Embodied Audio?’ And Can It Help Professional Sports Teams Fill Their Stadiums?
Photo: Edge Sound Research

In 2020, the Minnesota Twins experimented with a new technology that brought fans the ability to physically feel the sounds they were hearing in the stadium in the back of their seats as part of a new immersive way to experience baseball.

The tech was made by Riverside-based startup Edge Sound Research, which built a mobile lounge – basically, a small seating section equipped with its technology and on wheels to travel around the stadium – for Twins fans to experience what it calls “embodied audio” around Target field. It was a bid on the Twins’ part to keep fans more engaged during the game, and Edge Sound Research CEO Valtteri Salomaki said the Twins were impressed.

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B Capital’s Howard Morgan On The Key To Early Stage Investing

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

B Capital’s Howard Morgan On The Key To Early Stage Investing
Provided by LAV

On this episode of the LA Venture podcast, B Capital Group General Partner and Chair Howard Morgan discusses his thoughts on early stage investing and the importance of company ownership.


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