Beautiful Skin

By Louise May

Panemorfi’s Founder and CEO, Robina Savidis came to Australia at the age of 7 after having to flee from war and persecution in Iraq. Being the eldest of five kids she immediately took on the role of caretaker and provider for her siblings and mother, so at the age of 14 she found her passion and began an apprenticeship with her local area’s leading Salon, Chic. After becoming a fully qualified Beauty Therapist, she established her own business and at the ripe age of 17 she began climbing her way to success.

Throughout the years, Robina maintained and enhanced her industry knowledge and therapy skills by constantly involving herself in refresher courses and seminars through different salons, wholesalers, and educational facilities. Through these experiences Robina built a great rapport with different business owners and decided to participate in business networking events and business courses such as Kerwin Rae’s ‘Nail It & Scale It’ course, as she always believed that “in order to grow as a business, we need to grow as an industry”.

At the age of 29, Robina knew that she had a calling to do more, so she began her entrepreneurial journey and stepped into the product manufacturing world. Following various business ideas that either failed or succeeded, Panemorfi was born.

LEARNING TO LOVE YOURSELF INVOLVES BELIEVING IN YOURSELF AND YOUR INSTINCTS

Panemorfi Skin Care provides high quality cosmeceutical skin-care products that are affordable and easily accessible world-wide. They provide products for wholesalers, salon owners, and for the community, Panemorfi aims to support and cater to all business’ large and small alike. CEO and founder Robina, has 20+ years of experience within the beauty industry and this has shown to be invaluable through the quality of our products and our customer service. Panemorfi products aim to bring in the WOW Factor to your business, whether that means exclusively providing the best skin treatments for your customers or allowing them to take the salon experience at home with them.

Robina says... As a consumer, you come across brands that are either only affordable, high in quality, or easily accessible. Panemorfi ticks all three of those boxes, due to years of experience within the Beauty Industry we understand the needs of business’ big and small, old, and new. As our business grows, we want our retailers and wholesalers to grow with us. We want to attribute Panemorfi’s success with the collaboration of the business’ we provide for in constantly listening to their feedback and business needs. This in turn has helped Panemorfi’s empire grow to what it is today, and the reason why we were a finalist in the 2022 Australian Beauty Industry Awards for Best Business Performance of the Year (non-Salon).

Editor Louise May chats with Robina about her journey in the industry and the Panemorfi Brand.

Tell us about yourself, where did you grow up etc?

Well, I was born in Baghdad, Iraq in ’87! Unfortunately, the war in Iraq was at its peak so my two younger brothers, younger sister, mother, father, and I (at the age of 7) had to flee on foot to escape religious persecution. From Iraq we were smuggled into Turkey and lived there for 2.5 years until we were accepted to come into Australia.

What drew you to the industry in the first place?

I wasn’t quite interested in school, unfortunately I wasn’t performing as well as my fellow peers, and I wasn’t allowed to leave school unless I had a job or an apprenticeship, so it was either stay in school or get an apprenticeship.

Being the eldest of five kids, I immediately took on the role as caretaker and provider for my younger siblings and mother at the age of 15 and decided to bite the bullet and approach all my local beauty salons to see if anyone could take me on. Thankfully I was accepted into what was one of South-West Sydney’s leading beauty salons at the time and grew from there!

What do you do in the Industry today?

After finishing my apprenticeship, I decided to start my own beauty salon at the age of 19. I built up my cliental, trained apprentices of my own, and still loved every bit of being a beauty therapist. I specialised in a wide range of beauty treatments such as nails, waxing, laser hair removal, spray tanning, makeup, facials, tattoo removal, skin tightening and fat minimising treatments, and much more! However, after 17 years of hard work, I decided to hang up my ‘apron’ and shut shop to focus on helping other salon owners provide their clients with the greatest products and services.

What inspired you to create your own range of skincare?

Out of all the treatments I provided, I can confidently say that facials and pretty much anything skin related were my favourite treatments to perform. As a skin specialist, I was always looking for the next best thing to bring to my salon so I could give my clients the treatment they deserved. After continuously searching I began to see a gap in the skin care market, so I stopped searching and started creating. I began to collaborate with pharmacists to bring my vision to life, and after endless nights with little to no sleep and driving my clients crazy with all the product trials, Panemorfi was born!

What is unique about Panemorfi?

As a consumer, you come across brands that are either only affordable, high in quality, or easily accessible. Panemorfi ticks all three of those boxes, due to years of experience within the Beauty Industry we understand the needs of business’ big and small, old, and new. Our products are vegan friendly with ingredients that are gathered from different parts of the Asia-Pacific Region and are formulated together by experienced pharmacists.

Our professional products give therapists the upper hand throughout their facial services, whether Panemorfi is being used as a specialised skin treatment to tackle the toughest of skin issues or if a client needs the ultimate relaxation treatment to unwind from a tough day. Just as every other therapist would say ‘a great facial needs to be maintained with a great skin care routine’, Panemorfi allows the client to take the salon experience right into their own homes.

Our retail skincare products contain no nasties and highlight the strength of whatever active ingredient it contains, this allows clients to understand what is going onto their skin and allows for therapists to properly prescribe products that are personalised for their customers skin-type.

What do you consider your own top 3 pillars of success to be?

Perseverance: we don’t know how to fight or push through difficult situations and disappointments because we’re so used to getting what when we want it. Instead of giving up when things don’t go your way, learn from your failures, and try figuring out how to combat them in the future. Nobody becomes a millionaire overnight. Successful people are frequently confronted with rejection and failure! They simply get back up after each fall. Positivity/self-love: Learning to love yourself involves believing in yourself and your instincts. How often does fear mislead us by using our ‘ego’ to keep us safe, protected, and comfortable? When you learn to trust yourself more, you will be directed more by your intuition and less by your ego/fear.

We are all born with an internal guidance system that will never steer us wrong, remaining positive and learning to love yourself more means that you can learn to shut that inner critique up! Because we are all worthy of success, and we are all capable of achieving our goals. Consistency: There is a saying that goes ‘If you had to go through 56 rejections in order to get what/where you want, how quick would you be to fail?’, we may fail once or even 100 times, but chances are that it will bring us closer to our desires.

Remaining consistent not only helps us stay focused and dedicated on achieving your goals, but it also builds discipline and improves your overall personality. You will never know what attempt at reaching your goal will be the one that finally gets your there.

Are there any must haves that you love to start your day with?

Coffee is a MUST in the morning! After my coffee, I spend 15 minutes reflecting on what I’m grateful for, this has helped me a lot with setting a positive tone for the day. And lastly, I love me some good music to help motivate me as I’m driving to headquarters!

What’s given your business strength over the years?

We want to attribute Panemorfi’s success with the collaboration of the business’ we provide for, if it wasn’t for constantly listening to their feedback and business needs, we wouldn’t be where we are today. As our business grows, we want our retailers and wholesalers to grow with us. A happy wholesaler equals a happy retailer, a happy retailer equals a happy customer, a happy customer equals a proud Panemorfi. Also, I couldn’t be more blessed to have the team I’m working with today. They are the muscle that keep the business powering through even throughout our toughest periods, I wouldn’t have been able achieve half of what I had envisioned without them.

How do you stay strong but agile during these times?

I make sure I take time out for myself on a personal and professional level to ensure I do not get overwhelmed. That is the only way to remain on top of my game.

What’s on the agenda for you for the future?

Global expansion! Having our products known and loved worldwide is something I am working towards at the moment. For people to hear Panemorfi Skincare and associate our brand with quality products they can trust.