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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Fashioning A New Life

For 43-year-old mother of three Dalia Hadari, turning around tough situations is the story of her life. A few decades ago, Hadari was an orphan living on a farm community in Israel with an uncertain future ahead of her. But years of hard work and a few good decisions has made her president of Atypical Brands LLC, a Van Nuys beauty supply manufacturer. “Everything you see here is all us,” said Hadari, during a recent tour of her offices and warehouse. “We never financed with any bank.” Atypical Brands sells three lines of beauty products, manufactured in China and sold exclusively online. The main brand, NuMe, consists of hair dryers, straighteners and curlers with a hip look. Prices range from $139.99 to $169.99. Last year alone, NuMe grossed $20 million. The second brand, Nutika, sells blow dryers and curling irons aimed at the females ages 15 to 25, a younger demographic than NuMe buyers. Third, the company makes Belleto, a line of airbrush cosmetics, which retails kits starting at $149. Hadari sells her products on the brands’ websites as well as ecommerce sites such as Amazon.com Inc. The company’s hair gear differs from competitors in its color selection – which includes pastel turquoise, peach and purple – as well as well-targeted marketing. When she took over Atypical in 2011, Hadari instituted an online PR campaign that focused on outreach to beauty bloggers and social media. While product manufacturing is handled by contractors in China, she insists on marketing in house. “Today you have to pay a social media (outlet) or blogger,” Hadari said. “Back then it wasn’t like that.” The approach has resulted in some atypical growth numbers. The company’s payroll has grown from five in 2011 to 50 currently. Revenue gained 300 percent last year and has added nearly 100 percent during the first quarter of this year. Hadari declined to give total revenue figures. Paul Zaffaroni, managing director at investment bank Roth Capital Partners in Newport Beach, said Atypical isn’t the only vendor intent on streamlining its distribution through online sales to increase profit margins. “There are a lot of other brand and consumer product companies that are going direct to consumer and cutting out the middleman,” Zaffaroni said. “They are building their brand online and if you’re going to do that, you have to understand social media and blogs.” Rough start Atypical was founded in 2010 by Ben David. When he met Hadari, he had a warehouse full of beauty products, but no buyers. “He had great product, but not great distribution,” Hadari recalled. She offered to take over the company at the end of 2011 and make the marketing focus strictly online. David became an investment partner, and Hadari’s husband Amnon Hadari also put money into the venture. As a result, the company avoided bank debt. “It’s all self-financed,” Hadari said. “Whatever we made, we put back in.” It wasn’t the first time she had bootstrapped her way to success. Both of Hadari’s parents had died from cancer by the time she was 10. Her father, being close to death and too ill to care for her, sent her to a kibbutz, which she describes as “a good environment.” At 16 she moved to the city with distant relatives to attend an Israeli high school and said the change was rough on her, causing her to rebel. “As a teenager trying to define yourself you need something more. It wasn’t there,” Hadari said. But her life changed when she met her husband and the two joined the Israeli military together. Hadari moved up the Israeli Defense Force’s ranks quickly, doing administrative work and attaining the rank of captain. She credits her time in the military with the development of her leadership skills. After the seven years of service, the Hadaris left to pursue bakery and lingerie businesses that served as valuable learning lessons that they would utilize when they decided to move to America in the late 1990s. “We were searching for other opportunities,” she said. One skill that Hadari has developed in her role as Atypical’s chief marketer is adapting as the market evolves. “We just don’t put our products on a shelf and wait for it to sell, or make a commercial,” she said. “We actually reach our customers in a very educated way. We use almost every tool that is available today and sometimes we create our own tools.” For example, at the Nutika site, visitors can sign up for a styling newsletter and get a $100 discount on Nutika products. The newsletter features tips, product news and a “daily hairoscope.” For the future, Hadari plans to release an upgraded version of the NuMe line later this year and expand into traditional makeup with the Bellato line. Her husband Amee called her “a business-wise woman and a loving mother” who puts her family first. “When it comes to her family, she is like a tiger,” he said. “She is a powerful woman.”

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