We recently had the privilege of interviewing Olena Kurchyna, Co-founder of ELAN Professional Line. Being in a prominent position in the company, Olena plays a crucial role in uplifting and shaping its position in the market with responsibilities including driving profitability, managing organizational structure, assessing risks, and many others.
ELAN is the first and exclusive brand for professional brow and make-up artists, setting the “brow trend” since 2015. In this interview, Olena shares her business journey, the inspiration behind founding the company, and her visions of being a pioneer in this industry.
On Being An Industry Leader
We started the interview by asking, “Could you describe your career journey and the pivotal experiences that shaped your path to becoming a leader in your industry?”
Olena Kurchyna shared, “To start with, I am proud that we are among the key players in the lash and brow industry, reshaping the understanding of what the services can look like. We do a lot – training around 5000 students online and offline, in different languages, along with having an international team.
We started as a beauty salon – circumstances made us to be hardworking, think, and make decisions fast. Today we are an international company apart from our brands ELAN, Disal, and LAvHair. ELAN lash and brow beauty lounge franchise, private label manufacturing, brand development, beauty education opportunities, the largest conferences and events at ELAN Asia Show hosting 500 people from 35 countries – coming to take part in the largest Lash and Brow Championship (in the year 2023 we have around 150 participants in BROW category). In essence, doing at least a few positive things per day will lead to your dream tomorrow.”
Transforming Business Priorities
To learn more about the changing visions of Olena Kurchyna’s business, we asked, “As your company has grown and faced various challenges, how has your original vision evolved to meet these changes?”
Olena Kurchyna responded, “Once the company starts growing – it is inevitable that you have to delegate the responsibilities, sometimes even the most important, changing your role in the company from ‘person in operations’ to someone who is guiding and training. The only thing I still can’t delegate – hiring managerial positions. The last interview is always with me.”
An Untapped Potential
Eager to learn more about Olena Kurchyna’s perspective on emerging trends in her industry, we asked, “Looking at the horizon, which emerging trend do you believe is undervalued but will significantly impact your industry in the next few years?”
Olena Kurchyna shared, “Companies have already started to understand that consumers are so much positively obsessed with sustainability – it is all moving to ‘successful company’ will be equal to ‘sustainable company’. Consumers teach us a lot.”
Spark Behind ELAN
We further asked, “Was there a specific moment when you identified an unmet need in the market that inspired you to start your venture? How did you turn that idea into reality?”
Olena Kurchyna & Anna Kravchenko – Co-Founders of ELAN Professional Line
Olena Kurchyna replied, “The beauty market was divided among key players before our move to a new city 10 years ago. At that time the ‘eyebrow trends’ had only started and as my sister was a makeup artist, we decided to start the first Brow Bar in the country. When we started growing, there was a lack of materials to work with. That is how the ELAN professional line appeared; we were among the first to implement new trends, new materials, and new techniques.
Now we have 3 of our brands – ELAN, DisAL, LAvHAIR – all of them are for professional salon use and cover beauty market needs. I always say – if there is a request from the market – you have to make the offer. Being hardworking enough made us launch our cosmetic factory – ELAN Kimya.”
Assessing The Right Strategy
We were curious to learn how Olena Kurchyna ensures the right strategy to follow for her business. So, we asked, “In the transforming environment of your industry, how do you assess when it’s time to pivot your strategy versus when to stay the course?”
“If you want to be among the market key players, you always have to implement something new. That’s how you grow, but try to be smart. Even if you do something good, clients are in the constant search of something new. If you don’t follow their requests, someone else will do that. To sum up – listen carefully to your clients.” She replied.
Setting ELAN Apart
To have a strong brand presence in the industry, it is crucial to offer unique experiences. We asked, “With so many players in your field, how does your service offering distinguish itself? Could you share the inspiration behind one of your key services?”
Olena Kurchyna shared, “I am proud that we were among the first in the lash and brow industry who implemented signature techniques of brow architecture, brow tinting, lash lift, and brow lamination. That is how the journey of the ELAN professional line has started. I am proud that today we provide full circle to our clients, we manufacture the products that we use for services in our salons, we perform beauty services, train students at our academy, we export officially ELAN to 40 countries, having clients and students in all the continents.
As we cover work 360 degrees – we have the opportunity to see the beauty market from different angles. I always say: Do what you love the most, do it in the best possible way. The universe likes persistence and hard work. Start small – try first, check the opportunities, and then start to grow.”
Following The Core Principles
Sustainability and social responsibility are critical in the current business world. So, we inquired, “How have you integrated these principles into the fabric of your company, and why do you think it’s essential for your sector?”
Olena Kurchyna responded, “One of our businesses is cosmetic manufacturing at ELAN Kimya Factory. So here are the very crucial points of following the principles of sustainability. First and most important is to utilize reworked materials and use ECO-sustainable packaging. I always check how ‘big partners’, that is, the manufacturers of the packaging and raw materials implement sustainability and social responsibility in a company and if they invest in a better tomorrow.”
Reshaping Businesses, we asked Olena Kurchyna
Fast-paced digital transformation has been leaving a significant mark on every industry. So, we asked, “How is technology playing a role in helping your company move forward?”
Olena Kurchyna replied, “AI has changed a lot and made working in beauty easier and faster. We generate a lot of images instead of making shootings, texts for social nets instead of asking copywriters, etc. cutting the need to hire additional staff. Time flew and now we can build a website in a single day; I still remember those times when it took 2-3 weeks and sometimes even longer. Social nets are incredible in attracting new clients and I still remember the times when it took 6-8 months to start business properly as ‘word of mouth’ is very limited to the location.”
Investment in Development
We ended the session by asking, “As we look into the future, faced with both opportunities and uncertainties, how are you positioning your company to not just survive but flourish?”
Olena Kurchyna concluded, “Founder is the vital part of the company; if the founder develops the skills and invests in the team, flourish will come as a part of the future development. Invest in yourself and your people.”
Follow Olena Kurchyna on LinkedIn.
Find ELAN Professional Line on LinkedIn and visit their website https://elanofficial.com
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