Lilly Ghalichi: The Business Glamazon

Lilly Ghalichi reminds us not to judge a book by its cover, no matter how glamorous it is.

You'll definitely remember her. It's not only her raven hair, the detail orientated sense of style or the flawless make-up. It isn't even her girlish laugh or her charming personality. These might be the first impressions you get of Lilly Ghalichi but you'll remember her for entirely different reasons. Other than her memorable name, her intelligence, wit and business acumen will leave many of us speechless.
"I also went to business school," she says with some coy, "lots of people don't know that I went to the Red McCombs School of Business. All these things totally wash over and all they concentrate on is like 'she has implants.' It's so silly."
And silly is one thing Lilly isn't. In a social sphere and industry populated with countless reality starlets trying to break and make the beauty industry, the beauty warrior is ahead of the glam game in leaps and strides without breaking a nail. Hoping to spread some of her inspiration, confidence and a dose of Ghalichi Glam to Dubai, Lilly is in the UAE where she did make-up workshops and will be hosting the first three days of the Dubai Shopping festival.
Other than empowering herself with education from one of the best business schools in the United States, Red McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin, Lilly also attended Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, where she received her Juris Doctor with honours and became a licensed Attorney in the State of California. After a few years practising law, Lilly couldn't keep away from her calling. She left the law world behind and delved full force into the world of glam, first with her line of bikinis. And she hasn't looked back since.
We first took notice of the Persian Barbie when she lit up our screens on Bravo's reality show, Shahs of Sunset. It was a short but memorable stint of two seasons on the show that focuses on a group of Persian-American friends living in Los Angeles. Like most reality shows it was a caricature of Lilly that we initially met but audiences couldn't help noticing that there was something different about her. First of all, Lilly didn't like confrontation or dramas and partying wasn't really her thing.
"Being on a reality show is not easy. It's emotionally, physically, mentally draining and you get so consumed in filming and the drama and the storylines that your own life suffers. Your personal relationships, your business ... so, quitting the show was the best decision for me."
Clever move. Lilly has since transcended the initial fame the show gave, her amassing 1.8 million followers on Instagram and focusing on her brands and businesses that have since flourished. These include an affordable fashion retailer providing celebrity looks for less, WantMyLook.com, her line of lashes, Lilly Lashes, and her own line of luxe human hair extensions, Lilly Hair all under the Ghalichi Glam powerhouse label. Lilly has also been sharing her experiences in entrepreneurial, inspirational talks titled 'How To Live Like a Boss'.
"I didn't gear it towards women but 99 per cent that attend are women. I guess that I relate mostly to women. It's basically a road map of how I create my business, how I make them gain exposure and become successful and how you can do it too."
City Times sat down with Lilly to pick her brains on everything from beauty, business and why balance is so important.
Have you always been confident? Where would you say you got your confidence from?
I think I would have to say my mum is the number one source of my confidence. I remember being a little girl and when I would leave to take a test she would look at me and she would say 'if anybody can make a 100 it's you' and I believed her. She'd tell me I'm the smartest girl in my class, I'm the sharpest girl in my class and I believed her. I think it's really important to instill confidence in children because, then they grow up being more confident adults. And you can do it yourself. A really great trick is to talk to yourself in the mirror. So if I have a big interview or a speech I have to give or I have a really big event I need to host, before I walk out the door, I look at myself in the mirror and I say I'm going to crush this, this is going to be amazing, everybody is going to love it. When you see yourself saying it, when you hear yourself saying it, you believe it.
Would you say you're proud of your Persian heritage?
I'm very proud to be Persian, I'm very proud to be Muslim. I think the depiction the media gives of the Arab culture or the Persian culture, our religion, is not accurate.
It's like the media loves to hate us. So any opportunity that they have to present something negative they do. I also think that the Western mentality that all the women in the Middle East are oppressed and unhappy is so untrue.
As somebody that travels to the Middle East and Iran, women are gangsters! They are working, they're running businesses, they're moms, they're wives and I think that the way that my cast members portrayed Iran is a shame. It's a beautiful country with great culture, great history and just because women are required to cover their hair, doesn't make them any less capable.
How has being Persian influenced you growing up?
It's influenced me tremendously. I wouldn't be who I am today, I wouldn't have the success I have today. Being Persian, college isn't a choice. You know you're going to college, you're going to be a doctor, lawyer or an engineer, that's what you're going to do. And so even though I never had the passion to be an attorney, it was instilled in me in my culture that I needed to get educated, I need to have some sort of fall back.
So I became a lawyer and even though I don't practice law and I don't use my degree, it's helped me in every way and I wouldn't have that if I weren't Persian. And also my sense of family. I think twice when I'm going to make a decision because I think about what my mom will think, what my dad will think, how will my brother feel and I think that those are the core Middle Eastern values that have made me the person that I am.
What is the difference between Middle Eastern women and Western women?
I think Middle Eastern women are stronger. Because the women that live in the Middle East, in some countries, are forced to prove that they are just as capable as men and I don't think that's easy. I think that makes them strong, that makes them more courageous and Western women don't really realise that.
Middle Eastern women have always been known to be the most beautiful women in the world. We are obsessed with beauty, we are obsessed with fashion and make up and I think that the Arab world is ahead in make-up. They really take it seriously and they do a great job, they start trends. The Arabic eye is like the hottest thing in the Western world. The Arabic cut crease, contouring, all of these things generated in this region of the world.
Do you see yourself as a role model to Middle Eastern women? If so how does that affect you?
I don't see myself as a role model, I've never tried to be a role model. I have countless women, tell me, email me (telling me) that I am their role model and I think that's so humbling and I'm so honoured.
But I don't see myself as a role model and I don't take my actions with that in mind. You know, sometimes I do outrageous things, I say outrageous things and then I do regret it because I realise that so many little girls are looking up to me or reading it and seeing it, but you can never make everyone happy.
Do you think woman can have it all? Or do they have to sacrifice?
I think that obviously you make sacrifices for family. But with that said I think that having the right partner, can actually make you more successful because you're there in life to support one another, you support him in his endeavors, he supports you in yours.
So I think, having the right partner, you won't have to sacrifice. I think being in the wrong relationship, you will. Because you know, you won't have time to make everyone happy. You have to work together as a unit. But I think that everyone can have it all, women can have it all, men can have it all, you just have to find balance. Which I don't have (laughs). I'm trying to learn that.
How did you get so business savvy? Were you always into business?
I have (always been business minded) because my parents were entrepreneurs. They moved to the United States as teenagers to go to college. They met and fell in love, then the revolution happened.
So they never went back and they had nothing. I didn't grow up wealthy, even though they both had degrees - my mum had a degree in medicine, my dad had a degree in engineering. Neither of them decided to get jobs, they decided to open restaurants and have all sorts of entrepreneurial endeavors. Seeing that growing up I used to always ask my mum, 'why doesn't dad have a job? Like a all my other friends'. She used to tell me, 'we want to be our own bosses'. That's real power in life and so I think that really shaped me growing up, that I wanted that for myself too.
How can women be successful in business without losing themselves?
I think you just can't lose that sense of self while you're following your dreams of business or your work and you have to find balance. You can't just work 24/7, you have to take time to go to the gym, you have to take time to get your nails done, or whatever it is that makes you feel beautiful as a woman.
If you don't have balance, if you're on one end going shopping and getting your nails done all day, you're never going to be successful in business. And if you're on the other end just working 24/7 you're going to lose that sense of femininity. Being a girl requires upkeep, it's not easy so I think that the key is to just try and find balance.
What is your definition of beauty?
That's a great question. My definition of beauty is how you feel on the inside. I think that being beautiful is feeling beautiful and if you feel beautiful you exude that feeling and everyone around you will perceive you as beautiful whether you are short, tall, thin, young, old.
If you exude that confidence that you're beautiful, everyone around you will be like 'wow there's something are about her' - the IT factor.
maan@khaleejtimes.com