Karima El-Hakkaoui

Cues and Views

Six Gldn founder and CEO Karima El-Hakkaoui, in brief.

Karima El-Hakkaoui

Home: Los Angeles, CA.  Age: 47.  Birthplace: Santa Barbara, CA.  Organization: Six Gldn Clean Skincare.  Title: Founder and CEO.  Alma mater: ArtCenter College of Design Pasadena. Languages spoken: Uggh, just English.  I wish I spoke more.

Current project: Running Six Gldn.  After 20+ years in the beauty industry, we were tired of all the compromises we saw in formulas and packaging. Recent recognition: Selling out of our Nourishing Face Oil.  Hobbies: Is working a hobby?  I’m an avid traveler and love connecting with new people and cultures.  Recent travel or adventure: I traveled by myself to Dhaka, Bangladesh. Recent unique acquisition: A Roman coin that I plan to make into a necklace.

What one word would your closest friend use to describe you? I asked for help with this one. My best friend Desiree, whom I’ve know since I was 13, says that I am a “UNICORN” because there is no one else like me.  Moral compass: We are all connected, and part of a greater whole. What is your greatest fear? Dying and regretting not having done something out of fear.  What is at the top of your bucket list? The Maldives.  I'm plotting my escape there this year.  What is your go-to workout? Hot, sweaty yoga.

What’s featured prominently on your office wall? A mood board for inspiration, covered with photos of natural looking women enjoying life.  Happy, smiling, no makeup, messy hair, being in the moment.  The antithesis of what we see in magazines of overly made up women, with lots of foundation and contouring, in a self conscious pose, trying to look good for the camera.  Who has had the greatest influence on your life? My grandmother and my mother raised me.  They sacrificed everything so I could go to the best schools and have every opportunity possible.  I made a promise to myself to never let them down for all their sacrifices.  What is the best advice you received growing up? Leave places, situations and nature better than when you found them. What is your favorite app? CHIEF, the private network for professional women.  What is your go-to source of news and information? I don’t have one.  Our brains are wired to pay more attention to negative information.  The media plays to ratings and creates a vicious cycle of negativity.  I am very spiritual and believe that all humans are good.  We all want to same thing: a life filled with joy, love, kindness and gratitude.  What is your go-to source of creative inspiration? Walks, showers, driving, yoga.  The best ideas pop into my head when I’m doing something else.

What is your big idea? My colleagues and I created a natural skincare company based on 400 years of Korean herbal remedies.  Our goal is to create the most efficacious skincare for humans and the planet.  What change are you working on to effect in your profession or field? Nothing short of a revolution in the beauty industry using the highest quality ingredients that are 100% sustainable.  We are also working to end the throwaway culture.  The beauty industry creates 120 billion units every year with millions of tons of packaging ending up in landfills and the oceans. What change would you like to see in the world? That all beauty products are required to be Vegan, Peta and Leaping Bunny certified.  There is absolutely no reason anything needs to be tested on animals or use animal by-products.  You can make the world's most efficacious clean beauty product entirely from botanical ingredients.  What mega-trend most excites you? Skinimilism, the "less is more" look.  What mega-trend most concerns you? The rise of cosmetics marketing by celebrities who don’t use what they promote.

What object would you save first from your burning home? Nothing.  I'm not very attached to my things.  I would just run out.  How would you choose to spend tomorrow, if you knew it was your last day on earth? At the beach with my family, my rescue dog and my three-legged cat with no tail.  What advice would you give your younger self? Embrace being unique.  What day in your life would you like to re-live? When my kids were around 8 months old, so I could see them, hug them, hold them again and press my nose into their warm neck folds.  What period in your life would you do differently if you could? I stopped drinking around five years ago.  I would go back and stop sooner, because life just got so much better, happier and richer.

Personal mission: Leave the world better than when I found it.  Personal motto: I talk to myself a lot, and say, “You can do it.”  So, if  you see me talking to myself, don’t worry.  Favorite quote: "Jump and the net will appear" (John Burroughs).

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