Beauty and the Bridge

Meet Rishal Prasad, the entrepreneur building bridges, and breaking beauty barriers in Fiji.

Suva’s urban pulse finds a unique blend in Ms Prasad—a civil engineer by day and a spirited businesswoman around the clock.

“Pursuing civil engineering stemmed from my roots because I come from a family of building and construction. It was always the question that piqued my curiosity of how structures could stand and not fall apart” Ms Prasad said.

Presently, she is a cadet site engineer on a bridge construction project that challenges her in project management, human resources, design and engineering, or health and safety.

Yet, in a world of steel beams and concrete slabs, Ms Prasad embodies another passion— skincare and beauty.

Building The Skin Edit

“The Skin Edit, is more than a business, it has always been a personal commitment to change the Beauty and Skincare culture within Fiji.” Ms Prasad said.

The inception of The Skin Edit was a response to Fiji’s beauty culture lacking in quality products and drowning in gendered stereotypes.

For Ms Prasad, beauty transcends stereotypes—it’s about embracing oneself and fostering a culture of self-care

“My growing interest in beauty made me realise how behind Fiji was in terms of knowledge when it comes to beauty, actual products which provide quality, and a stigma that beauty is gendered and trivial in comparison to every other life experience” Ms Prasad said as she reflected on her motivations for building her business.

Through social media and her newly built website, Ms Prasad, sells a range of beauty products (skincare and haircare), advisory services, and free samples for clients.

But her business is about more than revenue and products and stands on a strong foundational belief about the role beauty plays in society.

“We have certain core values that we strongly stand by and with these values in mind there are certain things that we will never endorse or encourage such as skin whitening/lightening products, skin tanning or darkening products” Ms Prasad said as she described The Skin Edit.

The Skin Edit website.

Building a website

The decision to create a website for ‘The Skin Edit’ was driven by a desire to simplify skincare routines and offer a platform for genuine advice and education.

“Our business isn’t just about selling products; it’s about assisting and guiding individuals,” Ms Prasad explained.

The website acts as a hub, connecting her with ‘skinthusiasts’ and global beauty trends, extending her reach beyond physical storefronts.

Navigating the website-building process was an enlightening journey, one that Ms Prasad found surprisingly accessible and rewarding.

“The website-building process was really interactive and much more simple than I had expected,” she said.

“Coming up with a website within two hours of learning how to navigate through an entirely new software was rewarding.

“For someone who is used to designing software, this experience was simple enough for anyone to be able to do.”

Beyond website creation, Ms Prasad dived into streamlining operations, fine-tuning services, and enhancing client experiences.

“The whole experience added to the blueprint of my business because I was able to venture out into the prospects of my business and how I could make it a feature and integrate it within my website for my client base” she said.

Building, balance, and beauty

The balancing act between her engineering role and entrepreneurial endeavour is no easy feat, yet Ms Prasad said the possibilities come with persistent determination and discipline.

“Managing a business while working and studying has to be one of the hardest things I have had to do for myself, but in the end, it is always rewarding to hear stories from clients who explain to you with the most intricate details of how you have impacted their mindset and life,” she said.

By: Shenal Harakh

• Shenal Harakh is the founder of her eponymous software development agency Shenal (www.shenal.online), which builds tech products for startup clients around the world.She is currently based in Fiji and is running workshops to digitally upskill communities. Head to https://fiji.shenal.online/ to sign up and keep up to date with new workshops, or follow her work on LinkedIn: Shenal Harakh or Twitter: @shenalyo.

Feedback: jernese.macanawai@fijisun.com.fj