How I Thrive: Khalm Skincare® Founder Yasmin Khan In Conversation with Silk and Sonder
This interview was originally featured in Silk and Sonder. Read the original article here and subscribe to kick your self-care game up a notch.
How I Thrive takes an inside look at founders, entrepreneurs and leaders and the behind-the-scenes self-care work they do to in order to live balanced, happy lives. Today's edition is with Khalm Skincare® Founder Yasmin Khan, who believes in the healing power of scent, a delicious piece of chocolate and a short hike.
Name: Yasmin Khan
Age: 47
City: Park City, Utah
Company: Khalm Skincare®, a company that focuses on luxury oud-infused skincare.
Role: Founder & CEO
Beyond the role: Mom, advisor, skiier and hiker.
Morning routine:
My morning routine starts around 5 a.m. with a cleansing ritual of my face. I can't begin the day without it, and sometimes I cleanse twice—that is how much I need this ritual.
As I make my way to the kitchen, I will see my husband has began our daily lighting of Oud incense. It's just the right amount of awakening I need to start the day. I pack my daughters' lunches, give them breakfast, comb their hair and make sure they have everything they need for school. At about 6:30 a.m. I begin my day with a cardio, weights or a short meditation depending on how I'm feeling—sometimes the meditation is all my body needs. My intuition is the determining factor for my morning; I don't let my body do anything my heart and soul does not agree with. Sometimes I do sleep longer rather than getting my kids ready, and in my house that is perfectly fine. They know I am taking a day for self-care and building independent girls who are ready to do things mom normally does.
The first thing I do after work:
My day usually ends around 5 p.m., and I'll grab a snack and watch the news. Throughout the day I'm usually immersed in running my company and business school, so sometimes I'm not mindful of eating or what's going on in the world. I spend about 45 minutes doing this, it's the exact amount of time that allows me to fuel my stomach and brain so I can conquer dinner and bedtime.
Dinner ritual:
Typically, the Khan household eats around 7 p.m. I tend to wait for my husband and we cook together about three days out of the week. I won't lie — the other days we order from our favorite neighborhood restaurant, the Shed.
Nighttime routine:
After the kids are in bed (around 8 most days) I take a shower to remove the day and have a cleansing process in the shower for my face. I use Khalm Skincare® foaming cleanser, which has salicylic acid which is great for giving me an ultra deep clean removing impurities and leaving behind the heavenly smell of Oud, a life essential ingredient for me in my wellness journey. Before I fall asleep I look at my calendar for the day and sometimes my husband and I sneak in a show that we've been dying to watch. You could say it's a time in the day for guilty pleasures.
Self-care guilty pleasure:
My self-care guilty pleasure revolves around aroma. I love the smell of a unique candle that houses woodsy elements (Byredo's Woods candle summons me on most middays) or a scent that reminds me of a trip to Paris (right now its Dior's Oud Rosewood). I am so deeply intertwined with scents that I made sure to put the scent of Oud my skincare line Khalm Skincare®. Its a natural and a no-brainer for enlightenment and healing combined into a decadent experience.
Workday self-care hack:
I grab a piece of chocolate and go for a 10-minute hike.
How do you define self-care?
Self-care is my soul-care most times intertwined with a scent.
Favorite childhood toy or hobby:
My favorite hobby as a child was riding my bicycle from one side of my neighborhood to the other. The bike represented for me freedom from an oppressed culture that I could already see at the age of eight trying to navigate my journey as a young girl.
South Asian culture was part of me but I was not going to let it be the definition of me. Now I have evolved into a unique woman, carving out my own path, marrying who I wanted to marry even though it was not "approved", living where I want to live in a mountain town that no one in my family understands why one would want to settle in, creating a unique family not bound by religion but bound by the duty of fulfillment of the happiness quotient. Living on my own terms has brought fruit to my life that no amount of conformity would have. Now as a wife, mother, founder I live in a grand vision, it was the reason I went to France to formulate my skincare line. I don't let what others say dictate the direction and I guess I never have. I came into the world this way.
State of your (email) inbox:
The amount of emails in my inbox does not concern me. I don't care about it as much as I care about responding to people who need answers from me or need to connect with me. I do use it as a task list. I need to be better about organizing and deleting. I definitely use my calendar, I would be lost without that and my Zoom calls.