Her Story
About Annir
I immigrated to the United States 20 years ago with no English background, and English was totally my second language. I completed two years of high school here, then two years of community college, before transferring to UCI where I graduated with a bachelor's degree in Chemistry. After graduation, I spent a couple of years working at an environmental company analyzing water, soils, and air to determine if they were contaminated, but I found myself doing the same thing over and over every day and realized this wasn't what I went to school for. In 2015, I discovered the cosmetic industry and it was so interesting because you always have to keep up with the trend, keep up with the technology, and be creative. I've been working as a cosmetic chemist for 11 years now, and I've met so many nice people who have helped me along the way. I learn something new every single day, and I've been able to apply the chemistry knowledge I learned from school while also learning socialization skills, how to communicate with people, and how to write scientific product claims. After a couple of years working in the industry, I loved it so much and felt like this was going to be the career of my life, so I applied to get my master's degree in cosmetic science and graduated last year. I'm still taking classes right now with the University of Washington to improve my communication skills and pronunciation, and I'm taking other courses to improve my science knowledge in biology, which was my weakness when I was at school, as well as psychology. I think it's the best decision I made to move to this industry.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Annir
01What do you attribute your success to?
I don't think that I have anything that's better than anyone, it's just that I never gave up. I know it's really hard for me in a new country, but I think getting my master's degree is something that I'm really proud of because I have three kids with different ages - a teenager, a toddler, and a newborn baby - and one of my kids is in special need. What made me proud the most is work, life, and school balance, because it was super, super hard for me. To be honest with you, I barely got any sleep during the two and a half years that I earned my master. I stayed up late over the weekend to study, I studied really hard, and I still had to keep up with work at Dermalogica, come up with great products and great science stories. I think the most important part about myself is that I can manage that very well, and that I did not give up. I'm still taking classes right now with the University of Washington to improve my communication skills and pronunciation, and I'm taking other courses to improve my science knowledge in biology, which was my weakness when I was at school, and psychology. I think the one thing that I'm proud of myself is that I did not give up.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
One of my personal pieces of advice is don't give up on your dream or what you love to do, and give back to other people. Don't wait until you become somebody to give back. I was helped by people that don't even know who I am, they don't even know who I was, but they were willing to help me, to support me, to come to this industry. So that's why one of my goals in life is to give back to the next generation as well, and I've been helping undergraduate students from university to give them a spot to apply for internship and all of that. One specific piece of advice that I want to share with them is to build your connection. Build your connection through LinkedIn, build your connections through people in this industry. There's a lot of opportunities that won't be published, there's a lot of jobs you won't see. Build your connection, it will be the key to get your opportunity.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
My family is all about my life. As long as I see my kids, as long as I play with them, hang around with them, and see them healthy and smiling and happy, that's my inspiration. I have three beautiful kids, and I know that my son is different, but I see them happy and healthy, and that's my inspiration. I don't have other activities besides spending time with them. One of my core values is giving back to other people. I was helped by people that don't even know who I was, but they were willing to help me, to support me, to come to this industry. So that's why one of my goals in life is to give back to the next generation as well.
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