Today we’d like to introduce you to Lu Urdaneta.
Lu, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Grew up studying dancing and acting, which I kept on doing as I went to college for Marketing at the age of 16, and at the same time started working in the family business which was a direct sales company focused on Venezuelan Market only at the time. I consider myself a Venezuelan- American entrepreneur, producer and actress because along with our family businesses, I also have passion projects on the film industry.
Ten years ago, I moved to the USA and kept on working with the family business in 2012/2013, we decided to open a business for the USA market. My brother and I, along with my father, worked really hard putting together the concept, finding the right PURPOSE for the company, of course coming up with great quality products and defining a great business opportunity. We knew we wanted to stay focused in the Direct Sales industry because my father has done direct sales sine 30+ years ago, and we all grew up in this industry, so Is what we love the most, and in the research, we found our hair care products where extremely good, so we decided to be the first Direct Sales company focused on HAIR CARE.
MONAT Global officially opened doors for business in October 2014. In a short time, we accomplished incredible things, thanks to the dedication of our Market Partners, the enthusiastic support of our VIP Customers and one-of-a-kind home office staff. We started having exponential growth by 2016, and by 2017 the company was thriving in USA and CAN market. In 2018, we launched UK market, and by now we are growing in all our markets, including the Hispanic market in the USA. We launched our Skin Care line in Sept 2019, and our market has received it extremely well, now we have Hair and Skincare, always following the “MONAT Standards” in every product we offer our costumers.
MONAT Gratitude is a foundation of everything we do, Gratitude is a very special piece of the MONAT culture because it’s the area of our company that seeks to instill the values of giving back not only in our corporate offices but also in our Market Partners all over the world. We believe we can unite and inspire the world through Gratitude, and that’s what we are doing.
My title in MONAT Global is Chief Culture Officer, and I’m CEO for MONAT Gratitude.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Not easy at all. We are a Latin family, we came to the USA with a great foundation after having a successful business in our home country, but we started from zero here. We didn’t have any leader or anyone “influential” in this country to start the business with. We started literally with a lead campaign in Facebook, where we found our firsts market partners in OKC.
My father who is the patriarch of our family does not speak any English, and our Hispanic market is growing now, but during the first five years, it was only and mainly anglo market only. And we will be forever grateful knowing that this country opened the doors for us and our dreams.
Direct Sales is a very competitive market, and as a family and team we have known how to overcome every challenge we have had during this almost six years in the business, and we are planning to get even stronger now… we feel like we are literally getting started.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My father and my mother have made who I am, my father teaching me to be strong, disciplined and confident and my mom teaching how to love others from my heart and how to care for the well-being of the world, not only my world.
My father’s wife, and my siblings, my family in general, they are my biggest supporters, my bests critics, my best friends, and my business partners. It’s not easy to work and be family, but we have found a way to allow everyone to shine bright in their own way, and that is a beautiful thing to see, we are not competing, we are letting each person to use their colors the best way possible and I think that’s the awesomeness of the story we are living and building together.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.monatglobal.com /// www.monatgratitude.com
Image Credit:
Santiago Bedoya
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