Raeesa Sya is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to her hands-on approach to entrepreneurship; after graduating from Curtin University with a bachelor’s degree in graphic design, this multimedia design major then went on to kickstart her career in the creative field and had joined the startup fray at a young age—an experience that was vital to Orkid Cosmetics’ success in 2016, an affordable halal beauty brand she co-founded with Fatin Johanna.

One of her very first ventures in startup was LULU, a business-to-consumer beauty app that connected its users to beauty as well as fitness professionals, and vice versa. After selling the joint venture to HMH Technologies, Raeesa co-founded another groundbreaking beauty app, Bfab, which allowed one to book appointments with local beauty salons, spas as well as wellness professionals in Malaysia.

Keen business acumen aside, the young entrepreneur utilises her personal strengths, and is the creative director of Revolt Design, a creative digital agency of 11 years that specialised in branding as well as social media management. It’s this enterprising spirit that landed her a spot in the 2018 Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Asia, as well as Tech in Asia’s 12 Under 30 Promising Southeast Asian Entrepreneurs in 2016.

Orkid Cosmetics is still one of the go-to halal, vegan beauty brands in Asia, and now retails in Singapore, UAE, Mauritius as well as Hong Kong.