Aliyah Marandiz started out making sugaring paste in her college dorm room late at night, but never imagined it would evolve into a multimillion-dollar beauty brand. Focusing on her local community and authentic marketing, she transformed an ancient Middle Eastern hair removal method into a modern beauty revolution. Aliyah tapped into her local support system of friends, family, and neighbors—along with seasoned manufacturers—to bring Sugardoh to life.
Her brand gained viral popularity with live demos, ASMR videos, and visually pleasing social content that garnered the brand notoriety, and a spot on Season 16 of Shark Tank. Today, her sugaring kits are available in more than 300 Ulta Beauty and Urban Outfitters stores, adding to the viral success earned from social media.
It wasn’t always smooth sailing for the business. Ahead, Aliyah details how she navigated the sometimes painful process of scaling a brand in an industry that’s rapidly changing.
How to build a million-dollar brand through authentic community support
How do you turn a dorm room experiment into a thriving beauty brand? For Aliyah, the answer lies in genuine community building—starting with the people closest to you.
1. Start with your inner circle
“A lot of business owners talk about community, but what is your community?” Aliyah asks. For Sugardoh, it began with family and neighbors. Her sisters modeled for early campaigns, friends tested the sugaring paste for social media videos and before and afters, and a neighbor helped package orders.
This grassroots approach proved invaluable when Sugardoh went viral. When orders jumped from five to 500 overnight, her community stepped up. “Everything was literally my people,” she explains. “They weren’t going to try to screw me over [and weren’t just in it for money]. They saw the vision and wanted to be part of that growth.” Aliyah’s strong community kept her going even as inevitable challenges popped up.
2. Create educational content that doesn’t feel like education
Aliyah ran with her “anti-marketing” strategy that prioritized authenticity over sales, which her audience found incredibly refreshing. “You never want to market your product so explicitly. Create content where you would never know that you were marketing a product or pushing a product, so it’s just natural. [Make it] so organic the way this person is using the product that you become curious," Aliyah says.
Sugardoh’s content naturally showcases the product’s ASMR-like qualities and satisfying results, letting viewer curiosity drive engagement.
“The best education is education that people don’t know they’re actually learning from,” Aliyah says. “They’re watching because they’re sucked into that satisfying element … then at the end they’re like, ‘Wait, I just learned how to sugar!’
3. Leverage programs that align with your values and goals
Rather than just cold-calling potential buyers, Aliyah found a Target accelerator program aimed at minority and women founders, which led her to an interview with a buyer at Ulta Beauty.
“That was a network I knew I was lucky to be in, and I was going to squeeze as much juice as I could from those opportunities,” she shares. This strategic connection eventually landed Sugardoh nationwide distribution with the retailer.
4. Maintain authenticity through growth
While Aliyah’s Shark Tank appearance didn’t result in an investment, the team still found the exposure positive and continued growing. Even after achieving retail success, and having its taping chosen to air on Shark Tank, Sugardoh maintains its community-first approach. “People want to see reality, not reality TV,” Aliyah emphasizes. Her most successful content remains authentic—like practicing her Shark Tank pitch while doing her regular sugaring routine, disheveled and sleep-deprived.
Social media allows direct community feedback about new products and pricing, along with support in moments of hardship. The comments flooded with support for Aliyah and Sugardoh and allowed the team to continue hitting new milestones and finding inspiration for new products.
“Every time we’re thinking of putting out a new product, we’ll do a poll,” she explains. “Would you be interested? Would you actually pay that? All these questions are asked before we jump onto a new opportunity.”
This commitment to authentic community engagement has created more than customers—it’s built brand advocates who feel personally connected to Sugardoh’s success. As Aliyah shares, “I know people will be buying Sugardoh products for the rest of their life.”
Catch Aliyah’s interview on Shopify Masters to hear how her taping of Shark Tank went down, and her expert advice for negotiating with anyone you face along your entrepreneurial journey.
