We’ve learnt so much from listening to female founder stories on the How She Got Here podcast. And there’s one mindset that we find common in each one of them. It simply separates resilient founders from the ones who quit, and it has nothing to do with funding, marketing, or business plans.
The mindset is about seeing devastating setbacks as opportunities to level up. And the Lhamour founder used it to survive a challenge that would have ended most businesses.
In the eighth episode of HSGH Podcast | Season 2, our VP & Strategic Partnerships Director, Cass Cross, chats with Khulan Davaadorj, the founder of Lhamour, Mongolia’s first organic skincare brand.
In this blog, we explore how Khulan is building a sustainable beauty brand while paving a new path for an entire industry in Mongolia.
Let’s dive in.
Meet Khulan Davaadorj
Khulan Davaadorj is the founder, CEO, and chief formulator behind Lhamour. But her journey didn’t start in the beauty aisle. She’s a Columbia University graduate with a Master’s degree in renewable energy who once dreamed of working for the United Nations (UN).
Eventually, she pivoted to formulating organic bath bombs, hand butter, facial creams, lip balms, and more in her kitchen.
Her organic skincare founder story proves she’s a visionary who turned a personal struggle into a global movement, putting Mongolia on the map in terms of clean beauty.
From Renewable Energy to Organic Skincare
After an internship at the UN and a Master’s from Columbia, Khulan Davaadorj took a senior role at Mongolia’s first wind farm.
A CEO famously convinced her to return to her home country with a compelling pitch: she could be a small fish in the big pond of the US, or she could come home and make a real, immediate change.
Being the courageous spirit she is, Khulan packed one suitcase and went.
But while her professional life was impactful, a personal struggle was brewing that would change her path forever.
The Birth of Lhamour – A Founder’s Struggle with Eczema
Soon after moving back to Mongolia—a country she hadn’t lived in since she was three—Khulan developed severe eczema and psoriasis.
Frustrated and uncomfortable, she started researching, determined to find a natural solution. She began experimenting with the purely organic ingredients native to Mongolia, like sea buckthorn and fresh yak’s milk.
While creating something to heal her own skin, Khulan had no idea she was laying the groundwork for Lhamour skincare products.
Building Mongolia’s First Organic Skincare Brand
“Why not combine traditional nomadic remedies, solve my own problems, and also represent my country?” Khulan asked herself. Questions like these became her company’s mission.
Lhamour Skincare Mongolia was born from an intersection of personal need and national pride. The brand became a vehicle to represent modern Mongolia to the world, using ingredients sourced from the country’s vast, pristine landscapes.
But creating the first brand of its kind meant there was no playbook. As Khulan explains in our women entrepreneurs podcast, she had to help develop industry regulations and customs laws herself. It’s so inspiring to know that she built the infrastructure to support her own business and those that would follow.
Challenges, Setbacks, and Resilience in Entrepreneurship
Every entrepreneur faces hurdles, but Khulan’s story takes resilience in entrepreneurship to a whole new level. Just 12 days after moving into her first office and hiring her first employees, the entire space was robbed.
Everything was gone, including her laptop containing 10,000 photos and all her university work. Devastated, she spent three months wanting to quit.
But she didn’t.
In Season 2 | Episode 8 of HSGH, Khulan Davaadorj shares the profound mindset shift that pulled her through, a philosophy that helped her see challenges as lessons instead of roadblocks.
She compared her life to a video game, where she convinced herself that she needed to go through difficulties to create one of the most impressive women in eCommerce success stories.
Social Impact and Sustainability at the Heart of Lhamour
Khulan Davaadorj never lost sight of her desire to create positive change. She launched programs for social impact through skincare brand.
For instance, “Finding Your Passion” focuses on illuminating teenagers’ career paths and boost entrepreneurship in Mongolia.
Also, she created the “Girls in STEM” program to inspire young girls in Mongolia to pursue the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics disciplines.
Seven years ago, long before it was a mainstream trend, she launched Mongolia’s first-ever refill station to reduce packaging waste. This is one of the most inspiring sustainable entrepreneurs examples we’ve featured.
Expanding Beyond Mongolia: eCommerce and Global Reach
Lhamour’s growth was explosive, first gaining national and then international press. Soon, Khulan was managing a network of female distributors from India to Australia in a WhatsApp group called the “Lhamour Global Team.”
But when the pandemic disrupted this model of clean beauty international expansion, Khulan focused on direct-to-consumer (D2C) ecommerce growth strategies to build a singular, global brand. She established a warehouse in the US to handle international fulfillment.
In the HSGH podcast episode, she tells Cass how eCommerce is now the most important part of her global expansion. This is the sector where full-service agencies like Cronix are passionately helping brands like Lhamour.
Advice for Women Entrepreneurs and Future Founders
Khulan Davaadorj shares a story from the SheInnovates conference in New York. Despite being an honored speaker, she felt intimidated after watching a panel of women running $30-40 million companies.
The comparison trap was setting in. But after her own talk, dozens of attendees approached her, explaining how her story gave them the inspiration and motivation they needed.
Here is some core advice for all female beauty entrepreneurs:
- Stop the Comparison Game: The only person you should be competing with is the person you were yesterday. There will always be someone who seems more successful, but true growth comes from focusing on your own progress.
- Define Your Own Success: What does success mean to you? Learn to recognize and celebrate your own milestones instead of measuring yourself against someone else’s.
- Choose Action Over Fear: Do not let fear hold you back. As Khulan wisely puts it, when you’re older, you will regret the things you haven’t done far more than the things you have. Trust your unique vision and build a life and business you’re proud of.
Key Takeaways from Khulan’s Journey
The Khulan Davaadorj interview is packed with invaluable lessons for founders and marketers. Here are a few highlights:
- Solve a Real Problem: The most powerful businesses often start as a solution to a personal pain point.
- Pivot When the Time Is Right: Your career path doesn’t have to be linear. Brave pivots can lead to your true calling.
- Build a Resilient Mindset: Reframe challenges as opportunities to “level up.” Your reaction is the one thing you can control.
- Lead with Purpose: A mission-driven brand creates a deeper connection with customers and fuels long-term passion.
- Use eCommerce for Scale: Digital platforms are essential tools for taking a local success story to the global stage.
Parting Thoughts
Khulan Davaadorj’s journey teaches us that your greatest business idea can come from solving a personal problem. You can listen to the full episode featuring Khulan on Spotify and YouTube.
Sometimes the path doesn’t exist until you create it yourself. So, get inspired by Cass and her guests with more female founder stories on the How She Got Here podcast. Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok for timely updates.
Also, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel and Spotify profile to never miss an episode.
If you’re looking to launch or scale your business, Cronix can help. We help founders like Khulan turn ideas into profitable eCommerce stores. For more details, get a free consultation today.
The How She Got Here podcast is sponsored by Cronix, a full-service eCommerce agency that helps brands build, grow, and scale. We specialize in web development, digital marketing, and global expansion strategies to turn visionary ideas into successful businesses. Get in touch to know we can help your brand reach new heights.