Rowaida Janbaz, right, being interviewed by Kristen Smith Dayley at the March 4 Be Bold Now event. | Cecile Miller Photography
This story is from an interview at the annual Be Bold Now event in Seattle on March 4, where women discussed leadership and power. Formidable was the media sponsor. Listen to the full interview on the Formidable podcast.
At just 19 years old, Rowaida Janbaz became the legal guardian of her younger siblings while living as a refugee in Istanbul while trying to survive displacement herself.
“I was not only running from danger,” she recalls. “I was running toward security from insecurity. I was running toward clarity from confusion and toward a change to be myself.”
Today, Janbaz lives in the Seattle area and until recently worked as a youth specialist with the International Rescue Committee, a nonprofit that supports immigrant, refugee and multilingual youth through education, mentorship, and skill-building programs.
She has launched a business that uses natural ingredients to make cosmetics after a harrowing personal experience, leading her to switch her studies at Highline College from math to chemical engineering.
Janbaz, who speaks five languages, was interviewed by law firm partner and nonprofit leader Kristen Smith Dayley at the Be Bold Now event.
Here, Janbaz describes her journey in her own words, edited for length and clarity.
When you leave your country, you grow somewhere else, with a different mindset, with a different way of living. For those that they haven't received their green cards yet, they don't fully belong anywhere, not here, not to their home countries.
You come to the United States because you believe in something better. You have all the opportunities to learn and grow, to become better and acquire knowledge and skills. Those are your assets that no one can take away from you. A lot of (refugees) are struggling with language barriers, and I told them, “Don't see it as a challenge. See it as an opportunity to learn a new language and a new system of thinking.”
When I first moved to the United States, I developed severe eczema. Nothing was helpful. The only thing that made a difference was switching to natural fabrics, using natural products and avoiding processed food. That experience taught me to read all the ingredients of every single product that I'm using, and the more I was researching, the more shocked I became. Most of those products have ingredients that are harmful.
Certain sunscreens have chemicals that penetrate the skin barrier and enter the bladder. So, I continued my research and learned about natural recipes for mineral sunscreen. I continued researching and learned about natural UV blockers that are actually good for your skin, so I added those to my recipe.
I also learned that almost 99% of lipsticks have heavy metals and when you apply it, it directly affects your liver. So, I made a natural lip balm that also has natural SPF and is edible. It poses no harm to your health.
I was enjoying this journey and it kind of became my hobby. And then I thought that there is also a responsibility to (make others aware) of the daily products they are using. That is why I started my LLC, as a platform to educate people and empower them to demand healthier products.
It adds so much purpose and meaning to my life to help and give back to community, to honor nature and to research ways that source, manufacture and produce ethically. I want to cooperate with big corporations and share my knowledge with them and also persuade them to use these safe and beneficial methods and ingredients in their products.
When there is a lot of uncertainty, all it takes is adaptation, flexibility, but also community. Let's stand together (as women) and fill the gap for each other.
