Women In Wellness: Zehra Murhty of Belfiore Herbal On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
There are two: the first being skin and scalp awareness for overall health, along with rejecting mass marketed chemically produced products. The second would be sourcing ingredients and manufacturing correctly to help those less fortunate (farmers, etc).
As a part of my series about women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Zehra Murhty of Belfiore Herbal.
Although Belfiore Herbal officially was founded in early 2020, the company was in the works for years beforehand. It’s founder, Zehra Murthy, is a brilliant woman that has been growing and experimenting with the home-grown lavender from her backyard. She began creating one-of-a-kind skincare that was a hit among her family and friends, and would eventually become her business.
The odds of launching a successful business at what would unknowingly be the very start of a global pandemic is not an easy task for any. For Zehra, who is an older woman, it was even more of a challenge. Still, she continued to work hard, striving for the business to launch.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
I was born in 1949 in India. I am the oldest of seven children — I have 5 brothers and one youngest sister. My father passed away when I was 13, and since then I was my mothers helper and assistant. We were and still are a very close knit family. I always wanted to learn a lot; I loved to study and work, and always wanted to learn something new. In my curiosity in human and plant development, I studied biology then decided to focus on cell biology and genetics.
I joined UCSD in 1979 as a research scientist and worked on cell and molecular biology along with genetics. I started Belfiore Herbal in 2020 — I had lots of interest in plants and herbs. From 2018–2019, I started to grow lots of lavender and rosemary and started to research scientific papers on the healthcare benefits of these plants. My interest and inspiration to develop skin and hair care products using my own herbs when I started to look and read all the ingredients in these products. Most of them have petroleum based chemicals and synthetic chemicals & in my genetics research, I know how dangerous these chemicals are. As a second inspiration, I wanted to give back to society by using my knowledge of science and plants to make something that would be simple, affordable and work for all skin types to keep their skin truly healthy. My 3rd inspiration is involving my family to make Belifore Hebral a growing family business — we all love to work together.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
Lesson Learned: How and when to put your foot down.
When I had first started to work in science, I was working long, long hours. Since I enjoyed science I didn’t mind working 12–14 hours a day and producing lots of results, but after a year or so I noticed my work was not appreciated, and instead the directors demanded more and more out of me. That’s when I learned to put your foot down and work in the allotted time to keep a family life balance.
Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Biggest Mistake when first starting: ‘Columbia Cosmetics Story’- Before starting Belfiore Herbal, we were cheated by one of the contract manufacturers charging us enormous fees for testing, then not holding up the agreement and not providing proper results. Our lesson learned is to properly research who we work with.
Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
Belfiore Herbal skin care products are formulated to keep skin healthy at the cellular level, that means keeping every cell in our skin well nourished and healthy to produce lots of collagen and hyaluronic acid to keep our skin well hydrated, free of dark spots and wrinkles. Actually, healthy skin is beautiful skin that brings out or gives self-confidence which can help change the world. We focus on using botanical (vegan) ingredients that are only derived from nature in our formulas. This decreases the amount of chemicals someone will put on their skin.
Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.
● Here are my 5 lifestyle tweaks;
○ Each morning I give thanks to god for blessings (this is mine, but gratitude overall is important) ○ Meditation for self confidence and mental health
○ Dedicated, consistent exercise for physical health
○ Always allowing time for family and friends, keeping the connections strong. Not canceling plans last minute
○ Being patient and listening well.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
There are two: the first being skin and scalp awareness for overall health, along with rejecting mass marketed chemically produced products. The second would be sourcing ingredients and manufacturing correctly to help those less fortunate (farmers, etc).
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
● Here are the 5 things I wish someone told me
○ Be patient, the money will not come overnight
○ Stick to what you know and your expertise and focus on this.
○ Involve the whole family, everyone brings some experience
○ Manage your investments carefully
○ There is a whole world of B2B out there, go to some trade shows!
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
Dearest to me is Mental Health, very simply because without a healthy mind one cannot live a truly complete and fulfilling life. Mental health is part of overall health. We already stand on only using vegan ingredients and rejecting animal derived products like retinol or hyaluronic acid.
What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?
The best way for readers to follow our work is the blog on our website
(https://www.belfioreherbal.com/blogs/lifestyle) or our social media channels (@belfioreherbal on instagram).
Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.
Women In Wellness: Zehra Murhty of Belfiore Herbal On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.