Page 22 - Beauty Prime Magazine

T
CHARMAINE CHOW
Elevates Modern Skincare With
GetHarley’s Visionary Blend Of
Technology And Expertise
BY LYRA GREEN
of an extraordinary visionary, re-
Charmaine Chow is nothing short
defining the skincare landscape
with her brainchild, GetHarley.
Armed with a solid foundation
in Economics from the prestigious London
School of Economics, Charmaine’s career
trajectory took her from the high-paced
world of finance to the nuanced realm of
beauty technology. Her professional journey,
spanning illustrious firms like Morgan Stan-
ley, KKR, and Goldman Sachs, equipped her
with sharp analytical acumen and an innate
ability to identify opportunities where others
see challenges.
Yet, what sets Charmaine apart is her
deeply personal connection to her work.
Inspired by her own struggles with skincare
and a desire for clarity in an industry riddled
with noise, she built GetHarley—a groundb-
reaking platform bringing science, human
expertise, and technology into a seamless,
hyper-personalised skincare experience.
Guiding consumers to optimal skin health
by leveraging a curated network of top-
tier practitioners, Charmaine has not only
elevated the standard for patient care but
also empowered experts to deliver tailored
solutions with unparalleled ease.
In this exclusive interview, Charmaine
shares her inspiring story, delves into the
innovative core of GetHarley, and provides
profound insights into entrepreneurship in
the competitive health and beauty techno-
logy sector. Her forward-thinking approach
to sustainability, diversity, and leveraging te-
chnology for personalisation exemplifies the
responsible yet dynamic leadership needed
in today’s world. Join us as we explore the
vision, grit, and brilliance of the trailblazer
behind one of the most exciting develop-
ments in modern skincare.
With the rise of artificial intelligence and
technology in skincare, how do you see
22 II BEAUTY PRIME
Charmaine Chow shares
her entrepreneurial jour-
ney, her mission to revolu-
tionise skincare with Get-
Harley, leveraging AI and
human expertise, while
championing sustainabi-
lity, accessibility, diversity,
and top-tier personalised
care for global consumers.
To acquire its network of clinicians, Get-
Harley actively recruits qualified aesthetic
doctors, plastic surgeons, and dermatologists
by reaching out to professionals in the field,
likely through direct outreach, industry
connections, and marketing efforts, allowing
users to choose a clinician based on their
expertise and availability on the platform,
effectively building a large pool of practi-
tioners to match with clients based on their
specific skin concerns; users can also choose
to be matched with a clinician based on their
needs and preferences through the GetHarley
platform.
“The ultimate luxury is having a human on
the other side of the conversation.”
– Charmaine Chow
GetHarley innovating further to improve
the customer experience?
At GetHarley we pride ourselves in the
ability to make things seamless for the
practitioner and the patient at once, so we
are leveraging AI to help with automating a
lot of tasks and processes in the company to
achieve that. That said, we think the ultimate
luxury is having a human on the other side of
the conversation, so we still want to keep a
human-in-the-loop experience at all times.
“I craved a trusted voice to guide me throu-
gh the thousands of options for my skin.”
– Charmaine Chow
What challenges did you encounter while
raising funds, particularly the recent £40
million, and how did you persuade inves-
tors of GetHarley’s potential?
In the short run the market is a voting
machine, in the long run it is a weighing
machine. Fundraising is hard, you have to
navigate not only your business trajectory but
also adapt to market gyrations. In the early
days, people didn’t understand the vision of
bringing skincare experts into the skin health
conversation, investors were mainly investing
in a lot of direct-to-consumer brands that
were scaling rapidly and marketing-led. So it
took speaking to many investors for them to
understand that our vision was not to bring
more skincare products in to the market but
to empower practitioners to help patients find
just the right skin solution for them, at all
moments of their life.
GetHarley connects skincare experts with
consumers — how do you ensure the
quality and reliability of your network of
clinicians?
“Sustainability is something we will always be
mindful of and will be strengthened as we grow.”
Continued on page 24