Biography
Early Years:
 Born
to Iranian parents Reza and Shahnaz Mohajer, Dineh grew
up in the wealthy
Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills,
Michigan.
Dineh has a sister named Pooneh. It is reported that
as a child Dineh felt often alienated because of her
heritage.
Her
father, who
is
a cancer
specialist, had medical school in mind for his
bright and energetic daughter. One fateful day, as legend
has it, Dineh was looking
for the right shade of blue to match her strappy blue
shoes. She was off for the summer holidays before starting
medical school and wanted to kick back and enjoy some
mindless fun. A few mixes of polish later, and she
had the perfect match. She
wore
the
shade
out and
was
nearly
attacked
by a saleswoman in Charles David. It was
then that Pooneh and Dineh decided to seriously consider
pitching
the
idea of new nail polish in creative shades to the department
stores. Dinah was 22 years old.
Magic in a Bottle:
Dineh enlisted the help
of her sister Pooneh and her boyfriend Benjamin Einstein.
The three came up with $200 to buy some nail polish and
supplies from the beauty store. One business
plan, and a few sample shades later, they decided
to pitch
upscale
fashion
shop Fred Segal. While going through the pitch, a 16-year-old
customer saw the shades and wanted all four instantaneously.
The owner set the price at $18 a bottle on the spot
and sold them to the demanding teenager. With no
supplies left, Fred Segal placed an order
with Dineh for 200 bottles that same day.
 Dineh
and her family and friends set to work calling the company
Hard Candy.
Orders started to come in at a faster pace, once teenage
fashion
magazines Elle and
Seventeen published the news on the hot new
shades. The first four
colors were called Sky (pale blue), Sunshine (yellow),
Mint (green), and Violet (lavender). With celebrities
catching
on, there was a fever frenzy for the product and Dineh
and her team worked night and day to meet demands. Dineh
was exhausted from all the work. As Hard Candy got more
orders and more frazzled, her parents took
the business more seriously. Dineh's mother, who had
run her husband's office and had great organizational
skills, flew in to help out. Soon the family invested
a six-figure sum into the company and Dineh eventually
hired a proper CEO to run the operations and business
side if things. William Botts, a former cosmetics-industry
executive, came in to take the company to the next level.
Mohajer trusted him enough to run the operations but
kept a fimr hold on the creative and marketing aspects
of the business.
Within approximately
2 years, the business grew to a $10-million-dollar
company.
Dineh
kept the
creative
juices flowing by staying in touch with her target
market of 15 to 25-year-olds. She created new mod shades
called
Porn,
Trailer Trash and
Jailbait. It wasn't long before cosmetic giants had
a contender and big companies took notice of this new
cultural phenomenon. Fashion conglomerate Louis Vuitton
Moët Hennessy (LVMH), who owns the likes of Donna
Karen, Givenchy, Sephora, TAG Heuer, and Veuve Clicquot,
jumped
at the chance of owning a piece of the profits. The acquisition
made sense and afforded Hard Candy a great distribution
network and a strong, sophisticated brand to attach itself
to. Industry estimates say that the company was sold
for a cool $30 million. Mohajer and Einstein still work
for the company and man the creative, branding, and marketing
arms. Sister Pooneh is the legal counsel.
Today, Hard Candy is
sold in fine department stores such as Bloomingdale's,
Nordstrom, and Neiman Marcus. LMHV is a public company
headquarted in Paris with a turnover of 12 billion Euros a
year. They have
56,000 employees worldwide and own a large portfolio
of companies in the following industries: Wine & Spirits,
Fashion & Leather, Perfumes & Cosmetics, Watches & Jewelry, and
others. The group was created in 1987 and is run by Bernard
Arnault. 
Back to
Famous Iranians
|
