Raised in Kuala Lumpur by two entrepreneur parents, Ho, now 35, often describes herself as a “startup baby,” recalling how her mother continued running a business while pregnant, hauling boxes because she could not afford to hire help.
She was obsessed with getting into Ivy League schools in her teenage years but ultimately pivoted to Stanford University.
She left Malaysia at 18 to study economics there, eventually landing an internship and then a full-time role at one of the largest financial services firms globally, Goldman Sachs, where she experienced the high-pressure world of investment banking firsthand.
“As a 22-year-old kid fresh out of university, I was working 100 hour work weeks nonstop,” she shared with Tatler Asia, recalling how even minor issues like a two-centimetre margin error in a PowerPoint slide would warrant a midnight call from her boss, after which she would be expected to correct and resend immediately.
Though the job was tough, Ho believes it shaped her work ethic and fortitude.
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Kimberley Ho, co-founder and CEO of Evereden. Photo from Kimberley Ho’s LinkedIn |
After a few years, Ho moved to Oaktree Capital Management, where she had the opportunity to invest in consumer and skincare brands. The experience sharpened her business instincts but also made her yearn for more creativity, according to the New Straits Times.
“I was itching for something different,” she said.
During those years, Ho took notice of the billion-dollar lawsuits faced by several large beauty firms she worked with. These involved issues ranging from undisclosed health risks to quality issues brushed aside internally.
The turning point came when her friends in Malaysia became new parents and asked her to bring back “clean and safe” American skincare products.
“But because I was an investor behind the scenes in many of these brands, I knew that they were not as honest as they claim to be,” she told Forbes.
Motivated by what she saw as a major gap in the market, Ho left Oaktree in 2017 and, along with her husband, Huang Lee, co-founded a premium skincare brand for families, Evereden.
“Billions have been poured into women’s beauty and cosmetics, but family skincare remained largely overlooked,” said Ho, who herself had also struggled with sensitive skin growing up and endured breakouts and eczema triggered by some mainstream products. “To me, that imbalance just didn’t add up.”
But while they were well-versed in finance, neither Ho nor her husband had medical training.
“When I first started at 27 years old, I didn’t know anything. And when you’ve never done anything before, everything gives you anxiety,” Ho said.
Undeterred, Ho reached out to 50 top dermatologists with her pitch. Moved by both the idea and her own daughter’s eczema struggles, Dr. Joyce Teng of Stanford Medical School joined Evereden as Chief Science Officer. Two Harvard-affiliated doctors, also mothers, came on board soon after.
After formulating, testing, and securing FDA approval for select products, Evereden officially launched after two years, according to The Star.
Ho introduced the brand in both the U.S. and China, two of the world’s biggest skincare markets, tapping into the demand for clean, high-quality personal products in those countries.
She quickly recognized the potential to connect with Generation Alpha, those born after 2010, which she described as unique, independent and opinionated.
“They no longer want to use the bottle of two-in-one shampoo in and conditioner on the bathroom shelf, rather they want niche products that they can call their own,” she commented.
While parents may make the first purchase, Ho said, repeat orders often come from the kids themselves.
Evereden later expanded its offerings to include products for mothers, such as stretch mark oils, and, after crossing $1 million in revenue in its early years, added kids’ skincare and haircare to its lineup.
Ho was featured in the 2019 edition of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in the Retail & E-commerce category.
The brand’s haircare products topped Amazon’s kids’ hair category after just months on the market. Its preteen products also became its fastest-growing segment.
Evereden turned a net profit last year after reaching US$100 million in annual sales, with its success driven largely by its popularity across multiple niche segments.
With her sights set high, Ho now envisions Evereden becoming this generation’s Johnson & Johnson and a global leader in family skincare.
Looking back on her journey so far, she credits much of her success to the entrepreneurial mindset she inherited from her parents and the intense work ethic shaped during her time on Wall Street.
“That sort of work ethic was invaluable for me as a young person starting out,” Ho said. “It made us want to be the best and taught us about never taking no for an answer.”
For her, building her own business has always been about more than just making a fast buck.
“It is truly such a labor of love,” she told Tatler Asia last May. “And for my friends and family back home in Malaysia to be able to touch and experience that labor of love for the past six years is something I’m so proud of.”
