A make-up mogul who was told she would never amount to anything has revealed that the same teacher later contacted her to ask for a job. Raneen Awad, 23, who runs the beauty business RENO and has more than 264,000 followers on Instagram, said the teacher asked whether she could become a representative and sell her products.
A comment that stayed with her
Raneen spent much of her childhood dreaming about make-up, fashion and becoming famous. She said: “Even when I was in fifth grade, my teacher asked us what we wanted to become when we grew up. Other students were saying doctors, teachers and lawyers. I said, ‘I’m going to be a model, and I’m going to be famous.’ Everyone laughed at me.”
But one comment in particular stayed with her. She said: “I always remember a sixth-grade maths teacher asking me a question that I didn’t know the answer to. She told me I would never become anything useful in the future.”
From bedroom business to full-circle moment
Seven years later, Raneen had built a sizable following on social media and launched her own beauty business, RENO. She said: “Years later, after I had become a business owner and had built a large audience on Instagram, that same teacher contacted me and asked whether she could become a representative and sell my products. It was a very full-circle moment for me. It reminded me that sometimes people who doubt you at the beginning have no idea what you are capable of becoming.”
Growing up, money was a struggle for Raneen’s family. Her dad, Zidan, 63, worked in construction on a low income, while mum Saira, 60, stayed at home looking after their five children. Raneen, the youngest, remembers her mum going without new clothes to make sure her children had what they needed.
Early career moves
Her family’s financial situation was one reason Raneen started working early, although she says her biggest motivation was pursuing her dreams. Aged 14, she enrolled on a professional make-up course alongside students in their late 20s and 30s. By 16, she had started modelling for a beauty salon after being spotted by a make-up artist while getting ready for her brother’s wedding.
At 18, she developed a reputation for performing cheek piercings, which were popular with young women seeking the appearance of dimples. Customers would line up at her parents’ home, paying 500 shekels (£110) each. She said: “I was welcoming girls into my parents’ home and working from a small room there. Eventually, I became so busy that there were days when five to fifteen girls would come to me.”
Building RENO
Spotting a gap in the market, Raneen started teaching piercings and went on to train approximately 80 to 100 young women. She invested approximately 100,000 shekels (£22,000) in establishing the skincare company RENO, covering approvals, manufacturing, and the initial setup. She launched the company when she was around 17, with a lip-enhancing product becoming its first major success.
She ran the operation from her childhood bedroom, writing orders down on paper and packing them herself with help from her mum. Her older sister would drive her around to personally deliver them. Her original stock of 500 lip-enhancing products sold out in just four days. On her first day of deliveries, Raneen made $5,000 (£3,700) in sales.
Financial freedom
During her first month running RENO, she earned enough to buy her first car – a pink Mercedes costing approximately 280,000 shekels (£62,000). A year later, she bought a red Corvette costing approximately 560,000 shekels (£124,000). Today, she says RENO sells approximately 3,000 products each month and has expanded beyond the original lip enhancer.
Raneen has also amassed around 264,000 followers on Instagram. Now 23 and more than seven years into running RENO, she has bought two cars and enjoys the financial freedom she could once only dream about. She said: “Financially, I now have a level of freedom that I could never have imagined when I was younger. I can walk into a restaurant and order whatever I want without constantly thinking about the price.”
Her success hasn’t stopped Raneen from experimenting with her appearance either. She has openly documented having a nose job and says she underwent an unusual procedure to change her eye colour from black to blue. She said: “I honestly don’t know how I found the courage to do it, but I did. Today, I am very grateful for the decision I made, and I consider it one of the best procedures I have ever chosen for myself.”
Despite the cars, followers and financial success, Raneen says being able to repay her mum for the sacrifices she made remains one of her proudest achievements. She said: “I think 16-year-old Raneen would look at me and say, ‘You were always ambitious. You always had dreams that were bigger than your age.’ Most importantly, I think she would be proud that I’m able to give back to my mum after everything she sacrificed for me. Knowing that I can now give my family things that my mum once struggled to provide is one of the things I’m most proud of. And if there is one thing I would tell my 16-year-old self, it would be this: this is only the beginning.”
