Fable & Mane’s Co-Founder on Giving Back and Getting Noticed

Want to make a name for yourself in hair care? Step one, obviously, is to study electrical engineering, fail your second year, and start busking on the streets of London. At least that’s how it worked for Akash Mehta, co-founder and CEO of Fable & Mane, who turned his grandmother’s Sunday-night hair-oiling rituals (and the bedtime stories that came with them) into a brand that landed a day-one Sephora exclusive before he and his sister had even made a sample. Akash tells Dan Bova about cold-messaging a Sephora buyer on LinkedIn, why he puts his eight-year-old self in charge of his “virtual boardroom,” and how the Fable Fund has already put nearly a million dollars toward wildlife conservation. Chapters: 00:00 – Intro 01:53 – What Ayurveda actually means 04:53 – Turning a “stinky” childhood ritual into beautiful packaging 05:54 – From electrical engineering to beauty 09:30 – Chasing happiness: Estée Lauder and Dior 10:38 – Grandma’s stories and the name Fable & Mane 12:47 – Cold-messaging Sephora on LinkedIn 16:30 – The “test people three times” rule 17:46 – Launching the Fable Fund 21:21 – Putting your inner child on the boardroom 23:17 – How the fund works and the Fable 100 list 26:24 – Speed round 29:41 – Wrap-up Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices