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STRAIGHT TALK
By Jeffrey Zaslow
Issue date:
June 26-28, 1998
Dineh Mohajer: Just 25, she runs a $10 million-a-year company whose Hard Candy nail polish is the rage. This
unabashed "girly girl" owes her success to knowing what she's good (and bad) at.
| |  Mohajer's own nails sometimes are bare. Her fave Hard Candy shade? "Shag," a sickly green. |
 ot long ago, Dineh Mohajer was a
pre-med student. In class, while others concentrated on the blackboard,
she focused on such matters as whether her nail polish matched her
purse. Her bookworm classmates made her cringe. "I'd think, 'Hey, wash
your hair! Put on some lipstick!' "Then one day in 1995, the
fashion-crazy Mohajer (mo-HA-zher) was wearing pale blue sandals
and couldn't find nail polish to match. She decided to concoct a batch
in her bathroom sink. She wore it, strangers noticed, and soon her racy
nail polish company, Hard Candy, was born. She now has 40 employees
churning out 60 provocatively named shades like Trailer Trash (metallic
silver) and Sushi (aqua). Stars like Madonna and Winona Ryder seek out
their favorite colors. Though she's president of a company with $10
million in annual sales, Mohajer, 25, is unlike any executive you've
ever met. She's not just candid, she's unrestrained. Our interview is
conducted on the floor of her Beverly Hills office. We sit cross-legged,
as if it were a slumber party. She's willing to seem very young, which
differentiates her from, say, a Revlon executive. Her target customers
are ages 17 to 25. Mohajer grew up in the wealthy Detroit suburb of
Bloomfield Hills, Mich. The daughter of Iranian immigrants, she often
felt alienated because of her heritage. Though her father is a cancer
specialist, she now realizes medical school wouldn't have been for her.
"You have to know what you're good at and what you're bad at."
That's
why she seasons her mostly twentysomething staff with mature executives
who have marketing experience. Mohajer isn't a spokeswoman for her generation -- she's "a symptom," she jokes. That may explain Hard
Candy's success. The woman at the top considers herself "a girly girl."
Photo Credit: BONNIE SCHIFFMAN FOR USA WEEKEND
Mohajer's Advice
Dennis Rodman wears her
polish:
The outrageous basketball star wears Hard
Candy's men's polish line, Candy Man. "He's the kookiest of the
kooks," Mohajer says. "But some civilians wear it, too, like young rock
star guys and surfer boys. Still, it won't ever be a mainstream thing.
You're not gonna see it on your husband."
When hitting the
mall: "Have a plan. Say, 'There are five things I've got to do,'
and go directly to do those things, bam-bam-bam. Keep looking at
your watch so you stay on schedule. And know when to stop trying on
the same damn pair of jeans that don't look good on you."
ASK MOHAJER FOR ADVICEMohajer will write or call a reader who seeks advice. By July 5, write to "Straight Talk," P.O. Box 3455, Chicago,
Ill. 60654 (fax: 312-661-0375; e-mail: talk@usaweekend.com).
Zaslow is an advice columnist
for the Chicago Sun-Times.
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