The Origin Story

Vero Beauty Emporium (stylised as #VBE) is a consortium of Vero Image Academy, is a vibrant cosmetic company that caters to the needs of every beauty head. The history of #VBE is as colourful as it’s product line.

Vero Image Academy was founded in 2014 by a 16 year-old bambi eyed girl by the name of Catarinah Palesa. Essentially Vero began as an empowerment brand to remind young women of their worth in a society that argued different. Through her work with underprivileged girls, Catarinah found a calling in enhancing the beauty that people already posses. "I remember holding a pageant for girls that grew up in a society that had very little opportunities. I chose to hold a free pageant in which I bought each of the girls a lovely pair of heels and clothes - and what started as a friendly competition actually became a group of girls sharing struggle stories, advice, and of course modelling tips. This was a full circle moment because this is what I wanted to create above all else - a network, a support structure." Although Catarinah was relatively young, she carried this story in her heart with the purpose of creating a true network. This vision overtime begun evolving and with it Vero Beauty Emporium was created.

The official launch of Vero Beauty Emporium (2020) arose from a need to develop organic cosmetics products that enhance, not mask, the beauty that each individual carries. "The essence of true beauty simply means the substance of who we are - I want to be able to bring that to the front by providing organic products for the girl next door as well as the make up guru". The now 25 year old, realised a gap within the industry namely that quality products were tough to come by but also that vegan, organic products were far too few: "I think with me the more I explored make up the more I became conscious of what's inside the products. I became conscious of my skin and the dangers of long term use. Being in the pageant world, I started with make up pretty early than I care to admit so creating make up that was both safe to me, and the environment was extremely important."

Vero Beauty Emporium has an ever increasing product line that varies in sustainability - some products are 100% vegan, others are organic - all products however are cruelty free. "Like most women, make up is my go to. I have a saying 'I never leave the house without my lipstick and my eyebrows' so it’s become pretty inevitable that I'd find myself here – building a brand committed to clean beauty!”

As she continues to work tirelessly, Catarinah aims to inspire by giving back to women who've had it difficult "at the end of the day, I'm just a woman with a dream - and I'm very aware that me achieving my dreams isn't just for me it's for everyone else too. When we start to notice that our dreams aren't meant to benefit just us but our world, we start to move a little different".

Indeed, Vero is a brand that adapts, that evolves, that creates, that sets itself apart.

To keep up with all things #VBE follow their social media pages:

Instagram and Facebook: @verobeautyemporium