This is a woman who knows what people want before they know it. Back in the Eighties, when wellness was an unknown word and few, if any, associated beauty with fitness, Vandana Luthra came up with the idea of creating wellness centres that married weight management programmes with cutting-edge hair and skin treatments.
“Beauty and good looks had always fascinated me. I believe when people imbibe wellness and beauty, it spreads happiness in their lives. With VLCC, the intent was to offer people new solutions, and make beauty and wellness a holistic concept.
People would come to us not just to lose weight or become more beautiful, but to undergo a complete transformation,” says Luthra about what motivated her to start VLCC. There was also the matter of her education: after doing a professional course at Delhi’s Polytechnic for Women, Luthra studied beauty, fitness and food and nutrition in Germany, the UK and France.
Today, her company has over 330 Wellness Centers in 13 countries and manufactures 150 skin, body and hair products that are sold at over 100,000 retail outlets across the world. Owing to Luthra’s interest in youngsters looking to make a future in the world of health and beauty, the company also runs the VLCC Institute of Beauty & Nutrition, with 75 campuses in India and Nepal.
Luthra got the Padma Shri in 2013. “Today, the industry has blossomed and progressed and the concept of wellness is constantly evolving. Women are more educated and career-driven and they all want to look good and feel positive,” she says.