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NAPA, California — With a personal collection of over 4500 scents, Kayali founder Mona Kattan will be the first to admit she is more than a little obsessed with fragrance.
But it was a move to Dubai 24 years ago that ignited her passion for the category. “Seeing how friends I met there would wear fragrances completely expanded my mind,” Kattan told The Business of Fashion founder Imran Amed in the final talk of The Business of Beauty Global Forum 2026. “There were no rules.”
But before founding her best-selling fragrance brand, Kattan would embark on several other ventures including a stint in banking, public relations and, of course, building the industry leading cosmetics brand Huda Beauty alongside her sister and business partner Huda Kattan.
But faced with what Kattan calls her own “co-dependence,” she began to dream of what striking out on her could look like. “When I was working with my family, I had to sacrifice what I truly wanted, because it wasn’t fully in line with what everybody else wanted,” she said. “I realised there is another way, and I don’t necessarily need a partner.”
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Kayali’s separation from Huda Beauty came in stages. She closed the deal to carve out the brand with the help of General Atlantic in May 2025, and became fully independent from Huda in Jan. 2026. “My board members are two amazing women. They’re not only money driven, they’re also caring about the story, the long term health of the brand,” she said.
To Kattan, the long-term vision is essential, she never envisages herself retiring. But in the short-term, she has a firm date by which she has to decide what comes next for Kayali. “In my calendar, it’s Q1 2028,” Kattan told Amed. “That’s when I need to decide whether we’re going to work on selling to strategic, raising more capital or doing an IPO.”
But beyond the deadline, Kattan is prepared to be patient to secure all of the achievements she imagines for Kayali. “If you never give up, you will eventually get there,” she said. “So, why give up?”
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