For the CEO and Co-Founder of CITTA, the future of skincare isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about proving that inherited wisdom and modern science can finally speak the same language.

By Priya Lalwani

Some businesses begin with market research.

Others begin with a family conversation.

For Akanksha Sharma, CEO and Co-Founder of CITTA, it began thousands of miles away from home.

While studying in Los Angeles, her phone calls with her mother and grandmother rarely changed. Their advice was familiar, almost ritualistic.

“Apply rosewater before stepping outside.”

“Don’t skip your oil massage.”

These weren’t simply beauty tips. They were traditions passed down through generations.

Around the same time, India was witnessing growing concern over the safety of baby care products after a leading brand came under scrutiny for questionable ingredients. Parents were anxious. Trust was beginning to erode.

That contrast stayed with Sharma.

How could a country with centuries of skincare wisdom struggle to offer parents products they could trust completely?

That question eventually became CITTA.

For The Founder’s Edit, Akanksha Sharma reflects on building a science-backed skincare brand rooted in Indian traditions, why transparency became non-negotiable, and why trust—not trends—is the true currency of modern beauty.

Unlike many entrepreneurs, Sharma wasn’t walking away from uncertainty.

She was walking away from certainty.

Joining her family’s established business would have offered security, familiarity and a clearly defined career path.

Instead, she chose to build something from scratch.

CITTA began with a small team, limited capital and the uncertainty that accompanies every early-stage venture.

There were difficult months when the easier path naturally seemed more attractive.

Yet one principle never changed.

Consumers deserved complete honesty.

Even when faster product launches or less expensive ingredients promised better margins, the company refused shortcuts.

Every label needed to reflect exactly what was inside the bottle.

For Sharma, transparency wasn’t a marketing position.

It was the business model itself.

One misconception she enjoys challenging is the belief that gentle products cannot be genuinely effective.

Many consumers continue assuming that “natural” means less scientific, or that products suitable for newborn skin cannot deliver meaningful results.

CITTA challenges that assumption by combining traditional Indian ingredients with rigorous formulation standards and scientific validation.

Her journey has also challenged another stereotype.

Being a young founder in the highly sensitive baby care category often meant facing questions about credibility.

Those conversations, she says, frequently ended differently once paediatricians and dermatologists examined the research and formulation data behind the products.

The opportunity itself was remarkably clear.

Parents found themselves choosing between expensive international brands they couldn’t always verify and domestic products that often lacked ingredient transparency.

The market offered very little in between.

CITTA set out to become that bridge.

A brand capable of combining the wisdom found in Indian homes with the confidence demanded by modern science.

That philosophy continues shaping every decision today.

Before evaluating commercial potential, every new product faces a far simpler question.

Would the founders confidently use it on themselves or their own family?

If the answer isn’t immediate, development continues.

That same philosophy now guides both the company’s baby care range and its expanding adult skincare portfolio.

Interestingly, Sharma doesn’t define CITTA’s value proposition through fashionable ingredients or viral trends.

Instead, she believes skincare should first respond to Indian realities.

Indian weather.

Indian pollution.

Indian lifestyles.

Indian skin.

Rather than adapting global formulations for local shelves, CITTA begins with local needs and builds from there.

In an increasingly saturated skincare market, relevance has become its strongest differentiator.

Growth, meanwhile, has never been allowed to compromise quality.

The company has expanded from a handful of retail outlets in Pune to a nationwide omnichannel presence.

Yet every production batch continues following the same testing protocols established during its earliest days.

If a formulation cannot maintain identical quality at scale, Sharma believes the launch should simply wait.

Distribution may scale.

Standards cannot.

The company’s understanding of its customer is equally refreshing.

Age, geography and income reveal surprisingly little.

Instead, Sharma describes her ideal consumer as someone who turns the bottle around before purchasing.

Someone who reads ingredients before advertisements.

Someone who researches before trusting.

That behaviour appears just as frequently in Tier III cities as it does in metropolitan India.

It is curiosity—not demographics—that defines the CITTA community.

Listening has also shaped the business in unexpected ways.

Through its CITTA Care Club, parents repeatedly expressed a desire to understand not only what ingredients were being used, but why they mattered.

That insight transformed the brand’s communication strategy.

Educational content became as important as the products themselves.

Paediatricians and dermatologists now participate much earlier in product development, ensuring scientific credibility accompanies every formulation long before launch.

Community, Sharma believes, is built through usefulness rather than constant selling.

Instead of treating digital platforms purely as marketing channels, CITTA focuses on practical skincare guidance, educational conversations and support for parents navigating everyday challenges.

The objective isn’t simply to generate transactions.

It’s to earn long-term confidence.

Looking ahead, Sharma expects India’s skincare industry to become significantly more transparent.

Ingredient disclosure standards will likely tighten.

Consumers will increasingly expect formulations designed specifically for Indian skin rather than imported global products repackaged for local markets.

Technology will also reshape the category through AI-assisted skin diagnostics and increasingly personalised skincare recommendations.

Yet even as digital tools evolve, Sharma believes one element should remain unchanged.

Expert human guidance.

Technology may enhance decisions.

Trust will always require people.

Interestingly, the company’s most meaningful success metrics extend far beyond revenue.

One of Sharma’s favourite indicators is watching customers who first discovered CITTA through baby care later return to purchase products for themselves.

That transition reflects something deeper than customer retention.

It reflects trust expanding across life stages.

Equally meaningful are recommendations from dermatologists and paediatricians—endorsements earned through credibility rather than advertising.

As founder, Sharma’s own role has naturally evolved.

Where she once introduced products personally to doctors, managed sourcing, and handled marketing herself, she now spends far more time protecting focus.

Growth often presents countless attractive opportunities.

Leadership, she believes, increasingly means knowing which opportunities deserve to be declined.

Perhaps her greatest entrepreneurial lesson emerged from resisting speed.

Early experiences taught her that sustainable businesses require systems before scale.

Strong foundations before ambitious expansion.

Responsible growth before rapid growth.

Because success, she believes, isn’t measured by how quickly a company becomes larger.

It’s measured by whether it grows into something built to last.

For Akanksha Sharma, CITTA was never simply about launching another skincare brand.

It was about restoring something far more valuable.

The confidence that what generations instinctively believed could finally be validated through science—and trusted again.