For many young people, the teenage years are a time to discover interests and consider what the future might look like. For Raneen Awad, however, those years became the beginning of an entrepreneurial journey that would eventually lead to the creation of her own skincare and beauty brand, RENO.
Raneen began working in the beauty industry at just 16, gaining experience as a face model for different beauty salons. What started as an early opportunity gradually introduced her to an industry that would become central to her professional life.
Today, she is known as a social media influencer, content creator, entrepreneur and founder of RENO. Her Instagram audience has grown to about 264,000 followers, but her story extends far beyond social media numbers. Her journey has involved experimenting with different areas of the beauty industry, learning new skills and eventually turning her audience and experience into a product-based business.
Starting Her Career at 16
Raneen’s first professional experience came through the beauty industry.
At 16, she worked with beauty salons as a face model, giving her an early understanding of the industry, customers and beauty services.
As her experience developed, she also entered the piercing industry. She eventually became an instructor, teaching girls through specialised courses.
Those experiences gave Raneen more than a source of income. They exposed her to different sides of the beauty business while helping her develop confidence, communication skills and practical knowledge.
At the same time, she began building her presence on Instagram.
Social media gradually became another important part of her career, allowing her to connect directly with an audience interested in beauty and lifestyle content.
Rather than seeing social media as the final destination, Raneen eventually used the platform as part of a much bigger entrepreneurial journey.
RENO Lips Became the Turning Point
At 17, Raneen took a major step by creating her first product, RENO Lips, a lip-plumping gloss.
The response surprised her.
The product attracted significant attention and generated strong sales. More importantly, customers began asking for additional products.
That customer response helped Raneen recognise that she had an opportunity to build something larger than a single beauty product.
RENO Lips became the starting point for what would eventually develop into the wider RENO skincare and beauty brand.
Instead of stopping after the success of her first product, Raneen began exploring how she could expand the range and create a company capable of serving a much larger customer base.
From One Product to a Skincare Brand
The development of RENO did not happen overnight.
According to profiles of Raneen’s journey, she spent years developing the business, learning from customer feedback and working to establish trust around the brand.
The company eventually expanded beyond RENO Lips into a broader skincare range.
RENO’s products are manufactured through skincare facilities in Korea, while the company has continued working toward expanding its international presence. Recent reports say Raneen has established a company in Dubai as part of plans to grow RENO in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and other markets.
For an entrepreneur who started experimenting with business at 17, that represents a significant evolution.
The journey moved from creating one product to developing a brand with ambitions beyond its original market.
Customer Trust Became a Major Lesson
Building a beauty brand is not simply about creating a product and promoting it online.
For Raneen, one of the biggest challenges was earning customer trust.
She has emphasised the importance of product quality and customer confidence in building a sustainable business.
That lesson became particularly important because her career was already closely connected to social media.
An online audience can create awareness, but awareness alone does not guarantee that customers will continue buying a product.
RENO’s growth therefore required Raneen to move beyond being a content creator and take on the responsibilities of a business owner.
Her experience illustrates the difference between having influence and building a company around that influence.
Turning Social Media Influence Into Entrepreneurship
Raneen’s social media following has played an important role in her journey, but her business story is not simply about becoming an influencer and launching a product.
Her career developed through several stages.
She experienced the beauty industry as a model, explored piercing, became an instructor, developed an online audience and eventually became a product creator and entrepreneur.
Each stage added another layer of experience.
That progression helped her understand the importance of knowing customers, communicating effectively and responding to demand.
The success of RENO Lips demonstrated that customer feedback could influence the direction of the business. Instead of simply producing what she wanted, Raneen saw an opportunity in what customers were asking her to create next.
Raneen’s Global Ambition for RENO
Raneen is now looking beyond the market where RENO first developed.
The establishment of a company in Dubai has become part of her international expansion strategy, with the UAE and Turkey identified as important markets for the brand’s next phase.
Her broader ambition is to make RENO a recognisable skincare and beauty brand internationally.
That means the next stage of the business will require more than social media visibility. It will involve building distribution, maintaining product standards, earning trust in new markets and developing a brand identity that can operate independently of its founder’s personal following.
For Raneen, the journey from a 16-year-old working in beauty salons to an entrepreneur building a skincare company demonstrates how early experience can become the foundation for something much bigger.
RENO began with one product.
Six years later, the business has become a growing beauty venture with international ambitions.
And Raneen Awad’s entrepreneurial journey is still developing.
