From kitchen experiments to skincare empire: How one Malaysian mom built a beauty brand one authentic TikTok at a time
# From Kitchen Counter to Skincare Empire: How One Mom's Passion Became a TikTok Phenomenon
If you've scrolled through Malaysian beauty content on TikTok lately, you've probably stumbled upon Aleeya Zailan's warm, genuine presence. What starts as a quick scroll often turns into watching her effortlessly flip between cooking massive pots of curry in her kitchen and demonstrating her skincare products with the enthusiasm of someone who genuinely believes in what she's sharing. Her @aleeyaavenys account isn't your typical polished influencer feed—it's refreshingly real, like getting beauty advice from your most put-together friend who still burns toast sometimes.
Aleeya's content feels like a window into her actual life rather than a carefully curated highlight reel. One moment she's live on TikTok demonstrating how to layer her Avenys skincare products for maximum glow, the next she's cooking massive batches of food with her husband to share with their staff—a practice she's maintained since her mother's passing in 2018. Her videos often feature her eldest daughter (the inspiration behind the Avenys brand name, a play on "Eva"), creating that authentic family vibe that resonates with her primarily female Malaysian audience. Unlike many beauty influencers who stick strictly to filters and flawless makeup, Aleeya regularly shows her bare skin, sharing genuine before-and-after results that feel attainable rather than aspirational.
What makes her stand out isn't just her business savvy—she built Avenys from her kitchen table after first launching with "Sambal Hitam Pedas Giler Masuk Hospital" back in 2013—but how she refuses to separate her multiple roles. You'll see her transition seamlessly from CEO mode (she graduated with a management degree from University of Auckland after working at 7-Eleven to fund her studies) to mom mode to cook mode, all within a single live session. Her followers don't just buy skincare; they buy into her story of starting with nothing but a passion for skincare that began in childhood, working multiple jobs, and eventually creating affordable, halal-certified products that actually work for Southeast Asian skin types.
Behind the success—Avenys officially launched in 2016 and has steadily grown—lies a woman who's refreshingly transparent about the challenges. She's openly discussed how difficult it is to juggle her various businesses (skincare, supplements, food products) without spreading herself too thin. Her TikTok comments section reads like a supportive community chat, with regulars sharing their own skincare journeys and thanking her for making quality products accessible. When she does live sessions, it's not uncommon to see her pause mid-demonstration to answer specific questions about ingredients or to check if someone's order went through.
What's most compelling about Aleeya's TikTok presence is how she's turned what could be straightforward product promotion into something more meaningful. She's created a space where entrepreneurship, motherhood, and self-care aren't competing priorities but interconnected parts of a fulfilling life. Whether she's sharing memories of her late mother (who was of Chinese-Indian heritage) or demonstrating why certain ingredients work better in Malaysia's humid climate, she makes you feel like you're getting the real story—not just a sales pitch. In an era of overly produced content, her authenticity is her most valuable skincare ingredient.