Yiwen Hao discusses her breakthrough skincare brand and balancing entrepreneurship with HIV/AIDS advocacy.

If you haven&rsquo;t heard of Chinese entrepreneur and philanthropist Yiwen Hao, you will soon. With the launch of her forthcoming skincare line&nbsp;Pototaly&mdash;yes,&nbsp;it&rsquo;s made from&nbsp;potatoes&mdash;Yiwen is giving traditional Chinese holistic practices a decidedly modern twist. And beyond being a bonafide&nbsp;businesswoman, Yiwen is dedicated to raising awareness of HIV/AIDS in&nbsp; China.&nbsp; A leading figure within amfAR&rsquo;s China arm, she is spearheading an effort to combat many of the longstanding misconceptions surrounding HIV in her native country and campaigning for greater recognition and rights for those living with the virus.

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Where did the idea come from to use&nbsp;potatoes&nbsp;as&nbsp;a&nbsp;source&nbsp;for&nbsp;cosmetic products? &nbsp; &nbsp;

It&nbsp;was&nbsp;a&nbsp;traditional&nbsp;practice&nbsp;I&nbsp;grew&nbsp;up&nbsp;with&nbsp;from&nbsp;a very&nbsp;young&nbsp;age.

For&nbsp;example,&nbsp;when&nbsp;I&nbsp;would&nbsp;go&nbsp;to&nbsp;the&nbsp;hospital&nbsp;as&nbsp;a&nbsp;child&nbsp;for&nbsp;a&nbsp;vaccine&nbsp;and&nbsp;come home&nbsp;with a bruise,&nbsp;my mom would&nbsp;cut a small&nbsp;piece of potato&nbsp;and place it&nbsp;on the bruise.&nbsp;The bruise would,&nbsp;quite literally,&nbsp;be gone within&nbsp;two days.&nbsp;I&nbsp; knew from&nbsp;my&nbsp;mother&nbsp;that&nbsp;potatoes&nbsp;had&nbsp;benefits&nbsp;for&nbsp;the&nbsp;skin&mdash;for&nbsp;removing bruises, brightening,&nbsp; puffiness&mdash; and that lead me to develop&nbsp;Pototaly as a&nbsp;skincare line.

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When do you think ofPototaly and your&nbsp;vision for the brand&mdash; and yourself&mdash; what do you&nbsp;see as central&nbsp;to its success,&nbsp;and how does&nbsp;it tie into&nbsp;your emphasis on&nbsp;supporting women entrepreneurs? &nbsp; &nbsp;

Of course,&nbsp;with my brand,&nbsp;the desire is&nbsp;to help women&nbsp;feel beautiful.&nbsp; But as an entrepreneur,&nbsp; I&nbsp;want to empower women,&nbsp;both with my&nbsp;products and as&nbsp;an example of&nbsp;how a woman&nbsp;can run a&nbsp;successful business.&nbsp; Also,&nbsp; I&nbsp;wanted to build a sustainable,&nbsp;eco-friendly brand.&nbsp; All of&nbsp;Pototaly &rsquo;s packaging is&nbsp;made from potato waste.&nbsp; Even though it&rsquo;s&nbsp;three times more&nbsp;expensive to create this &ldquo;potato paper,&rdquo;&nbsp; I&nbsp;believe it&rsquo;s worth it in&nbsp;order to save&nbsp;our environment and&nbsp;emphasize sustainable business practices.&nbsp; Additionally,&nbsp; I&nbsp;want to align&nbsp;ourselves with various social causes.&nbsp; For example,&nbsp; a&nbsp;portion of Pototaly&rsquo;s&nbsp;profits will go&nbsp;towards charities,&nbsp;such as the&nbsp; Red&nbsp; Cross&nbsp;Association of China.

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Why is your&nbsp;work with amfAR and HIV/AIDS&nbsp;awareness important to you? &nbsp; &nbsp;

It &rsquo;s important because the level of awareness&nbsp;around the subject in&nbsp;China is not&nbsp;the same as&nbsp;it is in the western world.&nbsp; In&nbsp; China,&nbsp;people are scared of AIDS.&nbsp; Many people still&nbsp;think you can contract the virus simply&nbsp;by shaking hands&nbsp;with someone who has it.&nbsp; I&nbsp;see myself working&nbsp;to help advocate&nbsp;and raise awareness about HIV/AIDS&nbsp;in a way&nbsp;that aims to eliminate many&nbsp;of these stigmas.

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Have&nbsp;you&nbsp;seen a difference&nbsp;in attitudes towards&nbsp; HIV/AIDS&nbsp;since teaming up with amfAR? &nbsp; &nbsp;

Yes,&nbsp;for sure.&nbsp; There are a&nbsp;lot of people&nbsp;getting to know amfAR and&nbsp;its mission in&nbsp; China,&nbsp;and with each event we hold,&nbsp;we raise both&nbsp;awareness and donations that will go to spreading more information about HIV/AIDS throughout China.

Meet the Woman Who Invented a Face Mask Made from Potatoes

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