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Brightland Olive Oil
Product Category Extension
The Ask:
Extend Brightland into a new product category rooted in its story, values, audience, and visual identity.
My Role:
As Team Lead, I owned timelines, meeting agendas, and communication — keeping the team on track through every deliverable. As Brand Designer, I led all visual direction: packaging, AI mockups, mood boards, and the design language that made this feel like a real Brightland product. Outside of my designated role, I also helped shape the strategy and narrative of our product category extension.
Context
A beloved gifting brand with untapped territory
Brightland — a California-based, Indian woman-led luxury brand built on olive oil, honey, and vinegar — had cultivated a devoted audience through intentional, giftable pantry products. Their products were already gifted every minute during the holiday season. The question was: what's next?
My first move was to frame the strategic opportunity clearly for the team. I identified that Brightland's equity wasn't in food — it was in the act of care and community building.
But who exactly in Brightland's audience is a community-builder?
Audience
35, California born and raised.
Loves cultivating moments and experiences for her tight-knit group of friends. Her and her friend group switch off hosting girls nights every month— it gets a little competitive with how thoughtful they are.
Meet Lilly:
Lilly's Values:
Connection
Hospitality
Preparedness
Thoughtfulness
Tonight, it’s Lilly’s turn to host Girls Night.
Due to Lilly's extensive Pinterest-ing, her Girls Night is as curated and thoughtful as ever. But like most hosts, Lilly is beyond stressed.
“I love hosting, but I’m very type A. I plan recipes to a tee, make everything perfect, the decor, do different themes every time. I’m very meticulous - if something goes wrong I crash out”.
Srimanya, interviewee
Care doesn’t only happen around the table.
It happens in beauty rituals, too.
1 in 8 consumers intentionally use beauty to connect—and nearly half already turn to others for beauty advice. That makes beauty a natural next step for a brand already built on care.
We looked at beauty rituals that connected with our founder’s South Asian heritage— what stood out most was hair oiling.
“When my mom would oil my hair growing up, we would bond and talk. We were otherwise very busy and independent so this was our time to decompress. It was very therapeutic. In my Sophomore year of college, my friends and roommates and I would oil each others heads every week or so to keep each other accountable. We would debrief and chat, but it was also great for the hair.”
Srimanya, interviewee
“My dadi (grandmother) oils her hair after every shower and has the longest hair I’ve ever seen, she knows a lot. My mom would make her oil recipe from scratch and massage [me and my sisters’] scalps for 30-40 minutes growing up. In seventh grade, I got more involved and learned the recipe. Now I’ve taken on making the recipe for us.”
Alizea, interviewee
Hosts pour everything into making their guests feel special — but who's making the host feel cared for?
Well, Brightland of course!
Introducing....
Our Purpose:
To care for the people who care for everyone else. We believe hosting is an act of love, and the person behind it deserves care too.
Our Promise:
To create thoughtful, elevated products that help hosts feel prepared, calm, and confident before they welcome others in. Products that support them in the moments in-between.
Product & Pac
kaging
Product:
Hand Soap and Lotion Duo
Castile Hand Soap:
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Olive Oil-Based Soap – cleansing but not drying
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Tulsi (Indian basil) – antimicrobial, fights inflammation
Soothing Hand Lotion:
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Olive Oil & Honey – moisturizing and calming
How it fits in Lilly's Girls Night:
Surprising Lilly with an early visit, one of her friends drops off the entire Brightland Care set as a gift. As they discuss the night ahead, the two of them wash their hands to start preparing food together.
Aromatherapy Rollerball
Olive & Jojoba Oil Blend:
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nourishing base
Lavender & Ashwagandha:
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relaxation (lowers heart rate, blood pressure, cortisol)
As her final guest makes her way in, Lilly’s anxiety begins to stir up— but is quickly quelled as she steps aside for a moment to use her rollerball. The grounding feeling causes her to calm down, and she even gets a compliment on how nice she smells when she comes back to the table.
Clarifying Scalp Scrub & Ayurvedic Hair Oil
Clarifying Scalp Scrub:
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Sugar - exfoliant, helps remove stubborn oil
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Olive Oil & Honey- moisture
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Neem (“Indian lilac”) - cleansing, fights dry scalp
Ayurvedic Hair Oil:
includes clay pot to heat oil for optimal results
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Olive & Jojoba Oil Blend - strengthening, moisturizing, but not too heavy ⟶ boosts shine
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Amla (Indian gooseberry) & Bhringraj: promotes growth, reduces hair fall, treats dandruff, strengthens follicles, boosts scalp circulation, prevents premature graying
Before her last friend leaves, Lilly asks her to help with the hair oil treatment as they debrief the night. After a much-deserved shower (featuring the clarifying scalp scrub), Lilly heads to bed, refreshed and content.
I created the packaging concept, mood boards, designed the labels using Adobe Illustrator, and used Google Gemini to mockup the packaging — pulling Brightland's signature vibrancy into something cozier and more intimate. South Asian design cues (color, warmth) informed the palette and patterns while staying true to Brightland's elevated aesthetic.
This also connects to the intentionality and cultural storytelling the founder brings to Brightland's packaging.
“I'm of Indian heritage, and I love color, and a lot of Indian heritage is so colorful. So I wanted to make sure that the [packaging] colors were always popping, that there was something vibrant about it always.”
Aishwarya Iyer, Founder
Launch Strategy
Brightland Care can be found in:
Nordstrom, bluemercury, Whole Foods, Sephora, and the Brightland website
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Whole Foods Shelf Display
Sephora End Cap
Web Mockups
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Galentine's Launch Event:
Photobooth, floral arranging, and scalp massages
For the ultimate Girls Night holiday!
Influencers:
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Limited Edition Galentine's Box:
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Monet McMichael - With almost 4 million TikTok followers, Monet is a mastermind at hosting, trendsetting, and using beauty to stay grounded in her busy life.
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Heather Summers - With over 100k followers on Instagram, this pre-existing Brightland customer balances chic elegance on top of being a mother of three (which makes her a 24/7 host).
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Looks by Hala - Taking both Instagram and TikTok by storm with her GRWMs, Hala blends her stunning South Asian wardrobe with an embrace of chaos. Throughout it all, she practices self-care to stay sane.
C Magazine feature:
Brightland and C Magazine share an earnest obsession with style and luxury through a lens of Californian culture. C Magazine offers print copies as well as a consistently updated website, and has mentioned Brightland in past work.
Digital Ads:
TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest (where our hosts are constantly scrolling for inspiration)
My Contributions
Consumer Interviews:
I planned and conducted interviews with real hosts. The richest insight came when interviewees described how hosting stress was physical — migraines, cortisol crashes, the performance of "being on" even when depleted. This shaped our entire product rationale. I also spoke to South Asian women about their beauty routines and the meaning of how hair-oiling is a bonding ritual.
Girls Night as the Strategic Angle:
I proposed positioning around Girls Night specifically — a recurring ritual our target was already invested in. It gave us a concrete use-case context to build the narrative around and a natural entry point for product gifting.
Ayurvedic Connection & Founder Story Tie-in:
I researched the South Asian heritage of Brightland's founder, Aishwarya Iyer, and realized that culture is core to a brand built on hospitality and community. I identified Ayurvedic hair oiling as a culturally resonant practice that bridged Brightland's existing ingredients with beauty ritual. This became the emotional and strategic heart of the product line.
The team that made it all happen:
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Kennon Cummings (strategy) - Strategist
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Cimira Crews (strategy) - Storyteller
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Serena Loomba (brand management) - Team Lead & Brand Designer
Skills Developed:
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Deck narrative & structure
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Competitor visual analysis
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Brand storytelling
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Product research and rationale
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AI image prompting/iterating
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Target routine mapping
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Team & project management
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Label/packaging design
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Shelf display design
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Launch strategy