Ruby Kaliray
Aviva Canada Inc.
Ruby Kaliray loved working as a makeup artist during her undergrad and then moonlighting for a major cosmetics company while studying law in the U.K. But once she started articling in 2006 for what was then Macleod Dixon LLP in Toronto, rising at 4 a.m. on weekends for photo shoots became too gruelling.
Then she saw a way to keep a foot in the industry by addressing a complaint she’d always had about makeup lines. “The issue I had was the lack of colour,” says Kaliray. “I don’t want to work with 40 lipsticks. I want 100 lipsticks.” So in 2010, a year before moving in-house in the insurance industry, she launched Dolled Up Cosmetics, which offers over 500 shades for eyes, lips and cheeks online and at Toronto boutique stores and events.
Kaliray spends evenings and weekends developing new products and handling marketing. She outsources manufacturing, web design and packaging, and hires help to fill major orders and sell products at events.
Kaliray finds that entrepreneurship complements her work as corporate counsel — she wears many hats for both jobs — while also providing contrast. “It’s lighter, so with something as serious and heavy as law, it balances out really nicely.”
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Behind-the-scenes at the photoshoot
Photography by Daniel Ehrenworth; Hair and makeup by Irene Sy