A beauty entrepreneur who says a teacher once told her she would never amount to anything has revealed how the same teacher later approached her about becoming a representative for her growing cosmetics business.
Raneen Awad, now 23, says the dramatic turnaround happened seven years after a sixth-grade maths teacher questioned her abilities and told her she would never become anything useful in the future. By then, Awad had built a large social media following and launched her own beauty brand, RENO.
The encounter became a striking full-circle moment for Awad, particularly because the teacher had dismissed the ambitions she had held since childhood. What began as a classroom exchange eventually became a request to help sell products from the business she had built herself.
'I'm Going To Be a Model'
Awad says her ambitions were clear from a young age.
When she was in fifth grade, she recalled being asked what she wanted to become when she grew up. While other pupils gave more traditional answers, Awad said she wanted to become a model and be famous.
She claims her classmates laughed at her ambition.
A year later, she says another incident with a maths teacher left a lasting impression. According to Awad, the teacher asked her a question she could not answer before telling her she would never become anything useful in the future.
The comment stayed with her as she left school and began building a career in the beauty industry.
Teacher Later Approached Her
Seven years later, Awad says the teacher who had once doubted her contacted her again.
This time, she claims, the teacher asked whether she could become a representative for RENO and sell its products.
Rather than simply being asked for employment, the request was connected directly to the beauty business Awad had created. The contrast between the two encounters became particularly significant because RENO had grown from a small operation into an established brand with an expanding online presence.
Awad has described the experience as a 'very full-circle moment', seeing it as an example of how dramatically someone's circumstances can change.
The teacher's comments and later request are based on Awad's account. The identity of the teacher has not been established in the available reporting.
From Beauty Work to RENO
Awad began working in the beauty industry as a teenager before developing her own business.
She worked with beauty salons, built an audience online and later became involved in the piercing industry. She also trained other women in the field before turning her attention towards developing beauty products.
At around 17, she launched RENO Lips, a lip-enhancing product that she says quickly attracted customers. The initial success encouraged her to expand into a wider skincare range.
Recent profiles of Awad similarly describe her as the founder and owner of RENO, with the business developing from its first lip product into a broader skincare brand. The company promotes products including creams, serums and other skincare treatments.
Awad has also built a substantial online following, with recent profiles putting her Instagram audience at around 264,000 followers.
Building a Beauty Business From Her Bedroom
Awad says RENO's early operation was far removed from the established business it became.
She has described storing products at home, handling orders herself and packing purchases from her bedroom. Her mother helped with the operation, while her sister assisted with deliveries.
Awad claims she invested around 100,000 Israeli shekels, equivalent to roughly £22,000, into developing the skincare business. She also says her first stock of 500 lip products sold out within four days. According to Awad, her first day of deliveries generated $5,000, around £3,700.
Those figures are claims made by Awad and should not be treated as independently audited business results. Other profiles published in 2026 describe RENO as a growing skincare business producing thousands of products annually and looking towards international expansion.
A Full-Circle Moment
For Awad, however, the teacher's change of attitude remains one of the most memorable parts of her journey.
The girl who says she was laughed at for wanting to become a model eventually built a career in beauty, developed a substantial social media following and created a brand that she says attracted interest from the very teacher who had once doubted her.
The story does not establish that the teacher's original judgement directly influenced Awad's later success. But according to Awad, the experience became a reminder that early opinions about someone's potential can prove very different from where their life eventually leads.
Seven years after being told she would never amount to anything, Awad says she found herself in the unexpected position of being asked to help bring her former teacher into the business she had built.
