u/Due-Pattern-5210

Some background: our dad passed when I was 9. My sister was never academically inclined, she focused on men, relationships, fell out with most friends and cousins over time, and never held a job. I was the quiet one who studied, became a robotics engineer, and started working at 21. At that point she was 26, being financially supported by a boyfriend.

When I graduated, I took over household expenses entirely, made my mom (who wasn’t in good health) stop working, and supported both of them for years. My sister eventually married that boyfriend. He’s wealthy but only visits a few hours a day as he has another family. My sister is the second wife. My mom moved in with her partly to keep her company. I moved to the US for grad school the month she married and I kept sending significant money home, essentially co-funding a household I wasn’t living in. My sister told everyone her husband covered most of it and I barely contributed. I let it go. For years. Because her husband is 15 years older than her, she needs to justify her marriage to extended family and friends by showing off how wealthy he is.

Four months ago I came back to renew my visa and got stuck in processing. I’ve been living at her place since. Because my mom lives there. I could very much live alone or with my cousins but she says that wouldn’t be a good look on her so I stayed with her but she picks fights over small things and it’s worn me down.

I also took a financial hit during this period as I haven’t been actively working, so I decided to finally launch a skincare brand I’d been quietly developing for a long time. Science-backed, lab-tested, with documented formulations. I told my sister about it.

Before I could even register the business, she launched her own “organic skincare” line, targeting the exact same network of family, friends, and mutual contacts that would’ve been my first customers. She’s been actively telling them that “chemicals are bad, only use organic products, use mine.” Her products appear to be herb-based with no clinical backing. Mine has peer-reviewed studies and lab results behind it. Somehow she also told me that, “oh I thought of a skincare line first and you just got inspiration from me, right?” And I was so surprised because that’s not what happened. She has never worked a single day in her life or had any business and now all of a sudden she has started one but she thinks I took inspiration from her. I was launching two products in the beginning, an anti aging serum and a moisturizer and she started the exact two products.

I asked my mom to talk to her, just to ask her to let me get established first before directly competing in the same circle. And if not, only stick to an exfoliator and hair oil. My mom did ask her and she said, “no we are not competing, mine is organic, hers is chemical” but then it’s the exact same two products and she’s confusing my first customer base. My sister’s version of events, which she’s now spreading, is that I’m jealous of her organic brand and threw a tantrum.

I dropped the business launch midway because I couldn’t stomach the situation.

How do I actually deal with this?

Some background: our dad passed when I was 9. My sister was never academically inclined, she focused on men, relationships, fell out with most friends and cousins over time, and never held a job. I was the quiet one who studied, became a robotics engineer, and started working at 21. At that point she was 26, being financially supported by a boyfriend.

When I graduated, I took over household expenses entirely, made my mom (who wasn’t in good health) stop working, and supported both of them for years. My sister eventually married that boyfriend. He’s wealthy but only visits a few hours a day as he has another family. My sister is the second wife. My mom moved in with her partly to keep her company. I moved to the US for grad school the month she married and I kept sending significant money home, essentially co-funding a household I wasn’t living in. My sister told everyone her husband covered most of it and I barely contributed. I let it go. For years. Because her husband is 15 years older than her, she needs to justify her marriage to extended family and friends by showing off how wealthy he is.

Four months ago I came back to renew my visa and got stuck in processing. I’ve been living at her place since. Because my mom lives there. I could very much live alone or with my cousins but she says that wouldn’t be a good look on her so I stayed with her but she picks fights over small things and it’s worn me down.

I also took a financial hit during this period as I haven’t been actively working, so I decided to finally launch a skincare brand I’d been quietly developing for a long time. Science-backed, lab-tested, with documented formulations. I told my sister about it.

Before I could even register the business, she launched her own “organic skincare” line, targeting the exact same network of family, friends, and mutual contacts that would’ve been my first customers. She’s been actively telling them that “chemicals are bad, only use organic products, use mine.” Her products appear to be herb-based with no clinical backing. Mine has peer-reviewed studies and lab results behind it. Somehow she also told me that, “oh I thought of a skincare line first and you just got inspiration from me, right?” And I was so surprised because that’s not what happened. She has never worked a single day in her life or had any business and now all of a sudden she has started one but she thinks I took inspiration from her. I was launching two products in the beginning, an anti aging serum and a moisturizer and she started the exact two products.

I asked my mom to talk to her, just to ask her to let me get established first before directly competing in the same circle. And if not, only stick to an exfoliator and hair oil. My mom did ask her and she said, “no we are not competing, mine is organic, hers is chemical” but then it’s the exact same two products and she’s confusing my first customer base. My sister’s version of events, which she’s now spreading, is that I’m jealous of her organic brand and threw a tantrum.

I dropped the business launch midway because I couldn’t stomach the situation.

How do I actually deal with this?

tl;dr: Told sister about my science-backed skincare brand. She immediately launched a competing herb-based line targeting my exact customer base and told everyone I quit out of jealousy.

Some background: our dad passed when I was 9. My sister was never academically inclined, she focused on men, relationships, fell out with most friends and cousins over time, and never held a job. I was the quiet one who studied, became a robotics engineer, and started working at 21. At that point she was 26, being financially supported by a boyfriend.

When I graduated, I took over household expenses entirely, made my mom (who wasn’t in good health) stop working, and supported both of them for years. My sister eventually married that boyfriend. He’s wealthy but only visits a few hours a day as he has another family. My sister is the second wife. My mom moved in with her partly to keep her company. I moved to the US for grad school the month she married and I kept sending significant money home, essentially co-funding a household I wasn’t living in. My sister told everyone her husband covered most of it and I barely contributed. I let it go. For years. Because her husband is 15 years older than her, she needs to justify her marriage to extended family and friends by showing off how wealthy he is.

Four months ago I came back to renew my visa and got stuck in processing. I’ve been living at her place since. Because my mom lives there. I could very much live alone or with my cousins but she says that wouldn’t be a good look on her so I stayed with her but she picks fights over small things and it’s worn me down.

I also took a financial hit during this period as I haven’t been actively working, so I decided to finally launch a skincare brand I’d been quietly developing for a long time. Science-backed, lab-tested, with documented formulations. I told my sister about it.

Before I could even register the business, she launched her own “organic skincare” line, targeting the exact same network of family, friends, and mutual contacts that would’ve been my first customers. She’s been actively telling them that “chemicals are bad, only use organic products, use mine.” Her products appear to be herb-based with no clinical backing. Mine has peer-reviewed studies and lab results behind it. Somehow she also told me that, “oh I thought of a skincare line first and you just got inspiration from me, right?” And I was so surprised because that’s not what happened. She has never worked a single day in her life or had any business and now all of a sudden she has started one but she thinks I took inspiration from her. I was launching two products in the beginning, an anti aging serum and a moisturizer and she started the exact two products.

I asked my mom to talk to her, just to ask her to let me get established first before directly competing in the same circle. And if not, only stick to an exfoliator and hair oil. My mom did ask her and she said, “no we are not competing, mine is organic, hers is chemical” but then it’s the exact same two products and she’s confusing my first customer base. My sister’s version of events, which she’s now spreading, is that I’m jealous of her organic brand and threw a tantrum.

I dropped the business launch midway because I couldn’t stomach the situation.

How do I actually deal with this?

Some background: our dad passed when I was 9. My sister was never academically inclined, she focused on men, relationships, fell out with most friends and cousins over time, and never held a job. I was the quiet one who studied, became a robotics engineer, and started working at 21. At that point she was 26, being financially supported by a boyfriend.

When I graduated, I took over household expenses entirely, made my mom (who wasn’t in good health) stop working, and supported both of them for years. My sister eventually married that boyfriend. He’s wealthy but only visits a few hours a day as he has another family. My sister is the second wife. My mom moved in with her partly to keep her company. I moved to the US for grad school the month she married and I kept sending significant money home, essentially co-funding a household I wasn’t living in. My sister told everyone her husband covered most of it and I barely contributed. I let it go. For years. Because her husband is 15 years older than her, she needs to justify her marriage to extended family and friends by showing off how wealthy he is.

Four months ago I came back to renew my visa and got stuck in processing. I’ve been living at her place since. Because my mom lives there. I could very much live alone or with my cousins but she says that wouldn’t be a good look on her so I stayed with her but she picks fights over small things and it’s worn me down.

I also took a financial hit during this period as I haven’t been actively working, so I decided to finally launch a skincare brand I’d been quietly developing for a long time. Science-backed, lab-tested, with documented formulations. I told my sister about it.

Before I could even register the business, she launched her own “organic skincare” line, targeting the exact same network of family, friends, and mutual contacts that would’ve been my first customers. She’s been actively telling them that “chemicals are bad, only use organic products, use mine.” Her products appear to be herb-based with no clinical backing. Mine has peer-reviewed studies and lab results behind it. Somehow she also told me that, “oh I thought of a skincare line first and you just got inspiration from me, right?” And I was so surprised because that’s not what happened. She has never worked a single day in her life or had any business and now all of a sudden she has started one but she thinks I took inspiration from her. I was launching two products in the beginning, an anti aging serum and a moisturizer and she started the exact two products.

I asked my mom to talk to her, just to ask her to let me get established first before directly competing in the same circle. And if not, only stick to an exfoliator and hair oil. My mom did ask her and she said, “no we are not competing, mine is organic, hers is chemical” but then it’s the exact same two products and she’s confusing my first customer base. My sister’s version of events, which she’s now spreading, is that I’m jealous of her organic brand and threw a tantrum.

I dropped the business launch midway because I couldn’t stomach the situation.

How do I actually deal with this?