KLEOS+KLEA Skincare

Speaker 1: has bought into the premise that we have to lean on chemists to create a synthetic formula for us to use for our skinincare. We've bought into marketing and believing that a moisturizer has to be a lotion that's white and creamy. But in reality, skinincare industry is really trying to mimic nature. So we look for products like vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin A or retinols. And what we're really seeking is these vitamins that come from plants. So I think what's missing right now in our industry is that we need more companies focusing on the nutrition level of the skin rather than the texturizers and our skinincare products. I'm Melanie Bar. Welcome back to the Sheila Tip podcast, your go-to place to empower you to live the life and business that you crave. I'm here to talk about everything from having the courage to make life and career leaps to the details of how to lead effectively, create successful teams, implement strategies for growth, and infuse tech innovation. I'm here to celebrate your wins and navigate through your challenges. I live in the city now, but I grew up in a town of a thousand people. I've navigated major life leaps, a senior level corporate career, worked in professional sports, and now as a successful entrepreneur who loves business, technology, family, and making meaningful connections with you and the She Built It Community. I also love a good workout and dose of self-care.

Speaker 1: Magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy. So, turn up the audio, open your favorite notes app, grab your favorite drink, and here we go. Welcome to the Sheba podcast. Thank you for joining us. Tammy, tell us about your business and what led you to the moment that you knew your products had to exist.

Speaker 1: Thank you for having me. Melanie, I started being in clean skincare in 1999 and I had been in this industry right when the pendulum was swinging the other direction. At first we were based on performance type of ingredients and then in the late '9s we started recognizing that these ingredients went too far. They weren't good for our skin and they weren't good for our planet and the introduction of green skin care happened then what we call clean today. And that's when I entered the market. And what I realized in around 2014 was that we hadn't swung far enough. So my skin started getting really sick. I had paper thin skin. I had inflammation and pigmentation issues that were rather severe and growing. And I had tried everything I could. I have a strong personality and once I buy into a philosophy, it's hard for me to go backwards. So when this was happening to my skin, I just couldn't go to hydroquinone or any type of laser treatment to treat what was happening to me because the way I understood the skin that was going to be very traumatizing and could really hurt my body. So I just kept using anything I could that was clean. I even embarked and went around the world and sought out holistic estheticians to try to help me and I realized that everyone was doing the same thing. At the age of the computer, it's really interesting how similar we all are around the world. So I came home really depressed and what happened was I created an apothecary in my bathroom. So I started using whole plants. I would buy supplements that I couldn't find the plants for. I would be juicing and I created all these concoctions. To my surprise, truly to my surprise, my skin healed and it healed very quickly. So, I had been trying to work on this for 5 years using traditional, beautiful, amazing ingredients and it was only when I turned to whole plants that my skin started to heal and change. So, it was at that moment that I thought, "Oh my gosh, the light on the path to what I'm going to do in the future seems to be me going back into beauty and skincare." So, here I am. Yeah, that's so interesting. And so many very successful businesses start by making something at home because you can't find it or you want something that you can't find in the marketplace. And it's interesting that you traveled the world, too, to try to find what you were looking for. Oh, I was desperate and I was single. I had four children. I just thought that I had at least 50 more years on this planet and I did not want to be hiding from the sun or being really embarrassed by what was happening on my skin. You draw from wisdom for more than two decades in the skincare industry. Share with us your experience and what did you think was missing in skincare that you had to fix in addition to clean and plant-based beauty. It's really simple. The skincare industry really still today has bought into the premise that we have to lean on chemists to create a synthetic formula for us to use for our skinincare. We've bought into marketing and believing that a moisturizer has to be a lotion that's white and creamy. A serum has to be like a gel type of texture or it has to have a texture. And most of our skin care is clear or white. We've bought into this but in reality skin care industry is really trying to mimic nature. So we look for products like vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin A or retinols. And what we're really seeking is these vitamins that come from plants. So I think what's missing right now in our industry is that we need more companies focusing on the nutrition level of the skin rather than the texturizers in our skinincare products.

Speaker 1: So it's a really big leap. It sounds simple, but it's a very different approach. And how do you select your ingredients? You mentioned vitamin C and other elements that go into it. I'm careful. I have a whole protocol. I see picking ingredients for the skin in four levels. First of all, it cannot hurt the microbiome of the skin. Second, it has to repair the barrier. Every ingredient has to have a repairing attribute, but it definitely cannot have any attributes that destroy the barrier cuz we're always fighting to keep our barrier whole. And it needs to have a lot of nutrients because nutrients are the language of our cells. So I'd like to saturate the skin with nutrients. And the final step is it's an added bonus if it stimulates fibiberblast which are the cells that make collagen and elastin. And what I do is I nutrient stack. So some plants are really high on collagen elastin creation. other ingredients are high in vitamin C, vitamin E, all the B vitamins. Anyway, I nutrient stack. So, at the end of the protocol, your skin has like a complete diet topically. It seems like everything goes back to nature, what we put on our skin, the foods we eat, keeping up with our health, being able to go outside, being as busy as we are running businesses. Isn't that interesting? Yeah. It seems that mother nature has the answer. Yeah.

Launching the brand

Speaker 1: has faced challenges at times. What is the first big challenge that you faced when launching your brand and how were you able to move through it?

Speaker 1: It was a big challenge actually cuz when I realized I was creating a company, I couldn't create something that wasn't exactly how I healed. So, the number one thing was how was I going to ship 25 plants around the world, bottle them up and ship them around the world? Because I wasn't using any type of preservative or synthetic ingredient to keep it stable. And it turned out to be really a gift because what I realized is if I took all the water out of the main plants and delivered products in powder form, I didn't need a preservative. I didn't need texturizers. I didn't need anything. And I was able to preserve the potency and the nutrient values of those plants. So that was really incredible.

Speaker 1: And the next thing was protecting it from light and protecting it from oxygen. So I custom made my bottles, which is an insane thing to do as a startup, but it also ended up being one of the things our company's known for.

Founder mindset

Speaker 1: What is one mindset shift that you had to make in order to grow as a founder?

Speaker 1: I had to really believe in myself. So telling you the story today sounds really beautiful and elegant, but of course I'm destroying the philosophy of the skincare industry. This is the premise of how it's grown and it's a multi-billion dollar industry. I had a believe that my story was relevant and my need to share it and help others heal was important enough to move forward.

Speaker 1: Even though I'm going against 20 years of history, maybe 40 years of history of how we treat skin and I'm going against a lot of big money and big business, but I had to learn that I just have to believe that my experience is important and it's going to change the lives of a lot of people. it's going to really touch them and hopefully ultimately it really connects people to living a simple way and definitely connecting to nature first. What a strong belief system and it's got to feel good to wake up every day thinking about how you're going to help people and help yourself to have healthier skin. And you're right, the skincare industry has swung so far. You look at all of the products out there coming out every day and what's inside of them.

Speaker 1: Yeah. They're all the same, aren't they? Yeah, people love skin care, but it's like we have to keep looking at what is in them, especially for young skin.

Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a new trend today. I hear younger ages with conversations. The youngest I've heard so far is an 8-year-old granddaughter who's teaching the grandmother what to do with her skin. And honestly, that makes me very apprehensive and a little nervous because that child is getting their information from marketing and not from facts.

Leadership

Speaker 1: What do you think is the most important element of leadership when growing a brand and business? It's really important that you stay true to yourself. You've done enough work that you have a central compass and you do not sway because of shiny objects. And there's so many. And it's okay. Like definitely give them your attention and interest, but be very careful about what you bring into your company because as a leader, everyone's looking to you for direction and it can't be too zigzaggy. It has to be pretty straight.

Speaker 1: Yeah, you're so right. There are so many shiny objects with different tech directions. There's so much that can be distracting.

Finding joy

Speaker 1: Definitely. Magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy. What is one thing that you do to make sure that you are finding and living your joy?

Speaker 1: I get lost sometimes and I catch myself in meetings and saying, "Wait a minute. We're supposed to be having a lot of fun doing this. So, what do we have to do to have fun?" And for me, it's about making sure I get up early, I go for my walk, and I try to do it again in the evening because it's a moment that I have where I immerse myself with nature. And I am completely honest when I tell you that I immerse myself because I'm always thinking, how are these flowers, how are these tomato plants, how are these grasses protecting themselves from UV radiation all day? and drought. Sometimes they we have floods, we have frost. How are these plants so resilient? And that's where I get my information from. And it makes me really curious. And when I'm intrigued and curious, I become very energized and that's where I get my joy.

Speaker 1: Yeah. And it's so interesting how it all comes back to nature.

Speaker 1: Yes. Nature is amazing. As your brand and business grows, how do you stay connected to your why? By having the central compass. In a situation where I'm saying something very new. Even though we have plants all around us, we eat them. We just never really thought about plants as treating our skin. It's been probably centuries since we've done that. What I do is I just remember why I'm sitting at this desk, why I get the opportunity to talk to you. and I take it very seriously and I want to give you the best of me that I can and all the information I've gained and hopefully that we draw from one another and we create even better things, future items maybe even for Cleos and Clea. I'm definitely going to think more about it the next time I put something on my skin. What kind of impact do you hope your products create beyond great skin? It's the same thing we've been saying and that is creating simplicity in life. Not buying into what other people are saying is good for us, but really thinking about it. Now we have AI. We have computers at our fingertips. It's really up to everyone to do their own research and only give your power away after that research has been exhausted.

Speaker 1: And I really hope that people just get a sliver of the excitement and the love I have for nature because it's there for everybody. And I haven't found an ailment yet that nature can't heal. Yeah. So true. We all so feel so much better when we're surrounded by nature in every way.

Speaker 1: Exactly. Thank you so much for joining us today and for sharing all of your knowledge about skinincare with us. I'm definitely going to think more about the products I put on my skin. Please share with us how and where we can find you.

Speaker 1: We're on Instagram at Cleos and Clea skin care and you could find us on the web at Cleoincia. Thank you for joining us today. I'd love to hear from you. Reach out to me at hell@ shebiltit.com on our shebiltit website or at sheiluiltit on social. Thank you to my editor Rich Duffolino who always makes us sound good. Until next time, let nothing stop you from experiencing the life and business that you crave.