Latest / Skin Anarchy / Joshua Onysko, Founder and CEO of PANGEA Brands

Transcript

Joshua Onysko, Founder and CEO of PANGEA Brands · Skin Anarchy

• 0:05
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• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to introduce you guys to a wonderful uh founder today, and this brand, or this actually set of brands, is really, really cool, and I want to learn all about it.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: So without further ado, um I want to introduce you guys to Joshua Oniska, who is the founder of Pangea Brands.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the show, Josh.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so excited you're here.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, thanks for having me.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um I would love to get started with your own career journey, though, because I know that you founded uh two companies and it's a whole, you know, I want to see learn about the whole vision.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: So if you could tell us about yourself and what got you into um, you know, just this type of entrepreneurship and you know, this specifically, that would be great.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I I had a definitely an a non-traditional kind of educational plan.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: I dropped out of school when I was 15 and I started working many odd jobs and eventually started traveling around the world.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I I first became interested in this industry when I was on my way to Bombay on a trip that I had no return ticket for.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I stopped in to see my parents in Rhode Island, and my mom had bought a coffee table book on how to make handmade soap.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_02: And like most people, I grew up on I, you know, ivory and Irish Spring and whatnot.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: I had no idea what soap was made of.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I read the book and I thought to myself, you know, this is really interesting that you could make soap from ingredients you can buy at the store.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: And we made a batch of soap, and I took off to India with a couple bars in my backpack.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it was probably like two or three weeks into my trip where I remembered I had this soap in my bag that smelled really good.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I went to this outdoor shower and I used it, and I was just completely blown away that it foamed up and it lathered and it smelled good, and my skin actually felt hydrated and not dried out and covered in chemicals, which I thought until that day was just part of the bathing process.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I ended up traveling.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Josh, I want I want you to tell us what this book was because it sounds like an awesome read.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was um it was Sandy Main who uh I ended up becoming colleagues with.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: She, I don't know if it's still around.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm guessing it is.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's called Sunfeather Soap Company.
• 3:24
  unknown: Oh.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: And it was just, you know, a great book on how to make natural soap, which is you know, lye and fat and essential oils and flowers, and you the process is called saponification.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: And saponification is when you take a base like lye and combine it with a fat like coconut and olive oil, and that process breaks the triglycerides apart and saponifies, and so that there's no oil and no lye left, there's just soap.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, when I was in India, it was it was kind of perfect timing because a lot of ingredients that are used to make soaps and cosmetics come from Asia.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of them actually come from India, and so I was traveling, I started becoming fascinated by the agricultural processes that were happening with coconut and patchouli and lemongrass and all these different beautiful things, and I saw how they were growing, and I ended up traveling for two years on that trip India, Nepal, Tibet, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Tokyo, Thailand, and Cambodia.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: And when I got to Cambodia, I was completely exhausted and broke.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was quite a trip.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, there were definitely odd jobs in and out of that trip uh to keep the trip going.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: And then I was laying in Anchor Watt one day, and I and I, you know, I knew I needed to head back to the states, and I wanted to start a company that helped empower farms.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: And at that time, it was very specifically organic farms uh in developing countries, and I thought of starting a soap company to do that.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, in all countries, do you mean like in just like third world countries?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I would say that 75% of our ingredients come from uh developing countries.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, and you know, and then some don't come from developing countries, but I I I felt like I mean the reason why the company is called it's called Pangea is because it's bringing the world back together through a product that is good for people and good for the planet, you know, and just saying, hey, uh there are different ways of doing business in the world, and we can create products that are actually helping the biodiversity of the planet through sustainable agricultural, agricultural processes and regenerative agricultural processes and supporting women-owned farms and community-owned farms and small non-monocrop farms that are farming the right way because 95.7% of the world, the world's food is still being grown with really, really toxic chemicals.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_02: And by creating a product that really partners with farmers around the world who are doing things differently, I'm empowering someone to go out and vote with their dollars by supporting products that they believe in that are doing good in the world versus destruct, destroying our environment.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: I completely agree with you.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I think agriculture is one of those areas that people don't talk about enough and they don't focus on because you're right, in developing countries, a lot of times agricultural land is the biggest asset that most families have.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: So, like when you're, you know, supporting those people, you're really supporting like the only viable source of like income and like you know, just like being able to sustain their their family, you know, it's a lot of things that go into play there.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I love that you have that as the foundation, you know, because that's I think that's the difference between like trying to do something that's like helping people, but then being practical, right?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: There has to be this like middle ground.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's a very practical approach to that.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: And another thing that I learned while I was traveling in Asia is 87% of the world's food is grown by women.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: And even to this day, 2022, only I think one or two percent of the world's owned land is owned by women.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I know there's a lot of microfinancing in the world, like the Grameen Bank, that are working hard to get women specifically the loans they need so that they can own and work their own land.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_02: But it's definitely something that's a passion of mine to start focusing on is really striving to support women-owned businesses in general, but specifically farms.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: I really love that.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's, you know, it's it's a doable thing.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's the most important part of this, is that, you know, just going back to that point I was making, it's it's doable and it's it's practical.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, women, women's rights extends so much more far beyond than like, you know, equal pay and stuff.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's really what you're talking about.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I really um I value that a lot as a consumer.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm I'm glad that that's what your focus is.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I want to uh ask you, I know that you learned how to make organic soaps and you learned about the process, but then when you were really crafting the line, um, you know, what were some of the hallmark things you had in mind as far as, you know, just formulation or you know, what people were getting?
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because you guys, one thing I love about uh the, you know, the skincare aspect is your products are not like, you know, you have to buy them 18 times a year.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like you give a lot of product, right?
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you're each of your um things.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to focus on that and how that's been and how you came up with that whole, you know what I mean?
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like the whole plan for that from a business perspective.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of it is just looking at business more holistically.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, there's so many things involved when you're trying to authentically create a sustainable product.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's not just the way we source ingredients, it's the way we ship ingredients, it's the way we make our packaging, it's the way we design our packaging, it's the fill weight.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: Like as you were saying, you know, it's shipping is has an environmental impact.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: So I like the fact that someone can buy, you know, four body washes a year versus eight or nine.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_02: And the way we do that is making the product more concentrated so people don't have to use as much.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of people in business will say, yes, but this isn't good business practice because what you want is people buying more product every 30 days.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: I said, Yeah, that might be what you want, but that's not what I want.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: What I want is there to be a future for future generations on our planet.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: And to do that, we have to change the way we do things.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: We have to change the way we think about products, we have to change the way we design products, we have to change the way we communicate to our to our customers on why we do the things that we do and why we do them.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that is a big reason why, you know, after 20 years, we have customers that have been our customers for 20 years.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_02: And it's because we do things differently.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: And more and more people, especially the younger generations, really, really vibe with that and they understand why we do the things that we're doing and they support us because of that.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: No, I can see that.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, especially now, like I'm learning, like I didn't know this, but you know, I'm sure you know more about this than I do, is that Gen Z is very conscious about like what they're consuming, how they're consuming it.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the feedback I've gotten.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's a really wonderful shift to have, like in terms of a generation, because that's directly impacting the kind of products that are being made and how they're like everything that you said, and in addition to that, how they're being distributed as well.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because, you know, in terms of like, you know, you'll interview a brand and they'll be like, Yeah, well, we're a global brand, but then it's like the products are changing, right?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Depending on what country you're in.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: So, like a brand can be one thing in the US, but then in Europe they're selling totally different things.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, how was that something that you didn't want to do?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how did you approach that aspect of being a global brand and being something that everybody could access and access the same things?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: How well I mean, the way we formulate is not to the standards or laws of one country.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we have we have been an extremely clean brand since our inception, above and beyond any kind of standard that any country or you know, label or certification could ask for.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_02: We buy organic ingredients every single time they are commercially available.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: If there's an organic version, we're buying it.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: If there's a more sustainable version, we're buying it right now.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, regenerative agriculture is on the cutting edge of what's happening in the agricultural systems because organic isn't enough.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the climate climate change is happening, and one of the biggest um problems we're facing is supply chain and how in agricultural processes and how we're growing our food.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_02: And we have to start rethinking and redesigning these processes.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: And the way we do that is supporting farmers all over the world that are doing things differently.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_02: And so regenerative farming is our new focus.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: We're we're right now we're partnering with um two family farms in Bolivia, two uh basically communities in Borneo that are growing some ingredients for us and wild harvesting, and even a third generation farmer in the Midwest here in the United States who you know woke up one day and said, you know, this land I'm working, I'm just destroying it.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's not even like it's it's just planting crops in dead earth.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: And he learned about regenerative agriculture and he changed his entire farm.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: And we want to we want to create products to support that because we need to invest in the future that we want to see.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: I completely agree.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm curious about what you mean when you say, like, like, for example, with this specific person, like he had to change the whole process.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what is sustainable agriculture?
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: What is like what you're referencing?
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if you could tell for the audience, because I I think that's something that a lot of people struggle to understand.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: And and you had made a really great point earlier as well about saying, you know, you didn't want to just be organic.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it was like, you know, that's huge saying that, but I think more so um making people understand what the differences are, right?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I would love for you to like give a little mini explanation if you could.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's I wish it could be mini, it's really, really complex because what sustainable is in the middle of Iowa is growing something like oats is very different to what it is to these families growing quinoa in Bolivia, and it's extremely different to what's happening in Borneo.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: You know, Borneo has been the subject to mass, mass clear-cutting and the destruction of orangutan populations for decades because of our addiction to palm oil.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: Palm oil is in everything, and it's one of the, it's it probably is the worst monocrop in the world because they're destroying primary rainforests all over the world within 20 degrees of the equator to grow more palm because our population keeps growing and the population keeps growing.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_02: We need more palm oil to make more stuff.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of it stuff we don't need.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of it is the cosmetic industry and the food industry.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_02: And so in Borneo, sustainability means supporting indigenous cultures that go into the forest and wildcraft things that we can use to make our products.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_02: And what that does is protects those forests because they're being used to generate income.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: And then when you go to oats, for example, the biggest thing that a lot of people are doing when they're talking about regenerative agriculture is not tilling the earth.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_02: We're now realizing that we've been doing this wrong for, you know, however, I think the ag the agrarian age started 12,000 years ago.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know when they invented the plow, but it probably wasn't too too far after that.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's like plowing is releasing carbon into the atmosphere.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_02: And we actually don't need to plow, at least the way we've been doing it.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: And so for that farmer, sustainability set is saying a no to Monsanto, no to Roundup, no to harsh chemicals, no to synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, no to pesticides, no to synthetic herbicides, no to tilling, yes to organic uh seeds.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's it's so complex.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_02: So it's not like a one-stop shop, you know, and you have to look at each ingredient or sourcing as its own independent uh process.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why it gets so complicated.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I will say, in defense of you know, founders and formulators globally, this is why most people don't dive into this because it's really, really difficult.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's already hard enough building a brand.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_02: And then on top of that, building a brand that looks at every single ingredient and tries to source the best ingredient from the best people.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: In you know, I think we source from 67 different countries.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's really complex.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_02: But for me, that's that's more important than anything.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's literally more important than anything, is that at the end of the day, the product that we're putting onto the market is what I would want to buy if I wanted every cent that I'm spending on something to vote for the future that I want to see.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I completely understand that.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I I definitely echo that same, you know, um feeling towards you know, as far as consumer goes, but I I'm really curious like how that impacts a brand because I can only see it being a lot more expensive.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you say something like we're you know harvesting the best of the best ingredients, I mean, I can I I'm I don't even want to imagine what goes behind that, you know what I mean?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because do you need clearance from the governments that you're, you know what I mean, of the countries that you're working in and like all those nitty-gritties?
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not gonna make you go through the, you know, the process of going through, but um, you know, in terms of like the cost of really producing what your vision is telling you to produce, which is you know, real products that um are clean, are organic, are sustainable, you know, what's the profit margin then for you?
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it must leave a really difficult decision, right, in your hands of like, well, how can we do this and still be a company, you know, that sustains itself financially.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's again, it's I wish there was a short answer.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, look, the cosmetic industry is an industry that operates on extremely high margins because so much money is spent on ads and billboards and marketing in general.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, just billions and billions and billions of dollars.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_02: And so for us, you know, we have two brands.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: We have Pangea and then we have Alpine Provisions.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: And so Pangea to me is a, you know, it's an organic borderline uh luxury brand, meaning that it is not inexpensive.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_02: Our hand soaps that just came out that are in 100% plastic-free packaging on in glass and aluminum and our aluminum tubes, and now our aluminum caps that are coming out in our skincare, this all costs a lot of money, but we're still not the most expensive product on the market.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_02: And there's products that are way more expensive than us.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we just choose the price that we know that we can be a viable business and move forward.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_02: Now, we we in Pangaea, we get to use the most premium ingredients in the world, meaning, you know, we buy rose oil from a farm in Egypt that costs$8,400 a pound for our lip balms.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: I could not use that in Alpine Provisions.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_02: Alpine Provisions, the goal was an organic, vegan, plastic free line that we can get all of someone's basic necessities for under$20.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: So we have body washes and hair care, and soon we're coming out with an oral care line uh and deodorants, and everything's under 20 bucks, but it still checks all the boxes.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_02: But there's certain ingredients we just couldn't use with Alpine.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_02: And so we focus more on uh more common ingredients like fur and sage and cedar and things like that that don't that don't cost eight hundred dollars a pound.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so yeah, no, I mean with Pangea though, I'm really curious because it's a beautiful line and it's um really, really good quality um in terms of just you know using it day in, day out, especially like you know, you mentioned the hand soap.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this is where it's very important um for me, you know, for this podcast to kind of highlight, you know, the difference between spending money on something that might seem expensive at first, but it's really an investment that you're making as a consumer versus what's the prettiest, shiniest thing on TikTok, right?
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it costs maybe even more.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where I I ask you those kind of questions.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: And and the reason why I asked you because for consumers that are listening, you know, it's not it's not a bad thing to invest in self-care products and skincare products.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's it's a good thing actually, um, both hygienically and medically, and you know, all those great words, but more so it's important to understand that what you're buying, even though it's expensive, there's ingredients in that formulation that are asking for that price to be what it is.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that was my whole idea with that.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, I I want to know in terms of just like your targeted consumer, you had mentioned you have, you know, some people who've been around for 20 years and they really love your products.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: But how has that been in terms of um kind of pitching Pengias as that, you know, um what like you said, like a luxury line, but not like crazy expensive, you know, in terms of finding a demographic for it?
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I pride ourselves on our demographic is all over the map.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's people who want to buy high quality products that are supporting a future that they want to see.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I mean, we everything is energy, right?
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_02: Every morning you wake up, you we get to decide where we want to put.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: energy and energy means everything.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_02: Do you want to put your energy into having gratitude for what you have?
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_02: Or do you want to put your energy into bad vibes and anger and resentment and you know I wish I had blah blah blah.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_02: That's one form of energy.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_02: The other form of energy is monetary energy.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: We go out, we work, you know, we have jobs, we make money, and then we have that money.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: Where do we want to put that money?
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: Do we want to put it in uh you know like cheap uh sweatshop uh fast fashion and nine dollar t-shirts that are destroying the planet and treating people unfairly in developing countries?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: Or do we want to buy organic lettuce and vegetables that are investing into our health and into our planet and supporting the things that we believe in?
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_02: And it's the same thing with cosmetics.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_02: Sure, you can go out and buy you know a bottle of hand soap in a plastic bottle that was made overseas probably for like$2.49.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_02: You can go do that.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_02: But then you think and you sit back okay like is this where I want to be putting my energy is this what I believe in and it it's okay if it is because that's your human experience.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: That's the experience you're having as a human.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: But for me like when I wake up in the morning I want to put my my energy into having gratitude and I want to put my energy into creating things that I truly believe in for other people who also truly believe in these things.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's our heuristics and I want other people to to look at that and say wow this company really is speaking my language you know they're plastic free and they're organic and they're supporting regenerative agriculture and you know and the list goes on and on that's what gets me up in the morning is that I get to work with my incredible team to create things that are solutions.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now I want to move uh a little bit you know I want to shift the focus a little bit because I know that when you're creating things like soaps and you're creating um you know things that are basically going to be used every day multiple times there's this aspect of you know for example brands put hypoallergenic on their bottles or they'll say dermatologists tested or whatever.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: What are what are some of the precautionary measures that you had to undergo with the formulas to make sure that you know for example with hand soap we use it what you know 10 times a day that it's not going to cause any kind of unwanted reactions for people on their skin and it's really something that everyone can use.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: So if you can walk us through that.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: Well the truth about the cosmetic industry is unless you're making an actual medical claim there's no one regulating anything.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_02: If you have a five gallon bucket and an or you can make cosmetics and put them on the market but if you're making a medical claim like SPF um you do have to have it kind of sanctioned by the FDA.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_02: So our testing is you know we've been in business 21 years.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_02: So we our formulas have been around for that long so I can't say you know anything goes through like rigorous testing in that aspect.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: Everything is tested for shelf stability and to know that it's a solid formula and I can proudly say in 21 years we uh we get less than 0.7% returns which is way below industry average and we've never had a recall in 21 years.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_02: And so we spend a lot of time making sure that our formulas are safe and healthy and effective.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah no that's that I mean that speaks for itself.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: The numbers speak for themselves.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you for sharing that.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah and that's great.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean you know honestly because that's a that's a problem that's come up right especially with COVID and stuff is that you know hand soap we've been using so much of it and it's really caused things like acute dermatitis and it's caused a lot of problems and I well those yeah those are the those are the detergents you know like that's that's going back to the you can go out and buy soap for$299 and it's if you're using it as much as you should be washing your hands it's going to destroy your skin.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_02: I mean just annihilate it.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_02: And you know that's the reality but if you're using a soap that's made of organic oils and gentle surfactants and essential oils and not fragrances I mean synthetic fragrances have hundreds of chemicals in them and those chemicals end up in your body and they end up in our waters and it's why there's so much pollution in our rivers, lakes and streams and oceans because there's billions of people using products that are going down the drain with millions of chemicals in them and they're toxic.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: So it's it's going back to that thing and you wake up in the morning you're like okay I'm gonna go out in the world where do I want to put my energy right exactly no I I completely agree with you.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's valid it's fully valid what you said and you know it really leads me to ask you like what you think of all of these trends and all this hype that's started around skincare.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because I mean like you said you've been around for two decades now and you've seen you know what true customer loyalty is and what you know consumers are really looking for.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: So from your perspective as a founder what has it been like watching you know everybody and anybody just start a skincare line or you know a high line and you know I'm I'm sure that's been really interesting for you right just to observe.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah I mean I I am an entrepreneur and I always try to help entrepreneurs because I think it's a really beautiful thing that we live in a country where if you have a dream and an idea you have a shot at being successful.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's not the case in most of the world right so whenever I meet someone who has an idea that I that fits my heuristics and that's sustainability and vegan organic and plastic free I help them because I want to support that even if it's an even if it's a competitor because I think you know the way I think about it is right now there are you know maybe two or three organic skincare lines being sold in the United States and you know we need it to be 100% we need it to be 100% of the products that are on the market are using sustainable ingredients that are supporting regenerative agriculture are supporting women-owned cooperatives and how do we get there you know we get there by realizing that when the water rises all the boats rise with it right no that's very true and that's very I mean I I really commend you for saying that because I think um there is competition you know we can we can be all happy and fluffy and you know whatever all we want like in front of other people but you're very very very right in the sense that there's not a lot of people I think out there that are willing to genuinely help each other.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: And you know by you having a brand that's been around for you know two decades that really shows that you're you know you're here to stay and you're here to help anybody else who wants to be here to stay.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: So that's really great, you know, and I love seeing that kind of like energy like you said and that enthusiasm in the entrepreneur uh entrepreneurial space because I think there's a lot of great ideas you know people have great ideas and I think there's there needs to be you know more of an like I guess like outreach or you could say speaking up by people who've been around for a while and you know how the industry works and you know how you know just consumers like what they want.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think that that needs to be kind of like a place you know other young professionals can turn to and really get advice.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm glad you said everything that you explained.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah um so you know I wanted to actually kind of round up the interview because I I you know I really love the line I'm not gonna lie to you Josh like I really think that you guys have created something that is simple yet very like just sophisticated all at once.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: So my personal experience for anyone listening if you're interested has been nothing but 100% positive.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I would love for you to like explain why you know like if somebody's looking for a new line to try like you know I want you to explain like what your because I'm sure you don't need pitches at this point, right?
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: You have a cons you have a uh what do you call it a um established consumer base.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: So if you were to tell somebody you know why they should uh go for Pengy or try it well what would be the first thing that would come to your mind you won't be disappointed.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_02: I mean that's truly like you know it's what I believe in.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_02: I have spent 21 years making products specifically that people will fall in love with and not just fall in love with the scent or the way it works but everything.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_02: I mean we were talking about competition earlier you know I look at myself as my own competition.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_02: You know three years ago I woke up and said I have to take both these brands plastic free we weren't doing it because all the other brands in the world were doing it because they weren't I was doing it because I I needed to do better.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_02: And there's always always something you can do to make something better.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_02: And it takes time and it takes dedication and it takes a lot of energy but it's all worth it in the end.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_02: Like I mean when when we our skincare goes plastic free in March Alpine is now 100% plastic free and Pangea's body care went plastic free a month and a half ago and there's nothing that compares to that like pure joy of setting out to do something that's better for everyone every single person on the planet is better off that we're going plastic free.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: And that and I hope that I hope that the rest of the industry uh sees that and starts to move towards that direction too.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_02: That's the goal.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah no I agree with you I hope that people really learn you know where there is room to room to grow and just what we can do to really truly be sustainable as a planet.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean it's a really big conversation and I think you know like it's important to bring up like what what does it mean you know from because that's why I ask right when I when I meet founders like yourself that's why I ask you these questions that might be annoying but they're and redundant but they're important because No I don't think they're annoying at all.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_02: Okay good good good good because I I think it's great that you're asking these questions these are the questions we all have to be asking every single day.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yes when you open when you when you go to buy something online like what are you supporting?
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_02: Are you supporting the world you want to live in and are you supporting the world you want to leave to your kids it it sounds complicated but it's actually not it's it's a it's a it's to me it's a very black and white question.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_02: Are you supporting the world you want to live in period I agree I agree.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I totally I think it's definitely you know I don't know why as consumers we don't think of this enough but we we talk about in psychology a lot how you know one decision you make can change so many different outcomes in the future well why is that not more applied like you know the whole movie the butterfly effect right we have this whole thing in society and we acknowledge it but when it comes to the environment it's very rarely applied you know like what how do you know what your waste is going to do 10 years from now do you sit down and actually think about that and if you don't why not you know what is preventing you from doing so I love everything you brought up um in the show Josh I'm thinking I'm so thankful for your time and everyone listening Pangea is a really great brand again you know I 100% support the line is a really great amount of product for what you're you know really investing into the line which is something I really look for as a consumer because I'm not gonna lie I hate buying things that I have to repurchase 18 times a year like I said.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: So this is you know this is where I think consumerism really meets the practicality of sustainability.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so I genuinely recommend it to everyone listening.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously I'm gonna link everything in the podcast art for this episode but um thank you so much Joshua this has been so wonderful hosting you.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for having me.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_02: I really appreciate it.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: Hey guys so I hope you love that episode please make sure to hit subscribe if you're tuning in to us on any podcast platform.
• 34:23
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• 34:48
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• 34:56
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• 35:01
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• 35:12
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• 35:18
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• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.