Latest / Skin Anarchy / Yoshiko Roth-Hidalgo, co-founder of JUARA skincare

Transcript

Yoshiko Roth-Hidalgo, co-founder of JUARA skincare · Skin Anarchy

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Hi guys, welcome back to Skincare Anarchy.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: This is Ekta, and today I have with the um Yoshiko Roth Dalgo, who is the founder of URL Skincare.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so excited uh to have you on the show, Yoshiko.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the show.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Ekta.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's a pleasure to be here.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's truly my honor.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: I want to start it off by you telling us how you got into skincare and beauty, because you have just such a beautiful line, and um I want our listeners to know everything um that went behind it.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, sure.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um I guess you could say I've been a skin care, a skin health and sort of a health nut ever since I was a kid.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: I actually wanted to be a dermatologist when I was a kid.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: And um, to be fair, it wasn't completely random.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: My my father, who's a my father's from Germany, he is a chemist and he was he worked in healthcare all his life.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: And um, my mother is Japanese, and um, you know, Japanese women take very, very meticulous care of their skin.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I grew up witnessing that.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: So um, but you know, I it never really occurred to me that I could do something with this passion and this interest.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I went through my education, skincare or science unrelated, um, went to grad school, um, business school, where I met, uh, where I actually met my business partner, Meta Mordaya, who's from Indonesia.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, I and um I was fully on the track, you know, I was looking at banking and strategy consulting.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then I noticed, wow, I'm spending all my free time for stress relief.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm spending it at the throw store or at Sephora looking at ingredients and product, you know.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: So what's going on?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I decided, you know, in the midst of this whole recession and um, you know, to basically ditch my job offer that I had and uh did a total pivot and decided I wanted to go into skincare.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: And my first brand was actually this French brand, um, was beautiful line.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um but what happened also at the same time, I happened to live with my partner, uh business partner, later business partner, Metamordaya.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I'd broken up with my boyfriend and I was homeless, and she took me in, which I'll never forget.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good friend.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, seriously, you know, because in Manhattan, you know, you live in a studio and she was like, oh, why don't you just crash on my couch?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that turned into many, many years of living together.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um so you know, we were both doing the very career-focused thing, and I was in skincare, she was um in retail, and um one day she came to me and um started talking to me about this ancient Indonesian tradition called jammu.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I've been to Indonesia, to Bali, it's a beautiful country, and I got really interested um in all the different kinds of ingredients um that had at that time, you know, were really not household names, turmeric, um, ginger, you know, now everyone knows about them, you know, but back then it was just like, oh, you know, we know them from curry, or, you know.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: So um, and we started talking about, you know, wouldn't this be something, you know, to develop a skincare line for true skin health around these ingredients that have been around for almost a thousand years.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the Jammu tradition was born almost a thousand um years ago in um in Java and by Buddhist monks, um, it is said, and uh for the royal courts.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh, you know, we started really ideating, and um, another friend of ours who's actually a doctor um was all, you know, she was all into it as well.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so we banded together and really tried to look at, you know, this this very exotic concept with these exotic ingredients, but the whole idea is bringing it here to the US, where people had, you know, so little experience with the heritage and the ingredients.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: And from that, you know, Juwara was born.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's beautiful.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: I love that you went to, you know, the actual culture.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I I don't know much about Indonesian culture, and I don't know much about the, especially the skin practices.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I really love that you have stayed true to that, you know, and I you don't see that a lot.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, it's one of those things, you know, when people talk about, you know, I'm I'm half Asian myself, of course, you know, there's a lot of um knowledge about, you know, that, you know, Japan, for example, or Korea, Indonesia, I'm sorry, China.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: But there isn't that much known about Indonesia, um, even though if you look at the map, you know, it is a huge, huge country, thousands and thousands of islands of lush um you know, botanical richness.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they haven't even fully cataloged the thousands of ingredients that have medicinal properties and that people have relied on for hundreds of years for their health and for their well-being, way before Western medicine made its way into the country.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so I mean, there is it's such a treasure trove, and um, there's just so much more, more and more evidence, you know, how potent these ingredients are.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's the central idea, you know.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the other thing that really is so beautiful about the Indonesian culture is that it is, if you go, for example, to Bali or the or the other islands too, there's a there's a sense of joy and enjoying life in that culture.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a very diverse culture too, because it's really at this this interesting intersection of, you know, the Europeans were there, the from the Middle East, China, you know, from from all directions.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: So there's also the cultural richness to it.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: And um so it's it's you know, I'm really, I'm really happy that um through Juara, even, you know, in whatever contribution we made, that we were able to put this not that well-known culture on the map.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, it's it's uh truly extraordinary because, you know, for me, I when I look at skin health, I am so bombarded by, you know, obviously medical grade skincare, clinical grade skincare, but I've always wondered because, you know, uh my family's from India, I was born in India as well.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I understand the um the value of natural ingredients.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: I understand the value of, you know, um centuries worth of medicinal properties of naturally occurring plants and stuff.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I think it's an interesting juncture like in the industry because I think everyone wants to either dem demonize it or get behind it as a clean beauty.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I I think your line is um very, very unique in that way because you're bringing a culture forward.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: Rather than you know what I mean?
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I I really like that.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to ask you, uh, when you decided to formulate your products, what was what, you know, what were the original products that you wanted to come out with?
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, so so the very, very first product um is actually one of our you know, hero products to this day, one of our most popular products.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's a it's a candlelut body cream.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: And um the story is really funny there um because I'd never heard of candle nuts before.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but in in Hawaii, it is known as cuckoo.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um one day, Meta basically came back with a bunch of candle nuts.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, these round, they look like hazelnuts on steroids.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: They're really big.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: And um, she started chopping them up and mixing them with honey and turmeric, and then, you know, took me to our tiny, tiny, you know, um bathroom.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we we lived in Manhattan, so it's like this tiny room and rubbed it, like, you know, gave me basically a massage.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: And um it was me a massage, and afterwards I just thought, wow, this the oil from the nuts felt so wonderful.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: And um, she told me about how um, you know, they're rich in oh my god, three fatty acids and have been used on baby scalp and um in cooking.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a very big presence in Indonesian culture and also the spas.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: So um from there, you know, look, this is really something so yummy, you know, this is perfect for a body butter.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: So we started formulating um with candlelat oil.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: And at the same time, you know, we wanted a really transportative experience.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and um um, you know, when it came to the scent, we wanted something that would transport transport people to the beaches of Bali, right?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: So um there's jasmine in the scent, which is, you know, um a big, big um big flower in in Indonesia, very popular.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Frisia, bergamot, and a little bit of rose and a little bit of a touch of fresh coconut.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a very beachy, sensual, sort of take me away, um, relaxing.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: It smells beautiful.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, your whole line smells extraordinarily.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's just like, you know.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we actually had a whole bunch of friends.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, everyone is so incredibly supportive when you start a new line, you know.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: So we had a whole bunch of friends in our apartment, um, and we did like a little survey.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, how do you like the scent?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: How do you like the texture?
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: And the scent was such a winner.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, that was our first product.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: We call it now Bali in a jar or um the cult favorite.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: And to this day, it is incredibly popular.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: That was our first product.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I believe it.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: Honestly, you know, before the interview started, everyone listening, I was telling um uh Yurshka how much I love the hand cream.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: The hand cream is is it's become a favorite of mine.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not even just, you know, no exaggeration.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: I when I first used it, I just love how it absorbs so beautifully and it's so moisturizing.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I I want you to dive into that a little bit because I've, you know, I noticed with a lot of body care products, they either sit on your skin or they make it too greasy, or you know what I mean?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's just not a it's not a luxury feel and it's not a good experience like that you have with your facial uh skincare.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: So when you were formulating your body care products, was that something you kept in mind or was that just something that happened naturally?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's it's like into it's one of the key things, you know.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: We own our own formulation.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: We, you know, analyze literally our formulations and what we put in, and it's a very long, sometimes painful process, you know, to like perfect it.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um but um, you know, especially with body, but really with everything, we have this sort of two-second test first, right?
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: People need to be really feeling a sense of joy when they apply the product from the texture, the scent, how it absorbs into the skin, and then also, of course, later how it feels on the skin, how it lingers on the skin, and then how it works.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, and we make no um difference there between skincare or body care, because you know, skin is skin, you know, it's our largest organ, and the body certainly takes up a lot more space than the face, right?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: So we apply the same standards that we actually, you know, we also dermatologists test um our body products, even our perfume oils.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: So we set the same standard there.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: And with this, the hand cream, of course, one of the biggest things we know from people, our customers, but just like ourselves too.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when you when you put on a hand cream and your hands are greasy, you can't really touch anything or things slip out of your hands.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's like it's more of a hindrance.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I can tell you, honestly, you know, being in the medical field, we wash our hands constantly, right?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so when you don't have something that you can put on, and I that's see, this is why skincare matters, you know, for everyone out there, because we use it so much in our general, you know, day-to-day.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I know for me, you know, having your hand cream is important because my hands get so dry, you know, and and I'm washing them all the time.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: But at the same time, like you said, when I put it on, I don't want to feel like, well, now I'm gonna drop everything that I, you know, I leave fingerprints everywhere or you know, blueprints.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I so that was like the a big, you know, that was a there was a challenge.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you want with a hand cream, you wanted to create something that would um uh be able to withstand um hand washing, right?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because not everyone necessarily puts on hand cream after every single hand washing, you know.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: So you wanted to, and you want to protect your hands a little bit, you know, when it comes in contact with harsh, um even just the harsh water itself.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um so something that you know stays on the skin but won't be greasy and has soothing, calming properties because you know, our hands are exposed to a lot of stress, right?
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they can get red or from the wind, the dry, you know, the constant hand washing.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: So we it's it's really a nice combination of you know, the um old beta glucon, you know, it's so soothing, but also algae, brightening because our hands are exposed to the sun a lot.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: So that matters too, you know, helping to, you know, um address the damage from the UV rays.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, the different butters and you know, antioxidant-rich essential fatty acid-rich butters that you put on there to help rebuild the skin or maintain and strengthen the skin barrier, the the all-important skin barrier.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: No, I mean, it makes sense.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: Everything you're saying makes sense.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I and I want to actually ask you because, you know, when I come across a line such as yours, um, and I I, you know, I'm absolutely in love with it, I always wonder um, before coming up with the concept, before going into the market, um, was there research that you did, like, you know, consumer research or any feedback that you looked at that other skincare companies were doing that you were like, you know what, this is not something I want to do or replicate.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: I want to fill a space um in the industry.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: So was there anything like that that you had in mind before you came up with your um we definitely looked at some general, you know, um data, you know, um we came from business school, so we did the right thing and looked at, you know, the market and you know, the brands that were out there already.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um for me personally, you know, I I was in the skincare industry with this with the this French brand before.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I I had some key takeaways there that, you know, really helped me, I think.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: And uh the the one thing is um, you know, the the the it no matter what you do, the product needs to work, right?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and um, so the science behind the ingredients, wherever you are, right, whether you're in whatever store you are, is incredibly important, right?
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: And um and and that's how you set yourself apart too.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how you create loyalty.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing that really, really grabbed me, which is why the the concept of job moves, I fell so in love with, is that um, you know, heritage and tradition, you know, I looked at this old French brand, you know, it matters, you know, that is what is timeless and sets you apart.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: You can have the best ingredients, the best um, you know, innovation there.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: But if you don't have a story that grabs you um and really emotion that you emotionally connect to, then it kind of is just a product, you know?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: And there's nothing wrong with telling a story either.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I know I've I've heard a lot of um, like, you know, there's like people on both sides of this fence, right?
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: They're like, well, a skincare product has to just work, but it's like, well, why can't it work and have a nice story behind it?
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, exactly.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know what, at the same time, you know, it when you come up with something really innovative or something that people have not heard of before, you know, we knew, and I knew from my previous experience, you know, that um education would have to be a big, big part of gaining traction with Jawara.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so again, we looked at the different places where, you know, pupil shop.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, where is an opportunity to really connect with a customer and tell us, tell the story and engage them, you know.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so therefore, you know, we we partnered, our first partners were independent um apothecaries, you know, independently owned, you know, where the owner is also the manager and the buyer and knows everything about every single product in the store, you know.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: So um that they became our prime um, you know, partners in the beginning because we knew that this that was the right place to help educate customers about Juara.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: I really love that.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, you're also supporting other small businesses, which is so important to me.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like I know, you know, as women, like we, you know, I strongly believe we have to work harder, you know, twice as hard.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, when we can help each other, that's a huge, huge plus.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I love that you went the apothecary route.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually wish more brands would do that because, you know, no hate against Sephora, no hate against Ulta, but it's saturated.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like these are just saturated stores, and it's like, you know, walking into a Sephora and Ulta, I'm just overwhelmed.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I, you know, to be able to know that, you know, a line such as yours, I would miss out on the beautiful tradition and the and the culture that you're trying to, you know, put on the forefront that bothers me.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like I don't want this getting lost in the crowd.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: So um, how do you feel about that?
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, just your opinion about like mass retailers for skincare.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think it's like a benefit or do you think it just kind of hinders smaller brands?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think you know, they they will definitely wield a lot of power, you know.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: So that can be good, great, you know, and that can be, of course, also they're gatekeepers then, you know.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um so, you know, when you have, for example, when a big brand or big retailers get behind um a really good idea, let's say in the area of sustainability, you know, it sets the tone and it's very influential, and I think that's great, you know.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, of course, I think also what we've seen in the discussion about diversity, you know, it is they are gatekeepers, you know.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: So um, but at the same time, um, I think generally there's uh I'm really encouraged by the trend that um while there are, of course, still, you know, big retailers and they do yield power, there is also more access and ways for smaller independent brands to get out there, you know, and tell their story.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: So that is a really encouraging trend.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: I really love that.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I think for me, for smaller brands, I'm always looking for a way to learn more about the brand.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I, you know, that's why I asked you because I feel like that message and that journey and all of that gets lost when you're just surrounded by like 50 different lines, you know, and you're walking in and you're just like, I don't know what to get behind.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, for me as a consumer, I can honestly say the the story means everything to me.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so now that I like if I didn't know your line and you told me that this is an Indonesian-inspired line, and I would be like, absolutely take my money.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: I want to learn about the line, I want to learn about the heritage and the culture.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, going back to your point um about your formulas being very, very specific to your to your line, can you tell us a little bit more about that?
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: The whole process of um finding a lab that you know really saw your vision and you know working with them.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: So um we were really, really fortunate that um our RD partner, um, our chemist, um, is is a good friend of ours.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: And uh she just it was just you know serendipitous that she happened to be in skincare, highly experienced.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: She's extremely talented.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so she really, and she's also, you know, um Southeast Asian.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so she really, really understood um the vision behind what we wanted to create, which was you know, something that brings that joy, that experience that does work, that is elegant and um, you know, innovative.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: And we wanted, we wanted to own the formulations too, you know.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: So we wanted to have a direct say into, you know, it wouldn't be like an off-the-shelf formulation, but we would really discuss and handpick the ingredients, not just not just for the story, but also for safety.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, all of us, again, happen to have sensitive skin, and we wanted the line not as a as a you know, as a marketing statement, but we really wanted it to be safe for all skin types, including sensitive skin.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, um, so that you know, that partnership was really defining because she she um helped us develop and formulate our first um line of lineup of products, and she is still our key RD partner.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: I really like that.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, for me, you know what bothers me is like, well, it doesn't bother me, but it's interesting how J beauty and K beauty became this big thing, right?
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like that's when when people started really pausing and saying, wait a minute, Japanese culture has all this cool stuff, you know, and this amazing stuff that's good for your skin.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: And it for me, it was like, well, why did it take this entire movement for us to like pause and look into the you know the east and look into these cultures?
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because you know, I can tell you from being from India, Ayurveda is a huge thing, as I'm sure you know.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: Right when we bring up things like turmeric and ginger, it's like this whole controversy around it, but it's like if you were to focus on the culture of these ingredients and the heritage of these ingredients, it could be done very well, you know.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, I'm just wondering like from an education standpoint, you know, how we can bring people to want to learn more about, you know, lines that are inspired by different cultures.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think um I I'm actually really excited about where the world is.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Is going with that regard because, you know, when I got into skincare, there was this whole um the movement into natural skincare was already on the horizon, you know, and it's kind of making its way into the mainstream where it was used to be relegated to um, you know, health food stores.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but even, you know, the dermatologists that I was working with were talking about natural compounds, which gives you an idea how how interesting of an area that was.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: And when we started going into the um the science of the different ingredients, the research that was that was coming up more and more about turmeric, about ginger, as an ingestible, right?
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um but then also in application in skin, you know, it's it is you realize, wow, these are truly active, active compounds that that that work that benefit the skin.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and because, you know, together with this, you know, the natural movement, but also the health, um, the this whole movement to become way more conscious of you and aware of your own health and the focus on prevention, because our general, you know, healthcare system, you know, isn't really focused on prevention, right?
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: No, you're absolutely right.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that you brought up prevention because to me, skincare is preventative.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: It is because when you know, when you get into your late 20s and you're past that whole acne stage of, you know, hormonal acne breakouts and you know, just the things we deal with in our adolescent years, when you get into your mature more mature years, your skin does settle down.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: And at that point, you want something to maintain the glow and the hydration and the elasticity.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, I I completely agree with you.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's a very preventative cause to have good skincare in your regimen.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: So, um, you know, I I I like that.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: I like that you brought it up like that.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: It really is part of like the whole, I mean, it we've Joa has always been about holistic wellness and holistic health, almost unintentionally, because Jammu started as drinkable elixirs, but I think it's all kind of it's all kind of coming together now, like in in the whole world.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, one thing that uh also pops into mind for me is with natural ingredients such as turmeric, ginger, um, all of these ingredients are very safe, you know?
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so I want to ask you as an from an entrepreneur uh standpoint, do you like, you know, when you decided that this is the stuff I want to work with, these are the ingredients I want to work with, um, was and considering safety, was that also something that you wanted to put that message out there?
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think a lot of people don't understand that that you know, using turmeric or ginger is a lot safer than putting retinol on your face constantly.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean that was uh, you know, uh maintaining your skin's natural balance was a big part of our our mantra from the get-go, you know.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, having said that though, of course, you know, when you have um turmeric or ginger, these natural camp compounds adapted for skincare, we still, I mean, we look at every ingredient um we we consider for our formulations with the same lens as in is it safe?
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: Because, you know, I'm I'm sure you know, you know, there there's natural compounds that can be quite irritating for the skin as well.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: So we look at it with the same lens, but what I think is so beautiful about, you know, you put these natural ingredients on your skin, let's say turmeric and ginger.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: And at the same time, you also can talk about, you know, the wonderful benefits of it in your life in general, right?
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: In your diet or in your teas, you know, that promote all overall wellness.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because what we really want for people is to, of course, enjoy the products, take care of their skin on a daily basis, but also, you know, get take care of themselves holistically, you know, from the inside out and the outside in.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's where natural ingredients are tell such a beautiful, powerful story.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: No, I completely agree with you.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I do have a question for you that's more business oriented, because I think for all the listeners out there, I for me it's very important to offer advice, you know, and nuggets of knowledge from um people like yourself.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, when you were coming out with your brand and, you know, going through the whole process of creating a line, um, what were some of the hurdles that you went through and how did you, you know, kind of combat them?
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: I I think um, you know, when you start out, of course, you know, as a business, um, you make a business plan and you look at where you want to where you want to play, you know, where you feel like you have a you have a really good chance of of bringing something special to your customers and gaining traction, right?
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but there are still barriers in building a business.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's called capital, right?
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: You need money and um to create products.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: And because it's not a service, um, I'm getting really into specific um when you when you create products, you know, consumer goods, right?
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: You're talking about components and a real investment you have to make into your inventory.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: And when you produce your inventory, usually um there are you know minimums associated with that, right?
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: So um you can't just say, like, okay, for the first, you know, let's just, I'm just gonna make a hundred.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: That usually doesn't work, right?
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because then you don't get the kind of pricing that makes it makes it sustainable for you as a business, you know.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean, the hurdles in the beginning for us were definitely that, you know, you you really have to uh be scrappy and make every dollar count and really, really think about where you want to put your money, you know.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so for us, for example, you know, we could have with the richness of Indonesia and Jammu, we could have gone in a thousand directions.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: But how do you narrow down, you know, what can really get you started?
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: And you're already educating people about ingredients and about Indonesia, right?
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: So we decided that, you know, the best place for us to be able to educate, you know, and not overwhelm customers is when we create um easy to understand, easy to use um at-home spa products.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: So your cleanse, your daily cleanser, your moisturizer, your body cream, you know, your toner, products, products that at the time especially people would understand.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then then you have them, and then they're able to listen to, you know, the heritage behind the product and the turmeric, the tamarind and the candle nut, you know, rather than think, you know, okay, well, how do I use this product?
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, what is this?
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so yeah, being able to focus your resources um on, you know, narrow down where you want to play initially is really, really important.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, honestly, I would love it if people got to a point of saying, well, I prefer Indonesian-based skincare, you know, or I prefer Korean-based skincare, or, you know, those kind of words.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: I wish people would get to that point.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think as brands like you are really paving the way for that because all of us, you know, like you said, it's all an experience for everybody, right?
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like you should be able to go to the store and say, This is my favorite, like I said, my favorite hand cream.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm gonna rebuy this, you know, instead of always looking for the next thing.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I think um, you know, I often think this is that the solution to that is understanding what you need and what your skin requires, and just sticking to it, you know.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to ask you um one more question about marketing, because I think this is very, very interesting to me um as a consumer, how brands work with marketing.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, what was your approach to it?
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: So um we've we've had quite the interesting journey because, you know, we've um we're now we're at a point we're really focusing on um direct-to-consumer.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um what I think is crucial for every brand, um, but also new brands, of course, is to really understand your own consumer and um your consumer's journey, your consumer, your customer's journey and how they come into your world, how they connect with a brand, how you talk to them, and how they explore your brand, right?
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: And um it is in when we started the line, um we partnered with apothecaries and third-party retailers, you know, online and offline, um, which is great, of course, because you have partners, you know, that make you stronger, right, as a as an independent brand.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, you lose, of course, you know, visibility into that customer relationship, right?
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: So um I think it's really important from the get-go to um, you know, to to build your partners, right?
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because you need partnerships in this business.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um but at the same time, really, really build your customer relationship and your customer loyalty with the with a person who's actually going to buy the product and put it on their skin.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: That makes sense.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and and I love that because I know a lot of brands do like influencer marketing, and it's just a bunch of people taking pictures and saying, oh, uh, this works.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: But it's like, you know, I've always had such a problem with that because it's just mass marketing.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why I I ask you that, because you know, there can be so much misleading information out there.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, it for brands that are actually doing it right, I feel like it also creates this like negative culture in the industry, you know what I mean?
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so like breaking through that is extremely difficult.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think, you know, what's really beautiful, even though yes, there is influence in marketing, there is you can, you know, advertise on social media, on Facebook, on Instagram, you know, there's so many places and um this promise of just you know exploding overnight.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end of the day, you realize at the end of the day, you know, we're humans, it's still about relationships, you know.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: And there might be, you know, so many influences out there and lots of pictures taken.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: But in the end, it really matters that you connect and get to know and listen and engage with um even just a few influencers that truly get your brand and understand your brand and love your brand and and nurture your brand, you know.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I think at the end of the day, it cut it it still really comes down to relationships.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_01: Well, this has been amazing, I think, speaking to you.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for coming onto the show and sharing your whole vision with us.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: This has been so wonderful.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Ecta, for having me.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: This has been wonderful.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: And everyone out there listening, if you guys have not checked out your second here, please, please, please go check them out.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: I will tag um the line in our podcast art and leave us some comments and some questions.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we will pass them along to the team if anything.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: But thank you so much for listening, and I'll be back next time.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.
• 32:52
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• 34:00
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