Latest / Skin Anarchy / Rachel Behm, Founder and CEO of Layers Skincare

Transcript

Rachel Behm, Founder and CEO of Layers Skincare · Skin Anarchy

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hey fam, I wanted to pop in right before the episode and mention that the Layers team has been very generous and offered us a 10% off code for all of our listeners.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you go to www.mylayers.com right now and enter NRK10, all one word at checkout, you will get 10% off your entire order.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: This is a fantastic line.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you're gonna really love this interview coming up because it's very extraordinary how they're approaching the microbiome and skin health.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I do want to mention we make a little bit of commissions off this.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: So if you love our show and you like what we're doing, it would be a fantastic way for you to support us.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Again, www.mylayers.com at checkout, enter anarchy 10.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Stay tuned for this episode.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Hi guys, welcome back to Skincare Anarchy.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: This is your host, Ecta, and today I have with me Rachel Bain, um, who is the founder and CEO of Layers Probiotic Skin Care.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: So welcome to the show, Rachel.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so excited you're here.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so excited to be here.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I you know I want to get started like I always do.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I want you to tell us about your journey first in beauty.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like how did you, you know, how did you come into the skincare space and um and then tell us about your career and your background.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: So, unlike some of your guests that I've heard talk about being into skincare or beauty their entire lives, I actually grew up in Minnesota as kind of a tomboy and I was into sports and probably didn't pay as much attention to the category as somebody growing up.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: But I did work in kind of large corporate America for about 15 years after college.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I had the opportunity to work at Johnson ⁇ Johnson for eight years in their consumer sector, where I got to spend time learning about Neutrogena and Aveno and working on these fantastic brands that have been around and built trust for a long time.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: And it was kind of learning about the science and how important our skincare is to our overall kind of look and health and everything that got me uh into it.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: And not only as somebody who works on it, but then of course as a user as well.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: No, I mean that's it, it's interesting because I think, you know, for me it was very similar.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't like, you know, in from the beginning, I wasn't into skincare.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I think when you become like kind of um exposed to science or like really the logic, I think it's always a different experience.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: So that's very interesting.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I want to know about just like the research and the the whole science aspect.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how did you get involved with that side of things?
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, what were some of the things that you had to kind of, I guess, transition into?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, can you tell us more about that?
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I learned about the human microbiome project as part of what was kind of the start of the idea for layers.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: So the human microbiome project was a study done over about a decade of time with a number of different researchers.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: And what came out of that study was so much about how our human body interacts with our microbial body, the bacteria that live in and on us.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, they say it's like the fake another way of like a fingerprint for our body, a microbiome.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: And there's trillions of bacteria, and no one microbiome on a person looks like another.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: But we're learning more and more today about what a healthy composition looks like versus an unhealthy competition composition.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: And what's interesting is coming out of this study, it studies everything from uh obesity to Alzheimer's.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then the area that I'm, of course, most interested in is skin health.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: So we have these bacteria in our gut and on our skin that not only serve as important for each of those systems themselves, but they talk back and forth to one another and help create a balanced and flourishing system that helps keep your skin health optimal.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now that's very that's definitely something that I think um, you know, it's really emerging.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm glad that you're going into the science of it because I know the microbiome like sequencing, you know, it's a huge project, right?
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's a huge feat for us as scientists.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, one thing I'm I'm really curious about if you could tell us is the genetic um, you know, link or or what kind of like mechanistic studies have been done that show the relationship between the gut microbiome and the skin microbiome.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like what were some of the key findings that you um, you know, you really went off of?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it's funny that you first said sequencing because you're making me think back to a really long time ago when I actually worked as a lab tech on the human genome project, which decades earlier that this was the critical kind of study that made so much data publicly available uh and really has advanced science over the last few decades.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I think as you talk about microbiome and the importance this is going to have on health and science and healthcare, I think it's similar to the human genome project.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: So the word sequencing really made me think of that when you said that.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I have I have quite a few years under my belt with research as well.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I I did all the PCRs.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I'm glad that you know it was a science moment.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: And to talk about some of the specific studies, it's interesting because anytime you have something like the microbiome that's being matched, it's it's typical that the studies would first focus on disease states and you know, chronic conditions and things that are more severe.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: So what you'll find in when looking at a lot of the white papers and the journals that are out there is you'll find a focus on gut conditions like dysbiosis, leaky gut, basically kind of a suboptimal gut environment, and how it can manifest in the skin as things like eczema, psoriasis, rosacea.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of kind of gut conditions and skin disease states are what's most discussed in the papers and in the studies.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: However, if you read those, you find out that even people with kind of non-compromised guts, let's say they don't have a disorder, but it's just not as optimal as it could be, you still see kind of less optimal skin environments.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe, for example, you're not experiencing dysbiosis and eczema, but you're experiencing kind of just a suboptimal uh gut microbiome, and your skin is much drier than it would need to be, or it's aging faster than it would need to be.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's kind of starting to evolve from that disease state space to like, hey, we can all benefit from bolstering our gut microbiome in the terms of making ourselves have healthier and more glowing skin.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it's very interesting that you brought that up because I know that, you know, the body, there's two places where we reabsorb, and that's the gut and the kidneys.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, with the with the gut health aspect, whatever it is that's going on in our gut and the and the metabolites that are being produced by the bacteria that are there, all of that is being transmitted into our bloodstreams, which is obviously going to impact every organ, but especially something like the skin, you know, that's a that's a huge, huge link there.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I I love I love everything you said, and that that's so true.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it's interesting that you can have the bloodstream from the gut too, because the the layers uh uh supplement, the probiotic, is a combination of probiotics that work with your gut microbiome, but also ceramide extract oil that works through the bloodstream to help with the elasticity and buoyancy of the skin.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: So it's kind of both modes of action.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's very interesting.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: How did you um formulate something that is lipid-based that's being absorbed into the gut um in terms of the nutrients?
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's very, very interesting.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because I I love your supplements.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, let me just preface by saying, you know, I it's a beautiful line.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, everyone listening out there, there's, you know, there's just beautiful products like the skincare products where it's like a serum.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then the supplements, though, are so good and they have really helped me.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like I felt, like I have felt a difference in my overall energy.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I, you know, I want to go into the real science of it.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, how when you're formulating that, how did you guys um approach that?
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I love that you're saying that, first of all, that you're using them and seeing results.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: I know I personally did when I started using prototypes, I saw results after about nine days.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: And then when I ran out after 30 days, I noticed that my skin kind of started to revert back.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I can't be without these things another day.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: Give me another round of prototypes.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: No, uh, by the way, I'm gonna ask for a subscription.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: I know because everybody's like auto-deliver, please.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to think about having orders.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um when it comes to the formulations on the supplement, I had the opportunity, and this kind of goes back to my experience um as working in big corporate America for a long time, because as a startup beauty brand, you don't always have access to the biggest and best ingredient suppliers or manufacturers.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: But because of my experience, and then because I'm part of a venture studio that has um really experienced founders, it allows me to have contact with kind of some of the best in the world from an ingredient standpoint and a formulator standpoint.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm so grateful for that.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: So when it comes to the probiotic side, uh, we worked on having a couple of strains that were specifically for um kind of general gut health because that's important just to get uh your gut back up to a more flourishing kind of micro microbial environment.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: And then a few of the strains were chosen specifically for different skin benefits.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so for example, if we talk about uh Lactobacillus plantarum, it works with hydration and elasticity and can reduce the appearance of wrinkles.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um also great for reproductive health in women.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's also I mean, when you start talking about gut microbiome, it's like I know we're a skincare brand, but like this makes it more regular.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: It helps, you know, all yeah, no, it's it's beautiful.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: I love that you're going into it.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, continue though.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: And then something like the lactobacillus uh rambesis is works on suppressing inflammation.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: And again, we talk about sometimes these disease states, like, oh, I don't have inflammation, but it may be micro inflammation that you're not seeing that can cause irritation or redness or dryness that uh, you know, you're maybe within the normal range, but it could always be optimized.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right, absolutely.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: And especially with, you know, I I know we're talking about the gut right now, and I really want to shift focus of the skin, but you know, with with gut health, I feel like people don't understand that like the microbiome is not something that's just, oh, it's there and it's coating, you know what I mean, the the lumen of your GI tract.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually producing things and it's it's causing this molecular level of like organization that is contributing to the overall function of your gut.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: So if it's doing that for your gut, it's doing it for everything.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I want to go into this the skincare um and the skin health aspect of it.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Well, um, you know, what were some of the key findings that you guys really like loved um, you know, seeing when it came to like just how the bacteria are interacting with our skin barrier and you know what I mean, like all the different things that are occurring because of a, you know, for with healthy flora on our skin.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: And and first I kind of want to talk about what's going on out there in the industry and with people's skins to identify skin to identify where the need was.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: And you've probably heard people talk about in the statistic of over 50% of women self-identify as having sensitive skin.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: That number has increased over the decades, up and up and up and up.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a couple of main reasons that um studies show that it's linked to.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: And one is our Western diet.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: So that takes us a little bit back to gut, you know, just doing things that aren't great for our gut health, which then can manifest on the skin, which we talked a little bit about.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: But then the second reason is skin overuse of skincare products that are either physically damaging the skin barrier in the microbiome or harsh preservative systems that are doing throat or devices.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: And especially in the US, we kind of have this mentality of, you know, the scrubbier the better, you know, what can I strip off my face so I can read.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: And our line really takes the opposite approach to that.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: And your body has such a natural ability to boost your systems.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: So we make sure we're having highly effective skincare ingredients and formulas where you see increase in hydration, increase in elasticity, um, more smooth skin, but doing that without damaging the microbiome and without damaging the skin barrier.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: So there should be no short-term pain and long-term gain when it comes to skincare.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like in your exercise routine, fine, that's that's great.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: But your skin, you shouldn't have to feel burning or irritation or dullness or dryness in order to get wonderful skincare results.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: So what's unique about layers is not are we just talking about microbiome because it's super important, but there's a lot that goes into it beyond just preserving the microbiome.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: We have really hard-hitting kind of skincare benefits while maintaining that perfect barrier to your skin.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's very interesting.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I want to actually ask you because I know a lot of brands, you know, they'll create something that's a very, you know, obviously cosmetic chemistry-based product where it's like, you know, uh hyaluronic acid and the different sizes, and you know what I mean, like how much is going into your skin.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: I want to ask you when you were formulating, because for me, I think it would be interesting to have some some ingredients in there that are actually working with the bacteria themselves, you know what I mean?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like in a way, like not like feeding them, but do you know what I mean?
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm talking about like a heat tree dish level kind of thing, you know, and it's like I feel like that would be more effective, like in skincare ingredient-wise, you know what I mean, for probiotic.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: So can you tell me a little bit about that if you guys considered that or you know, just um anything you have to share in that area?
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: So uh one ingredient that's across each of the topical products, so in the serum moisturizer and cleanser is lactobacillus ferment.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: So you're probably gonna see this ingredient popping up more and more, but just as it's really hard in skincare in general to sometimes differentiate one product versus another if it has the same ingredient listed, not all lactobacillus ferment is going to be created equal.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so when we were selecting this ingredient, we worked um with actually a partner of a typical cosmetic supplier, ingredient supplier, along with a probio, one of the largest probiotic suppliers in the world.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: So they came together to create this proprietary technology that allows you to have the lactobacillus ferment in a topical product without having the risk of keeping it alive.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because the problem with live bacteria and skincare can be, you know, if good bacteria is growing, what are you doing to make sure bad bacteria doesn't grow?
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: But you don't want to heat treat, you know, a critical ingredient like lactobacillus ferment so much that it kills the benefit it's going to give the skin.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: So this technology allows for the cell wall of the lysate to be held intact during the heat treating and during the killing of the bacteria process.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: So it maintains all of the positive benefits of a live bacteria, but without kind of the downside and the risk associated with bacteria growing in a product where you don't want it to be growing.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Mind blown.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: That is really freaking cool.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love that.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: To your point, it creates that environment for bacteria to flourish with some of the other ingredients as well.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because it's so important to not, I mean, products of the past, we used to say, like, hey, kill everything on the skin's surface, all good.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: Not so good.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, it's not because, you know, again, going back to gut health, when you we kill all of our gut bacteria, like if you're on antibiotics, there's a chance of, you know, your normal flora overgrowing, which is C difficile, you know.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like the same idea.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's just that it's so interesting that you're finally bringing these topics up because I think they're so long overdue in this discussion around skin health.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like I think that um, you know, people always want to, you know, right now what I'm seeing from a consumer standpoint is that there's a lot of companies coming out with probiotic skincare, but you're the first person I've spoken to that's gone into the actual mechanism and the actual logic behind this.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean, you know, I want to actually ask you a segue question into that.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how does it, you know, what what is your message to your consumers about why you guys are the better um option for probiotic skincare right now as compared to your competitors?
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I you don't have to bash anybody, but I want you to, you know, explain it to people so that they get it, you know, this is why you need to invest in this one.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: I love that you're even talking about this topic in general because as more and more people are hearing about probiotics and microbiome, it's still hard to understand what it's all about.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: So the balance of me being a brand founder is how do you talk about the science and celebrate the science without making it too stale or too boring or too in-depth?
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that people don't still love it because it's skincare.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: So the way that we're talking about it is really having hard-hitting efficacy, but doing so without disturbing or disrupting your microbiome.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of the difference of our product because you can have a probiotic that does great things for your microbiome, but it's not the only thing that matters in skincare.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: So what we've done is kind of pair that efficacy along with supporting a flourishing microbiome.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: And that means from the inside out, that means the supplements plus the topical care.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: I love that because you know what?
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: There's the first line I've seen that's literally giving you a topical option as well as the supportive supplemental option.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's brilliant, it's truly brilliant.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: I love that the message that you're promoting through doing that as a brand.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, people really need to get onto this idea of you're there is no such thing as targeted preventative measures for health.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: You have to go on a, you know, a systemic level, and you have to go on a level where your whole body is allowed to do what it's doing, like in the intricate ways that it's doing it and working together, because all you can do is give it the things it needs to do what it's already doing.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm trying to say.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: So right, so right.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why I mean, beyond product uh layers as a brand, we try to talk about the other things that matter.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, health, like when it comes to exercise and diet and stress levels, you know, just being aware.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, none of us can control our stress levels like the way we would want to.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, maybe some people can be way more disciplined on eating than I am, but I feel like what just helps is having the knowledge of how what you eat can manifest itself on how you feel and how your skin looks.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: So then you can make choices and work in moderation.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's just kind of that knowledge that's empowering.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, knowledge and accessibility, right?
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: So, like I want to ask about the accessibility for your line.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what were some of the things that you had in mind when you were um figuring out how you would want your consumers to be able to reach these products?
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, um, can you tell us the business side of that?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: First for me, I've talked a little bit about this, but was how how do I want this brand to make people feel?
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, there's the great efficacy pieces that you can see results, but I wanted to go back kind of to when a time when skincare products in a skincare routine really felt like an indulgent self-love kind of experience.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: So, yes, we're science-y and we love nerding out on the microbiome, but we want to be sexy and we want to be something that's fun to use.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, when it's fun to use and it feels good to use, people can stick to a routine.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: And when you stick to a routine, you see the results, and then it should be a good kind of cycle, right?
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: So that was kind of the brand side of things that that we wanted.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: But then when it comes to the products themselves, really results that you can see and feel that are different from what you've ever felt before from a skincare routine.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: And we've only been in market for three weeks, and the ratings and reviews and the sentiments that people are sharing about how different they feel after taking these supplements combined with the topicals is like a founder's dream, right?
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, you're making a change and you're seeing the results.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I had I was actually um, I think talking about this in a previous episode where I think, you know, brands like you, yours are just so critical right now, I think, in um the overall like scheme of you know medicine in this area.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think that, you know, it the the hard fact is dermatology um just does not have enough peer-reviewed, science-backed, you know, just published articles out there to answer all of these questions that we have.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: And until we get to that point, you know, as a medical community, we have to, you know, draw inspiration from, you know, professionals that are creating these beautiful lines and you guys are doing it the right way.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, the novel ideas that are coming from you.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we have to as an entire community embrace that instead of like downplay skincare.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's not about it, it's not about, well, these are options that are not FDA approved or not blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, okay, well, at some point, Botox was not FDA approved.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: At some point, like, you know, surgeries were not FDA approved.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: You have to have that mentality of, you know, true, you know, discovery driven, discovery-driven options, you know.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: So with you from a mentality, I think, you know, the private sector, if you will, has driven innovation for decades and decades.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: And the regulatory environment and sometimes the um public sectors are only only catch up after they see that innovation that's out there.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I know you asked a little bit about, you know, how layers is different from the competitors, but for me, probiotic skincare is at a stage where the more people talking about it and helping people understand how their body is all interconnected and what products can do more damage than good and all that, I think it's just going to help people in their kind of skincare journey.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I actually want to ask you a much lighter question because I've been doing like, you know, like super deep dive questions.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I'd love to hang out with you on the science questions, but I'll take, I'll take something light.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, something light.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I want to know about the name.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I love the name.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's it speaks to me.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: So can you tell us about how you came up with the name Layers?
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: And it goes from kind of some literal meanings.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: A little bit more of the emotional.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: So on the literal side of things, people are typically familiar with the layers of the skin.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: At least they've heard of the concept of the layers of the skin.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: But this top, top layer that's not really your own skin, but is your bacteria, your microbiome, is like the layer you never knew about.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that's kind of part of the literal meaning.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: And the second part of the literal meaning is a layered approach to your skincare, meaning an inside and outside approach is going to drive results that you didn't know possible.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: And then when you get to a little bit more of like the emotional beauty side of things, we all have layers to our personalities, to how we perceive beauty.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I like that it's just a little bit more than skin deep when it comes to the layers that a person has within themselves.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just over here gritting.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, yes, yes.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me what did you?
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because you're like, oh, the name resonates, but what do you think?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it resonates because you know, when I think of layers, I think of, I mean, it's very handy-hand of what you said.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: But um, at first I thought about all of the layers of, you know, just scientifically, like what our body goes through, you know what I mean, and layers of also just personality-wise.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm a big like psychology person.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: And like, you know, for me, um, I think for the name, not even just in a skincare sense, but like layers makes me just think about, you know, how I process everything around me as a consumer, as a person.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we all have so many layers to our consciousness and our who we are and why we make the decisions that we make.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a very, I think it's it's it's a great name, and it's a great thing to look at your vanity, you know.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a reminder, just one word that makes you think more.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why I liked it.
• 23:40
  unknown: I love it.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's so like interesting to hear how different people interpret it, and I love how you think about it.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, so I I you know, I want to ask you um one key key question I always have is I want you to give some, because you have so much experience in this industry and you've done you've done so much uh great work.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, any advice you have for people who are coming into, you know, the this huge, huge industry of beauty and health and wellness, and they want to work with branding or you know, anything like that.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because I, you know, I would love to hear any guidance for college students.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: I would say first is realize the network you have around you with friends and family and schools and um, you know, any past work experience that you have.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think it took me a while to learn that because I was in big corporate America for so long with large teams and coworkers and somebody to leverage best practices from.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I felt like when I went out on the entrepreneurial route, like, oh my gosh, I don't have a colleague that I can just turn to and ask a question.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: But pretty soon I realized, you know what, actually, I have tons of former coworkers, I have agency partners, I have scientists I've worked with in the past.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: So remembering that those people are all there and want to help and find it exciting to be part of the journey.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: So that's something that took me a little bit while a little while to stumble back into, but has been a tremendous, tremendous resource.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: And and everyone listening out there, you know, I I really hope, and you know, I really hope you guys do a deep dive and just explore the skincare brand.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's not just skincare, it's it's health.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I I'm telling you that with all the probiotic products out there, I think you really have to look at why the brand is creating what it's creating.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know, it definitely layers.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Rachel, you're doing a phenomenal job.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: So everyone listening, please check out Layers Probiotics and Care.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: I will definitely tag the IG and the, you know, all the links.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, stay tuned for another episode.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: But thank you so much, Rachel.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is an amazing.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: I love nerding out on microbiome with someone that loves it too.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 25:48
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