Latest / Skin Anarchy / E.299: Greek Grapes May Be The Glow Getters For Obtaining “Santorini Summer” Skin Ft. KORRES

Transcript

E.299: Greek Grapes May Be The Glow Getters For Obtaining “Santorini Summer” Skin Ft. KORRES · Skin Anarchy

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_05: Hey guys, happy Tuesday.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_05: So this is a really, really beautiful day here where I am, and I hope you guys are loving it as well.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_05: And I hope you're waking up to Tuesday a little bit better than how you were on Monday because I Diablo 4 has arrived.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's the forces of El Gather.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Only you can stand in their way.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Journey across the expansive open world sanctuary.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the role four.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Available now.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Rated and premature.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Have to banner or visit this episode's page to learn more.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_05: I know Mondays are just still working in the morning as well, at least for me at least.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_05: But I wanted to pop in right for the episode because I want to talk to you guys about some things.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_05: This is actually a huge step, and it's kind of scary for me if I'm gonna lie as an entrepreneur because it's my first time doing it.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_05: You know, uh mostly that's really the gist of it.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_05: But I wanted to say that Screen Care Anarchy is really turning a page um figuratively and actually very literally.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_05: Um we are finally getting to a point where I always envisioned us to be, and in the sense of starting a project that I always dreamt about because I felt that there was nothing like it um out there.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_05: So I can't tell you much more right you know right now.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_05: But I just wanted to pop in and say that I would love, or if anyone's listening, and you guys know anyone who is in the world of you know venture capital or funding or you know, just the process of raising for a small brand, I would love to interview them, not only for my own education, but for a lot of you.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_05: You know, recently a lot of entrepreneurs um that happen to be our listeners have reached out to me and they've either expressed that they're going to be launching a brand new line or they're going to be doing something in the near future and they've just asked for some advice.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_05: And I mean, of course, I tell them everything that we learn here on the podcast, we are very blessed to have some of the most intelligent minds uh in not only the beauty industry and the you know this industry, but I think in just business, you know, and business innovation.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_05: And you know, I could go on and on and on.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_05: But my point is if you guys know anybody that you really want to see on the podcast, someone you want to learn from, uh maybe someone you saw on LinkedIn, you know, who knows?
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_05: We see them everywhere, right?
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_05: Please reach out.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_05: My my email is ekta at skincareanarchypodcast.com.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, my first name, I know the T and the K are easy to mix up, but my first name is spelled EKTA at Skincare Anarchy Podcast, all one word.com.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_05: Shoot me an email, let me know what you guys think, and stay tuned for this episode.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_05: It is pretty awesome because Koraz is one of the best lines in the world.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_05: All right, guys, have a wonderful, wonderful Tuesday, and I will be back in about a day or two.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_05: All right, see you then about today's game.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_05: I'm a huge fan of this brand.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_05: I have been for a while now.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_05: Um, even on my Dermal Unity account, I was always, you know, just eyeing the brand, waiting for the new launches, and just, you know, uh all of my friends are huge fans too.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_05: So without further ado, um, I want to introduce you guys to the co-founder of Koras Skincare, Lena Coraz.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_05: Welcome to the show, Lena.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_05: I'm so thrilled and honored that you're here.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, Ecta.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm always just honored.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: I love skincare anarchy and I love what you're doing.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, thank you.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_05: That means so much to me.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_05: I I'm truly, truly a fan of Coras.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_05: I feel like you guys have been so cutting edge and innovative with your the work that the brand is doing.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_05: You know, I remember, like I said, when I was an influencer and I I looked at the um the products, I was like, this is exactly what I used to think of when I think of like the microbiome or like probiotic beauty or just, you know what I mean, doing it like in this way rather than all the fluff that we see.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_05: So I want to I wanted to learn everything from it about it from you.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_05: But first, can you tell us, Lena, your journey and what led to the um creation of Cores?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, of course.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the brand started 26 years ago.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: I just hardly can believe this myself, to be honest.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: And it started from uh my husband, George Coress, and myself.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: He's a pharmacist, I'm a chemical engineer, and we started from our original Chores pharmacy, apothecary, back in Greece, in Athens, which is the oldest herbal homeopathic pharmacy of Greece.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: So our journey started by producing herbal remedies, really.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_02: And uh this is how we, you know, we developed this amazing knowledge, but also respect for the power of natural ingredients, because before we ever did any beauty product, any of the products you already know, we were doing more than 3,000 herbal remedies.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: So we know those ingredients inside out.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: I can easily tell you how each ingredient works, you know, when you take it orally as a remedy, and how it works on your skin.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes those two actions are very, very different.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: So we started in a little pharmacy there, and that was it became it really became pretty fast, a very cult meeting point in Athens for everybody that was looking for natural solutions, and people were coming to find us, not only from you know the neighborhood or from the city, but all over Greece, even from other countries, because we had an amazing expertise developing you know all things natural in the pharmacy.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: Oil, stinks, herbal teas, ointments, anything you can imagine, we were doing it.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_02: So, out of the demand of the consume of our consumers, because many, you know, are coming to homeopathy or any type of alternative medicine with skin problems, because when you have a skin condition, it kind of follows its own circle, its own journey, and it's not so easy to get rid of it.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: So, being you know, desperate to find a solution, uh, they also tried, you know, everything.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: So we had a lot of people that ended up saying, guys, you know, I find my remedies with you, you do everything for me.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: Why can I also not get my skincare?
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: And that's how it started out of the demand of those, you know, loyal customers of our pharmacy to develop also the skincare products, following, you know, this, you know, the same ingredients, the same principles, and all of that.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no, you know, it's funny, Lena, because it shows in the brand.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_05: I remember when I first started using um Corus, it was, you know, it was just uh going to Sephora and asking for recommendations, right?
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_05: We all do that.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_05: And I remember the person um who pointed me to the right direction.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_05: They were like, you know, you really want to check this brand out.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_05: And I was like, yeah, absolutely.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_05: And you know, um, I fell in love.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_05: And I remember when this whole um, you know, conversation about the microbiome and like, you know, making sure we're using um skincare products that are good for the skin flora and all this came up.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_05: My first go-to brand in my head was chorus because you guys have this built into your DNA of this like idea of you know good skin health overall.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_05: And I feel like the products um when I first tried them were like the first ones that were not stripping my skin.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_05: They were not, you know what I mean, like making it too dry or making it just reactive.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_05: And so I want to I want to talk to you about how you craft your products.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_05: Like, what are some of the like the steps that you take when you know you're thinking about a new launch or something that your consumers really want?
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_05: What are some of the steps that you've taken in the past um when creating some of your bestsellers?
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_03: Well, uh, I'm grateful to that person in Sephora that pointed you to our branding.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_03: Trust me.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_02: So yes, so I think I would start by saying that you know, we feel very responsible for our products and product development, and we do everything in-house, which is like very different than you know what happens with most uh beauty brands right now.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: And it's pretty easy to like, you know, find the formula from you know a third-party manufacturer, etc.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: etc.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I really I think you know you may find amazing things, but for us, with our pharmacy experience and our ingredient experience and our scientific background, it was very, very um um important that we do the product development and the formulation in-house.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_02: So we have the scientific team, we have the research and development scientists, we have the regulatory people, so we have all those scientists working together to create product, and this is my team.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm very proud, really, to talk about our innovation process and our innovation team.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: And we go to the extent of even developing our own ingredients, working with our communities, our farmers, organic farming, cultivating ingredients to you know, extracting those ingredients in-house to make sure we get a really precious extract, we're not killing the activist, etc.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: And the most important, we formulate it in-house and we produce in-house.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: So I think this is where I would start with the microbiome.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: I want to focus there because as I believe, I mean, you all you know much better than me, I really feel from the beauty world that this is one of the biggest scientific platforms and innovations that we have ever heard in the last 20 years.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's huge, and there is so much more to come on microbiome.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: So when we started developing our larger, skinky our yogurt range, for me it was imperative to take the microbiome science into account.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I have been in many conferences, you know, we try to get, you know, state-of-the-art knowledge and understanding of what's happening.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: So I can really confidently tell you that the active ingredients and the final formula in all of our yogurt products, they do rebalance the microbiome.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: And I know that not only because you know we have used the certain actives, but also because we developed the clinical protocol to test the final product.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: So creating a product for us, that's how it goes.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you start from a need, you start from the science that exists out there, you can evaluate, you can estimate those things, you can make the right choices of active ingredients, and in general, whatever you want to use to build your formula.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: You formulate in-house, so you make sure you know you pick all the right stuff, but at the end of the day, the individual ingredients in the formula do not matter as much as the final composition.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_02: It is the final composition that you need to test and prove it delivers what it's supposed to deliver.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: Because if you don't do that, there is no way of knowing, to be honest.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: You can make, but you don't know for a fact.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_02: So that's our process when we develop a new product.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: And the microbiome, the Greek yogurt line is one of it's one of my favorite lines for sure, because it starts from this very unique ingredient, but it delivers, as a formula, it delivers results that I think are unparalleled for like sensory skin, for you know, any kind of skin condition like redness, itchiness, um, reactive skin, uh, even more medical terms that we are not allowed to use, but you can see an amazing relief of symptoms and an amazing sense of comfort uh when you use those products.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_02: No, absolutely.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_05: And I, you know, Lena, I I will actually I'm so excited that you brought up this line because um, you know, I am obviously, you know, I'm Indian, right?
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_05: So my parents uh always in our culture as well, yogurt is like, you know, homemade yogurt is a big thing in our food.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_05: And um growing up, you know, I knew that when you when it comes to things like, you know, balancing your gut health or balancing um, you know, when it comes to bacteria and just what we have, we have to understand that they're living organisms, right?
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_05: So like a lot of brands, they take this approach where they're like, well, strip everything and then put everything back on.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_05: But I feel like where Coras to me stands out is that it's the only brand I've ever used where when it comes to the microbiome, you guys are approaching it with this um idea that, well, we know that we have to give the bacteria something useful, you know, that you're not you're not taking away from them.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_05: You're just helping them to actually make the right things.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_05: Because one thing I think a lot of consumers don't understand when it comes to the microbiome is that it's what it's what the bacteria on your skin surface are making, the byproducts, those are those can be either good or bad.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_05: And so when they're imbalanced and they're bad, that's what causes skin sensitivities, right?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_05: So if you keep if you give it the good stuff, right?
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_05: If you give it the yogurt, you give it the yogurt-based uh things, those are active cultures that you're able to like, you're able to feed your skin with what it needs, and the microflora on your skin will have the right stuff to make the right stuff, you know.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_05: So that's an aspect I think.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_05: Um I feel like Cors was doing this from the beginning, and you guys weren't just, you know, you just weren't like screaming it from the rooftops kind of thing, if that makes sense.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, and you're so right.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: And honestly, get so specific, at least, you know, for me it's fascinating because when you talk about skincare, like everything we put on our skin, every handshake we do, like the air that is around us, like the air conditioning in our office, all of these disturb our microbiome.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: So if you think about it, it gets really scary.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_02: But then it gets also very specific because if you look at you know the footprint of healthy microbiome, skin microbiome, and disturbed, there are clear differences.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_02: So, what we were able to identify is that there are 11 bacteria strains, specifically 11 bacteria strains, that are out of balance when our skin microbiome is disturbed.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_02: So, what you have to prove, you know, at the end of the day is that you can rebalance those specific 11 strains.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: So, yes, it starts chaotic and everything around us, you know, is a disturbing factor, but it can get you know really simple and specific, and you can work around it to really help the skin rebalance, and then miracles happen.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_02: For me, like the the big, the big step one to healthy skin, to glowing skin, to the best skin for for your for you know for many years is a healthy microbiome.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_02: So all of that, you know, is so much worth.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_02: Like you need a product like that in your routine, whatever your routine is.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely, no, absolutely I completely agree with you.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_05: I think that, you know, and especially like I want I've I've been so excited because I have always admired and loved Greek culture.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_05: I've always loved Mediterranean culture.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_05: And I mainly because, you know, I think that the way I grew up and the way that, you know, like Indian culture is it, it really is very similar.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_05: You know, there's a lot of things that overlap.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_05: And so I always admired Greek culture for like, you know, just the use of like things that are around you, right?
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_05: Like just the things that are tried and true.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_05: So I want you to tell us about you know how you um felt when you were creating the brand and tying in the Greek aspect into uh, you know, and bringing it to the United States and having everyone kind of experience a piece of Greece through course.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: Of course, yes, and I love Indian culture, we have a lot in common, you're right.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I think we understand each other instinctively.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: There is some you know common way things from our childhood or I don't know, habits or like no, you know, in our way of thinking.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: However, for me, Greece, I mean, okay, it's a breathtaking, beautiful place, and you know, we're so happy to just be there, uh, although I'm in New York right now, which I also love.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_02: However, it's also a paradise of biodiversity, and that I cannot stress enough how important this is.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: What do I mean by that?
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, in every place in the world there are endemic species.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: Endemic means unique, they only grow in that place, and those unique species are the treasure, you know, of the place.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes they are, you know, real survivors, like they have been there for many, many years, and they have a reason to grow in that place.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_02: Something in that place is ideal for them.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: So, to give you a perspective with numbers, I'm I'm just going, you know, back to Europe, all our big countries there, like Germany, is a big country, they have 12 endemic plants.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_02: Then UK, because it's an island, they have more biodiversity, they have 20 endemic plants.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: In Greece, the island of Crete alone has 500 endemic plants, and our country has more than 1,600 endemic plants.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_02: So you can understand by the numbers.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_02: When I say it is a treasure of biodiversity, and some of those ingredients are the most powerful ingredients on the planet because they have been there before the ice age, they have been there literally for millions of years, and for us it has been, you know, a dream and a mission from the beginning.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_02: I want to I want to bring the Greek culture to the US and to the world, of course, but I wanna I want also to bring those treasure ingredients because they're good for us, they're amazing, they're super powerful, they have those, you know, amazing molecules that made them themselves survive for centuries.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_02: So we can use those active molecules to really activate you know good biological paths in our skin.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_02: So that is you know another dimension of coming from Greece and you know being bringing those amazing ingredients to the world.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, one funny trivia is that for us, because primary research and you know the research about natural ingredients is in our DNA, we have been able to discover and to register in the world Inky Directory, the Winky, that's the the world directory of active of ingredients, of cosmetic ingredients.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: So we have introduced eight ingredients, they have our name, and nobody knew about them before.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_02: We discovered them, we studied them, we put them there, we use them in our products, we have the opportunity to make them accessible, you know, to thousands of consumers so they can benefit from them.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: So that is, you know, the deeper dimension of the Greekness for our brand.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_04: I love, oh my gosh, that's amazing, Leah.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_04: It is amazing.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, no, that that's phenomenal.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I have such an appreciation for that because people don't understand that, you know, especially when it comes to like things that are dated back, like you said, you know, just millions and millions of years, right?
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, we have so much on this planet that we still have not discovered, we still don't know the purpose.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_05: And I'm a strong believer in the idea that you know, what is in nature is what we should use to mimic our scientific um innovations, you know what I mean?
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_05: And if we can learn from the more we can learn from nature, the more we will understand not only the human body, but the more we will understand how to make our technologies.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_05: And so I am a huge admirer of the fact that you've done this and you've gone out of your way uh and really put this on the map.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_05: That's huge.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_05: Because for people like me, I'm the nerd that's gonna find those tools and I'm gonna be like, you know what, let me take this to a lab and let me play with it.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_05: You know, so that's really cool stuff.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um it's great to take a product from a nerdy people that you know will put all the crazy passion into that, you know.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no, I just I love I I feel like that is the heart of innovation.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_05: And I and I kid you not, you know, I I think the other brand that I spoke to that was, you know, um Dr.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_05: Giannis is also uh they're Greek.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_05: And when I was speaking to him from One on One Skin, we were also discussing the just Greece has this amazing history.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_05: And I feel like just the geography, like you said, is something that um, you know, we have to really appreciate and we have to appreciate like how much biodiversity there is in that region.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_05: So um, you know, I'm I'm glad you brought that up and I'm glad that we're seeing that applied.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_05: You know, I think the hardest part of science is application, right?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_05: And I think, you know, especially in our industry now, like how people are coming out with a new brand every day, you know, everyone's got this idea, but it's like, no, we have to take what's already known or is there and we have to learn how to apply it better.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_05: So I want your you know, input on, you know, when you've when you've seen people like kind of come back to you, because I know a lot of our core's uh consumers are very good, you know, we're we're true to the brand, you know, like if we we keep coming back, we keep buying it again.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_05: So what are some of the stories you've heard about, you know, people's skin health uh conditions or their improvements, you know, anything you can share with us?
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, well, oh my god, they're endless.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: But um okay, I want to start because you mentioned Sephora and we have a long-standing relation with Sephora.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_02: There was this buyer for many years.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_02: She was the buyer for our brand, and I totally love her.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_02: And I gave her our black pine products for the first time.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_02: And black pine, by the way, is one of those ingredients that we discovered.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: Black pine has thrived in the Mediterranean region for more than 3.5 million years.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: This is like literally one of the first species that inhabited the planet, and it's still, you know, thriving and getting stronger and stronger.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_02: So we discovered this ingredient, we studied it, it took years, and finally we developed our black pine range.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_02: And I had lab samples, and I sent it to our buyer for her to try before, you know, we get in a meeting and we discuss about the product.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: And a month later, she writes back to me and she tells me, Listen, I have run out of those products, and everybody thinks I am sick or I'm not sleeping well, like they see a difference in my skin, like it was so improved.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: And then, you know, I didn't have enough, but the improvement was so dramatic that people ask me, you know, if I'm not sleeping well or something like that, and I need more of them immediately.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_02: And so I was, you know, the high, the happiest person stocking her up.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: With more lab samples until we were able to launch with them.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_02: You know, that's one of my favorite stories there.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_02: And for me, literally, we launched 2012.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think there has been one day in my life since 2012 that I have not used our black pine serum.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_02: I am fanatic about it.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: I know it delivers every day.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I know I hugely miss if I don't use it.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: So those black pine for me is the proof where it's a natural product, like more than 95% natural, and it delivers unparalleled results.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: Because this myth of naturals being less effective is so wrong, I cannot stress how wrong it is.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_02: Like you were saying earlier, many medicines are just mimicking natural ingredients.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: So that's one of my stories.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yogurt and microbiome is definitely another one.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yogurt and microbiome, I've heard people tell me their rosachia is like really diminishing.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: Their breakouts are diminishing, the redness and the sensitivity they've had for years is going away, or their skin doesn't feel itchy anymore.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: Like people come back and say that never in my life I was able to have skin that feels so healthy and so comfortable.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: That happens all the time.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I have to say, with my our latest launch, when I joined, you know, our North American team, and I'm leaving on our North American team now.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_02: I my first dream was, you know, I know there are places in Greece that are that have phenomenal ingredients.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_02: And one of those places is Sandorini because of the specific climate, of the microclimate, of the soil, of the sunshine, of all of all the conditions around there.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I wanted to bring the Sandorini grape in our line here, and I was so passionate about it that we launched in the US first, before we even launched in Greece, because I was crazy about it.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_02: So we developed it and I brought it here immediately.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_02: And both are Sandorini products now.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_02: Six months after launch, they are among their top three everywhere in with all the trailers.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_02: With that is like people are going crazy about them.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I for me it's no surprise, but it's again it's respect to those powerful ingredients.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: And like you say, you have to be committed to go to an extra length to extract them, to study them, to put them in a product, to do all those, you know, additional things that you would not have to do if you were going for something that you know just exists out there.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm happy for these products, you know, then people you know finding benefits and really changing their skin.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no, no, I think that that's amazing.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_05: So wait, what is it about the Centorini, the grapes then that is uh like that you found to be so amazing?
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um honestly is the most resilient grape on earth and probably the most the best example of self a self-preserved species on in nature.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_02: What makes this very unique is two things.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: Number one, we don't interfere with it at all, it lives in an extreme environment with extreme dryness, extreme heat, extreme winds that can really you know blow the grapes away.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_02: So, what happens there is that the grapes have developed some ways of you know protecting themselves.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_02: So, and the farmers also help them.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_02: So if you go to Sandorini and we look at the vineyards, you don't see grapes growing upwards like everywhere in the world, they grow in a round shape like a little basket, and that little basket of the branches of the vine becomes like a little hug that protects the grape.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_02: So the grapes don't grow within this basket of the branches, so they are protected from the wind, from the heat, from everything.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: They grow in a little like you know, in a little protected chamber, like nature, but that's how they grow.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_02: Number two, we don't feed them, we don't do anything.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_02: How do these get their nutrients from the soil?
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: Sandorini is a volcanic island, and the soil is loaded with minerals and antioxidants from the volcanic ash.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: So those grapes they get a hundred times more nutrients than any other grape if it lives somewhere else.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: And last but not least, we do not water them because common water is not good enough for them, because they are just taking water from the sea around us, the Aegean Sea.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: So when it is, you know, the night falls and the temperature drops, the mist from the Aegean it evaporates and it starts going up, and at the end it falls on the ground and it waters the grapes.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_02: But the Aegean is again loaded with minerals and antioxidants because it's seawater.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_02: So no common you know, nutrients, no common water, no common way of structure of the vineyard and growing.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's all its own little treasure, unique um species, and that's what makes it so unique and so fortified.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_02: So the minerals, the polyphenols you find on these grapes are unparalleled.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_05: Wow, I had no idea.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_05: That's so cool.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: I am in love with this, you know, this ingredient and this story.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_02: And I told you, we launched in the US before we launched in Greece because I was crazy about it, you know.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no, this is amazing stuff.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_05: That's really, really cool.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_05: And I feel like this is like the heart of all like ecology.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_05: I feel like if there's any ecologist uh majors listen, ecology majors listening, like this is amazing, right?
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_05: Like, I mean, that's so cool.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I I find it to be so interesting.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_05: You know, I uh you brought up such a great point about this idea of resilience in our natural species, and you know, this is something of science that I've really felt like needs to be studied more in every area of medicine and you know research because you know, let's be honest, you know, we discovered some of the most breakthrough technologies or medic medications, you know, pharmaceutical and non-through some of the most resilient species, you know, like we talk about the bacteria that grow in like uh 400 degrees Fahrenheit, right?
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_05: Like in on the ocean floors, and we talk about all these things, like people don't understand, like this is what we have to learn from, you know, these this example in nature that's right in front of us.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_05: So I love I love that you launched America First.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_05: I love that you brought it to us.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_05: You know, I'm I'm thrilled to hear that.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_05: And I feel like a lot of founders can learn from this because you know, I just think people are, you know, if it makes sense, Leah, I think people are too like they get too focused, you know, in in like the lab and they forget that you know, where is the real inspiration for the science coming from?
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_05: So your story for me is it that's amazing.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_05: I love it, you know, the century like grape.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_05: I didn't know anything about that.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's so, but honestly, one of the first things I came across when I started, you know, I'm a chemical engineer, and when I started, you know, going in the lab and formulation and product development, and I had this exact breakthrough, like you're saying now, that if you observe nature, my God, how much you can learn.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_02: And and again, about resilient species, for example, the simplest, for me, the simplest example out there, my own first-time breakthrough is the sunflower.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_02: The sunflower, you know, this really big, beautiful flower.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_02: If you watch it during the daytime, it always turns itself towards the sun.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_02: It faces the sun like 12 hours a day.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_02: It really literally turns to face the sun.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_02: You can easily understand that this ingredient must contain some amazing molecules to help it protect itself from the sun.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_02: And like the extract of the sunflower is an amazing ingredient for sun protection to kind of you know suppress the damage of sun radiation.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_02: It has the exact uh ideal antioxidants to do that.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_02: But you just don't study it, you know, but you don't read it anywhere, you can know just by observing nature.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_02: So, but like you said, there is amazing resilience in nature.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_02: And for me, what is also very important is that resilience is also a big part of who we are as humans.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes you see, if we go, you know, to our own the beauty world, you see a woman that is 40 years old and another, and they just look as if they are as if they are 20 years apart.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_02: That has to do with our own resilience and it has to do with our own DNA.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_02: So if we can use those ingredients that will also help build our own resilience, our own immune system, our own skin immune, but also our own cell immune, that can be amazing.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my gosh, yeah, that is a huge point.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_05: And I I I love that.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_05: I love that you brought up the sunflower um analogy because it's so true.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_05: It's like, you know, if you want to find the cure and you know, to anything, go to the go to the nature where it's being exposed to it the most.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_05: That's absolutely true.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_05: You know, I think that there's just so much truth in everything you're saying.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I I I I absolutely love it.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_05: And also, you know, one thing that I find to be very interesting um is that people, you know, they want to say, like, you know, well, genetically, like you said, you know, genetically I'm this predisposed to this.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_05: No.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_05: One thing people, you know, going back to the microbiome, um, you know, I know I'm sure you know this, but like, you know, people are now realizing that the bacteria that have have existed around us and the various civilizations of our planet, you know, we all have this difference in us.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_05: And all a lot of that stems from the microbiota that we've grown up around.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_05: So the that includes our ancestors, you know, everybody.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_05: So that gets passed down in little pieces in our DNA.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_05: So it's all incorporated, you know, over time.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_05: It's just a matter of, you know, um just understanding that more.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_05: So I think that this, there's a lot of layers here, you know, that you if you really want to dive into the science, like for anyone listening who's like a doctor or a researcher in this field, you know, you can really go down to the nitty-gritty, like Lena said, and you know, learn so much from this.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_05: So, you know, Lena, I just I just want to say, you know, Cores, this is exactly why Cores for me as a brand is an innovator, it's a leader in skincare.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_05: I've always seen the brand in this light, and I, you know, it's further validated after talking to you.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you so much.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_05: Well, yeah.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_05: Um, it's been an honor and everyone No, it's been such an honor learning from you.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_05: And I I love Coras and I everyone listening, I know you guys have already heard of the brand, but definitely go check out the new line.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_05: Wow, does uh Central any grave?
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_05: I'm gonna literally after our call, I'm gonna be doing like so much research on this.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_05: You don't even know.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_05: This is so cool.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um if you want to know the name of the variety, it is the ascliptico.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'll I'll email this to you so you know you know exactly what to look for.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, absolutely.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_05: I would love that.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I'm I'm very much interested in really finding out more.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_05: But um, you know, if anyone's all is also curious that's listening, you know, let me know.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_05: And I I might just post a little tidbit about it, if that's okay.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_05: Just like, you know.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_05: Um but yeah, this has been this has been an honor, Lena.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you so much for coming onto the show and and sharing all the amazing stories.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_05: I loved it.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Ecta.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_02: I loved it too.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_02: I loved your questions.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_02: I loved how, you know, uh you helped me really bring those stories uh to life and to share.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_02: And and uh thank you so much for this opportunity.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_02: And thanks for it.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, yeah, no, it's a pleasure is all mine.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_05: Everyone listening, make sure you rate and subscribe to our show.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_05: Please leave your comments, questions for Lena's team in the comment section for the concept art for this episode.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_05: I know that this is a really, really cool one, right?
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_05: So I'm sure you guys are gonna have lots of questions or um any comments, you can email us also.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and definitely go check out comments.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_05: All right, I will be back next time, you guys.
• 34:06
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• 34:14
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• 34:31
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• 34:48
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• 34:52
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• 34:57
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• 35:02
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• 35:09
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• 35:14
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