Latest / Skin Anarchy / Julie Chameberlain, Global General Manager of SweetSpot Labs

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Julie Chameberlain, Global General Manager of SweetSpot Labs · Skin Anarchy

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Young four has arrived.
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  SPEAKER_00: All the two and away.
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  SPEAKER_00: Journey cross the expensive world.
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  SPEAKER_00: Progressive figure play.
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  SPEAKER_00: Welcome.
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  SPEAKER_00: We have all four.
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  SPEAKER_00: Waiting and premature.
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• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Hi guys, welcome back to Skinputer Anarchy.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: This is Ekta, and I am very excited about our guest today.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: This is in a brilliant line, and I think we would definitely need to see more of these kind of products out in the market.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: So without further ado, I want to introduce you guys to Julie Chamberlain, who is the Global General Manager for Sweet Spot Lab.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: So welcome to the show.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Julie, I'm so excited that you're here with us.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Ekta.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so excited to be here.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to get started talking about, you know, your journey and you um personally and your career and and um how you know the company came to be and everything, all the good stuff.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, okay, great.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'll share first my personal journey maybe into beauty and uh how I joined this beautiful brand and then maybe segue into the journey of the brand because it's it's a long one.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: It was actually founded in 2003 and and it's um an incredible story.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I guess a bit about my path, which maybe will be interesting to people that um listen to your podcast that are, you know, thinking about getting into skincare or beauty and wellness more generally.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I spent uh really the bulk of my career with L'Oreal.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I was really fortunate and I feel very grateful to have had that experience that not only taught me, you know, from such an amazing group of mentors and leaders uh about various categories in beauty and also various disciplines to enable me to be able to lead a brand, you know.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: From I started in sales actually, um, and then went into marketing, product development, and then general management.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: My last role was as a general manager for NYX Professional Makeup, um, but also allowed me to travel the world.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: I worked for L'Oreal here in Canada, which is where I'm from, and also in Paris and New York, and have my, you know, three young children in each of those countries.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: So it was it was such a beautiful um time.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I think what attracted me or kept me there for so long in beauty and also in in L'Oreal was just how much beauty was a verb.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm actually, I'm not, you know, sometimes people meet me and they they get a bit surprised that I've been in the industry for so long because I'm not whatever people might think of as a beauty junkie.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um but uh I'm a bit of a skincare junkie, though I might say.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: But um I was I've always been attracted to the emotional benefit that people, both men and women, get from their, you know, beauty or wellness rituals.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the act of you know self-care that validates for them that you know they're they matter, they're enough, they're taking that time and take care of themselves, how it might, you know, show on the outside, how they actually feel on the inside, um, might make them feel like they light up a room, might give them that extra boost of confidence, whatever it is, or just make them feel more comfortable in their skin.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's so powerful, and that's something that's always moved me.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: And um, but at one point, you know, after almost 15 years with L'Oreal, I started getting a real entrepreneurial itch on the one hand.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and and on the other hand, wanted to really find a way to design my life so that um I win too, or you know, so that I and my family, you know, could thrive.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I was really wanting to live uh to move back home in Atlantic Canada.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: I really wanted to build something.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I really wanted to find another way of working and really build a brand that matters um from a bit of the ground up.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I found that opportunity in Sweet Spot Labs.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I joined last November just as the brand had gotten distribution at Ulta Beauty, which was a huge manifestation really of our founder's vision from 2003 to redefine this category.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and Ulta was a partner to help us do that.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: And so I started and I'm able to do it from my home and build the team all across North America and uh really kind of be in my own personal sweet spot um here with my three children, but also you know, building building a brand and building a business.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm I'm extremely grateful and encourage you know everyone to not give up until they find their sweet spot too, because um, if you commit to it, it's certainly possible.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: So that's a bit of me.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I love that though.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: I love what you said.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that, you know, first of all, congratulations for the the brand, you know, to be in such a um because that's that's just more accessibility, you know, for consumers to really experience high grade brands.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: I I love it when I see someone move into something like, you know, some a retailer like Ulta or Target or like, you know, um something even Sephora, you know, obviously Sephora is different, but Ulta, I I always consider Ulta to be like this even more accessible, you know.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely so I I really like that.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: And so I can tell you a bit about the story about Sweet Spot Labs then and please, yes.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: So as I mentioned a few times, it was founded in 2003, and I reinforced that because you know, we really I have to, you know, I try and remind myself sometimes if I ever forget, because you know, the world moves so quickly, how ahead of its time it was and how much guts and what a challenger the founder was and the brand was at that time.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, if we think that, you know, talking about the Vulva can be, you know, even a bit uncomfortable and taboo now, or you know, the idea of clean beauty is uh debated now.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_02: Imagine what a not like new idea it was in 2003.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: So really, um, I think the biggest disruption or um the thing that I most admire uh about why I joined and how the founder Sherry Creed saw the brand and the problem she was solving was that she's she saw vulver skin as skin.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, she wasn't um why that's so disruptive is because at the time the industry, you know, traditionally, let's call it feminine hygiene industry, um, was really more about either, you know, this debated idea about vaginal cleansing.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we know that it's not necessary.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_02: And in fact, you know, it can take really good care of itself and that it's not necessary.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um uh and now there's still like a new part of the industry which is aligning to that knowledge, um, but still creating products that are meant to, let's say, balance the vaginal canal when in fact the pH can't really be regulated by an external product.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: So Sherry had really recognized at the time was that her vulgar skin was skin as is mine and as is yours.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: And that vulvar skin had real needs, just like the skin on your face, just like your cuticles, just like other parts of your body that we highly accept to take care of.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: And there was nothing out there that would solve or help prevent those problems, and certainly nothing that was clean and or clinical.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: And so she really wanted to create vulgar skincare and clean up the personal aisle.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: Her personal experience, like that, what why that came to be, was that I mean, she was not in beauty.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, she was in her mid-40s at the time, working as a brand strategist at an agency, and she kept experiencing recurrent contact dermatitis from irritants in her personal care products, like her body wash and various things, because you know, gravity is gravity, it was going down there.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: And particularly she learned that sulfates were like really irritating her and causing this dermatitis, which she thought was all kinds of other things, like, oh, I must have a yeast infection, I must have UTI, like just terms that you were familiar with.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: Like nobody talks about dermatitis on the vulva.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so she started using these other products, which prompted like other flare cycles.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_02: And so then once she did research and found out what the real cause was and how there were, you know, sulfates among other, let's call them like vulva unbalancing ingredients, she decided to start there with cleansing to kind of clean up the cleansing aisle, to pH balance her products to healthy vulgar skin and not the vaginal canal, which has the same pH as the rest of the skin on your body.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_02: So more like a 5.3 level.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_02: And to formulate them, you know, without sulfates, without, you know, essential oils, and then even without ingredients that aren't dirty, um, but you know, can disrupt the balance, like let's say uh glycerin, which, you know, can be considered as a common yeast food source among you know other ingredients like propylene glycol.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: So that was like a she was a real disruptor then.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: And then that evolved, I mean, since 2003, and since she's been talking about vulgar skin health for so long, she started learning about more acute conditions, um, and uh either acute, you know, emotionally or acute physically.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: So she then she, you know, we started innovating products that went way beyond cleansing to address things like um, you know, uh lichen sclerosis or oh yeah, lichen sclergasual atrophy.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I mean, come on, yeah.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I know.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_02: So like even developed rescue bomb to help with, you know, acutely dry, itchy vulgar skin, you know, for women with autoimmune disease, never gonna go away.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: And it can extremely change the quality of life.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, if I'm having a bad day, I read, you know, the the emails that customers with liquen sclerosis send us, and I'm like, okay, Julie, you know, just keep going, keep championing uh the vulva, and or you know, women who are menopausal, post-menopausal, it changes, you know, their quality of life, helps them sleep through the night better.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, can be used in between estrogen holidays.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's it's really a game changer.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, among you know, other things that are more just to help prevent things that make people feel can make you feel uncomfortable physically or emotionally, like ingrown hairs, no, our exfoliating pads to help with razor burn, ingrown hairs, post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_02: So we really started down the path of broadening the view beyond cleansing to really think about skin care and that you know that there's a requirement there that also includes, you know, moisturizing, um, you know, skin barrier protectance, uh, exfoliating, and so on.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not vanity.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_02: It, you know, these are real um things that women experience and no one talks about, um, that need and deserve a very clean, you know, effective um approach.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's no, that's that's uh you've brought up such great points, and there's you know, there's just so much to talk about here because you know, I'm not an OB, but I have some very, very good friends and colleagues who are very passionate about spreading awareness um as far as feminine hygiene goes.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, we've often had these conversations about things like, you know, even growing up, like I grew up in the 90s, you know, and you know, born in the 80s, grew up in the 90s, and and talking about, you know, feminine hygiene was so taboo even then.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like, you know, nobody talked about, it was like as if your mother taught you, but then you never spoke of it, you know, with your friends.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: You never spoke of it with your, you know, your friends and anyone, any anyone else.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: And it was and looking back now, I'm like, you know, that did more harm than good, obviously, because there are a lot of um young girls, and you won't believe, you know, when I was in my rotations, um, we all have to do an OB rotation, you know, in medical school.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: And there were a lot of cases where um young women were coming in and they were like maybe 18, 19 years old, and we would ask them, it's like, you know, what is your typical, you know, hygiene routine that you're following, you know, and they would be like, What do you mean?
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: I just kind of washed down there.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like, no, you have to be, you know, it there's a lot of things that go into vulvar health.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's not about, you know, I think when people think about, you know, feminine hygiene products, like you mentioned, they're always thinking about like vaginal pH and they're thinking about all these things, but no, it's it really is like cleansing the skin of the vulva.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: You have to cleanse it just like you cleanse any other part of your skin, you know?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: So that's something that, you know, first of all, I think um a lot of people and especially young women are unaware of.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: And as far as, you know, lichen sclerosis and and vaginal atrophy, we all know, you know, in the medical community, those are things that happen later on in life.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: There are natural things that can occur in, you know, in women as we age, especially towards, you know, the 50s and 60s and beyond.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: But there are definitely things that can be delayed, you know, with proper care.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's it's a beautiful thing that we are able to sit down here and talk about this because you know, women these changes happen and it's like you don't know what's going on, you know.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: I completely agree.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like the number of women I talk to, like educated women, you know, myself included.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I have to admit, when I started, I I'm a little embarrassed to say I didn't know the difference between the vagina and the vulva.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think like at a basic level, uh, it's so important to help women understand their own body because there can be misunderstandings about, you know, how or when or if to use products.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: But also I think the more you know, the better empowered you feel or confident you feel to have conversations with other people, your partners, your daughters, your doctors, about your own health.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of these things get either misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_02: We we call it the vulva void, you know, because um, you know, there's a vulva void in our own language and our own understandings of ourselves.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_02: If we're not looking down there, if we don't know, you know, the language, we might, you know, miss things or not catch them as early as we can or not feel empowered or confident, or not even be communicating properly where we're experiencing certain things with our doctors.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: There's a big difference between going in and saying that your vagina is itching versus your vulva, you know.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that vulva void is also in the medical community to an extent.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of the people I talk to would agree to this.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure others wouldn't, but you know, between OBG, and derms, there's, you know, the vulva is a little bit that void also where, you know, it might not be part of your, you know, regular dermatological checkup, and it might not also be part of your normal, like, you know, uh like a well visit with your with your guy either.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so um, you know, the more I can do to help kind of spread that awareness and education, even if it's not always a brand's role, but me myself, um I'm always happy to do so because I think it's it's really necessary.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, no, I think that's a that's a wonderful thing.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I also, you know, I think it's important to understand that medical breakthroughs and you know, it's things that are approved by the FDA right now as far as um feminine health, um especially when it comes to things like what we just talked about, you know, the two pathologies.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um there are things like steroids, and it's like topical steroids.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: And and the thing is my personal issue with steroids is that they are an extreme anti-inflammatory.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, I don't know how much the listeners out there know, but I personally am not a I'm not a pro-steroid medical practitioner.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: I don't believe that everyone needs a steroid.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think that should become at this point in medicine a last resort kind of thing because you know it causes this extreme down regulation of your normal inflammation or your normal just you know inflammatory response that it causes, I think, and you know, it causes a higher risk for opportunistic infections or you know, other things that are, for example, are just things that are waiting for your immune system to go away so they can come and you know hurt you.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like, you know, those kind of things really for me bother me because I think a lot of it comes from this inability to think outside of the box.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I really do believe that.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I saw when I see a brand like Sweet Spot Labs, I'm very much behind it because I think that women need to understand that, you know, it's okay for us to go to Ulta and to go to the store and uh buy these products and to even educate our daughters and our, you know, like nieces or whoever, you know, like this is important.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: This is also a part of your body, and this is something you should take care of, you know, and and that's okay.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: This conversation needs to really become something that, you know, not only is in the open, but it's actually really meaningfully talked about, you know.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's not okay to just be like, okay, well, let's mention it once here and once there and blah, blah, blah.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's let's actually openly discuss this, you know, as as a yeah, as a hygiene thing.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I've always admired you and and this platform for your openness.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_02: And like you, I I do feel like you you do also have that challenger spirit of like, you know, let's not just do the things that we've always done because we've always done them.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so, you know, I I wanna I want to thank you, you know, for that.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, thank you so much.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: That means a lot to me.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: No, I I want to actually ask you though, Julie.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: I I want to I want to ask about the formulation aspect of the line because I know that this can be very difficult, you know, especially in this area.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: So can you walk us through that a little bit?
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what really goes behind the formula and all that?
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, sure.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: So um I we we think about, I mean, the ethos across the formula is that we think about clean, if you will, as vulva-centric clean.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: So it means that beyond the typical irritants, allergens, you know, like uh anything that you might find on any clean list, if we do not, you know, those we leave out for sure.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, some common ones that really irritate me that you'll find in vulvo vaginal products are like a propylene glycol, you know, and I'm like, come on, like how can we be so much more discerning about what we put on our face, but we'll put, you know, allergens of the year, like in our, you know, uh any product that goes in or near our intimate parts.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so we formulate without all of those, but we go beyond that to think about, okay, what's going on in that region that we we don't want to unintentionally cause some side effects.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_02: So, like there's things like coconut oil.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: Coconut oil is not, you know, a nasty ingredient by any means, but you know, it's has cogniogenic properties.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_02: So we just don't put it in any of our uh leave-ons because we don't want to unintentionally, you know, have someone who's prone to ingrown hair have that, you know, increased like challenge on her skin, right?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um and that's just a like an example of a very common thing that people don't think about.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we often hear, oh, I just put coconut oil down there.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: And great.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like honestly, if you if you don't shave or wax or you're not concerned with ingrown hairs, like, you know, that's great.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_02: But um we want to at least give people the knowledge to make that choice.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_02: Or, you know, we don't formulate without essential oils.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_02: Again, is it dirty or you know, like no, but a lot of people that buy our brand buy it because they have sensitive skin.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: Either it's compromised by something or it's just sensitive in general or whatever.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_02: So we just keep things as gentle as possible, also because they're likely often on some form of prescription treatment.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_02: And so we want to truly live the ethos of do no harm.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, you know, we're taking the Hippocratic Oath from like a brand perspective.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: So we keep it like as clean as possible.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: On the other hand, um, our products that are meant for acute conditions.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, for example, our rescue bomb, we we put, you know, we ensure to put um products at active levels.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, I've been in marketing and in beauty a long time.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: I know very well that there are, you know, oftentimes where a brand might market its ingredient as like, you know, with such and such, but at such a low level that it literally has no chance of actually being active, like making a difference, you know.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: So when we say clinical, we mean that, you know, when it's when it's meant to solve a problem, you know, it's going to be at the levels that are monographed to actually solve it.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that even exists actually in our washes.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_02: We launched two new ones this year, and you know, for one for dry skin.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: So it's, you know, using colloidal oatmeal and saccharide complex at levels to make a difference.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_02: We launched one to help reduce the yeast load, you know, without malastasia yeast triggers, but also with antimicrobial or you know, anti like just some properties for skin that's also prone to bacteria as well as yeast.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: So that's the view kind of we take um we take on formulas.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: And they're all tested on vulvas, it's not, you know, on sensitive skin like the forearm, like they're tested for 30 days um by Gaines and a nurse for.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: any form of irritation.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's more of a safety, clinical safety test, uh on the actual vulva.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's yeah, that's that's perfect.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: That that's what you need to do.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean for something as sensitive as that area, yeah, that's that's really cool.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_02: And then, you know, but they're meant to be used all over.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: Like I would say that's a difference too in our the way we formulate.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_02: So when we talk about you know washing down there, you know, we we like to we think a bit of it like listen, we don't think that you know you necessarily need one wash for your vulva and another for your body.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like we want to give you you know an eight ounce wash not a little little you know thing that's meant to target the vulva that you can use from chin to that's going to be skin barrier friendly from chin to toe, you know, pH balance for your skin from chin to toe.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_02: Because you know gravity is going to go down there.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_02: But also like you know we want to simplify people's lives like you know just use one really good wash because the the same things that might happen down there can, you know, a soap that's not you know that becomes a 10 when mixed with water a pH of 10 with mixed with water is going to harm your skin barrier all over.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: So again I would say that the the last biggest difference in the way we formulate is that we we think of it what it is which is skin.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_02: And so you know uh regardless of where it is on your body.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: So many of our products can be used in multiple places like these foliating pads can be used if you go full brasiliated so you could feel safe using them anywhere, but also under your arms or whatever.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: No, I love that.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: I really love that and I think that you know it's important to understand like there's so many different things like I also wanted to just just for transparency sake like you know really mentioned that there's a lot of things down there that people don't really talk about but like you know anyone is prone to like you mentioned for example Brazilian and that's a very very real you know that's a real thing.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of women opt for that you know you have to you have to really practice proper hygiene when you get a Brazilian because you're really exposing the skin now you know completely with no hair protection at all.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: So that's important.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: But another thing I wanted to bring up is that you know uh a lot of times this this never comes up is Bartholian glands that are present in the vulvar area and just inside of the you know just if if you look inside there's these two there's glands okay in in your um in the private area and those are usually like Bartholian gland cysts are usually caused by obstruction of the outlet of that gland which is usually caused by bacteria or overgrowth of like you know debris in that area.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: So these are also some things that I think the listeners out there you guys need to keep in mind.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying everyone out there is going to get a Bartholian gland cyst or something like that.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: But what I'm saying is that you know these are exact again terminologies that need to become more public and more you know um heard of and you know you need to know that it it's it's a very complex area of the body that needs to be taken care of.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: So you know there's a lot of different pathologies that can arise and there's a lot of different things that can go wrong if you're not practicing proper hygiene.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: So that's another you know so I really and and you mentioning the antibacterial and the you know that really is what brought it up for me is thinking about that.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_02: And thanks for that's actually a really that that's a super good point.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: I I don't I haven't never I haven't talked to anyone who's made that point yet.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_02: So I thank you for knowing that and sharing it.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_02: And you know I like the I to your point about like the people should not should know but it it brings value to them to know these words like another one that I you know I would love for people to understand more because we hear from women who are like oh my gosh okay that's what it is this is something almost as simple as folliculitis you know people know about like razor bumps and like ingrown hairs but to your point that if women are waxing a little bit or all the way Brazilian they have coarse curly hair you know they're more prone to folliculitis like an inflamed or infected hair follicle it can be bacterial or yeast driven and like people just don't know what to do with it.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: And uh how to help prevent the flare cycle of it but also how to treat it.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_02: And so you know back to the point that we're that we're just trying to make which is that the more you know like the more you can you know be your own hero exactly exactly yeah I agree.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: No and I think you know it's it's very important to understand like there's you know people always talk about things like the microbiome and they're always like bringing up these terms and I'm just always looking at them like you know as a the daughter of somebody who is really a pione my father's a pioneer in the in the field of you know really the microbiome like his own research has been like you know very very um at one point the government hired him during the whole 9-11 crisis for like you know a lot of different things that needed to be researched but I my point is um I grew up hearing about the microbiome a lot okay that's rare yeah and so when I hear these words get thrown out you know the the one thing that I um I often think about is that you have to understand the microbiome of the entire female genital area is actually very important to understand.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's a lot of um the major bacteria that's protective for us are lactobacilli.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know and they're they're the ones that are making the lactic acid and they're the ones that are creating this you know low pH and you know these kind of things need to be understood.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: So like I wish like you know Julie I think it would be fun to create like a little like pamphlet or like a flyer with just facts on it.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_03: Like I think it'd be fun after for you to put a vulva on your on the skincare anarchy social sheet you know I do it I might just do it.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: Don't even tempt me.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know that I would do it I can I have a million of them I can I also have a vulva puppet we can uh do some anatomy education together I think we should and you know that's really what it comes down to is that education aspect I mean you know really I think um brands like Sweet Spot Labs I you know they have very sweet spot in my heart because I think that you know the education aspect is just phenomenal and I think you know the more we can get this out there to the public the better.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean everyone listening you need to find a you know I think this is a great brand obviously you but you need to find something that resonates with you that you are able to use for personal hygiene period you know there's just no ifs, ands or buts about it.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: You need to do the homework and you need to go out there and really kind of take care of yourself in this area.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know don't be ashamed don't don't be ashamed.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: I don't care what your mother says your father says or what your friends say this is important.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: This is a medical thing that needs to be addressed you know so um but yeah Julie I just want to ask you what's next for the brand you know what what are you guys working on if you can share any details yeah absolutely um so what is next for us uh there's a couple of things um one is that we have now you know built an amazing team um because up until now like over the last almost 20 years the brand has been built organically um but now that culture in a way has caught up and there's people like you know you giving us this platform to advocate you know for women's vulver skin health um we have invested uh significantly more in the brand and our ability to build the team and our ability to uh accelerate our innovation and also our ability to go deeper into our clinical trials and so what's next for the brand is that we're going to be um coming to market with more innovation behind the acute care part of our line um we're going to be putting together ad boards and and working with germs and guines um both on innovation but also on um you know clinical performance testing behind our line to to really have the same discernment as you know should skin care on any other part of your body.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: And we're going to be accelerating um our own D2C channel which again today has been mostly built organic and you know really collaborate with our strategic partner Ulta who I'm so proud of that has expanded its you know traditional view on beauty um to to really help you know build this category and take it out of just the traditional like you know traditional view on hygiene and um near the pharmacy to really elevate it to be part of your everyday you know self-care wellness and beauty um ritual yeah I love that I really love that I think that you know that's that's what we need is that direction for brands to go in so congratulations on that I'm really looking forward to everything the brand has coming up and I'm really looking forward to you know just seeing it grow even more I definitely will you know I recommend it to everybody listening out there like I already said I'm gonna tag everything in the art for this episode so stay tuned for that.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you and I would encourage you know where we have an internal mission our team to spark one billion conversations around vulvar skin health and one of the ways we do that is uh through a vulva salon and um just you know coming up to the holidays and everything it's gonna be a bit quiet for the rest of this year but we'll come back in January to host a vulva salon around world like in sclerosis day um which is January 17th and so you know if anyone's interested in learning more about vulvar skin health they're welcome to sign up you know to our emails so that they can learn what topics we're covering um in these vulva salons or even in our vulva skin guide which is on our website.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so they can sign up through your website for the email list.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah yeah yeah yeah so they can um you know get informed in a way that's more of an intimate conversation to start until they're comfortable you know yeah no absolutely absolutely and I'm you know I'm really into these newsletters these days because more more often than not they're very educational.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: So you know I really urge everybody you know go to the website sign up and you know I'm gonna tag everything as I said but definitely you know keep the conversation going you know in the comments like leave any feedback you have or any experiences you've had that you know that you want to share because it it'd be cool you know I can pass it along to Julie's team and we can keep the conversation going and maybe do a part two that's more educational and you know it'd be great.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_02: I would love that thank you Esther for thank you being brave and championing all things skin health.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yes it's my honor and thank you so much for being so open to talking to me about it.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate it.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: And for everyone listening thank you so much for your time and and you know everything really so I'll be back next time guys thank you hey guys so I hope you love that episode please make sure to hit subscribe if you're tuning in to us on any podcast platform we are available on so many different platforms so wherever it is that you're tuning in just go hit subscribe you will be immediately notified when we publish new episodes this way you're able to tune in to amazing insights from experts brand founders industry leaders authors all the wonderful people that we host and that's very important for me because I love to hear from you guys and really understand what you love and what you want to hear more of.
• 33:30
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• 33:38
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• 33:44
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• 33:54
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• 34:01
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• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.