IBA Member Spotlight - Nyakio Grieco

By Neva Lindell – 3/23/2022

“Living in my purpose.” That is how Nyakio Grieco describes her beauty journey.

As co-founder of the Kenyan-inspired, independent brand Nyakio, Nyakio Grieco always looks to the past and future while grounded in the present.

Launched in 2002, after graduating from the University of Oklahoma, where her father was head of African Studies, Nyakio incorporated some of the “beauty secrets” passed down from her grandmother, such as an exfoliant made from Kenyan coffee beans and sugar cane. The line was expanded to include a variety of oils and balms and then sold to Unilever in 2017. Expanding from e-tailer to retailer, Nyakio is now a premium brand at Target stores.

During the Covid pandemic of 2020, she founded thirteen lune, a retail platform for beauty brands created by people of color for people from all ethnic backgrounds. They incorporate the 90/10 Rule in that 90% of their brands will always be from Black and Brown-owned and founded companies.

Motivated by the death of George Floyd and the formation of the Black Lives Matter movement of 2020, the purpose of thirteen lune is not just to create and provide beauty products but to foster opportunities for generational wealth in the Black and Brown communities.

After a test launch in 2021 in 10 J.C. Penney Department Stores, which has undergone a bold re-imagining in recent years, thirteen lune will be a store within a store. Celebrating “The Beauty of Inclusion” Black- and Brown-owned, independent brands will get broad exposure at thirteen lune. What began with 13 brands has now grown to a collection of nearly 140 different lines. “These creator-producers bring a lot of talent to the table and contribute a lot. I want consumers to see themselves in the shops and products presented.”

Being a beauty founder is not for the faint of heart. Growing an idea, sourcing capital, late-night concerns are all part of it, but Nyakio states that every challenge makes her better able to solve the next crisis. She has looked to IBA to enhance her product knowledge, participate in webinars, and network with other independent beauty leaders.

“These are challenging times, and inclusion can help bring us all together,” Nyakio added.

Read interviews with industry leaders from the Cosmetic and Personal Care Industry. Learn more about their start and how they became industry visionaries.

Read more

IBA Member Spotlight - Pam Viglielmo

By Neva Lindell – 3/22/22

Pamela Viglielmo is another overnight success over 30 years in the making! Now President and CEO of MËNAJI, a men’s skincare and makeup line, Pamela’s early work experience were in academics in China. After that, Pamela entered the cosmetics industry, working with one of the co-founders of ICMAD, Herbert Wilson of Wilson Marketing, LLC., developing the brand in China and other countries in the Asia Pacific region.  

In the 80s, there was a particular curiosity about American culture (Possibly linked to the T.V. show Dallas?) and skincare products. CosmoProf Bologna was approached to feature American brands on the showroom floor through outreach by ICMAD, which marked the first time there was a specific USA Pavilion. CosmoProf Hong Kong followed suit. Pamela optimized this interest in American beauty trends for her clients by taking them to these events and exposing their product lines to foreign importers eager to tap American brands for overseas distribution. Later, as an independent consultant, Pamela began working with American companies to develop their European and Asian markets.  

Her experience shows that new independent companies may be more adventurous than more recognized companies in some ways. The high degree of creativity in the cosmetics and skincare industry has resulted in new trends and categories. For instance, the Nail category was primarily developed in the U.S. market, expanding globally soon. Unisex fragrances were conceived in the U.S. and expanded into Japan at first.

Pamela’s work in Europe and Asia continued into the early 2000s. In 2008, when the global economy was in a recession, she and her husband James Fisher discussed ways to pivot her consulting experience in the cosmetics and skincare industry. They decided to focus on identifying a brand to develop. How could she contribute to the industry? How could she utilize her vast industry experience and global contacts? Where could they find a brand in a category not yet fully developed?

The answer was MËNAJI, the first-to-market makeup, and skincare line for men.

Pamela identified MËNAJI in 2008 and, after a year plus of due diligence, purchased the company in 2010 with a small group of investors.

Since then, the company has redefined the line and refined products. It is a focused line formulated to help enhance the male image and help build confidence. Heat, light, and long hours are tough on the skin. For newscasters, actors and entertainers, or talent in the burgeoning selfie category, the MËNAJI line of skincare and cosmetic products has proven to be the right products at the right time. Professional makeup artists need essential problem-solving products that help minimize flaws and shiny faces yet look and feel natural. They want products that are reliable and work. That proof of concept has been successful at MËNAJI.  

Pamela has been a member of IBA for nearly 30 years, initially with other companies and now at the helm of MËNAJI. She has served on the IBA Board of Directors since 1989 and, after chairing the Education Committee for years, now supports several BOD committees. 

She utilizes IBA for export certificates, has partaken in lobbying efforts at both the state and federal level, and attends many of the virtual webinars.

To the newcomer to the industry, Ms. Viglielmo reminds that entrepreneurship is its own skillset. Not everyone is wired to be an entrepreneur. It is a balance of creativity, vision, flexibility, and drive.

“You must have a passion for your idea. You need to see a path forward, and then you must figure out who can help you achieve it. An analogy can be how to approach skiing the bumps. Look at what is out there. Find your line. Then adjust as you move ahead.” Her formula: Passion, Path, People.

She views IBA as a resource of all kinds of people who can and have helped her in her business—listening, networking, offering guidance, and believing that the collection of talent and experience that IBA offers can be paramount to the successful development of a company in the beauty sector.

This is just some of the value-added she has found through her IBA membership. “You can’t do it all yourself.”

IBA Member Spotlight - Cindy Kim

By Neva Lindell – 3/8/2022

Cindy Kim is the Director of Quality and Regulatory Affairs at Cosmetic Laboratories in Irving, Texas.  Her path to this critical role at the organization was not a direct path; her work moved from Telecomm to Chemicals to Aerospace and now Cosmetics and Personal Care.  Every job has required similar traits: the need for precision, detail-oriented, ongoing research, and a pro-active orientation.

Cosmetic Laboratories is a turn-key private label manufacturer for skincare and hair care products. Owned by Doug Johnson, Cosmetic Laboratories has been in business for over 30 years and has customers all over the world.

Starting her education in pre-medicine, Cindy earned an Associate Degree in Psychology from Texas Woman’s University.  She said she has so many hours of classes she could pursue a Ph.D. if she selected one area of study. Ongoing certifications are a must in this type of work. She believes Quality Managers should lead and set standards, allowing others to do their jobs to the defined standards.

With her IBA membership, she utilizes the Export Certificates program, attends webinars, and is looking forward to participating in the upcoming, virtual IBA Tech Reg Forum March 22-24.

Her keys to success: “I enjoy my work.  I really like it.  It can be hard and intense, but I continue to learn so much.”

Suggestions for the newcomer to the industry:  the beauty and skincare industry is a great industry.  It is better able to weather recessions and pandemics than many other industries. Preparing for a role like hers includes a strong quality and regulatory background, with solid experience and a commitment to earning ISO certifications.

By Neva Lindell, March 1, 2022 

The story of Dr. John Ademola starts in Abeokuta, Nigeria, extends to England, France, Italy, China, Japan, South Korea, Washington, DC, and California.

With an academic background and over 20 years of product innovation, ingredient research, and platform development for clinical testing, John Ademola, Ph.D., brings a wealth of expertise, curiosity, and business acumen to his current role as co-founder of the San Francisco Research Institute.
Focused on “connecting companies to the needs of multi-generational, multicultural, and global consumer markets,” the original Dermatology research program was founded 25 years ago by eminent UCSF scientists and professionals, including Dr. John Ademola and well-known pioneers in dermatology and biomedical, clinical research. The company expanded to other therapeutic areas within the last five years. SFRI was established in January 2020, before Covid became a household name. Since then, he and his team have stayed busy, incorporating solid clinical platform guidance with differentiators based on different ethnic groups.

By Neva Lindell – 2/10/2022

Dr. KeShawn Haynes is the Regulatory and Compliance Manager with House of Cheatham, a Georgia-based company offering multiple hair care products for African Americans.

The House of Cheatham was established in 1924 and began selling ethnic hair care products in the ’80s. Dr. Haynes has over 25 years of experience as a chemist, has worked for smaller companies, and was often responsible for formulations and regulatory compliance. Dr. Haynes joined the House of Cheatham in 2018, adding her wealth of knowledge and expertise.

Now, Dr. Haynes’s focus is regulatory, working with sales and foreign distributors to ensure the House of Cheatham products are in compliance with good manufacturing practices and country-specific regulations. She oversees their Certificates of Analysis, Safety Status Sheets, Export Certificates and communicates with her co-workers to make sure they understand and incorporate the latest regulatory requirements into their formulae and processes.

Dr. Haynes said that math and chemistry were her favorite subjects in school. Thanks to encouragement from some insightful teachers, she has made a career that combines both. Before the pandemic, she volunteered with a group that mentored young girls in STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics). Even though that group is gone, she is considering forming a new non-profit to do that very thing: Attract and mentor young girls on a STEM path.

By Neva Lindell 2/7/22

“Start with baby steps, do your research, identify what problem you are solving, and then solve it. Don’t worry about what the competitors are doing. Start where you are.” Those are words of wisdom from Rhonda Marshall, Chemist, Educator, Naturalista, and co-owner of Inahsi Naturals, a haircare line for textured hair. Along with her husband, Brian, they have grown from making a few products in the kitchen to producing a growing line of products in a commercial setting and selling them online and worldwide.

Rhonda, a chemist, working for Helene Curtis; and Brian, a Product Development Engineer, and Engineering Manager. Together, the Marshalls bought their respective industry experience and formed Inahsi Naturals, a new product for textured hair. This spark of an idea came shortly after Chris Rock’s movie “Good Hair” inspired women of color and others to rebel against the harsh chemicals in hair-straightening products.

Rhonda and Brian started at local Meet-up events in Chicago. On one occasion, “the energy was amazing,” said Brian. People were buying Rhonda’s products.  It was then they realized Rhonda could utilize her chemistry background to develop new products that would work on textured hair. The time was right, the need was there, she had the expertise, and he had the operations know-how. They stepped up. He kept his job while they pushed forward with the business and raised their four children.

In 2012, they started their hair care line, with what they laughingly describe now as very homemade labeling. They worked with an online group called 99 Designs to create a custom label in a short amount of time. Re-branding in 2014 into Inahsi Naturals, which is derived from the Latin word for innate, resulted in a logo and a slogan “Loving the you, you were born into.”

With the success of their brand, the Marshalls knew it was time to expand. They attended ExportTech with a panel of trade experts, including representatives from the SBA, U.S. Commercial Service, law firms, trade groups, and Export-Import Bank of the U.S.(EXIM). They asked questions and listened to the guidance provided; to develop an Export Plan. So, they did, which forced them to visualize where and how they could sell their products globally.

In 2020, Inahsi Naturals joined IBA. Since then, they have continued to conceptualize new products, expand the business, and seek new sources of capital, such as “crowdfunding.” Continuing their practice of networking, attending seminars, and asking questions, including attending IBA webinars, such as the recent Town Hall on Supply Chain.

During the pandemic, they kept pushing. Brian left his job to go full-time. They moved into their own manufacturing space that featured a high-grade mixer, and in 2021 they added an automated production line, a big step up for a small business. The children, now young adults, pitched in to help manufacture products. Brian led their painstaking yet successful effort to achieve E.U. Compliance, which has very strict requirements for cosmetics.

Brian has used local resources to network and expand its brand. In 2021, Brian attended The Illinois Department of Commerce Office of Trade and Investment (OTI) virtual fair.  Brian met with potential trade partners in Colombia and Mexico via Zoom and garnered lots of interest in their line.  The Marshalls are proof that research, networking, and continuing education equal opportunities.

What’s next for Inahsi Naturals? Rhonda continues her live streaming events and has conceived new products. Brian continues to think of ways to scale the business. They are leveraging their relationship with their Middle East distributor into a distributorship in another country. Expanding into more markets in Latin America is on the horizon.

By Erica La Sala 2/1/22

Dr. Robb Akridge is here to disrupt the status quo. The scientist behind category-defining innovations like the Sonicare and the Clarisonic is back with another never-before-seen first-to-market offering. Coined “the K-Cup of Skin Care” by NewBeauty Magazine, Opulus Beauty Labs lets users mix their own topicals through an activator that mashes and heats solid (and plastic-free) active-containing opoules. While the Clarisonic device was designed solely for skin cleansing, Akridge sees the Opulus activator as an appliance with a much greater range for possibility, both in the beauty space and beyond.

IBA caught up with Akridge to discuss how his quest to problem-solve drives his ambitions, his future aspirations for Opulus, and exit strategy possibilities.

What’s a little-known fact about you?

That I’m half Hispanic. I was raised in San Antonio, Texas, and before that we lived in North Carolina. My parents then divorced, and we went from the middle-class to poverty. My mother had no education. She worked in a department store, and we lived off $3,000 a year along with my grandmother. She always said to me, if you want to do ‘x’ or ‘x’ you have to go to college. It was like a mantra. I’m the second member of my family to graduate from high school, and the first one to ever go to college. I’m the only one who has a PhD or a master’s degree.

My family has a very blue-collar background – construction, steel, welders, that kind of thing. That’s the environment I came from, but I went off and did my own thing. I wanted to be Jacques Cousteau and swim with the dolphins and be a marine biologist.

Did you set out to work in the beauty industry or is it something you fell into?

I had been in medical research and went through all the different disciplines, including pediatric cardiology, neurobiology, and plant pathology, but I fell in love with immunology. I did a project on parasites and ended up working in a lab with the HIV1 virus for about 10 years. Then I went to this small company to work on a toothbrush called Sonicare, which completely blew up.

When we sold Sonicare to Phillips we thought, OK we’re going to set up a company, but we didn’t know exactly what we were going to do. We looked at kitchen appliances, even the shipping industry. But skincare was only going to continue to grow, so we thought, what’s one of the main problems we can solve in skincare? Well, it was acne, so we spoke with a dermatologist who said that it all started with a plugged pore. So, how we unplug a pore? Is there a way to flex the skin in such a way to unclog the pore? That was the line of thining that led to Clarisonic.

I’ve now been in beauty for 15+ years and as a scientist I see that it’s still so ripe for innovation. There are so many different problems out there that companies continue to give the same answer to time and again. So yes I fell into beauty, but now that I’m here I look around and think, wow there’s so many different things we could do that people aren’t doing because they’re used sticking formulas in bottles, tubes and jars.

Where does your early-mover, first-to-market spirit come from?

I think it comes down to me as a person, always problem-solving and wanting to have an answer to a question. That really drives me. My training has given me the skills and the tools to go out and find those answers. For me, it’s about being in the right place at the right time and saying wow, this is totally different. In the beauty industry people like to call things “innovative” whether it’s technology, ingredients, or actives. But they’re not. To be truly innovative you must do things that people haven’t done before and with that comes the burden of convincing people your idea or your technology is needed. You must pave the way with production and find manufacturers who will make something they’ve never made before. You must educate consumers on why they need a product that they’ve never seen before and show them how it works.

I went to so many different contract manufacturers for Opulus and said, this is what I want. They all said no. We make tubes and bottles; we fill them and put labels on them. No one seemed to care about the quality as much as we did, so we brought the manufacturing in-house. This is a luxury product that’s basically hand-crafted right now. We make them about 20 minutes away from my house with a little team, including some of my production and engineering colleagues from Clarisonic. We made all the Clarisonic brushes until L’Oreal bought us, so it’s a very similar experience.

Did Opulus spring from your imagination or was it based on market research?

The inspiration came to me when I was in a chocolate shop. I was looking at all the different sweets; they had different coatings and different fillings and each one felt like a different experience. I thought, this is what skincare needs to become. It should be fun and exciting. Right now, you’re locked into a three months’ supply, scooping creams and things out of a jar. We’re creating formulas now that haven’t been done before, encased in these solid opoules. With that comes several lines of inquiry. How can you create two phases – one that’s harder on the outside and softer on the inside? How do you blend it? What temperature do you blend it? What problem can we solve with this appliance?

We had to pick one active to start with so we went into retinol first because it’s the best ingredient out there for skin, but we will certainly expand. In the future you’ll be able to mix not just your skin treatments, but also your hair treatments, your BB creams, your bath and body treatments. There’s so much this technology could do in the beauty space.

What’s the feedback been like so far?

We’ve been on the market since the end of April. Because we were limited in the number of units we could produce because of supply chain issues, we couldn’t do a very big launch with lots of advertising. It’s been a gradual build. Dermatologists are starting to sell this for us around the country, and people are loving it so far. It’s got a 4.7 rating on our website, which is the only place you can get it right now.

Do you have aspirations for Opulus beyond the beauty space?

We do have aspirations to go into OTC treatments and creams for eczema, psoriasis and issues like that. Perhaps even prescription treatments depending on if we can get manufacturers to create prescription opoule. We’re going to come out with a sunscreen in the future, so we’ll  have to go through the OTC monograph system to ensure that it’s produced up to FDA standards.

What is the biggest learning you’ve taken from Clarisonic to this new venture?

There are two parts to that. People kept telling me that I should create Opulus in a certain way. You should get contract manufacturers to build the appliance; you should only have online retailers, etc. My gut told me I should be building it myself. The Nordstorm’s and Neiman Marcus’s have always trusted you, get into their facilities; and guess what, that’s what we’re doing.

To answer your question more directly, I think what Clarisonic taught me was how to navigate a lot of the challenges that L’Oreal had with that device. There was no formula attached to the Clarisonic. You could use any cleanser, for example. With Opulus we’ve attached the formula because this activator can transform these little opoules into something truly unique. Before it was only about cleansing the skin and now that is no longer the case. We have a lot more opportunity here.

Do you want Opulus to stay independent or would you be open to acquisition?

We had this conversation during the early days of Clarisonic when it was a couple of founders. The CEO at the time asked us what we wanted to do with the company. Are we going to make it public? Are we going to keep it and pass it onto our kids? Are we going to do a VC flip? Or are we going to sell it to a big fish, like Sonicare sold to Phillips? We decided on the big fish scenario, so the next question was, how much do you want to sell it for? We picked this pie-in-the-sky amount with no rationale behind it. That determined our fate. No one argued about how we were going to exit the company; we were going to grow it to ‘x’ level and then we were going to sell it. Sure enough, as soon as retail sales met the multiples to get us that final amount, we put it up for sale.

This will also be an exit strategy where we’ll eventually sell to a larger company. We have more to offer this time around with Opulus, like our replenishment program. With the Clarisonic, you bought the device and then the brush heads. With Opulus we give you an assortment, and when that’s done you can go into replenishment; every month a new box of opoules is delivered to your house. Over 20% of the people who have bought this product have signed up for replenishment. That’s a business model that anyone would love to have.

What are your most important professional and personal accomplishments so far?

Professionally, I’m proud that we were able to create something and move an industry into a completely different direction. When we came around no one had heard of at-home devices being used for skincare. We broke that barrier and now there’s so many people playing in that space because customers are now more accustomed to using those devices.

Personally, we have 31 acres outside of Seattle, Washington. My partner and I created a tiny non-profit with the sale of Clarisonic and we donate money every year to conserve forests, build trails, as well as make donations to local food banks and shelters for battered women. We have a creek that runs through our forest and we’re undertaking a salmon stream restoration. We’ve become stewards of this little forest we have.

What is your advice to weary entrepreneurs who may be thinking of giving up?

Well, don’t give up! That’s the whole part of being an entrepreneur; things are always going to be bad and then they get better. They don’t become perfect so that’s just part of the job. You’re constantly having to push it forward. My other advice would be to evaluate your ideas very thoroughly and harshly. As soon as you put your product on the market 10,000 other people are going to evaluate it so make sure what you launch is bulletproof. The only way you can do that is to be your own worst critic.

Erica La Sala is a beauty writer and reporter who specializes in covering the business behind beauty. Her work has been featured in several digital publications and newsletters serving both the professional and consumer communities, including Beauty Independent, Glossy, CEW Beauty News, BeautyMatter, and Allure Magazine. She graduated from Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business with an MBA in Management Systems.

Erica La Sala: 1/4/2022

COOLA wants you to wear your (healthy) sunscreen. The brainchild of founder and Chief Creative and Culture Officer, Chris Birchby, this sun protection brand has been at the forefront of organic sunscreen marketing for almost fifteen years. Before much of the beauty industry formally embraced anything organic, COOLA was living it. Even today, as the sun care category becomes increasingly crowded with newer entrants like Hero Cosmetics and ZitSticka, COOLA’s founding proposition, to offer effective and plant-powered formulations with 70%+ certified organic ingredients, remains its key point of differentiation.

IBA recently caught up with Birchby to discuss how painting and online poker transitioned into a career in sun and skincare, the many challenges he experienced in bringing COOLA to market, and why the brand steers clear of the term “clean.”

Apparently, you worked for fashion photographer Steven Meisel in a previous life. How did your path lead to COOLA?

I lived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in a small apartment with three other people, and I got the job as his production assistant without even knowing how famous he was! I had every little odd job around set, from keeping the craft services table looking orderly to moving around a heater or fan next to a model. It was usually a closed set with just a dozen people including Pat McGrath, who did all the makeup, and models like Kate Moss, Christy Turlington and Carolyn Murphy. I had a lot of fun, but at the time I was applying to graduate schools. I got into an MFA program at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, so I moved out west in the summer of ’98. That started my great love affair with southern California.

After graduate school I got a studio in Alhambra and started toiling away as a painter, and it was right around that time that I started playing a lot of online poker, which was really starting to boom then. My grandmother had taught me and my three younger brothers how to play when we were younger, but I read every book I could on it. It was incredibly more lucrative than painting, so I balanced those two for several years, traveling around Las Vegas, Europe, and the Caribbean. But in 2006 the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was passed, which didn’t make poker illegal per se, but put the stigma of illegality on it so it became more difficult to make ‘easy money.’

About two years before that, I had gotten the idea for COOLA. Both my parents had melanoma within a year of each other, and I had never even been to a dermatologist before. So I went under the ultraviolet light and saw all the sun damage from years of wearing tanning oils and Hawaiian Tropic Factor 6. I was surfing a lot then, so I needed to start taking sunscreen seriously. I was living in Venice, which turned me onto all things organic; I grew up in New Jersey at a time when that just wasn’t a thing yet. I couldn’t find anything that I thought was both healthy and wearable. The only other organic sunscreen on the market then was Badger.

I thought, this may be a fun side hustle that would combine my passion for creativity with my knack for analytics that I acquired from playing poker. I wanted to create something that was more mission-based that would, frankly, get me out of the studio during the day. That was around 2004. We didn’t get to market though until three years later.

What was the journey to market like?

My first lab made this beautiful formula that felt totally weightless. It was only later after I packed it into the tubes that I realized that you needed to do SPF validation testing for the FDA. I knew nothing and was very naïve. I had it tested, and lo and behold, there was no sunscreen in it! I called up the lab owners, who were two brothers who used to work at L’Oreal. It turned out they were going out of business and leaving the country. One of them was apologetic and the other didn’t seem to care much.

Then I ended up going to arbitration with my second lab in the Valley because the silk screen printing on the tubes smudged off as soon as you touched them. I had to get an attorney on Craigslist because I had such little money at the time, but I got $0.30 on the dollar back for that lot.

With the next lab I had figured things out a bit more. I expanded my product line from two products to six; I had sunscreens for the face and body as well as an active sports version. But I realized that my price point was not sellable in surf shops, which was the only market I knew at the time. I brought in a consultant then to help me pivot to the resort and spa market. I started going out and meeting spa directors and estheticians, as well as small beauty store proprietors, bringing them samples, and asking them questions about ingredients and scents. Essentially, I created a focus group that helped me shape COOLA the brand for launch.

I was just about to launch, and I got a call early in the morning that there was a warehouse fire where I was storing all my products. The facility totally burned to the ground. The owners didn’t have proper insurance, so I had to get another attorney and ended up getting $0.30 on the dollar again!

By a year later I had blown through all my poker money. I was focusing 100% of my time on COOLA and really needed it to succeed. We finally launched in 2007 with a few great blue-chip accounts like Fred Segal, the Beverly Hills Hotel, and the Montage Hotel in Laguna Beach. I went to every spa meetup and went door to door just pounding the pavement.

Talk about the evolution of the organic/healthy-for-you side of the brand?

We were ahead of the curve there. The market was definitely very different back when we launched, with much less competition. I remember when we originally pitched the brand to Sephora back in 2012 or 2013; they said that their customers weren’t interested in organic. There wasn’t much discussion around it, but it was a real point of difference that we’ve always been true to. We were one of only two organic sunscreen companies, Badger being the other. We use plant-based ingredients to boost the efficacy of the sunscreen actives so we can use less actives yet still achieve effective test results.

Going forward, we’re trying to do a better job at storytelling. We have so much brand equity that we’ve created over the years, and so much we can mine from our heritage as far as our authenticity, our team, and our ingredients story. The percentage of recycled packaging we use, for example, as well as full transparency on the ingredients and where they come from, and who we support with organic farming. We have a trademark on ‘Farm to Face,’ which means we formulate our products with ingredients that follow sustainable farming practices.

There’s no third party that will authenticate and recognize organic sunscreens in the U.S. because the infrastructure isn’t there, and there’s no current definition for it. We go by the standards originally stipulated by the California Organic Products Act of 2003, which has since evolved into the California Organic Food and Farming Act. Obviously, our active ingredients can never be organic and we’re not claiming that they are. We have two very distinct collections: one with mineral actives and the other with chemical actives, but we don’t use oxybenzone or octinoxate.

What we’re claiming is that our complete formula, including the actives, is 70% organic. There are QAI and NSF standards for organic, but they exclude actives from their calculation when they quantify the amount of organic material. California organic standards are more stringent; you must include the actives in your calculation. We do audits with the state every other year to ensure the authenticity of our formulas.

COOLA tends to stay away from the word “clean” in their marketing. Why is that?

It’s becoming a target for people looking to take down companies. The downside of this industry are the troll attorneys whose sole intention is ‘the shake down.’ There are always going to be brands that are disingenuous with their claims since ‘natural’ and ‘clean’ are not currently defined by the FDA. The best you can do as a brand is to be as transparent as possible so that people can’t try to willfully find fault for their own gain. But it’s still the wild west out there because the government hasn’t put the proper regulatory in place in this industry, which makes it challenging.

How do you stay on top of innovations in your category?

We’ve always put ourselves out there as an innovation-first company. We’ve had a ton of global firsts that we’re very proud of. We were the first company to incorporate sunscreen into makeup setting spray, for example. Everything we do comes out of our innovation department.

Every two to three years we update our formulas because there’s always newer ingredients and formulations coming out. I see competitors in our category in spa and resort who have the same formula with the same packaging year after year. We’re constantly evolving thanks to this incredible focus group that we have of dermatologists, spa directors and estheticians, and people who just really know skin. That group has evolved over time to also include influencers as well, and we rely on our customer service team as well to harvest reviews and customer feedback.

We have an incredibly robust packaging team that spearheaded a big transition into glass and sugar cane plastic for COOLA. Our analytics team looks at all the data out there from sources like Nielsen, for example, so we can get as much info as possible on consumer sentiment and what’s selling.

We go directly to all the raw ingredient manufacturers both domestic and global, as well as a whole network of U.S. manufacturers with their own chemists. We also bring in chemists that we work with directly at different labs around the U.S.

We also talk to a lot of the buyers at our bigger accounts like Ulta and Sephora. What do you see as far as white space and opportunity? Where is the gap? What is moving quickly on your end? Conversations like that. We want them to feel invested in us so we’re as interactive as possible.

COOLA has expanded beyond ultraviolet protection into blue light and environmental protection as well. Is this your innovation department at work?

Our protection heritage has evolved into blue light protection, which initially came to us from an American Association of Dermatology show around 2016. We were initially skeptical of blue light, like a lot of people were, but more and more data has been coming out about it.

We found three different labs to do independent ingredient testing on three cell cultures – white cocoa seed, Peruvian pink pepper tree, and Indian Jasmine & mangosteen, which all have the scientific data to back that they can protect against the effects of blue light exposure. Then we went to our SPF validation labs and asked them to test on blue light, which they’d never done before. We pioneered this with our third-party testing facilities to test on the finished product. We used all three at the clinical level, not the marketing level, in our Full Spectrum 360 Collection. We’re extremely confident and we trademarked the term ‘Blue Screen’ as well as ‘Digital De-stress,’ which is really the only way to protect your IP as a small brand.

Erica La Sala is a beauty writer and reporter who specializes in covering the business behind beauty. Her work has been featured in several digital publications and newsletters serving both the professional and consumer communities, including Beauty Independent, Glossy, CEW Beauty News, BeautyMatter, and Allure Magazine. She graduated from Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business with an MBA in Management Systems.