EP92. Formulating to change the beauty industry

I've just finished recording an episode with Sandra Velazquez, Formula Botanica graduate and founder of nopalera, in which we talked about her incredible brand and the way she's built it over the last year. And by the time this recording goes live, you'll already have listened to that discussion in your favorite podcast app because it was released last week. It was fabulous talking to Sandra. She is such an inspiration for all of us. But she hasn't just created a successful indie beauty brand, she's gone further than that. She has built a movement, something unstoppable. And she isn't just formulating beauty products, she's formulating change in the beauty industry. So for that reason, I wanted to jump on quickly record this super short opinion piece and challenge you to think about how you can formulate change in beauty. Too Foreign. Hi, it's Lorraine Dallmeier, chartered environmentalist, biologist and CEO of award winning online organic cosmetic formulation school Formula Botanica. I host the Green Beauty Conversations podcast and these are my green beauty opinions in which I share my takeaways from the podcast interview we released last week. In this short episode, I put forward my main thoughts on the topic we last discussed, as well as setting you a challenge to make the green beauty sector a better place. So if you listened to last week's podcast, and I'm sure you're feeling very inspired, if you did, then you'll know that Sandra shared her incredible story of graduating from Formula Botanica and then growing no palira from a kitchen table business to a brand that's generated over half a million US Dollars in its first year. Now, I walked away from our interview with many takeaways, but the one point that really stuck with me is the way that Sandra is making change. She kept hearing people tell her that Mexican products are cheap. She kept hearing people devalue her culture and her heritage. And she decided to do something about it by creating a brand that would stand strong against that prejudice. And in doing so, she created a fantastic, successful business. And it's very easy to say her formulations are great, which they are, or her brand is fantastic, which it is, or she's got great business acumen, which she does. But the secret sauce in her brand is the fact that she has a mission and that mission is bigger than herself. She is trying to formulate change. It really stood out to me in our interview that Sandra told me she has other Latino founders message her in different industries to tell her how much she inspires them and how she's almost giving them Permission to put their prices where they belong. And that's what makes her so successful. Her mission is bigger than just creating a few formulations, slapping a label on them, and selling them. She wants to change the world. Now, I've worked with thousands of beauty brand founders globally, and I can tell you this. It's the ones who have a mission, who actively want to formulate change, who see the greatest success in 2022. If you want to be a successful beauty entrepreneur, you have to have a mission. It has to be the golden thread that runs through your business and guides every decision you make. When I talk to brand founders, I find myself asking this question all the time. How do you want to change the world with your beauty brand? And I often receive the same blank answer. I want to create formulations that help people. Well, that's lovely, but how do you want to help? What are you passionate about? How are you going to change people's lives? And it's the answers to those questions that separates the unsuccessful beauty founders from the ones who soar. But more than that, it's about tapping deep into yourself to discover what you stand for. Each of us has something that drives us or interests us, or even defines us. If you want to become a formulator and start a beauty brand, how do you bring your uniqueness to your overall business concept? As this episode is airing, we are in the process of enrolling over 1000 new students at Formula Botanica for our January term time. And almost every single one of those future formulators wants to start their own beauty brand. So this is my advice for each and every one of them. Write down three words that define you. If you don't know what to write, go and ask someone close to you for advice. Now, write down the one thing that you are most passionate about. That can be a hobby you have, or your family, or a cause you feel strongly about, or your heritage or. Or the way you feel about your place in the world. Anything is fine. Now that you have those two pieces of information, think about how you can weave them into your beauty brand mission. How can you use your business to formulate change? So that's my challenge to you and the new students who are currently enrolling with us at Formula Botanica for this week, let's formulate change in the beauty industry together by creating skincare, hair care, makeup, deodorants, and any other personal care products that actually make a difference. Let's create missions that are bigger than anything we stand for as individuals that can actually change the hearts and minds and lives of the people around us through our formulations. That's exactly what our graduate Sandra is doing at nopalera, which is why she is such a rock star in the beauty industry. Every new formulator should be feeling excited by the way that they can change the world. And I cannot wait to see what the thousands of students at Formula Botanica formulate in terms of both their products and their missions as they work through their studies with us. Thank you for listening to my Green Beauty opinions. Remember to visit the Formula botanica website@formulabotanica.com to try our free online formulation course. And if you haven't subscribed yet to the Green Beauty Conversations podcast, please make sure you do so in your favorite podcast app. Leave me a five star review if you enjoy the conversations I host and I'll be back soon with my next episode.