Feature in VoyageLA, March 23, 2020

We loved talking with VoyageLA! READ MORE AT VOYAGELA, and follow them for more great local Southern California content.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Christine Marie. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
We’re an intimate skincare company aimed at changing the stories women carry about their bodies, reducing suffering and bringing more joy and play into everyone’s life. The company was born out of a combination of my experiences as a woman, from early motherhood to menopause and all the times in between. It combines 30 years of study in yoga, tantra, collective trauma, plant knowledge and medicinal plants, and skin science. I started sketching it out in 2014 when I was running a startup incubator. We began with a 3,000 person survey on intimate skincare needs, so I wouldn’t blow my savings on a hunch, but base the investment on data.

In late 2017, I decided to start the company. I worked with a Los Angeles based chemist to make one product for each of the top needs in the survey, with really strict criteria around quality and effectiveness. By late 2018, we were in the market. By the end of 2019, we had 10,000 customers, plus 65 top of the line retailers. It’s been growing in the double digits each quarter, beyond our expectations. We hope to be the bedside favorite of millions of women and restore intimate wellness to body care!

Has it been a smooth road?
It’s been fairly easy- the pieces just came together well, and the right team at the right time. One challenge was that women’s wellness faces a lot of algorithmic biases in online advertising that we’ve had to negotiate and navigate- that made getting the word out in the first six months harder than necessary. We make in Los Angeles, but our glass comes from Italy, and our gift boxes and tubes from Asia, and we have had some supply chain hiccups that were really really frustrating. Getting service providers who will pay attention to a small firm and own the results, not just activity, that was interesting. But for the most part, it’s been great timing.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
This is an emerging industry sector. In ten years, intimate wellness, which includes sexual wellness, will be normalized and personalized in a way it’s not today. Women will find it much easier to talk about their needs and experiences, know what’s normal, how to find self-help, and when to lean into healthcare professionals.