On this episode of the podcast, I chat with Mary Futher from Kaia Naturals.

When Mary Futher started reading the ingredients of her makeup remover wipes, she was shocked to discover that they were full of low-quality petro chemicals. 

She had always been concerned about the ingredients in her skincare products and was aware of their environmental impact, but the inexpensive makeup remover wipes had never really struck her as a problem. 

Little did she know, these seemingly innocuous wipes were actually laden with harmful chemicals that could be polluting the environment and damaging our health.

That's when Mary had an idea: what if she could create something better than those traditional makeup remover wipes? 

After doing extensive market research and gathering feedback from friends and family members, Mary decided to take the leap and start her own business creating organic, eco-friendly makeup removal products. 

And over the next few years, thanks to hard work and determination, Mary succeeded in building a successful brand called Kaia Naturals known for its clean, toxin-free beauty products. 

If you want to hear the full story of how Mary started her Clean Beauty Business, tune in!

In 2010, she left the corporate world and founded her own beauty brand, Kaia Naturals which has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, and The New York times.

Her products such as her charcoal natural deodorants, have also won numerous awards from MindBodyGreen, NYLON magazine and is an Allure Reader’s Choice Awards nominee.

She is a wealth of knowledge, a true veteran of the beauty industry & a total visionary who created Kaia out of a desire to see cleaner beauty on the market.

I know you’re going to love this episode with Mary.

She is a total inspiration and was absolutely fabulous guest to connect with.

Go follow Kaia online at https://kaianaturals.com/ or find them at @kaianaturals

Take a peek at my prep notes for the show!

RAPID FIRE

• Where did you grow up?

• How many hours of sleep do you get per night?

• One thing you do every single day that’s non-negotiable?

• Is there a beauty product you couldn’t live without?

BEFORE LAUNCHING KAIA

• What were you up to in the years leading up to launching Kaia Naturals?

• Where or when did you get inspired to start something up on your own?

• Was entrepreneurship always something you aspired to get into?

• Do you think it’s important to work for another company before launching your own, in order to learn the ropes, or could you have jumped into this straight away?

LAUNCHING KAIA

• Tell us about Kaia Naturals

• What were some of the first steps you took in order to bring your products + brand to life?

• How did you know who your target market would be & what type of person was going to be interested in Kaia Naturals?

• What type of support did you need to enlist to get Kaia up & running? Did you hire anyone to help (part of full time) in the early days?

• How much time was spent planning and crafting the formulas?

• How did you launch, walk us through some of the first steps you took to market the products & make sales!

• You have many stockists, among them Anthropologie, Free People, Credo Beauty, The Bay, Detox Market & many more, can you share the journey of how you pitch to retailers, what it’s like to work with them & any tips for anybody looking to get a product into stores in the near future?

• How did you decide on a name?

BUSINESS SPECIFIC

• What’s the best part about running your business?

• Who is a business person, or business you look up to?

• What tool, object or ritual could you not live without in running your own business?

• Have you run into any major roadblocks through this process that almost derailed your vision

• If you only had 1 hour per week to work on “marketing your products” what would you do in that hour?

DAILY OPERATIONS / DAY IN THE LIFE

• What does a day / week in the life look like for you at this point

• What’s challenging about your role with Kaia right now?

• When you feel stuck, uninspired or unmotivated, what do you do to shake the mood?

BEAUTY / PRODUCT INFO

• You’ve been quoted saying ““I believe you don’t need more products, you need better products”. What do you mean by this?

• I first saw you speak at our mutual friend Charlotte Singmin’s Yoga Retreat, and you talked about the detoxification that happens when people switch from conventional to natural deodorant. Can you share more about that?

• For someone looking to start with 1 or 2 of your products, which ones would you suggest?

• What makes Kaia Naturals unique from other skincare brands on the market? 

• What type of Ingredients do you use & not use?

• Any other products coming down the pipeline? 

• For people who are still using conventional shampoo, deodorant & cleansing towels, why might the want to shift to Kaia Naturals