№1 — From beginning to end, what would you say your favorite part of your day is? OR What brings you the most inspiration and/or joy throughout your day-to-day life?
My top two love languages are quality time and touch, so by far my favorite part of the day is winding down at the end of the work day with my dog and my husband. We usually go on an evening walk together and recap the day, and then read in bed with our dog snuggled up in between us.
№2 — What inspired you to start Three Ships Beauty?
It all started when a mutual friend introduced me to my co-founder, Laura. We were both 23 at the time and recent university graduates. She was looking to create a natural makeup remover and wanted to find someone to share her product idea with. My friend recalled that I had been a natural beauty lover since elementary school, and recommended we meet. In that first meeting, we bonded over how we couldn’t afford high-quality natural beauty products. Brands were often charging over $100 for a moisturizer, and being recent grads, this was completely out of our budget. At the same time, when we’d venture to our local drugstore to peruse the skincare aisles, we discovered that products were just greenwashed and full of chemicals we didn’t trust to use on our skin. This sparked our idea to create an accessible natural beauty brand that was actually efficacious and actually affordable. With our total combined savings of $4,000, we set out on a mission to create the most effective natural beauty brand in the world.
№3 — What has been your proudest moment with Three Ships Beauty as you have seen it grow over the years?
Seeing the impact our products have on our customers’ skin and confidence is always the thing that makes me proudest. I read every single review that our customers write for us. My favorite reviews are the ones that talk about how after using our skincare products, they feel confident enough to leave the house foundation-free. A close second proudest moment would be when we appeared on CBC’s Dragons’ Den (Canada’s version of Shark Tank) and received three offers from four of the dragons! A definite pinch-me bucketlist moment!
№4 — What has been the hardest challenge you have had to overcome as a young female entrepreneur, and what did you learn from it?
When Laura was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of 26. It was just the two of us working on Three Ships at the time, and it was the scariest most tumultuous time of our lives. Not only was she my business partner, but we had also become best friends by this point. Luckily, she survived a 10-hour brain surgery and was able to make a full recovery (right at the start of the covid pandemic!).
Before Laura’s diagnosis, we put our lives on pause and put everything we had into growing our business. We turned down opportunities to spend time with friends and family, and to focus on our health, with the belief that our 20’s were made for grinding it out in our jobs. Laura’s health scare put into perspective that life is so precious and short, and reminded us to focus on the present, our health, and that life is so much more than just work.
№5 — What is one piece of advice you would give to those wanting to begin a business or take their career one step further?
Learn to sell. This is such an important skill, especially for an entrepreneur. Not only are you selling your products to customers, but you also need to sell the vision of your company to future employees, sell your idea to investors, and also “sell” the mission to yourself on a regular basis when things are tough (to push through).
№6 — What inspired you to get into wellness yourself, and furthermore make your company sustainably sourced?
I was always interested in wellness from a very young age, having been inspired by my mother. I recall she made us use plant-based shampoo bars when I was a child, back when all I wanted to use was “normal kid shampoo” like Pantene! She brought me to local farmers’ markets and introduced me to the healing power of plants. Along the way, this interest expanded into other forms of wellness, including meditation, yoga, and self-development.
Sustainability has always been a core pillar of Three Ships, even when it was a side hustle born out of my apartment kitchen. Laura and I believe that being a natural brand with good-for-you products means we need to also do good for the planet. We use upcycled ingredients in our formulations, which are waste byproducts from other industries (like willowbark extract from the lumber industry, or bruised avocados from the fruit industry), 100% recyclable packaging, and only launch products requested by our customers, thereby reducing waste by only launching products that are actually needed by our audience.
Check out @threeshipsbeauty