Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in skin care but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Astrid Makenzi, Founder of Astria Skincare, located in North Carolina, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Astria Skincare is a holistically inclined skincare business owned & operated by a Licensed Esthetician and Holistic Skin Expert. Our products are designed to bring healthy and harmonious results to all skin types, even the most sensitive and acne prone while using the most effective ingredients that are fair-trade and sustainably sourced.

Tell us about yourself

Hi, my name is Astrid Makenzi, and I'm the owner of Astria Skincare! I have loved skincare since I was young and have always had a passion for pure plant ingredients. I own a holistic skin studio called The Holisitica Hive in Clayton, NC, where I perform holistic skin treatments on all skin types & tones, even the most sensitive and acne-prone skin! When I decided to get my Esthetician License in 2019, I was struggling with Lyme Disease, which truly changed my life in so many ways. As a young woman, I was struggling with severe nerve pain, arthritis, brain fog, and so much more, and because of all of the medications I was put on for my disease, my skin suffered as well. After much trial and error, I decided to pursue my passion in skin care in hopes that I would be able to cure my own skin struggles and learn to truly help others with their skin along the way. This journey is what led me to develop and create my own skincare products & line, Astria Skincare. Every single day I am motivated by the clients & customers who have benefitted from my products and have seen improvements in their own skin struggles!

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

I just officially launched my first product, the Harmonizing Pear Cleanser, for Astria Skincare in June 2022. Right now, I am still in awe of the finished product. It took over two years to nail down the right formula and work with chemists to make sure the product met all of my expectations in terms of ingredients, shelf stability, sustainability, etc. I went through countless amounts of packaging, label and branding design, and so much more to get our finished product into a bottle and ready for purchase, and I did that all on my own! So it's a pretty big accomplishment, and I'm so excited to see what more there is to come.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Timelines. You cannot control other people's schedules or how long it's going to take for someone to get back to you, and so timelines are sometimes out of our hands, especially when you start a business in the middle of a pandemic. A lot of things can be held up by one tiny detail (i.e., waiting for a supplier to get back to you on packaging quantities or having your chemist make a small change to a formula), but I've learned to have a lot of patience throughout the process because things will fall into place as they're meant to.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Have a true passion for the business you want to build; if you truly believe in what you're doing, then you will attract the audience you want!
  2. Keep what you're doing to yourself (don't share your big dreams with everyone, manifest them on your own)! You are starting this journey; keep your focus on things you can control and eliminate outside opinions because that will slow you down!
  3. Do the little (big) things first. Make sure you do all of the things like filing your business entity, purchasing a web domain, opening a bank account, organizing all of your legal documents, etc. The more organized you are from the beginning, the easier it will be!

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.astriaskincare.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/astriaskin/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astriaskin/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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