With a focus on Greater Philadelphia small businesses and entrepreneurs, "The Creators" is a weekly feature presented by PHL Inno. Check back each Monday for a new profile on a local business. Have a story you think we should know about? Email associate editor Lisa Dukart at ldukart@bizjournals.com.
When Mary Katherine Schenkel and Suzanne Zelov met over 17 years ago, they probably didn’t envision they’d one day be running a pair of businesses together. But that’s what happened.
Over the ensuing years, the two women shared just about everything with one another, including their skincare woes. “At this point in our lives, we have tried almost everything that's out there, barring surgery,” Schenkel, a Phoenixville resident, said. Constantly searching for the elusive perfect skincare regimen that also didn’t require ample time, both discovered they were having success with topical products containing cannabidiol, or CBD, a compound found in cannabis plants.
Thinking they were onto something, in 2018 the longtime friends started their first endeavor, a women’s skincare brand called Sweet & Kind Co. Unlike other CBD products on the market, they wanted to include ingredients in their line like vitamins A, C and E, plus peptides. The brand officially launched in 2019.
In creating the line, they wanted to focus not only on ingredients, but a skincare routine that would require just a few steps to accommodate busy lifestyles. The line, targeted to women 40 and over, includes a serum, moisturizer and a muscle cream which sell for $42 to $68.
The products are manufactured in the United States through a good manufacturing practice facility and processed through a dedicated fulfillment center.
While CBD had been the focus, the company is getting ready to launch new products this spring which will not contain the ingredient. Those include two sugar body scrubs and a body lotion. The company will also undergo rebranding.
While both women had experience as entrepreneurs – Schenkel had a children’s clothing line she launched when her daughter was born and Zelov, who lives in Villanova, had a children’s hat business – neither had any experience in skincare. Rather, they had experience in product branding and advertising, and visual merchandising, respectively, which helped the line take off.
Almost immediately after launching Sweet & Kind, they began discussing ideas for a men’s brand, which eventually became Young Buck Skin.
Today the businesses are located in Wayne and the women self-funded both. Despite that, they haven’t ruled out seeking investors down the road to scale.
While Young Buck could have been ready as early as the end of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic delayed their plans. Debuting in fall 2021, the six-month-old company offers a facial lotion, body wash, beard oil, and skin balm which retail for $22 to $28.
The men’s line was driven largely by scent profiles, while eschewing synthetic ingredients. The founders worked with a scent and essential oil blender, choosing three signature ones to start, which vary from mild to more robust.
“Fresh No. 4 is a little lighter. It's got a citrus cedar, still with a little bit of spice to it, but it's citrusy,” Schenkel said. “Sexy No. 6 is very sort of woodsy, spicy,” she said, adding that it has notes sandalwood, cypress and black pepper. It is considered their “middle ground” scent in the collection. The most robust is Rugged No. 9 which has tones of vanilla and tobacco.
“With this brand we also wanted to have some fun,” Zelov said, which has really come into play through marketing efforts and the names of the scents and products like Face it Man and Unnecessary Roughness.
The line is targeted at men ages 25 to 50 and has been almost exclusively purchased by men. Sales for all three scents have been equal so far, but the body wash is an early frontrunner in terms of products, they said.
Both brands are primarily direct to consumer, though they are stocked at some stores and they will look to expand offerings in the future.
The goal with both Sweet & Kind and Young Buck Skin is to highlight self-care, which has grown exponentially throughout the pandemic. As they continue to grow the brands, Schenkel and Zelov will explore new product offerings and already have their eyes on product development for Young Buck.
“There's a demand for natural men's deodorants. We're looking into that,” Zelov said. Schenkel added that they are also considering small batch bar soap.
As they look to grow one skincare business on the heels of another, they both agree they won’t be launching anymore anytime soon. For the moment, two is the perfect number.
Why men’s skincare?
SZ: There's sort of a stigma with men where they can't have anything complicated. Men, I think, don't realize how they need to take care of their skin like we do. And so we wanted to create products that were very effective on the skin. … They have skin, they need to take care of it. So that was important for us.
Why sugar scrubs?
MKS: Suzanne and I both started trying sugar body scrubs years ago and one of the things that always killed me was that if you have one of those showers that's in a tub, and you start to use it, you're afraid you're going to slip and fall. We really do not want a scrub that is going to do that. This has some nut oils in it and it has some coconut oil and it's got some hemp seed oil. You put it on, you scrub, the sugar washes off and it stays on your skin and all you have to do is pat your skin dry. You don't even need lotion.
Will you seek investor funding in the future?
MKS: I'd say probably we're a couple years away from that. We want to see what products are going to sell, what people are responding to and tighten that up a good bit with Young Buck. We're doing it now with Sweet & Kind. We're still just kind of looking at it like, let's see what people really like. What do our customers want from us more than anything?
