Hi friends 👋,
Happy Wednesday!
Super excited that Kamala Harris, a Black and Asian American, became the first Woman of Color to be nominated for VP! With all that's happened in the last couple of months, her nomination is a beacon of hope to us at StoreyLine and our community. Representation matters, let's do this!
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In today’s edition:
✨ The story of Pam Phinney and her company, Plainville Homestead, a bath, skincare, and body care company.
👀 Interesting new DTC brands we’ve discovered
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Spotlight - Pam Phinney & Plainville Homestead
Our main story today is about Pam Phinney and her company, Plainville Homestead. Every entrepreneur has an origin story, but Pam’s pretty unique. She started her own bath, body, and skincare company when her beekeeper ex-husband left her 200 pounds of honey.
Pam, take us from here*.
🚊 How I started Plainville Homestead
My ex-husband is a beekeeper, and he left me 200 pounds of honey. I asked myself: “What do I do with all this honey?”.
I decided to make something out of it, so I first started selling honey and then started making body scrubs. The rest is history.
As I started making skincare and body care products, I learned more about the chemical processes behind making the products possible.
I realized that there’s a lot of greenwashing in this space and that there's a lot of fear-mongering. I want to educate the consumers: “not organic” does not mean “dangerous”.
💡 What makes Plainville special
I make high-quality products at an accessible price; I want to make simple skincare products, where customers don't need to buy a lot of stuff.
I stick with simple ingredients and list all the ingredients. Some indie brands don't make their ingredients public in order to protect their formula, but I don’t want to do that.
Consumers should know what goes into the products. I want to educate consumers on the chemical processes that take place and encourage them to ask questions.
💦 Biggest challenge
My biggest challenges are juggling work and taking care of my son, and to increase Plainville’s brand awareness.
I’m a single mother. The truth is, I don’t get a whole lot of sleep. I work a lot at night after my son goes to bed, and also do my best to get work done when he’s not with me.
*Answers adapted and condensed from a conversation with Pam.
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We’ll be doing a chat on Instagram Live tomorrow (August 13) at 3pm ET. Join us by visiting our Insta pages @storey.line or @plainvillehomestead!
We are also doing a surprise giveaway of their Day Drink body scrub. According to Pam, the scent vibe is “a mouthwatering, fruity burst that will delight your senses with notes of wine, berries, Prosecco, sangria, and citrus”. Yum.
Brand Hunt
Eat & Drink:
Bokksu: Discover Japan through snacks
Amlu Foods: Argan oil organic nut butter
Magic Spoon: Cereals for grownups
Athletic Brewing Co: Non-alcoholic craft beer
Good Now Farms: Single-origin chocolate sourced directly from Latin America
At StoreyLine, we empower socially conscious brands and consumers to connect more efficiently through a unique, experiential marketplace both online and offline.
See you next week!