Support black founders, and a founder bringing transparency & education to the CBD world
Hi friends 👋,
There’s finally some light at the end of the tunnel - we’ve started re-opening here in NYC. What do you look forward to the most?
In this newsletter, I cover fun, digestible retail news, spotlight diverse DTC founders, and dive into interesting consumer trends.
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Brand Hunt
I will be dedicating this section to showcase brands from Black founders for the next few weeks.
Thank you to those who nominated brands for us to feature! It’s great to see such a warm response from this community.
I’m currently in the process of putting together a larger directory of brands from diverse founders. Nominate a brand for us to feature!
GILDED: Luxury body care and marble candles.
Aya Pape Co: 100% recycled stationery brand that makes greeting cards, perfect for Father’s Day.
Beauty Bakerie: Makeup products that make you drool.
Flaunt Body: Versatile and unisex body care.
Spotlight - Davina from Element Apothec
Our main story today is about Davina, co-founder of Element Apothec, which makes plant-based wellness and body care products. You’ll hear:
Why she co-founded a plant-based wellness product company
How she differentiates in an industry that’s saturated with the word “CBD”
Davina, take us from here!
💡Aha! Moment
My great-aunt was bed-ridden with 8 auto-immune diseases. At that time, the natural organic space was very limited, so she had to create her own skincare and body care products. She created over 40 custom formulations.
My son has severe anxiety, so I had to create a lot of things from scratch rather than buying products off the shelves. My great-aunt also started giving her products to my son to alleviate anxiety.
About a year ago, I decided to build a company to share these products and knowledge with more people and to empower consumers through education and transparency in a world that’s saturated with the words “CBD” and “hemp”.
All my life I’d been looking for my “why”, my purpose in life; I’ve found it now.
💦 Differentiation in an extremely crowded space
Unfortunately, there are a lot of snake oil products out there and consumers are confused about the actual benefits of CBD. Most companies sell white-labeled products that come from the same factories.
Our biggest differentiators are our commitment to science, and our commitment to clean products.
We are really here to educate the consumers because it's an important topic. For example, they can ask our Chief Science Officer directly if they have a question.
There’s a general lack of transparency in this industry, and we want to change that status quo. We have our “never ever” promise, where we abide by the strictest rules and don’t include any of the 2,500 banned ingredients.
It’s also important to acknowledge that CBD just doesn’t work for some people; we don’t want to include CBD just because it’s on-trend.
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We’ll delve deeper into Davina’s story on Instagram Live this Thursday 4pm ET. Join us by visiting our Insta pages @storey.line or @elementapothec!
Looking Back
💡We had a great chat with Nina, Co-Founder of Hello Iris, about her founder journey on Instagram Live a couple of weeks ago. Watch a replay of our conversation.
🧘We talked about “savoring” and mindfulness in a previous newsletter, which is especially important after a tumultuous few weeks. Read the article here on how to savor positive moments to increase happiness.
Looking Ahead
I’m excited to share the lineup of incredible founders who I’ll be spotlighting in the coming weeks.
Follow us on Instagram to join live chats and events!
At StoreyLine, our mission is to empower mission-driven, daring brands to tell their inspiring stories and empower consumers to discover and connect with these brands both online and in real life.
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See you next Wednesday,
Minette