0:32

I'm very much a balanced person . I

0:34

don't like to sway one way or the other

0:36

on anything . I

0:39

want to have my lashes done , I

0:41

wanna do my makeup sometimes and

0:44

I wanna go get dirty too . I wanna go play

0:46

outside and

0:49

I go back and forth with things and

0:51

I love that by the way .

0:53

Thank you .

0:54

So I was having this irritation

0:56

with like , okay , I want to integrate

0:59

this part of myself , you

1:01

know , this more sustainably geared

1:04

, environmentally minded

1:06

person into

1:08

how I like to care for myself . And

1:11

there's a problem Like shampoo

1:13

bars at that time were mainly

1:15

soap and I had

1:17

tried them on my hair and my hair freaked

1:19

out and I

1:23

was going through all these plastic bottles and I wasn't

1:26

happy about that . So I

1:28

started with these very , very simple

1:30

ingredients Shea

1:32

butters , whipped them up , threw

1:34

in some essential oils and

1:37

some other oils and flaxseed gel

1:39

and that was it . And then that

1:41

became a problem because I was living in

1:43

a van . So it's like I'd

1:46

have to go mess up my friend's kitchen to

1:50

pick my hair product . And

1:52

then it's like , okay , where do I store this ? Like

1:54

I'm in a van and

1:57

I'd have like my cooler . And

1:59

I started off in a Toyota

2:01

Minivan , a 97 Toyota Minivan

2:03

. That was my original van life experience

2:06

. Okay , the engine blew on that thing

2:08

. That was heartbroken .

2:12

You're such a badass . Thank you , Thank you . I

2:18

remember when I was a dad , times

2:20

were hard and things were bad . There's a

2:23

silver lining behind every

2:25

bow , Just

2:27

for people . That's all . We were trying

2:29

to make a living on a black lander . We

2:32

put together in a family circle singing

2:35

now .

2:36

During the summer of 2017

2:39

, while working as a park ranger

2:41

in Zion National Park , dominique

2:43

Taylor began experimenting with

2:45

natural ingredients in an effort

2:47

to care better for her hair and

2:50

for her environment . As a biracial

2:52

woman who values eco-friendly , sustainably

2:55

sourced products , dominique quickly

2:57

recognized the absence of sustainable

3:00

, high quality products designed

3:02

for ethnic hair that was available in the market

3:04

In 2020 , with

3:07

a mission of offering a cleaner , greener

3:09

and more effective product to those

3:11

with curly and ethnic hair , dominique

3:14

launched Consciously Curly Company

3:16

. Today , consciously Curly

3:19

Company offers several different self-care

3:21

product lines , many of which have

3:23

been created around the unique hydrating

3:25

, growth-promoting and strengthening

3:28

properties found in a variety of

3:30

different mushroom species . On

3:32

episode 44 of Bend magazines

3:34

, the circling podcast , join

3:36

me and my friend , dominique Taylor as

3:39

she shares her story of landing in

3:41

Bend , oregon , the level of hustle

3:43

required to work a full-time job in healthcare

3:46

and start a haircare business , and

3:48

her future goals for 2024

3:50

and beyond . Yo , dominique

3:52

, it's been said that to be a genius

3:55

is to be able to put into effect that which

3:57

is in your mind as an idea . I

3:59

think this might be right and I'm pretty

4:01

sure you are , in fact , a genius

4:03

. Bend

4:06

magazines , the circling podcast , is

4:08

proud to be associated with Nota . Since

4:10

adding visual show notes on Nota , feedback

4:13

from listeners has been extremely positive

4:16

. Visit Nota at notafm

4:20

and experience how Nota takes

4:22

you beyond the episode and makes podcasts

4:24

even better with visual show notes

4:26

. The

4:29

circling podcast can now be found on

4:31

Patreon . Visit our page

4:33

and learn how a percentage of your financial

4:35

support will support local nonprofits

4:38

and the continued growth of local

4:40

community podcasting . Become

4:42

a member and learn about this unique opportunity

4:45

at patreoncom . Forward

4:47

slash the circling podcast . Lastly

4:51

, remember to stay tuned after the

4:53

show credits to hear from Dominique as

4:55

she contributes to our Blank Canvas

4:57

community art project that explores

5:00

the magic found in art embedded

5:02

with me . Thank

5:04

you for watching

5:14

. I'm

5:35

going to be doing a little bit

5:37

of a video about something I created

5:39

in this magazine . I

5:43

didn't mean to cut you off . What were you saying ? I

5:58

was just thinking about what

6:00

I created , and that's just like blowing my mind .

6:03

Good , you deserve it , this , erica Badu .

6:09

I'm a big fan of the music I created in my school . It's the year

6:11

I moved to Salt Lake City to

6:13

snowboard and I listened to this album

6:16

all the way from North Idaho to

6:18

Salt Lake City . Are

6:24

you serious ?

6:26

How do I never know ? This

6:31

is a true story .

6:32

I listen to it . Music , especially

6:35

prior

6:37

to it , digitized , when it was still

6:40

fairly analog was a

6:43

little more challenging to consume

6:46

. Therefore

6:48

, I think you had less

6:50

variety . So there were certain songs

6:52

that resonated with

6:54

certain seasons of life , and

6:57

that still happens . You

7:01

don't have to go buy CDs or even

7:04

have subscription , it's just easy

7:06

. There are certain albums like

7:08

this album

7:10

. I have a ton of Tom Petty albums that

7:13

play that role too , I

7:17

was so hyped when you were like Erica Badu , Plus I

7:19

lived in Utah and you have too Not

7:23

many Erica Badu fans that I've come

7:25

across in Utah . How about

7:27

?

7:28

in Bend ? Not

7:30

much . No , I don't think I've ever had

7:34

an Erica Badu conversation in Bend

7:37

or in Bend I

7:39

thought we could just start about it .

7:41

It's fun .

7:43

My favorite artist of all time I think I

7:45

also put in that question is Tosh Sultana

7:47

. Erica Badu is a big inspiration

7:50

for them . When

7:52

I found that out too , I was just like yes

7:54

, because Erica Badu is one of those people that if

7:56

you know of

7:58

her music , you're a fan Absolutely

8:01

.

8:04

For me . I think what drew me to

8:06

her back then was there was parallels

8:08

with Lauryn Hill . The

8:14

inspiration behind the lyrics is very

8:16

powerful .

8:22

That's rad .

8:24

Hi Dominique , hey Adam

8:26

, I'm hyped to see you . I've been looking forward

8:28

to this .

8:29

Me too .

8:30

How are you Good ? How's your hustle

8:32

factor ?

8:34

I'm on that hustle game . For sure I'm

8:38

going , going , going . But

8:40

I have a vision , I have

8:42

a plan . I'm just trying

8:44

to follow it through and

8:46

trying

8:49

to make the most of it in the meantime .

8:53

What else is going on in life ? Are you still working ? I

8:56

work full time .

8:58

I run consciously Curly Co . I'm

9:01

so passionate about that and

9:04

I definitely want to be spending

9:06

more time doing that .

9:09

And you're still working at the VA . Love

9:11

it .

9:12

But I work full time at the VA as well

9:14

which is a good environment for me . It's

9:16

fun .

9:17

Yeah .

9:18

I like the people I work with . I like my schedule

9:20

.

9:21

Tell people kind of the general summary

9:23

of what you do at the VA .

9:25

So I'm what they call an advanced

9:27

medical support

9:29

assistant . So it's

9:31

kind of your typical behind the scenes administrative

9:34

stuff like scheduling , communicating

9:36

with the community

9:39

, getting records . A lot of similar is when

9:41

we were working together .

9:42

Yeah , I tell your story

9:45

a lot to people about

9:47

your hair products and your

9:50

hustle and your

9:52

energy and your vulnerability

9:54

, and yeah

9:57

, so I was excited . You

9:59

know , every one of these podcasts I

10:01

do , I try to start

10:03

with like why , what's the why behind

10:05

this episode ? And you

10:08

know , and I try to share a story . In

10:10

your case , you know it's , it's

10:12

. I know you personally , but I'm

10:14

also a fan of you on

10:17

a professional level , thank

10:19

you , and which made it fun

10:22

, because I love telling the stories

10:24

behind cool brands , which

10:28

really means telling the story of the person

10:30

behind that cool brand , especially in its early

10:32

stages , which means

10:34

that I get to tell a story

10:37

about the you

10:39

. Who's the cool , rad person behind a

10:41

rad brand . Thank you , and I get to hear

10:43

it from you because I've heard pieces of it but

10:45

I haven't heard it like kind

10:47

of the whole story arc . Yeah , and

10:50

there's and I know I've recommended

10:52

books to you in the past , but I was

10:54

reading this one earlier this week the

10:58

story brand . I think the guy's name is

11:00

Don Miller and he was talking

11:02

about you know , there's a lot of different marketing

11:04

strategies and business and startup

11:07

, but kind of using a story

11:09

arc approach , especially like many

11:13

brands , oftentimes the product of the

11:15

brand is the hero of the marketing campaign

11:18

, whereas his argument is

11:20

your customer should be the hero of

11:22

your brand . And that

11:24

seems very , very authentic

11:27

with kind of your brand , you

11:29

know , especially after talking to the people that

11:32

I talked with this week which was rad . That's

11:34

a huge compliment . So I

11:36

thought you know you're

11:38

the story , dominique

11:41

Taylor , and your story

11:43

, you know , is a great one

11:45

, from what I've learned , and it starts . I

11:47

thought we could start it with your childhood

11:49

friend , francis .

11:51

Oh , you talked to .

11:52

Francis .

11:52

I did .

11:54

So we actually grew up in Northern California

11:56

like a very small

11:58

town , a very small town in Shasta

12:00

County , and oftentimes

12:02

people say there are more cows than people in the

12:04

town and I think that's probably true

12:06

, like that's probably accurate

12:09

. So , yeah , very small town

12:11

, very conservative town , and

12:13

that's how we met and have just been friends

12:15

ever since . Meeting her at that time

12:18

was so meaningful for me and

12:20

like , especially like in hindsight , like feeling

12:22

so , feeling so isolated

12:25

and alone in that area

12:27

and having like this

12:29

incredible friendship and bond with

12:31

Dominique who , as you know , is just this amazing

12:33

person , it

12:36

really helped me a lot get through that time

12:38

. So after

12:40

high school , dominique

12:43

moved to Utah and Dominique

12:46

has always been someone who's very creative

12:48

and also very connected to just like the

12:50

earth and the outdoors , very

12:53

passionate about the outdoors , also

12:56

like very science minded , like very

12:58

much like just a very

13:00

intelligent person and very

13:02

scientific in how

13:06

she , even as a young adult , was thinking about

13:08

, like her positionality and

13:10

her position in the world and

13:12

climate change and the impact that

13:14

she was having on the environments . Those

13:17

were all things that really early on

13:19

in life she was talking about and thinking

13:21

about following graduation after

13:23

moving to Utah really getting

13:25

more connected to , like the location

13:28

there , the environment there , the community there

13:30

. Also , I think , struggling

13:33

to find products

13:35

that were marketed

13:37

towards her and the type of hair that she had

13:39

, feeling really isolated in

13:41

Utah , not seeing a lot of people around

13:43

her that looks like her . So

13:47

I think all of those things from

13:49

talking to her were like pieces

13:51

of inspiration for her to create consciously

13:54

curly co . I can't think of

13:56

a period in Dominique's life where she wasn't

13:58

grinding and she wasn't just

14:00

putting her all into everything she

14:02

could . Truly , she's

14:04

incredibly resilient , like maybe one of

14:07

the most resilient people I know . She's

14:09

been through so much and has

14:12

come out , like on the other side

14:14

, just so strong

14:17

and motivated and

14:19

compassionate and empathetic

14:21

and loving . It's

14:24

really cool to see . I'm

14:26

just so thrilled at

14:29

all the amazing things she's doing and love the

14:31

idea of just amplifying it more

14:33

.

14:42

Wow , that's special .

14:45

Yeah , you have some remarkable

14:47

people in your life that love you a lot

14:49

.

14:49

I'm very lucky .

14:51

Yeah .

14:55

Yeah , that girl has seen me through everything

14:58

, so that's really cool yeah

15:01

.

15:01

I'm glad I was able to get in touch with her .

15:03

Me too , yeah , yeah .

15:06

Cottonwood .

15:06

California . I wasn't anticipating

15:08

this

15:11

, no one ever is .

15:12

That's what's so fun about it . Wow , yeah

15:16

, yeah , I

15:19

don't even want to say I just want to get a box of

15:21

tissues in here .

15:23

Wow , she

15:26

just sums it up all really well and

15:30

she's just held

15:32

my hand through everything . Yeah

15:37

, so she's a professor at Sac State

15:39

.

15:39

She's so just amazing to talk

15:41

to and listen to , totally Listen to

15:44

. Is it sociology ? Is

15:46

that what she did ?

15:47

Yeah , so social work

15:49

.

15:49

Social work yeah , yeah , yeah , social work , yeah

15:51

. Psychology yeah , that's

15:53

cool .

15:54

Yeah .

15:55

I mean so . You

15:57

grew up in a very small town in rural

15:59

Northern California Even smaller than

16:01

Reading so we usually just say Reading

16:04

because it's what people know

16:06

.

16:06

But I grew up in Cottonwood , so

16:09

I grew up in this tiny little gated community

16:11

and

16:14

truly I had one

16:16

black neighbor . I thought it was my

16:18

grandma . One morning I was standing

16:20

at the bus stop and I

16:22

see this black lady coming down the road

16:24

and I was like that's my grandma . I

16:27

sprinted to her and was like grandma

16:29

Wasn't my grandma . But

16:33

yeah , that's just kind of what it was

16:35

like there .

16:36

Did you get to know that woman ?

16:39

No , actually she didn't last very long yeah

16:41

.

16:43

I was , you know , I don't know when you moved

16:45

away from Cottonwood

16:48

what year it was Freshman year in high school

16:50

. So what year did you graduate

16:52

?

16:54

High school , yeah , 2011 .

16:56

Ok , so the

16:58

census of Cottonwood

17:00

, california

17:03

, in 2010 had

17:05

a population of

17:07

3,316

17:11

people and

17:14

at that point in time , according to this , there were

17:16

four African-Americans that lived there

17:18

, yeah

17:20

, so , yeah , I mean just to

17:22

you know , I just think it's incredibly

17:24

contextual that people understand

17:27

, kind of like , where you grew

17:29

up , where you're from , it's part

17:31

of your story which is , you know , part

17:34

of your brand , because you are

17:36

very much your brand which

17:38

is amazing . But

17:41

yeah , I mean , I just you

17:43

know , I'm just one . Wherever you want to

17:45

go , with that really .

17:46

Yeah , I mean , and I want to say I'm really

17:48

lucky because I know a lot

17:50

of people . I meet a lot

17:53

of mixed women . So

17:55

I'm mixed Maltese and Black . My mom's

17:57

background is from Malta and

18:00

I meet a lot of women who are

18:02

like adopted or just mainly grew

18:05

up with the not-Black side

18:07

of their family , who

18:09

didn't get to have this experience

18:12

with our culture . And I feel very lucky

18:14

because I did Like I got to go and

18:16

spend just about every summer with my

18:18

aunt , detra and Sacramento , so

18:21

she went to an all-Black church . I

18:23

grew up Seventh-day Adventist , which

18:26

is also not very dominantly

18:28

Black . But , they're just

18:30

happened to be this Seventh-day Adventist

18:32

church in Sacramento that

18:35

was dominantly Black , and I

18:37

would go and , yeah

18:39

, like I said , spend this whole summer with her and just

18:42

really get to be enveloped

18:45

in that culture . Go to cookouts

18:48

. Go to get my hair done

18:50

. These things are such a big deal in the Black

18:52

community and really valued

18:55

. So I learned a lot

18:57

from her and I'm just really grateful . I

19:00

feel like that's something that would have been

19:02

missing in my life . And

19:05

it's interesting to

19:08

when I would be in school

19:10

, I was definitely the Black girl . Then

19:13

I'd go to Sacramento and

19:15

I was more like the White girl

19:17

because I'm mixed . And

19:19

so there is this thing within the

19:21

Black community of

19:24

shade . I guess skin

19:26

color , lightness , darkness , and anyway

19:30

, it's just been really interesting

19:32

to have this experience and have this brand

19:34

where I can connect with all of these

19:36

different women with these different experiences

19:39

. And there's this

19:41

thing that unifies us and it's our hair

19:43

. It's

19:45

amazing and

19:48

it's just important to each of us

19:50

, no matter what our background is . It's

19:52

just this thing that has

19:54

carried on , I feel , through generations

19:56

and it's just

19:58

hard to really explain how important

20:01

it is .

20:02

Well , it's an ultimate common ground .

20:04

Yeah .

20:05

You know , I mean , it

20:07

takes away all the shades

20:10

of

20:12

minor differentiation

20:15

, which is great . Yeah .

20:17

Yeah .

20:18

How did your parents like ? What's the story about

20:20

how your folks landed in Cottonwood ?

20:24

That's a good question . I don't know that . I've

20:26

ever really asked . I

20:28

know my mom grew up actually in Texas

20:31

so she moved to

20:33

California from Texas when she

20:35

was really young . And

20:38

she was always really close with her sister . And

20:41

I know my aunt her name's Carmela

20:43

, but we call her Candy .

20:45

This is the one in Sacramento . No , that's my Aunt

20:47

Dettra . So this is my mom's sister . Ok

20:49

, OK .

20:51

So I think she kind of followed my Aunt Dettra

20:53

there . She had my brother

20:56

and was just kind of on her own and trying

20:59

to build a community and you know

21:01

so I think that's how she landed there

21:03

. As far as my dad ? I'm not entirely sure

21:05

.

21:05

Yeah .

21:05

His family is from Louisiana .

21:07

OK , so I'm going

21:09

to New

21:11

Orleans in February . I've never

21:13

been . Yeah , I'm excited , I'm excited for you

21:15

.

21:15

Yeah , have you been there ? Uh-uh ? Yeah , no

21:18

, it's going to be , but I know it's a rich culture

21:20

.

21:20

Yeah , I mean it's about

21:22

as far away as from Bend Oregon as

21:24

you can get Good for you . Yeah , it's

21:26

going to be fun . My wife has a conference there and

21:28

I'm tagging along .

21:30

Awesome .

21:30

Yeah , it'll be fun . After

21:32

high school and Francis

21:35

talked about it you moved to Utah

21:38

from Northern California . Talk

21:40

about that .

21:42

Yeah , I was ultimately really looking

21:44

for somewhere with tuition

21:46

for school . So I was going to Shasta

21:49

College for a

21:51

moment and there was this rumor that it was losing

21:53

its accreditation . So I had this plan

21:55

where I wanted to do the whole junior college type

21:58

thing and then transfer

22:00

.

22:00

That's what I did , yeah .

22:01

And I kind of had a freak out of like I don't want

22:03

to waste my time here . So

22:06

I actually moved to Sacramento for a

22:08

hot second and just had

22:11

fun with girlfriends who were going to Sac State

22:13

. And then I went to

22:15

Utah because at the time

22:17

the school that I went to was called

22:19

Dixie State University , which

22:22

is now . Southern

22:24

Utah .

22:24

Polytechnic . Yes , yes , which

22:26

was a whole push while I was going

22:29

to school there , yeah , but that was an interesting experience

22:31

, all kinds of change happened

22:33

when I went to school there .

22:37

But was that pretty ?

22:37

heavily Mormon . Yeah , yeah , and they

22:40

considered this area Utah's .

22:41

Dixie . Ok , so it was just like I did

22:43

not know what I was getting myself into . Ultimately , I

22:46

didn't even really know what Mormonism was . Yeah , I

22:49

was like I don't know what I was getting myself into , but when I got

22:51

into the Mormonism was . I

22:53

knew the place was beautiful and I knew

22:55

the tuition was cheap .

22:59

And I was like OK let's see how this goes .

23:02

I've always had a really big sense of adventure . Like

23:05

I like to just

23:08

dip my toes in everything .

23:09

But yeah , so that's how I wound up there . What

23:13

another area that Francis talked

23:15

about is

23:18

kind of your relationship with being outdoors

23:20

and , like who was instrumental

23:22

in kind of shaping you or exposing you to

23:25

that as a kid , or was it just a byproduct

23:27

of where you grew up ?

23:29

My dad .

23:29

Yeah .

23:31

I get emotional talking about my dad . He's

23:34

made so many mistakes

23:36

. But

23:40

you

23:48

know , when you like , when you just really feel

23:50

for someone and

23:52

you don't ever question their love

23:54

, what

24:01

the hell but

24:05

you're good but they've made just

24:08

so many mistakes and like there's

24:10

boundaries , you have to keep . Because

24:13

of that , that's

24:16

where I'm out with my dad . Yeah we

24:18

were inseparable when I was younger

24:21

, so

24:24

he was big into the

24:26

outdoors . A big

24:28

part of like Seventh-day Adventist religion

24:30

is Nature . Like

24:33

I would watch Animal Planet

24:35

every Saturday , I mean that's all I could watch

24:38

. But I just loved

24:40

it too there's worse things and

24:44

and really we

24:46

had like this limitation of what we could do on

24:48

Saturdays or Sabbath , like sundown

24:50

to sundown , right a Saturday night , saturday

24:52

night , and

24:56

so we always just ended up

24:58

playing outside , I guess , but

25:00

my grandparents lived on

25:02

, I'm gonna guess , like five acres

25:04

okay and

25:07

Anderson like way out in the sticks

25:09

and we would just go on these

25:11

like nature walks , my dad and I , and Like

25:14

kind of apply whatever we watched

25:16

on on Animal Planet

25:19

and like get our fingers stuck with

25:21

sap and just like look at spiders

25:23

and dig in pine cones and Just

25:26

I don't know , climb these trees . And so

25:29

he definitely . What's

25:33

the word ? Cultivated yeah

25:35

that curiosity of

25:38

nature . And Then

25:41

, when I was in high school , I I

25:44

wanted to get healthier , I

25:47

wanted to just be this better

25:49

version of myself . So I started convincing

25:51

my mom to go on hikes with me and

25:54

my mom's not an outdoorsy person at

25:56

all , but we

25:58

did it like we would just be these two

26:00

girls , just , you know , go and find in

26:02

some trail . We had no clue what we're doing

26:05

, but it's such

26:07

a special time to reflect on , especially

26:11

like the experience I've gained and

26:13

now you know , in the outdoors , and like

26:15

skills I've learned and yada yada

26:17

. But just how

26:19

much I had this pool always

26:22

to be out there , to the point of where I'd

26:24

convinced my mom and I mean she put up a fight

26:26

like Dominique not

26:28

want to be out here . I worked all

26:30

week . I'm like , okay

26:32

, I'm gonna go by myself then . And she

26:34

wouldn't allow that . Of course I'm like 16

26:37

year old girl , but yeah

26:41

, so I don't know . It's a combination of

26:43

my dad really

26:46

curating it and me having just this

26:48

natural pole . Yeah always to be

26:50

outside .

26:51

Yeah , and then and then

26:53

you studied biology in college

26:55

, so it was part of that , probably a natural

26:58

, like just the

27:00

trajectory set from your curiosity

27:02

, the little kids and just studying life

27:04

.

27:04

Yeah , yeah that's amazing .

27:06

Yeah yeah , I studied biology

27:09

. That that's what my undergraduate was in it

27:11

, but it was . It wasn't

27:13

for the same reason , you know . I mean

27:15

it's . It's fascinating when you get into

27:17

the . You know the , the

27:20

microscopic world of the planet

27:22

that we live on is is you

27:25

know , incredible , incredible

27:27

and and I remember in

27:29

some of the heavy science classes you just

27:31

think about the vast majority of the world

27:33

go through their entire or vast majority

27:35

of the planet . People on the planet go through their entire

27:38

kind of experience , a life , and never really

27:40

you know , never really understand

27:43

just how Complex it

27:45

is , and I know that's kind of an obvious

27:47

statement , but when you really start studying the

27:50

complexities of it , it's phenomenal

27:52

, yeah , it really is and in multiple

27:54

different areas of study . Yeah , you

27:56

know , physics , chemistry , biology

27:58

. Yeah that's stuff . It's fascinating

28:01

.

28:01

Yeah it is yeah , yeah , that's

28:04

cool .

28:05

So you also studied . I mean biology

28:08

slash environmental science , what , what were

28:10

you ? Did you have a ? Did you have kind

28:12

of an idea of what you wanted to do

28:14

?

28:14

Mm-hmm , I wanted

28:16

to be a park ranger , so

28:20

I Fell in love

28:22

with Zion National Park and I was like , okay

28:24

, well , this is right here . Like I've

28:26

got this doorway , you know , I

28:28

can do this thing .

28:32

Which is in Utah ?

28:33

yeah , yeah , so it was like 40 minutes from

28:37

St George .

28:39

Which is where you were going to school . Mm-hmm , I got

28:41

lost on a backpacking trip in Zion

28:43

.

28:43

What did you ? Yeah Well , do you remember what you were

28:45

backpacking ?

28:46

Nope West Rim maybe , uh , I

28:48

don't . It was so long ago , it was probably 1998

28:53

, it was 97 , 98 Fall

28:55

, and we went backpacking

28:57

and I just remember we got lost . We were lost

29:00

for like two days , you know . I

29:02

mean , we figured it out

29:04

, we had a general sense of where we were

29:06

, so we knew if we just walked in one direction long

29:08

enough We'd run into something . Yeah but , and

29:10

quite honestly , it was pretty fun .

29:12

It's a beautiful place , oh it's .

29:14

Ridiculous .

29:15

Yeah , man , I would love to

29:17

see Zion in the 90s .

29:19

Yeah .

29:19

Like wow , I'm sure it was so

29:22

much more just enjoyable .

29:24

The geology is insane

29:27

yeah . Yeah like otherworldly

29:29

. Yeah , you know it is , it

29:31

is .

29:31

Oh my gosh , I get chills , just

29:33

like I'm ready to go back . And

29:38

well two years . Yeah yeah .

29:42

So on your website , you

29:47

it's it . You wrote . So

29:49

there I was . I was living in southern Utah in a van , I worked in Zion National

29:51

Park , was obsessed with photography

29:54

and was going to university for biology

29:56

and environmental science . Before

30:01

you paint a clear picture of me , though , let

30:03

me let me also say this I got my lashes done like clockwork every

30:05

two weeks . I don't think living

30:07

more sustainably means sacrificing

30:09

every single aspect of your life . I

30:14

believe there is room within a sustainable lifestyle for luxuries

30:16

that make us feel our best . Consciously

30:21

curly company began as a few simple

30:23

products that I made for myself in an effort to care better for my hair and the

30:25

environment . Contextually

30:30

, like you're the , the . The problem that you were trying to solve

30:32

that is evolved into your brand was was born During

30:34

your time working as a park

30:36

ranger in Zion right , so

30:38

you know , go through the kind of the early stages

30:41

of what were . What were your first , like Ingredients

30:44

, and , and why did you do this ? And and talk about

30:46

a little bit about your I

30:49

mean . I , I would . I would imagine that a lot of your

30:51

Convictions

30:56

with sustainability and environmentally friendly

30:58

Ego products

31:00

comes from your Education

31:03

and understanding about the delicate

31:06

balance of life you know , yeah

31:08

, so talk a little bit about that yeah , so . Yeah

31:12

, I was living in my van .

31:14

So I would go and work in

31:16

Zion For like three

31:18

, four days out of the week and I just camp

31:21

out in my van while I was

31:23

doing that and then I'd go back home and stay

31:25

with friends , like on the weekend in St George and Girls

31:29

with curly hair . People with curly

31:31

hair go through a lot of

31:34

product . I'm not even

31:37

exaggerating when I'd say I was going through you

31:41

know five , six , maybe seven , eight plastic

31:46

bottles of Product , whether shampoo , curl

31:48

creams , gels , like . There's an array that we use

31:50

right in the hair

31:56

every month , every month and a half . So educate

31:58

me a little bit about some of the like differences

32:00

between ethnic hair and like

32:04

.

32:04

Caucasian hair in terms of its Propensity

32:08

to hydrate and hold hydration , because there's different

32:10

. There's massive differences

32:13

there from what I was reading . Yeah , really what

32:17

? It comes down to is your hair's porosity . So there

32:19

are .

32:23

Look at that higher porosity . You

32:29

did your homework . Yes

32:32

, I'd never even heard of that term . Yeah , yeah , so higher porosity

32:36

. So

32:38

, as I'm saying it comes

32:40

down to Porosity like

32:42

there are people outside of the black

32:44

community that have Black

32:49

texture , or like ethnic For lack of

32:52

better words textured hair . Yeah , because it's all it has to

32:54

do with the hair follicle . Yeah

32:58

, yeah , it has to do with the

33:00

follicle and the cuticle and

33:02

how open that cuticle is

33:04

or how close the cuticle is and , like you're

33:06

saying , well , I'm not sure how close the cuticle

33:09

is and , like you're saying

33:11

, like the shape of the follicle . So

33:13

I've

33:15

learned Through this I

33:18

used to think it was more like black and white

33:20

and I've learned there

33:22

are a lot of people

33:25

outside of the black community who have

33:27

the same texture but

33:29

don't have the same skills and don't have

33:31

like the same Teachers

33:33

. I guess , you know , like they didn't have these

33:36

grandma's and aunties

33:38

and all these people to show them how to

33:40

care for their hair .

33:42

And when you say care for their hair , and when you were

33:44

going through eight bottles of product , is

33:46

that to keep your hair Hydrated

33:49

, because it dries out quicker ?

33:52

Is that the main living in St George

33:54

? Yeah , like there's so many , so it's not I

33:57

mean styling is part of it but a lot of

33:59

.

33:59

It is just the actual health and comfort

34:01

.

34:01

Yeah , yeah and , and there are so

34:04

many things that come into play , like you

34:06

, the ingredients used

34:08

, like humectants . So kind

34:10

of to take it back to what you were asking

34:13

me earlier is like , how did this thing start

34:15

right ? Like , and they started very simply , I

34:18

was just slapping on shea butter

34:20

and , like

34:22

most black people have had

34:24

their experience with some shea butter like cocoa

34:27

butter , shea butter all day so

34:29

I was like , okay , I

34:31

know this will do something . And

34:34

then I started learning about making stuff

34:36

out of natural ingredients , like flax

34:38

seed . You can boil flax seed

34:40

and make a gel . Like you

34:43

boil it , you squeeze the seeds through

34:45

some type of cloth and you get

34:47

a gel and it's

34:49

. It works pretty good . But

34:52

you leave that under your counter

34:54

and you got a whole .

34:54

Another issue mold and right

34:57

, it's got a definite shelf life .

34:59

Yeah , yeah so and

35:01

it doesn't exactly like create the same

35:03

effect , you know , as these

35:06

more luxurious Lee

35:08

crafted products do . Right , and

35:11

I wanted that , like I'm

35:14

very much a balanced person .

35:16

Yeah .

35:16

I don't like to sway one way or the other

35:18

on anything yeah . I Want

35:21

to have my lashes done totally . I want

35:24

to do my makeup sometimes and

35:26

I want to go get dirty too , like I want to go play

35:28

outside . So

35:30

and I like go back and forth with things

35:32

and I love that .

35:34

Thank you .

35:36

So I was having this like irritation

35:38

with , like , okay , I want to integrate

35:41

this part of myself you

35:43

know , this more sustainably geared

35:46

, environmentally minded

35:48

person into

35:50

how I like to care for myself . And there's

35:53

a problem like shampoo bars

35:56

at that time were mainly soap

35:58

and I had tried them

36:00

on my hair and my hair freaked out

36:02

and I

36:04

Was going through all these

36:06

plastic bottles and I wasn't happy about

36:08

that . So I started

36:10

with these very , very simple Ingredients

36:13

shea butters , whipped them up through

36:16

in some essential oils and

36:19

some other oils and flaxseed gel

36:21

and that was it . And then that

36:23

became a problem because I was living in

36:25

a van . So it's like I'd

36:28

have to go mess up my friend's kitchen and

36:34

it's like , okay , where do I store this ? Like

36:36

I'm in a van and

36:39

I'd have like my cooler . And

36:41

I started off in a Toyota

36:43

mini van a 97 Toyota mini

36:45

van . That was my original van

36:47

life experience . Okay , the engine

36:49

blew on that thing . I was heartbroken

36:52

. Then

36:58

I moved to a oh

37:00

God

37:03

, what year was it ? I don't know . I think it was like a 2015

37:08

Nissan cargo van .

37:09

Okay .

37:09

I could stand up in it . Yeah , I was living

37:12

my best life and and

37:14

I had met

37:16

my now boyfriend and he was helping

37:18

me build it out , so it was not

37:20

a finished product , you know . So

37:22

I just didn't have any where to store these things

37:24

. I was like , okay , I have to take it to the next

37:26

step , like I've committed to this , I'm not

37:29

going back to all these products . I've

37:31

got to learn more , I've got to learn how to preserve

37:33

this , I've got to learn how to make it

37:35

last , and so

37:38

I started looking into that and

37:41

just from there , things just kind of built on

37:43

themselves . Yeah like I got really

37:45

curious about it . I really like to see

37:47

things through and

37:49

I like I can't stop until I've

37:51

kind of mastered it . And

37:55

so , yeah

37:57

, I just , and I don't feel I'm

38:00

still learning so much . You know , like everything

38:02

is always evolving .

38:03

Well , yeah , and that's reflective in your product

38:06

line . Yeah , you know yeah . You

38:08

started with a product and now I

38:10

think you have on your website . What do you

38:12

have like ? One

38:16

, two , I mean , you have like

38:18

multiple different cat . Yeah , different , different

38:20

categories of products . Now it's phenomenal

38:23

. Were there products on

38:25

the market at that time that

38:27

were checking the boxes for you in terms

38:30

of kind of specialized towards

38:32

ethnic or curly hair

38:34

, that were kind of in granted

38:36

? You know , 2017

38:38

is when you started doing this . I think you wrote

38:41

. Yeah so like that

38:43

wasn't that long ago . Yeah , and maybe

38:45

there were yeah , but like online , yeah , I don't

38:47

know .

38:48

But Etsy shops and stuff

38:50

, yeah , but I ever came across in

38:53

terms of stores and I would go to zero-way

38:55

shops , like I would go

39:29

on trips to go to a zero-way

39:32

shop .

39:32

What's a zero way ? Oh , zero Waste

39:34

.

39:34

Yeah , yeah , like with these refilleries

39:36

and and I would be looking

39:39

for that . I go to these fairs like anytime

39:41

I was in LA and Michael Cam and a look at all

39:43

the shops .

39:45

Nothing , wow .

39:46

Yeah , yeah , and and not even that

39:48

, but just like , even outside

39:51

of curly hair like it

39:53

was skimp like it was . People

39:55

were skimping on Really

39:57

well formulated products .

40:01

Yeah , I didn't . I didn't when you were . I

40:03

was spending some time . I Want

40:06

and I've said this before one of my fate , and

40:08

I've probably said it to you one of my

40:10

favorite things about doing this podcast is

40:12

how much you learn , and just learning

40:15

about the Different

40:19

concerning ingredients that are commonly

40:21

found in a wide variety

40:24

of hair products , and

40:27

you know things that Can

40:31

you know ingredients that are

40:34

thought to potentially interfere

40:36

with hormone you know

40:38

distribution and there's

40:41

even been links , I think , to like carcinogenic

40:43

yeah and

40:45

there's even been studies done that .

40:47

Have studied the amount within

40:49

ethnic products in comparison

40:52

to .

40:53

I was gonna bring that up yeah . I found that same

40:55

stuff . That was mind-blowing

40:58

like jaw dropping yeah

41:00

. Yeah and , and I

41:03

so explain what

41:05

we're talking about . Yeah

41:08

because the way I understood it was

41:10

and

41:14

correct me if I get this wrong a

41:16

lot of Self-care

41:20

yeah , a lot of self-care ingredients

41:23

targeted like for value

41:25

self-care ingredients have an incredibly Disproportionate

41:28

amount of dangerous ingredients . The

41:31

vast majority of those products

41:33

are most commonly found in lower income

41:35

populations yeah and

41:37

that that's just that's what's accessible . Yeah

41:40

, it's kind of like the , the self-care

41:42

version of Fast food in

41:45

a way yeah you know what I mean . Yeah

41:47

, would you agree with that ? Yeah , yeah totally

41:49

. So , yeah , that that was just

41:51

that was . That was really interesting

41:53

. I don't know , I've never

41:55

heard that before . Yeah and it seems like wow

41:58

, I don't know how many people . Do you think many people know

42:00

that ?

42:01

Yeah .

42:01

I think a lot of well .

42:03

I think a lot of consumers are catching

42:05

on to that .

42:06

I I'm also incredibly naive

42:08

about a lot of stuff especially women's

42:10

hair care products . Yeah , yeah , I've

42:12

not anymore .

42:13

Yeah , well , and it is a hard thing

42:16

to figure out , right , like how to make

42:18

these things , as Ask

42:20

Kyle , what my biggest crossroad

42:24

is with this business is how

42:26

can I make it more accessible ? How can I

42:28

like Just

42:32

make it more available to these people who those

42:34

products are only ? You know , though

42:36

they only have access to those products

42:39

. How can I get this to them ?

42:42

Well , I mean , your

42:45

prices are incredibly fair . Probably

42:51

like girl you

42:53

should probably raise those

42:55

prices a little this goes into you know

42:57

your , your strengths are not business

42:59

.

43:02

Told you , it's a passion project . I

43:06

struggle with that I struggle with that because

43:08

I grew up very poor

43:10

and I don't think that's

43:12

a bad thing .

43:13

Yeah , it's not , it's not at all . Yeah

43:15

because I don't . You know , and you

43:17

know , going back to books , that I've encouraged

43:20

you to have helped me . A lot was the E-myth

43:22

. You know where people find . They

43:24

find there like you're

43:26

not the manager , you're not the business person

43:28

. I'm not either . I'm horrible

43:30

at business , I'm a very

43:32

you know me . I mean I'm a thinker , I'm

43:34

an idea person and

43:37

I love that doesn't mean you can't learn

43:39

business . Yeah , but just knowing your

43:42

, your weak spots , you know yeah

43:44

but yeah , well , let's talk about your prices

43:46

Going

43:51

back to . It's very . We just got to get

43:53

the word out . It's very affordable

43:55

.

43:55

Thank you . Well , I

43:57

am told that and I really try

43:59

to absorb that . There's something I think maybe

44:02

I just need to work through as

44:04

far as like not feeling like I need to

44:06

give everything away and

44:09

Knowing that I'm

44:11

worthy of making what

44:15

this is capable of making . That's

44:18

something I'm working through .

44:19

Where do you think that comes from , because I'm

44:21

very similar . You know like

44:23

even with this podcast . You know it's like

44:26

the idea of starting to monetize it

44:28

Is

44:30

is not so it's

44:32

complex to me because it changes your

44:35

relationship with it yeah and and

44:37

I think you would probably

44:39

Understand what I'm talking about

44:41

, because you started this not with

44:43

an idea to make money , but it's an idea , something

44:46

that you became passionate about , to solve

44:48

a problem , and you have a giver's heart , so

44:50

you're you're just as prone to give it away

44:52

, because you get more joy from that and

44:54

getting money true and you

44:58

know , unfortunately , joy doesn't pay the bills

45:00

. So it is like this real

45:02

, it's a real , you

45:04

know yeah struggle for , I think

45:06

, a lot of people you know and I'm

45:08

learning that lesson right now .

45:10

Right , like we were saying earlier , I'm

45:12

grinding and hustling , and

45:14

I have been for a long time

45:16

. I know you ready to

45:19

play more and Enjoy

45:21

my life . Yeah . Have

45:23

more balance in that regard . So

45:28

I do feel I'm

45:30

I have to feel things out like I have to kind of work my way there

45:32

. I'm a little bit of a learn the lesson the hard

45:35

way kind of person that

45:37

is . I mean , mistakes are just the first attempt

45:40

in learning .

45:40

Yeah , you just don't want to keep making the same

45:43

one . Yeah

45:45

, but I do feel myself getting there of like okay

45:47

.

45:49

There is no way to argue this anymore

45:51

, like it is a little

45:54

bit of a it . There's not as much of a gray

45:56

area here is . I want there to be as

45:58

far as like basically

46:02

being a charity and like Over

46:09

over servicing , I guess

46:11

like um , not

46:15

having guilt about the

46:17

exchange of like , I'm offering

46:20

you a quality product , and

46:22

that comes at a price .

46:25

There's so much value in your product . Thank

46:27

you so much and

46:29

you know I mean it , I

46:32

hear you and I absolutely respect the

46:34

process you're going through and I have no doubt

46:36

in my mind that as time goes on , you're

46:39

gonna become more comfortable with

46:41

people telling you that

46:43

there's a lot of value in that , thank you . So

46:46

, yeah , yeah , where

46:48

do you get a lot like let's go back and

46:50

talk about the products that you make

46:52

and kind of , are you , do

46:55

you still ? You make

46:57

them all .

46:57

Yeah , yeah , I make everything .

46:59

So everything . Where do you get your raw and

47:02

like supplies ?

47:03

from Many

47:05

different places but I do try to

47:07

source as much as I can in Oregon . There

47:09

are companies here like

47:11

there's in Portland , essential

47:14

wholesale

47:16

. They recently changed their name . They

47:19

may be essential labs now , but I've

47:23

even gone up and picked up ingredients

47:25

and like gotten to walk around in their . You

47:29

know where they allow you to pick up their where

47:31

they manufacture . And

47:34

I also go through Mountain Rose

47:36

Herbs . That's where I get most of my

47:38

herbs . I actually make all of my extracts

47:41

in-house now because I was

47:43

learning about preservatives

47:45

that people will use . So they'll

47:47

say like , oh , I've got organic

47:49

horsetail , for example , great

47:52

. And then you kind of look more into it

47:54

and you're seeing all these red flag

47:56

like preservatives that

47:59

aren't really necessary , like there's great

48:01

alternatives . So I

48:04

just started making my own . But I

48:06

do source the hard

48:08

material , like the plant , from Mountain

48:10

Rose Herbs and they are

48:14

a low waste company as well , like

48:16

completely sustainably geared , and

48:19

so I really like sourcing from

48:21

them there in Oregon . But

48:24

I mean I probably have 25

48:27

suppliers .

48:28

So I bet you're developing

48:30

some core relationships with them though .

48:33

Yeah , I mean most of them are big companies .

48:35

Yeah , okay , so not so much yeah

48:37

.

48:38

But you know I always write thank

48:40

you with like a little colon and whatever

48:43

that is , parentheses . Yeah

48:45

, a little smiley face , totally

48:48

.

48:48

What a like . How

48:50

did you , you know , cause starting out

48:53

with flaxseed oil and shea butter

48:55

and like pretty like raw

48:57

ingredients and now kind of

48:59

having a lot

49:01

more focus on your product

49:04

around mushroom , like talk about

49:06

how kind of that evolution a little bit

49:08

.

49:08

Yeah , so when I was

49:10

in biology , the mycology

49:13

section of that was just like

49:15

I don't think I was more focused on anything

49:17

than that , like I

49:20

just never wanted to stop learning about it

49:22

. And looking

49:25

back , I'm curious as to why

49:27

I didn't pursue that . I don't think it was like something

49:29

I realized was a thing .

49:31

Yeah .

49:32

Like as far as like making a career out of . But

49:34

I

49:37

always knew I came to Oregon

49:39

a lot as a little girl . We used to actually go over

49:41

to North Fort and go swimming

49:43

. I don't know if you know where that is , but it's like kind of by

49:46

mill city . It's like in between here and Salem

49:48

yeah . And there's like cliff jumping

49:50

. And anyway , I loved

49:52

Oregon . I loved how green it was

49:55

. I always knew this would be

49:57

a pit stop , at least for me , like

49:59

I knew I would live here at some

50:01

point . I didn't know where , I

50:03

didn't even know Bend existed at that time

50:05

, but my

50:08

partner and I I

50:10

kind of had convinced him to move to Oregon

50:12

and he was like where ? I'm ? Like

50:14

I don't know , let's go figure it out . So

50:16

we just kind of road tripped through

50:19

Oregon and he applied

50:21

to all kinds of different jobs . I applied

50:23

to all kinds of different jobs and

50:25

got offers in different places and

50:27

we kind of were down between seaside and here

50:29

, super different

50:31

, but Bend was the most comparable

50:33

, not to Utah

50:36

, but just in terms of like what we like to do

50:38

Hiking , climbing's

50:40

available . I haven't even climbed once since

50:42

I've moved here . But mountain

50:45

biking , you know the river , everything

50:48

and then mushrooms

50:50

. So that was

50:52

like a huge thing for me . It was like okay

50:55

, that's something I could actually get into

50:57

. And I

50:59

think , like the year we moved here , we

51:01

found Morels . So within like the

51:04

first six months or so , kyle

51:06

didn't even think he liked mushrooms and

51:11

kind of just was tagging along . But he's

51:13

also a see it through like I

51:17

don't know , do it to the max kind of person .

51:19

So , Commit to what you started . Yeah

51:22

, yeah .

51:22

And so now

51:26

he's just as obsessed as I am . But

51:28

yeah , that's kind

51:30

of how . As far as the

51:33

mushroom interests . Yeah , you had a previous interest

51:35

and then

51:38

I started kind of seeing

51:40

mushrooms in like skincare products , mainly

51:42

Tremella , like that's the snow

51:45

fungus or the beauty mushrooms , kind

51:47

of what it's touted as .

51:48

Right .

51:51

And that got me really curious how

51:54

that could be applied to hair products . So

51:57

then I was learning about , like

52:00

Rishi is a mushroom

52:02

that helps block

52:04

DHT . Dht is a

52:06

hormone that can build up in your scalp and cause

52:08

male pattern baldness , which

52:11

affects women as well as men . But

52:14

it will help

52:16

to prevent that hormone from building

52:18

up in your scalp , and it can be

52:20

effective topically as well . So

52:23

I just was so

52:25

excited as I was learning like

52:27

these things can be incorporated

52:30

into our self care

52:33

routine . It's like bringing some

52:35

nature into you know , like bringing a little bit

52:37

of nature into your daily

52:39

tasks .

52:41

And were there other like hair line products

52:43

that were used in mushroom at that time

52:45

?

52:45

Did you Not that I knew of ? Yeah , I

52:48

don't . I'm sure there are , I don't know , but yeah

52:50

.

52:51

I like that you don't . Would

52:53

you say that you kind of like , if an idea

52:55

comes to you and you're interested , you don't really care if

52:57

people have done it or not , you just do it your way . Yeah

53:00

, I love that , yeah .

53:01

Yeah , doesn't matter . No , yeah , yeah

53:05

.

53:06

That's good stuff . Yeah , I didn't

53:08

know that , like all the different . You

53:11

know the hydrating component of mushrooms

53:14

, growth promoting , the strengthening

53:16

, I mean those seem

53:19

like pretty obvious

53:21

. You know advantages

53:23

to people who have curly hair

53:26

or longer hair . It's funny , you

53:28

know . You think about hair and it's a . It's

53:30

a hair in and of itself

53:32

is kind of a funny . You know it's just a protein

53:35

filament , that's kind

53:37

of dead tissue that grows from

53:39

follicles . Yeah , yeah . I've

53:41

always found it funny when people say I have healthy hair

53:43

, because how can you have health , something that's

53:45

technically dead tissue

53:48

, but healthy , but I get it , yeah , and

53:50

like it's so interesting how historically just all

53:52

different cultures have had such a

53:54

place to such an importance

53:57

on hair , you know . Oh yeah .

53:58

Like not just , it's everybody

54:01

in their own way , you know .

54:02

Yeah .

54:03

So I just think it's

54:05

so cool .

54:05

I do too .

54:07

It feels like

54:09

we're tied to our ancestors , you

54:12

know , and how we care for our hair

54:14

and I just

54:16

yeah .

54:19

Yeah , I , like

54:21

I said it goes back to it's a , you know

54:23

, it's a commonality , which is

54:25

how all good things start

54:27

, you know , find commonality

54:29

. So I told you or I

54:32

don't know if I told you or not , but I spoke with

54:34

Laurel Larkin , who's

54:36

the founder of Marigold Sav , which

54:39

is also a local small business

54:42

, that kind in that it's amazing . And that

54:44

self-care kind of product line

54:46

. She makes really

54:49

high quality and affordable skincare

54:51

products .

54:52

Yeah , and that I use every day . Yeah , and

54:54

they're amazing , yeah .

54:56

So I got a chance to talk to

54:59

Laurel .

55:01

So I was part of a giveaway with her

55:03

a couple of years ago is

55:05

how she was like popped onto my radar

55:07

and then good old social media . I

55:09

started following her on social media and

55:11

I think we exchanged a few DMs , but

55:15

I didn't actually meet her until

55:18

she came to help . She actually I

55:20

messaged her to get help with my daughter's hair

55:22

and she showed up at my

55:24

door . I'd ever met her in person and she had

55:26

a whole tote of

55:28

spray bottles

55:31

and hair clips and her products

55:33

and as some other products she thought we might want

55:35

and she spent four hours with me and my daughter

55:37

teaching me how to do

55:40

her hair and she was really

55:42

. She listened to music with us and we danced

55:44

and she just honestly was

55:46

phenomenal . In a

55:48

kind of hard , uncomfortable situation she

55:52

was just a ray of sunshine

55:54

. So the first time I actually met her in person

55:56

was actually when she came to my house to help with

55:58

my daughter's hair . I tried

56:01

out some other products and there isn't

56:03

so we have with all the cancer

56:06

we've had in our family and

56:09

being able to find clean hair

56:12

care , especially for ethnic

56:14

hair , is next

56:17

to impossible . I just

56:19

feel like what she's doing is very

56:21

unique and

56:23

she makes really great products that

56:25

work but also aren't putting

56:28

a ton of toxins on people all the time . So

56:30

I just I think for so many

56:32

reasons I don't think it'll take long

56:34

either , because , on top of being a really

56:37

great , wonderful human being

56:39

, her stuff is amazing

56:41

. So I don't know she's

56:43

, I just yeah , I would love to see it explode

56:46

, and her not , and it'd be her full-time job

56:48

. I am Laurel Larkin

56:50

. I am a registered nurse here in Bend . I

56:53

have a side business that

56:56

is not so part-time anymore , but

56:58

I am a small business owner here for clean

57:00

skin hair . We've got a daughter

57:02

, we've got a couple acres and some fruit trees

57:04

, got a husband and

57:07

, yeah , life's really busy

57:10

but really good .

57:12

I love her so much .

57:14

I bought some of her lavender and eucalyptus

57:17

skin salve . It's over there , I

57:19

use it . It's good . I use that stuff

57:21

a lot because I guess not

57:23

not as much as it used to be but in

57:26

my old role , when I was in

57:28

surgery , more of my hands would get cracked and

57:30

washing them so much and tie in suture

57:32

and I would just get constant cuts

57:34

and that stuff is

57:36

amazing .

57:37

It is yeah , yeah , yeah

57:39

, no . Like greasy gross left

57:41

over , I'm gonna get some for my wife for Christmas

57:43

, because I think it'll be good like foot cream

57:45

. Yeah , yeah . Yeah

57:48

, her brand's really cool and

57:50

she's a hustler too , like

57:53

I have so much respect for people like

57:55

I think she's probably one

57:57

of the kindest , most joyful

58:00

just I mean

58:03

like your heart just explodes

58:05

being in her presence , like

58:07

she is just such

58:10

an impactful person .

58:12

Yeah yeah , it's cool . Marigold

58:15

is the name of her company

58:17

. Marigold Savv , I think

58:19

it's . Is it , Marigold ?

58:20

Savv . And then she has salve

58:22

. She has face oils . I

58:24

use her like eye oil it's got

58:27

a caffeine , you know . So it helps

58:29

with .

58:30

Am I saying it wrong ? Savv salve

58:32

, how do you say it ?

58:33

I might be saying it wrong .

58:35

All right , potato , potato . So

58:38

right now , I mean , you're

58:40

mostly direct to

58:43

consumer , but you

58:45

also do you have , like some

58:47

. Are there some retailers that are

58:49

nice , Not in Bend ?

58:51

And it's becoming kind of an issue

58:53

. Like . I , if anyone

58:56

is listening , if

58:58

you want to sell , just like really cool products . But

59:01

I am constantly and I mean like on

59:03

a weekly basis having people ask

59:05

me where they can pick up product

59:08

here in Bend . But

59:11

I'm in one store in Oregon . It's

59:13

a zero way shop in Portland that's

59:17

called WaveBeing and I'm

59:19

actually in the original Heinz

59:22

building or I'm sorry , heinz building , the

59:24

old like original factory in

59:27

. Washington DC . There's also

59:29

a zero

59:31

way shop there called Mason

59:34

and Greens .

59:35

Nice .

59:35

So on Capitol Hill like that's

59:38

pretty cool .

59:39

How long have you been there ?

59:41

Going on two years .

59:43

Is that going well ? Yeah , Are

59:45

they like ? Are they seeing like return

59:48

customers ?

59:49

Good question . Yeah , hard to know , huh yeah

59:53

there's so many things within being this

59:56

, doing this , that I need to

59:58

strengthen . There's

1:00:00

only so much bandwidth Right there's so

1:00:02

much happening all the time , so many

1:00:04

moving parts , but At what

1:00:06

point do you take

1:00:09

the leap and or like

1:00:11

, where

1:00:13

do you see this ?

1:00:14

Like what's your ? You said you're working towards your goals

1:00:17

earlier .

1:00:18

I have a plan . Yeah , I'm

1:00:20

going to take a leap in exactly

1:00:22

one year .

1:00:24

Exactly one year from today .

1:00:25

From December 1st that's awesome

1:00:28

. Yeah , so I am

1:00:30

going to be able to have my debt

1:00:32

paid off in a year . From

1:00:36

then , there's no reason to

1:00:39

not give it 100%

1:00:41

and just go all in .

1:00:43

That's awesome .

1:00:44

Yeah .

1:00:45

Are you like ? Is your goal

1:00:47

to continue to

1:00:50

kind of grow this without

1:00:52

taking on investors

1:00:54

or future debt ? Or

1:00:57

, you know , are you interested in like

1:00:59

, licensing or partnering , or what

1:01:02

, where ? Or do you even

1:01:04

know ?

1:01:05

I do know that I'm not gonna take out

1:01:07

tens of thousands of dollars in

1:01:09

debt for it in the business

1:01:12

it has sustained

1:01:14

itself . It has grown organically and

1:01:17

I am just holding this intention

1:01:20

that it can continue to do that . But

1:01:23

at the same time , like I don't know

1:01:26

what to expect , I don't really have many examples

1:01:28

to follow , so

1:01:31

I'm willing to pivot

1:01:33

however I need to , and however we'll best

1:01:36

serve this thing . I'm trying

1:01:38

to build and my customers

1:01:40

too , I

1:01:42

definitely don't wanna be in big box stores like

1:01:44

Target or maybe I

1:01:46

don't wanna be in big box stores , but

1:01:49

I wanna be in all

1:01:51

of the little you know

1:01:53

, small , sustainably

1:01:56

geared shops

1:01:58

Like that . Would just

1:02:00

be so amazing just to be

1:02:03

out there , and there are so many you

1:02:05

know , so , yeah .

1:02:09

I don't think it'll . I think it's just a matter

1:02:11

of time . I also have

1:02:14

a lot of respect for you kind

1:02:17

of taking the slow approach

1:02:20

and just focusing on

1:02:22

and you and I were talking about this a little bit earlier

1:02:24

like you don't know what you don't know

1:02:27

, and also sometimes that's

1:02:29

okay , as long as you just

1:02:31

focus on these kind

1:02:34

of the next thing rather

1:02:36

than like where you're trying to get

1:02:39

, because sometimes that it's a

1:02:41

waste of energy because it's gonna

1:02:43

look at so many different versions of that by

1:02:45

the time you get there . You

1:02:47

know , when I talked to Laurel we

1:02:49

talked about kind of that common shared

1:02:52

experience that most entrepreneurs and

1:02:54

small business owners go through

1:02:56

. But it's also kind of painful

1:02:58

, which is that the demands of kind of

1:03:00

day-to-day life and the distraction on

1:03:02

your ability to grow it . It's

1:03:05

always helpful to hear other people's experience

1:03:08

.

1:03:10

It's not always pretty and

1:03:13

I have

1:03:15

honestly been for the business

1:03:17

side of it . I have been figuring it out as I

1:03:19

go and

1:03:21

sometimes that means it takes a backseat to

1:03:24

other life happening and

1:03:27

I've gotten very attached to my calendar

1:03:29

, which I am not a planner and

1:03:31

I was never that attached to my calendar prior to

1:03:33

. So , yeah , I think and

1:03:36

Dom and I have talked about it too how it's some

1:03:39

nights you come home from your normal

1:03:41

job and you've got shipments you have to get out

1:03:43

and really you wanna

1:03:45

make dinner and sit on the

1:03:48

couch and not do much else , but you're up late

1:03:50

getting your shipments

1:03:52

pulled together or making product

1:03:54

or I don't know . I don't

1:03:56

know if I have a good answer for how I how

1:04:00

to balance it . I think it's just

1:04:02

trying to carve out time

1:04:04

where you can .

1:04:07

Yeah , I listened to that clip a few

1:04:10

times and the reality is I

1:04:12

don't , I think , and it kind of goes

1:04:14

back to like setting your expectations

1:04:16

for

1:04:19

success because it's you can't

1:04:21

balance it . To try to balance

1:04:23

it is an impossible ask . I

1:04:25

think it's more of this kind of fluid shift

1:04:28

of everything

1:04:30

has a trade off . One day you're hustling

1:04:33

for consciously curly co

1:04:35

and your relationships have

1:04:37

less investment , and

1:04:40

the other day it's different and

1:04:42

I guess over time that's

1:04:44

balanced , but it is hard

1:04:46

.

1:04:47

Yeah , something I've definitely been

1:04:51

realizing is it's a lot of self forgiveness

1:04:53

and just so

1:04:56

like , I've been reading this book called Getting

1:04:58

Things Done by David Allen .

1:05:00

Okay , I'm excited . Yes

1:05:03

, dude , finally someone tells me about

1:05:05

a book .

1:05:06

It's just kind of helping me , like , I

1:05:08

guess , keep myself accountable , but

1:05:10

also being done

1:05:12

when I've done those things , and

1:05:16

that gives me so much freedom . Because

1:05:18

I was just feeling so much overwhelm

1:05:20

and like to the

1:05:22

point where I was just buckling , like I'm

1:05:24

talking meltdowns all the time , and

1:05:27

I kind

1:05:30

of just had to have this moment

1:05:32

and multiple moments of

1:05:34

just like , okay , these are the choices I'm making

1:05:36

, how can I best

1:05:38

serve myself during this

1:05:41

? How can I hold space for

1:05:43

all the things I need to get done if

1:05:46

I'm not ready to choose something else , like I'm

1:05:48

not in a place to choose something else ? So

1:05:50

how do I put the tools to

1:05:53

work ? I guess , as far

1:05:55

as just like you do , create the list

1:05:57

Cause I know , for me it was like I

1:06:00

would always divvy from the list . It's like I would make

1:06:02

these lists and then I'm like , but this actually

1:06:04

feels more important , or you

1:06:06

know , but if you just devise

1:06:09

this plan , you stick

1:06:11

to it and you , at

1:06:13

the end of the day , say I did what I could

1:06:15

. It's time to go to bed or it's

1:06:17

time to have an hour to myself , and

1:06:20

that's just how it has to be , and

1:06:22

you've got to forgive yourself for all the things you

1:06:24

can't get done .

1:06:26

That's a healthy perspective . What time

1:06:28

do you get up in the morning Five and

1:06:31

do you work pretty much every day

1:06:33

on CCC stuff ?

1:06:35

Yeah , I go to bed at like 1030

1:06:37

, which is hard for me . I'm an eight hour kind of person

1:06:39

.

1:06:39

Yeah , eight hours sleep .

1:06:42

But I know

1:06:44

for a fact , if I get up before sunrise

1:06:46

and I have , and

1:06:48

I'm up at five , my day is way

1:06:51

different than if I sleep in to

1:06:53

the last minute . It's

1:06:56

always a million times better

1:06:58

. I just am able to like

1:07:00

get the energy that I

1:07:02

want for that day , I guess , and

1:07:05

you know , getting my mindset

1:07:07

where it needs to be . And then

1:07:09

I go to work and I really try

1:07:11

to be present there because I've noticed

1:07:13

if I'm trying to like be there

1:07:16

, then all my lunch break be with

1:07:18

consciously curly co and then on my any 15

1:07:20

minute break . You know , it's just it's hard

1:07:22

to jump back and forth . So

1:07:24

my time at that job is my time at

1:07:26

that job . I leave , I

1:07:28

come home and I dive right in to

1:07:31

work . My partner has taken

1:07:33

on , I'd

1:07:36

say , 90% of our household tasks

1:07:38

, which has made such

1:07:41

a huge difference in

1:07:43

terms of what I'm able to get done

1:07:45

and like feeling

1:07:47

this guilt of not being

1:07:49

able to do it all . And

1:07:53

so , like I get home

1:07:55

, I go to the business room

1:07:58

and I start

1:08:00

packing orders . He kind

1:08:02

of takes , you know , a little

1:08:04

time to himself , to his

1:08:06

self , and then he starts cooking dinner and

1:08:08

we just have like this routine and then

1:08:10

we now have like a

1:08:13

weekly meeting At home

1:08:15

. We call

1:08:17

it maintenance Monday .

1:08:21

So tonight at six o'clock .

1:08:24

we will be doing our maintenance Monday and

1:08:26

it's just kind of like we . We

1:08:29

kind of talk about what dinners we want for the week , what hike we're

1:08:31

going to do , cause now , once a week we do

1:08:33

a hike , because if you don't

1:08:35

like , plan these things

1:08:37

in with this kind of lifestyle it

1:08:39

just doesn't happen .

1:08:40

So and

1:08:42

you got it . That's a really important

1:08:44

leg on the table to make sure

1:08:46

you know your relationships

1:08:49

.

1:08:49

Yeah , it's funny because when this first

1:08:51

started happening he was almost kind of offended

1:08:53

, like why are you putting me in your calendar

1:08:56

? Like I don't understand

1:08:58

, like

1:09:01

cause you're important to me and

1:09:03

I want to make time for you and if

1:09:05

I don't , everything else will consume

1:09:08

everything and it's

1:09:10

been really helpful for our

1:09:12

relationship and navigating like hard times

1:09:15

. I know historically

1:09:17

if , when I wasn't doing that

1:09:19

, it's so much harder to come together during hard

1:09:21

times when there is no together , you know

1:09:24

.

1:09:24

Oh , yeah , yeah , so Absolutely

1:09:26

yeah . Yeah

1:09:29

, there's a guy . First of

1:09:31

all , the person

1:09:33

that sat in that chair before you had

1:09:35

the very similar story about working

1:09:38

at home and his home office , fulfilling

1:09:41

orders and hustling , and now

1:09:43

he's about to build like a massive

1:09:45

, you know multi-block warehouse

1:09:48

headquarters for his brand .

1:09:50

So , yeah , amazing .

1:09:51

You're well on your way , dom , thank you

1:09:53

. You know , whatever that looks like for

1:09:55

you , you're already successful

1:09:58

, but I have no doubt that this is

1:10:00

gonna grow . Because

1:10:04

, well , it's true , I mean things

1:10:06

. It's just , it's almost , it's

1:10:08

just a function of time , you

1:10:10

know . I mean you're solving a really good problem

1:10:13

. It's growing . It's

1:10:15

pain for itself . I mean it's

1:10:17

succeeding already . It's

1:10:19

just you draw that out over another couple

1:10:21

of years and that's where it looks really . That's

1:10:24

fun . Yeah . I

1:10:26

asked you what one of your you know some

1:10:28

of the best advice you ever gotten . I loved it . It's

1:10:30

when you feel like you have nothing else to give , do the bare minimum

1:10:33

and reevaluate . It's kind of

1:10:35

just keep things alive . You know

1:10:37

, it's kind of like I have this pause if you

1:10:39

must , but don't stop yeah . You

1:10:42

know like you just kind of you

1:10:45

can only do what you can do , but usually

1:10:47

you can do something you know

1:10:49

Like , even if it's 1% of the task

1:10:51

.

1:10:52

It's something and it's so impactful

1:10:54

for the long run .

1:10:55

Yeah .

1:10:56

Yeah , I've

1:10:58

been getting this message a lot of

1:11:00

like the whole motivation

1:11:03

doesn't last kind of thing

1:11:05

and it's the consistency

1:11:08

, you know , that sees you through , and I feel

1:11:10

like that is just

1:11:13

having that in the back of my head and like this

1:11:16

will help me build the momentum that I need

1:11:18

, because just about any time , like yesterday

1:11:21

, I needed to make . I made 120

1:11:24

products yesterday and

1:11:26

the beginning of it I was

1:11:29

like God , I just wanted to take today off

1:11:31

and Because I didn't have some of the ingredients

1:11:33

and I forgot that I didn't have them and

1:11:35

I needed to go get some and it was just

1:11:37

a little bit of a mess and

1:11:40

so my weekend looked different than how I originally

1:11:43

wanted it to and I I

1:11:45

started by , you know , just kind of feeling

1:11:47

sorry for myself , but then I was like I'm just

1:11:49

gonna do one of the things I need to do

1:11:52

. I did that and

1:11:54

I was like this is fun . Actually , I really enjoy

1:11:56

this process and that momentum gets

1:11:58

built . And then you're always like wow , I

1:12:01

am capable of so much more than I want , or

1:12:03

I thought I was by

1:12:05

just sticking my toes in the water

1:12:08

.

1:12:08

Yeah , showing up for one thing .

1:12:10

Yeah .

1:12:10

Yeah , I mean , there's true , you , you gain

1:12:12

momentum . Yeah for sure .

1:12:14

Yeah .

1:12:15

Yeah , yeah , yeah . So

1:12:17

you've shared with me how you draw

1:12:19

a lot of your inspiration in life from

1:12:21

authentic people , connecting

1:12:24

with them , vulnerability , love I

1:12:27

think you call it the beautiful side of being

1:12:29

human and You're

1:12:31

two younger sisters , myanna

1:12:34

and Shaliyah Mm-hmm , they inspire

1:12:36

you for those exact reasons . I

1:12:39

got in touch with them . Oh gosh , yeah

1:12:41

, and I thought it would be fun

1:12:44

. You might cry a little

1:12:46

, but

1:12:48

they're amazing .

1:12:51

Even when she's I don't

1:12:53

know , five hours away from us and Bend , oregon

1:12:56

, I feel like we don't . We don't really like

1:12:58

talk every day , which is weird , but like

1:13:00

every time we're around each other , it's like nothing

1:13:02

has changed and

1:13:05

like we're all

1:13:07

pretty busy in our own lives , but like I

1:13:09

don't know it's , it's like

1:13:11

nothing ever really changes

1:13:13

. We always have that Really

1:13:16

a strong connection and really

1:13:18

strong bond between each other . She

1:13:21

was the coolest girl to us

1:13:23

. Like we wanted her clothes when she

1:13:25

was very younger . Like she

1:13:27

was very Independent

1:13:30

, always had her head on straight . She was just like

1:13:32

, yeah , she just always went

1:13:34

for what she wanted . She always knew what she wanted

1:13:36

. She would just be I don't know always

1:13:39

a great big sister , just playing with us

1:13:41

, interacting with us , like she

1:13:44

was never like go away , like

1:13:47

how older siblings sometimes

1:13:49

get . She was always

1:13:51

very embracing of us .

1:13:53

I came over

1:13:55

to visit her and Bend like

1:13:58

a couple years ago and and she

1:14:01

was just like working every day

1:14:03

on her haircare business

1:14:06

and like I would just watch

1:14:08

her , like Honestly at all

1:14:10

, and I was just like , wow , she just wake up

1:14:12

at the crack of dawn and

1:14:14

like make her coffee and

1:14:17

start working and I

1:14:19

was just like amazed

1:14:22

.

1:14:23

I've always seen her like the

1:14:25

minute that she could work in

1:14:27

high school she like was getting a job , trying

1:14:29

to get her own car . She

1:14:31

was like , yeah , always

1:14:34

very Independent

1:14:36

and just she . She

1:14:39

made it seem like it wasn't even work . She

1:14:41

would just be like happy

1:14:43

and giggly all the time . Hey

1:14:46

Dom , it's my Anna

1:14:48

. I love you , big sissy

1:14:51

, and I'm so proud of you . You

1:14:53

keep going at it , girl .

1:14:55

Hey , dominique this

1:14:58

little sister and I

1:15:00

hope that you , you know

1:15:02

, I wish you a very successful future

1:15:06

Because you're successful

1:15:08

.

1:15:12

They're awesome there's the

1:15:14

highlight . I just I Can't

1:15:18

even explain just how grateful

1:15:20

I am To have

1:15:23

the connection that we do like . I don't really

1:15:25

know how to put it into words . It's such

1:15:27

an unspoken Well

1:15:29

, I don't think you have to yeah , I think it comes

1:15:32

across pretty pretty clear yeah

1:15:34

yeah .

1:15:35

I Think you're a genius

1:15:37

, and I say that because I think

1:15:39

You've been able to put into effect

1:15:41

what was in your head and I think that's kind

1:15:44

of the definition of being a genius . And

1:15:47

I think that you , having the

1:15:49

care that you have , and the reason why you're doing

1:15:51

what you're doing with , like , your Customer , is

1:15:53

your brand , and that's clear

1:15:55

when you read your testimonials and

1:15:58

the people you talk to and it's fun

1:16:00

, and I knew this from the first time I

1:16:02

met you . You know like it went as soon

1:16:04

as you told me , when we started working together , what

1:16:06

you're doing and why you're doing it , and

1:16:09

I was starting to learn about a lot

1:16:11

of different things , I was like man that

1:16:14

is , that is , she's solving a rad

1:16:16

problem and in doing it in a

1:16:18

really rad way . So those

1:16:20

things just it's just a matter of time . Thank you

1:16:22

, yeah , thank you for coming . This

1:16:24

is fun .

1:16:25

Thank you All right , this was amazing I

1:16:27

can't wait to To

1:16:31

see what's next . Yeah .

1:16:33

Yeah , all right , talk soon

1:16:35

.

1:16:35

All right , bye , bye .

1:16:59

Hey , thanks for listening to Ben magazine's

1:17:01

a circling podcast . Make sure

1:17:03

to visit bin magazine comm and learn

1:17:05

about all the outdoor adventures in our

1:17:08

area , and keep an eye out for Dominique

1:17:10

. In the January February issue

1:17:12

of the magazine , our theme song

1:17:15

was written by Carl Perkins and performed

1:17:17

by Aaron Colbaker and Dr Aaron

1:17:19

Zerflu of the errands . We

1:17:22

love mail , so please send us comments

1:17:24

, questions or art to the

1:17:26

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1:17:28

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1:17:50

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1:17:53

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leave us a review . It really does

1:17:58

help . I'd like to say a special

1:18:00

thank you to all of those who participated

1:18:02

in the making of this episode . It

1:18:04

wouldn't be the same without your contribution

1:18:06

and I appreciate your trust . Visit

1:18:09

Dominique online and learn about all

1:18:11

the amazing products that consciously curly

1:18:14

company offers at consciously

1:18:16

curly cocom

1:18:18

. Don't forget to stay tuned

1:18:20

after the show credits for Dominique's

1:18:22

contribution to the circling

1:18:24

podcasts community art project

1:18:27

and Visit mark jam , nick calm

1:18:29

to learn more about subliminal story

1:18:31

art embedded with meaning . Lastly

1:18:34

, if you know someone who you think

1:18:36

would enjoy today's episode , please

1:18:38

share it with them today . Hey , thanks

1:18:40

for your time . Since Oregon , get outside

1:18:43

. We'll see you out there and remember

1:18:45

, the health of our community relies

1:18:48

on us . Ever

1:18:53

. It's

1:18:57

a complete shit show . All

1:19:00

right , so you just contributed

1:19:02

to the circling what

1:19:04

you just contributed to bin magazines

1:19:07

. The circling podcast

1:19:10

, blank canvas community

1:19:12

art project , where my

1:19:14

buddy mark jam Nick is gonna write

1:19:17

, write paint over this

1:19:19

canvas and kind

1:19:22

of explore this idea of Art

1:19:25

embedded with meaning . So read

1:19:28

what you wrote on the canvas .

1:19:29

I Wrote when we

1:19:31

strive to become better than we are , everything

1:19:34

around us becomes better too . By

1:19:36

Palo Coelho .

1:19:40

That's pretty self-explanatory yeah . When

1:19:44

did when did you first come across

1:19:46

this ?

1:19:47

when I read what's

1:19:51

it ? The four agreements , okay .

1:19:56

You read it somewhere .

1:19:58

Start that part over . Are you editing this to totally

1:20:00

?

1:20:01

and I'm just more curious . I'll probably just

1:20:03

end with yeah

1:20:05

. Yeah

1:20:08

.

1:20:08

I'll come in so I'd say about five , six years

1:20:10

ago .

1:20:10

Yeah , reading the alchemist . Yeah

1:20:13

that's a good contribution

1:20:15

, I agree . I Appreciate

1:20:18

you .

1:20:18

Yeah , I appreciate you , bye , Bye I .