We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jazmin Curiel a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jazmin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Quality control is a challenge almost every entrepreneur has had to focus on when growing – any advice, stories or insight around how to best ensure quality is maintained as your business scales?

I strongly believe that not only quality but consistency is key in any business. Since the moment I decided to start this journey I knew one of the most important qualities I wanted for Piel Bella was to create high quality formulas as well as consistency with the ways every single one was formulated, batched, packaged, labeled & finally the way they are presented to our clients. At the moment Piel Bella operates out my apartment, in my kitchen & a small office. I’m the only one in charge of everything related to my business from accounting, inventory production, sales, marketing & definitely more. This gives me the opportunity to make sure every single formula that goes out to the public is created with the same quality as the last one. I take great pride in the formulas I create, not only because they are functional but also because the quality is always consistent.

As Piel Bella grows in the coming months & years I hope to have the opportunity to hire another person or two I will definitely make sure the quality of our formulas stays the same & try to improve them as I keep listening to my clients & their needs.

Jazmin , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Jazmin & most of my friends & family calls me Jazz. I was born & raised in Mexico City & came to Chicago with my two younger sisters & my mom back on 2001. I’m a single-mom & currently live in Chicago with my 15 year-old son Jayden & my two dear kitties Pikachu & Nami.

Growing up my grandmother had a restaurant in Mexico City where I spent a lot of my young years. Spending time in that restaurant really instilled the love for the hospitality industry growing up. I have worked in restaurants/hotels in Chicago since I was 18 years-old & I enjoy every single minute of it! Talking to different people everyday, building long-lasting relationships with my co-workers but also guests has always been one of my favorite things about my career.

Before the pandemic happened I’ve started my bachelor’s degree on sustainability studies & restaurant management, at that time I was working full-time in a restaurant while I was going to school full-time. My main goal with my degree at that time was to find a job that would combine my passion & love for sustainability & food. Before the pandemic started thinking of starting my own business always seemed like a very distant thought & although it was one my life goals it was not on my plans at the time. Then the pandemic came, the world shut down as well as every single hospitality establishment. I was working at a hotel in the events department & my department was the first one to be let go. I found myself in a very dark place knowing that everything I have always depended on was gone, on the bright side I still took those moments to reflect & finally take that leap of faith.

Natural skin care has always been a staple in my home, my mom has always taught us how to take care of ourselves through natural remedies & natural skin care as well, with no job at that time I finished my last semester of school & I decided to embark in this journey. I always wanted to combine some of my biggest passions (food, cooking, sustainability & skin care) & this was one of the best opportunities to do so. I wanted to create a brand that reflects everything Iam as a person & as a citizen of this world not only as an individual but as a mother that wants to create a better world not only for my son but also for future generations! This is how Piel Bella started, in my small kitchen in the southside of Chicago with a lot of hope, passion & hard work!

I decided I was going to create a brand that was community driven, sustainable & created with intention. Piel Bella reflects those values & more. I partner up with local growers to deliver not only highly-functional & multifunctional formulas but also formulas created with ingredients that are grown & sourced from around the city of Chicago.

I believe community is one of the most important things we as humans can have & build, people that not only cheer for you but also supports your growth, share resources & lift each other up. In these times of uncertainty in the world the best we can do is rely on our community, support our local businesses, growers, farmers markets & keep our money where it belongs, with us in the place where we live, work & where our children are growing up!

All of Piel Bella’s formulas are created with intention but most importantly with sustainability in mind utilizing the power of plants, herbs, & other natural ingredients as the base of every single formula. Utilizing recyclable, upcycled & biodegradable ingredients & packaging.

Piel Bella by Jazz is also part of the Circular Economy Leaders Network at Plant Chicago, a non-profit dedicated to cultivate local circular economies. This network has been a crucial foundation for our partnerships with other community driven businesses & individuals since I started Piel Bella last year.

I’m extremely proud of how far Piel Bella has gotten up to now, we are close to our second birthday & I’m really excited for the new year & the opportunities that will come with it! I’m also extremely thankful & honored to be able to do what I love along people that shares my vision & supports Piel Bella’s mission & values.

Piel bella by Jazz

Piel Bella by Jazz is a clean, plant-based, sustainable & eco-conscious skin + hair care small business based in Chicago. Piel Bella by Jazz is created with the intention to provide small batch, functional, multipurpose, minimal-waste, plant-based, experimental, unique & ethically made bodycare formulas that uplift our communities & help restore our planet while they nurture our body & soul.

Piel Bella by Jazz creates formulas with multiple purposes in mind, every single ingredient is chosen with its botanical properties in mind & they all make each formula special & different! Piel Bella by Jazz focuses on sustainable ways to reduce its footprint impact by partnering up with local urban farmers & other Chicago based businesses to source as many local ingredients as possible. We upcycle ingredients & focus on using & reusing recyclable, compostable, refillable & returnable packaging.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

I do make all of Piel Bella’s formulas myself! I love to do research, at the beginning of this journey I taught myself how to make soaps, shampoo bars, butters & other waterless formulas. I always knew what kind of formulas I wanted to create but I also knew that my own research could only take me so far, that’s when I decided to sign up for classes. I knew that learning from experts would not only empower me with the skills I needed to create more advanced formulas but also build credibility when it came to my knowledge not only formulating with the right techniques but also when it came to business’ experience. I’m currently enrolled at Formula Botanica, an online school that teaches organic formulation & indie beauty entrepreneurship. I’m enrolled in both the Organic Skin Care Formulation & the Organic Hair Care Formulation classes that I plan to finish before March 2023. I’m also enrolled in the Herbal Entrepreneur course with the Herbal Academy based out of Massachusetts.

In the past two years I have learned so much from trial & errors, experiments & many crazy ideas! I’m really proud to be able to offer formulas that are not only good for our environment, our communities & souls but also formulas that are made with locally & ethically sourced ingredients!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

This past summer I realized that the only way to help Piel Bella grow I had to invest more resources into it. In-person markets where not doing as great as I had hoped & I decided to go back to work part time & cancelled all my summer markets. Although this was a hard decision for me to make, it was also the best decision at the time! Although I did not have as many in-person events I had the opportunity to dedicate more time to develop formulas, develop a better business plan for the winter months & create more income from online sales. I also had the opportunity to do a little bit of rebranding by creating a new logo for Piel Bella, new packaging & labels for some of our formulas.

I’m grateful to have the opportunity to be able to create a more sustainable brand without sacrificing the quality of our formulas & still being engaged with our clients in the same level as I did before. Piel Bella does have a very strong local following & I’m planning on keep building those relationships as well as new ones through curated in-person events & a strong social media presence!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://pielbellabyjazz.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pielbellabyjazz/

Image Credits
Photography by Zitlali Creative Consulting & Piel Bella by Jazz