We recently connected with Genevieve Chi and have shared our conversation below.

Genevieve , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

Yes, It’s stressful! Haha At first I wanted something shocking and bold and dramatic and firey lol.. my opposite. An attention grabber. But I had to think of how I wanted my clients to feel; Wonderful.. loved, precious, accepted, etc. I thought at First.. something with “Queen”…or darkness… but I see my mom as our queen & I’m just one of her princesses. So that was a no. Darkness was too dark.

I was reminded, I had a calling and the only other name that fell naturally into my work & made me feel as amazing as my work when I spoke it out loud, was “Angel.”
I started with sugar scrubs, so became
The Sugar Scrub Angel.

Genevieve , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Its interesting reflecting how my business was born. I was always a stay at home mom. Thats my priority. My home, my family, my kids. Anything I did as a source of income was “fun money” and always worked around our family schedule. Fortunately, my husband worked and was the bread winner. Im grateful for that.
Ive always loved art and making people feel good. So my little side hustles included art in someway. I went from face painting with my sister in law to doing manicures, and pedicures, even being a part time nanny.
The last thing I remember doing before making a homemade sugar scrub was pedicures. I loved how a simple pedicure made my customers feel. I did them at my home. And I got so many different clients. Some who were salon pros and some who hadn’t had a pedicure in years or ever! But both left my house happy and somehow more excited and confident! Its an amazing feeling knowing I helped them feel that way. I could never thank them enough for trusting me with their toes. Part of pedicure is gentle exfoliation. After trying out a friend’s homemade sugar scrub on one of my clients, I was addicted and obsessed, not only what it did but how to create my own and one that was safe to use on our skin. Pedicure scrubs exfoliate nicely. They smelled great! But they weren’t 100% safe. And alot of them had harsh ingredients.
I did some simple research on google and You tube. Alot of homemade sugar scrubs asked for dish soap shockingly. There are so many. Lol. Bit scary, but I played with those a bit. After I got some recipes down I got down to the nitty gritty and created my own. I researched safe and natural remedies. I also researched how using real fruit & veggies instead of perfumes or alcohols could help our skin and hair. It was years of trial and error and testing. Lots of money and product wasted. Lots of time. It got stressful. Almost sometimes wanting to give up.
I was in the trial phase when my sister requested an orange scrub with real oranges. I thought wow. Thats unreal. Lol. But lets try. I researched all the benefits of oranges & I made my first fruit scrub. Zexxy. She loves calling herself sexy and my scrub is made with alot of orange zest. Due to her requesting it. It was called Zexxy. I used no harsh chemicals or alcohols or perfumes. I completed it with natural ingredients & she was obsessed. By accident she used it to clear her pigmentation on her underarms. We were shocked, excited and in awe. I tested several batches for mold. So that took some time! But once completed this little “Zexxy” scrub made my sister feel amazing! She wore cardigans in the summer, I never actually knew why. One day came over wearing a spaghetti strap style shirt showing off her arms. She wouldn’t stop smiling about how the darkness on her underarms was gone because of my Zexxy scrub. That moment is forever in my mind. That feeling … Was worth this all even if my business didnt grow. Her happiness and how she boasted about it to everyone was the best feeling. She opened up about how she struggled with it for years and how many others do too and that I should share it with the world.
After 6mos with no mold. I decided to gift to family and friends for feedback. Everyone loved it. I prayed about it in my kitchen. I asked to be blessed and succeed and not worry about finding work outside my home. I also prayed my husband would work for me. Haha.
Its hard coming out and trying to show the world why you stand out from others who are in the same type of business. But one thing I love is I work one on one with every single client. Every order is made directly with me. And All the feedback and reviews have been organic and wonderfully brought to us by word of mouth and their trust to try us out.
My natural fruit, veggie, tea and coffee scrubs are one of a kind! There really are no fruit scrubs that contain 100% real fruit. Lol. Im love with my own work and love that my clients are obsessed! I love how they make them feel and I absolutely am blessed to hear their stories and feedback. Ive cried with ive prayed for and am blessed to work for all of them.
I now make over 10 100% natural scrubs, soaps and oils that target things from acne to eczema to hair thinning. 🩷
Me and my husband tag team and do shipping orders, local pick up and hopefully soon delivery.
I hope to reach as many people of all ages that we can.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

So, there are many things that can cause skin and hair issues. One major one that stuck out only because I heard alot of feedback from kids being bullied for it and even going to lengths as wearing hoodies in 90 degree weather, was HYPERPIGMENTATION on the neck, underarms, cheeks, even thighs. Everyone and all types were struggling with this. It was something I never heard of and I felt a sadness for them. Some were depressed for being bullied, some stressed from going through great lengths to remove it. Some just reaching out for help after trying everything from doctor prescriptions to home remedies themselves. I had never really done any type of marketing videos so I was super nervous.
My sister encouraged me to make a real time video. I thought it would make people upset or laugh and I didnt want to make it worse for people who already struggle with such a sensitive subject. But she pushed me for weeks to not only show them how my products are used, but to also show a real client with pigmentation.
We went for it.
I made a quick tiktok showing how to with results all in the same video. It went viral! I had to shut off my phone because it would not stop ringing. It was amazing and overwhelming. Lol. It was such a blessing. We heard from all ages, all types of skin issues. They needed us and we were willing and ready to help! We are not skin drs and I’m not a dermatologist, I just make natural remedies that have shown amazing results.
We’ve done countless giveaways as a thank you and my husband is often caught giving products away! I feel we’re blessed enough to do so! So it shall continue.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Luckily I have an amazing sister!! Im such a hermit sometimes shy. But I am goofy and loud around friends and family. . My opposite is chingona, fiery and bold. My sister.
She would promote me on fb. She would post our info on all types of pages. She would use white out markers on her truck and drive around with my fb page name. Even during Halloween she dressed up as a creepy clown and held a sign with our social medias. I cant thank her enough!
She definitely brought us tons of attraction.
I think my work alone brought us plenty more. My giveaways, my previous clients. Word of mouth and just being honest with showing true before and after images. Its been a crazy ride on social media.
We now have a fb page, tiktok, IG and trying to understand Twitter. Lol

Contact Info:

• Instagram: officialsugarscrubangel
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SugarAngelChi?mibextid=ZbWKwL
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SugarScrubAngel?t=oX_kwEwOgdmwEdyF3sRbhQ&s=09