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

Anna , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Let me preface by stating that I never thought I would be doing what I am doing. I didn’t start knowing I would be a business!

My story starts when I had my first-born daughter. She was only a few months old when she began to have a rash on the front shin part of her leg. I took her to the pediatrician and turned out it was eczema. After telling the doctor that I don’t wash her daily and didn’t know how to make it better…he told me that it was chemically induced. He just knew from everything he has seen what it was from. I asked how to change it and he stated that while I can try to lessen baths, change to ‘organic’ products, that essentially, I just needed to ‘wait it out’.
This was not an answer that worked for me. He explained that the natural and organic products on the shelves, while better…still contained chemicals, therefore will not help in the long run for her recovery. Hence, ‘waiting it out’…hoping she’d grow out of it. Luckily the pediatrician also practiced holistic medicine with his family on the side and began to help me formulate a product that WOULD help my daughter. Since children have different skin that when we are an adult, he guided me on articles to read, oils to get, what to watch out for and that’s when I created (what I didn’t know would be) my first product.
I made a body butter, which helped hydrate her and soon I saw a huge difference. The doctor agreed to keep doing what I was doing and soon, I went down a rabbit hole into other things I needed to change. 10+ years ago, Etsy, Pinterest, all those were not huge things (at least I didn’t really know about them). So, I created, tested and formulated all my products myself and take EMENSE pride in that.
I began allowing friends to use the products to help out their issues or their kids’ and soon, I began my business! Helping people, 1 person at a time. When one person would ask about something they needed help with, I would research, test and then launch a product depending on the results. Word spread like wildfire and soon, La Belle Naturelle grew.

So, everything I do is made FRESH. As it’s ordered whether it’s local or across the US, I make each product as it comes in to ensure quality, freshness and potent results. I have high standards for quality and only purchase product I know how it’s sourced and it’s as pure as it can be.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I am married woman of 14yrs with 2 children, 3 dogs, 1 bird, 1 cat, 1 fish and 40 chickens. On our land, we grow herbs and flowers that are used within the business. If I cannot grow it, I only source my products from places I know I can get a manufacturing sheet on. I offer approx 400 products from head to toe, for men, women, expecting mama’s, children, pets, and something for everyone. I use essential oils, natural fragrances and phthalate free/product 69 free fragrance oils. I offer all these as scents because some people cannot use essential oils due to sensitivities, health concerns or even medications.
I felt as if EVERYONE deserves amazing skincare without the price tag and without feeling left out for scents. I am not like bath & body works or highly fragranced places….so I tend to have a lot of clients that have those sensitivities, allergies, etc.

What makes me stick out is that every product that is ordered is made fresh. Right in the shop…I do EVERYTHING from start to finish. From research and formulating to packaging and labeling. This way I know everything is done to my standard and I can stand behind what I do 100% of the time.

Formulations are complex….for instance, my mascara took 3 years to formulate. Liquid shampoo took about 4 years. Laundry soap took 7 years. I do not use pinterest or other sites for recipes. Everything is my own research and hard work.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I’ve been in business for 10years. During the last decade, I’ve had to come back from my oldest having neurosurgery…which I shut down for. I didn’t think that I would have started back up, but people were begging for me to come back as they hadn’t been able to find anything like La Belle Naturelle. When I came back (approx 6 months later), I found that the market was all of a sudden saturated. Everyone seemed to make natural products, but I STILL didn’t see anyone doing what I had been doing. So, I opened back up and took off.
I then had to deal with the first recession. Budget got really tight, and I didn’t know if I would make it. Sure enough, my clients were loyal and helped to lift me up and carry me through.
Recession passed; I opened up in a storefront. Right…before…covid. UGH! I opened doors in October, Covid landed in November. Once again, I was scared that I wouldn’t pull through…but once again, my clients and community carried me through.
Now, I am in my 2nd recession and it’s harder than anything I previously went through. I am hoping I can last this too, but I will go out with high quality vs lessening anything. I know what I have to offer, and I will NOT compromise it for hard times.

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

I can honestly say that no matter what…. through everything, I realized being fluid is ESSENTIAL. I had to learn to roll with the punches and even now, if I had to close the storefront due to overhead; I wouldn’t be losing. I would be doing what I need to survive the recession for me, my family and the business. Fluidity is THE ONLY reason why I think I’ve been able to survive thus far. Learning where to restructure and be willing to change with the times in order to make things work to keep giving the community what they need without compromising my quality.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shoplbn.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/labellenaturel
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/lbnstorefront