We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ashley Duverneau. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ashley below.
Alright, Ashley thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?
I always love answering this question because I didn’t intentionally start my business with an amazing idea. I actually had no intention on becoming a business owner until I had something people wanted to buy.
At first it was me helping myself with my life long skin and hair condition by developing natural products to improve my skin’s health. Growing up with eczema, I had become frustrated with the lack of options for over the counter skin care for people with dry and sensitive skin. After graduating with my degree in Biology, I came to a realization that I could probably create something for myself! From there, I began practicing formulas for body butter until I came across the perfect recipe. With the help of my mother, my products were being sold to her friends and coworkers, so much so that the demand continued to grow. With the growing demand, my education, and professional manufacturing experience I had acquired, I decided to turn my product into a legitimate business February 28, 2019.
Still not sure that I knew what I was doing, I decided to do a soft launch (meaning I ordered at a minimal for inventory and supplies to ensure I wouldn’t take a huge loss financially) of only 50 body butters and sold out in two weeks time. At that moment I realized…I had a business, no more soft launches, only ordered in bulk, and I haven’t looked back since! Believe me 4 years later and I still don’t know everything & that’s the beauty of it! I truly believe we should all do what we love with fear in our hearts because that’s the journey. Being a boss isn’t something anyone is born with, it’s taught or learned through education, life lessons, and experiences & I did just that! 4 years later I have more skills, more products, and more fulfillment in my life’s purpose!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Hello, my name is Ashley Duverneau, and I am 28 years old. I am a first-generation Haitian American who was born and raised in Maryland. I’m the oldest of two daughters and both sets of grandchildren. Thanks to the love and support of my parents and family, I was able to graduate from Mount St. Mary’s University in 2016 with a BA in Biology and French studies. My original plan was to attend a 4 year medical school, but that wasn’t quite the way my life turned out. I ended up taking a semester off from school, applied and enrolled into graduate school at the University of Maryland College Park School of Public Health in Spring 2017. Coincidentally, that’s when I began my whipped body butter making journey.
I didn’t become an entrepreneur, until I became a creator with a purpose. I say that because anyone who knows me knows I love to make things by hand, DIY projects etc; but I never took any of them seriously, until I was urged to do so by so many who loved the items I was creating for my own skin care needs. At the time when I had begun my business “Krem au Krem, LLC” I was working full-time as a Manufacturing Technician at a pharmaceutical company, while completing a full-time hybrid graduate school program at University of Maryland College Park School of Public Health. At the time, I hadn’t put much forethought into the totality of owning a business, or a product line, I simply enjoyed creating products for my skin that smelled good, felt good & didn’t cause my sensitive skin to react poorly.
But, God had bigger plans for my self-care creations in 2018. My proud mother loved the whipped body butter, (“Krem”), that I had begun creating for myself and my family; so much so that she began to share/campaign (aka “sell”) my products to her colleagues at work. The demand grew more and more, and the idea of “Hey girl, you should take this seriously & sell it for real!” grew louder in my head after each and every batch I had whipped up. I began to move with purpose from that point forward, researching vendors, packaging, branding, logos, names etc to take this to the next level. Then finally on February 28, 2019 (the last day of BHM) I created an email account, social media accounts, and officially launched my business!
With faith, God, and my mother’s words on my behalf I became a creator with a purpose, who is now blessed to help a community of people with skin, hair, and body care products I make with my hands. I never thought that my life-long battle with eczema and dry skin would have flourished into something so beautiful, timeless, and natural. Something that allows me to bring awareness to my culture through my love of creating things, and my education and fascination with science & health.
Krem au Krem’s aim is to provide healthy hydrating skin and hair care at an affordable cost. We do this by sourcing the highest quality ingredients in bulk, allowing us to sell the products made at the lowest market retail price. Each product created is made with the intention of providing versatility, meaning each product is multi-functional giving the consumer a cost savings. For example, our Whipped Body and Hair Butter is dual purpose: it’s a skin moisturizer, as well as a hair moisturizer, conditioner, or styling cream depending on your hair type. This intention was kept in mind to help the consumer and myself. Being a young black woman with sensitive skin, I have spent most of my hard-earned money on products that were subpar, cost a ton, and took up a lot of storage space in the home. Krem alleviates all those problems because it works, it is affordable, and it cuts on waste. Instead of purchasing three separate plastic packaged products, you’d only need one. Recently, Krem au Krem has initiated Krem Kares, our partnership with Soaring Unlimited Haiti to aid in their Haitian relief efforts; we are donating a soap for every one purchased.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Back in 2019 after I had just graduated with my Master’s in Public Health I was laid off from my manufacturing position and now unemployed unexpectedly. This as you can image threw me for a loop, I was on the high of just finishing my master degree, but then humbled with no income by getting fired. So I had to pivot, I decided to focus my energy on building my brand and myself. In those 4-5 months I decided to focus on me and my company, by studying for the MCAT/ apply to medical school (since that’s what I always wanted to do was become a physician) & build my brand’s e-commerce webpage from scratch. In that time frame I successfully built a webpage, and hosted a launch party to showcase this milestone with some Krem Krew Members aka friends. This paid off in the end because not only did I now have my own site to curate, I also learned so many skills during the process that I will forever have from that moment forward. This was a very challenging season of my life, but having my energy focused on either studying or building my brand allowed me to stop putting myself down, or being depressed about the situation I was in. Now that I write this in hindsight, losing that job 3.5 years ago was probably the best thing that ever happened for Krem au Krem, because without that time to truly focus on the brand I would have been 3 years behind where I already am now. Sometimes your pivot stories are really just testimonies or blessings in disguise to push you in the direction you’re supposed to be in!
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
Initially when starting my business I was still living at home with my parents, working full-time, and full-time graduate student, so long story short I was broke as a joke. But in that broke-ness, I learned to start saving my money (since I wasn’t paying rent) and used that saved sum of about $2,000 to start my business. I didn’t have any capital or grant funding to support me, it was just me. Once I started the business I had to ensure the profit margin was just enough to make even for cost of goods, labor, etc. With that I had the freedom to make my retail prices more competitive in the niche market I was targeting, allowing me to standout from the other shea butter based products out there. In the time since 2019, I have increased my prices a couple times to match inflation prices & produce more of a margin to create more net income for the brand.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kremaukrem.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/kremaukrem
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/kremaukrem
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/kremaukrem
Image Credits
Arielle DeFoor – Elleira Rose Photography www.elleirose.com