We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Belinda Bowman-andreotti a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Belinda, thanks for joining us today. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today

I have started over from scratch about 3 times already. If I had to start over again, I would purchase from vendors who offer credit to small businesses for materials. I have spent thousands out of pocket only to find out that there were companies that offered credit to businesses like mine for materials such as packaging, labels, gloves, office equipment, oils, butters, and even lipgloss bases.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve always had an interest in skincare because I have sensitive skin and can’t use most products. So in 2019, I started looking into alternative products. They were a bit pricey so I started looking at DIY videos to create products on my own and using them. I then included my spouse and my children and eventually other family members. It was my son who told me that I should sell my handmade products. I enrolled in a cosmetic chemistry class to learn about formulating my own products and in 2021, we incorporated BRana Beauti. We offer fragrance inspired skincare and now cosmetics. Our products are vegan and great for all skin types. This business has gave me an outlet to explore my creative side. I love to experiment with colors and that is shown in our lipglosses and in our body care products

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

To start the business, I invested $1,000 of my savings. I made a lot of errors and overspent on materials. When that was gone, my family and I had a meeting to discuss exactly where we went wrong and to pin point what we actually needed and cost efficient options. We then opened a business checking account, where I transferred $5,000 into it along with money from my kids. We grew that account and now have sub accounts designated for certain aspects of the business

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

Yes, we manufacture the majority of our products. I knew nothing about manufacturing products when I began. I watched a lot of DIY videos back then. Some products would come out great and some not so great. So a friend of mine who owns a lab in in AZ suggested that I take a cosmetic chemist course so I can learn how to formulate correctly and stop wasting materials. I took the course and I learned a lot. There are a few vendors that we use for our raw materials and our lipgloss bases. We took time researching each vendor and found a few that suited our brand needs

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.branabeauti.com
• Instagram: branabeauti
• Facebook: Brana Beauti
• Twitter: BRanaBeauti
• Youtube: BRanaBeauti1
• Other: tiktok – brana_beauti

Image Credits

All of our photographs were captured in-house. We do not have a photographer to acknowledge.