We recently connected with Charlee Roy and have shared our conversation below.

Charlee, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

My biggest goal is to leave a legacy of education and sustainability to my sons. I work hard to teach them about business, foraging for food and medicine, basic life skills such as starting fires and fishing, as well as growing our own food. I want to share my passion and knowledge with everyone who is interested which is why I really enjoy teaching and offering workshops to all ages. It brings me so much joy.

Charlee, 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 journey started when I struggled with my own skin issues. I had suffered with acne my entire teenage life and tried so many products with no relief.

Fast forward to my early 20’s.

I was working in Burlington at a store called Goodness Me in the supplements department. I was selling lots of skin care products and was always so interested in how they were made and the ingredients involved. I told myself that one day I would do that. I would make a product that would work. I had moved to the city to attend College. I worked multiple jobs ranging from modelling to vet technician. I finally found the position at Goodness Me and absolutely loved it.

Fast forward again to my mid 20’s.

My father passed away in 2013 so I moved from Burlington back home to Owen Sound to be closer to the rest of my family. I started nursing school the following year to pursue another passion I had; caregiving.

During the 3rd semester of Nursing School, I wanted to bring in some more money to help pay for my tuition. I approached the Business Enterprise Centre and enrolled into the Summer Company Program. They helped me start up with a grant to purchase supplies and get the business off the ground.

I quickly made enough money to pay for my tuition and continued growing the business with markets and local pop ups in various store fronts.

After I completed nursing school, I worked in my field as a community nurse. I was also then hired by the College I attended to teach the Open Lab Program for RPN, RN and PSW students. I then began my Herbalist Diploma through Dominion Herbal College in British Columbia.

In 2017 I decided to take my business to the next level. I quit my nursing jobs and opened my first brick and mortar. I had started getting into the world of foraging around this time. I was learning a lot from my herbal program and creating new products as I gained more knowledge.

After a short year, I outgrew my space and had to relocate to a much larger and better located brick and mortar right downtown. The business grew very quickly and I continued to expand. I had a do-it-yourself room in the store, as well as a full refillery for skin care and bath products.

I became pregnant with twins in 2018 (which ended up being a very rocky pregnancy and landed me in the hospital for several weeks, 3 hours away from home). My best friend, and store manager, took over and kept the doors open for me while I was away.

At the beginning of 2020, I chose to close down my store front. I had a nudge that there was a big shift coming and I’m very thankful I made that move at the time. I went through a divorce and a move all at the same time, so it was a lot of big changes within a short window.

It is now 2023 and I have far more knowledge than I had when I started out. I have learned many lessons and gained a wealth of real life experience from spending my days outside with plants and nature. In the warmer months, I am rarely inside. I often even craft my products outside in the summer months.

I now have a workshop in my attic that I work from. I create skin care products for the face, hair, and body. I also craft bath/shower products. I forage the plant materials needed for many of my products, as well as formulate, create, package and label every single one. I offer workshops to educate others about plant identification, wildcrafting, plant medicine and much more.

I homeschool my 4.5 year old twin boys so this allows me to work from home and put my attention into my kids. They love to hike and forage with me. We have lots of adventures and it’s been such blessing being able to teach them everything along the way.

I am most proud of the amount of times I’ve dusted myself off and gotten back up. My family has had my back every single time. There are days that are so mentally exhausting I just want to give up, but my incredible family and clients keep me going. I am motivated now more than ever and this is only just the beginning for NakdBasics. I am very excited to see where the next year is going to take me.

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

Back in 2011 when Twitter was just becoming really popular, I began to teach myself about marketing. I researched, talked to people, watched videos, and started exploring the world of social media. I quickly gained over 100,000 followers in a very short period of time. I was modelling and doing little comedy posts that quickly gained traction. I learned that if I had “a thing,” people would get excited to come back the next day and see what else I was posting.

So how did I get over 100k followers? Well, back then, “my thing” was talking about cats and bacon. Seems silly, I know. But it worked.

Apparently the internet loved both of these topics.

I now use this same approach with my current brand.

I post about recipes, plant based products and self care. All very important topics right now that more and more people are interested in. The difference this time though? I’m passionate about what I’m posting. Far more satisfying.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Authenticity.

I tried to do too many things before when I had the store front.

I was trying to be “trendy” with my labels and what items I brought in. I spent thousands of dollars redesigning labels to what I assumed people wanted based on some other big brands’. I was trying to conform to what I thought my clients wanted and I lost myself a little bit for a while.

My strategy advice now?

Be authentic. Be yourself. The right clientele will find you and follow.

My clientele are insanely loyal, and honestly just incredible. My community has had my back since the beginning and I cannot be more grateful for every single one of them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nakdbasics.com
• Instagram: @nakdbasics
• Facebook: @nakdbasics