We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Charmaine Gibbs-West. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Charmaine below.

Charmaine, appreciate you joining us today. Getting that first client is always an exciting milestone. Can you talk to us about how you got your first customer who wasn’t a friend, family, or acquaintance?

Many people are surprised when I tell them that my first wholesale client was Whole Foods. This came about very organically. I started my business in Nashville and would set up at local artisan markets. One of the markets was at a health food store named Wild Oats.

At that time there was not a Whole Foods in Nashville. There were a few small independent stores, but Wild Oats was the main one; being a large store with a chain across the South. It was a place where us crafters would set-up on Tuesdays, as well as a central gathering spot where everyone would connect and discuss health resources, exchange information, etc.

When Whole Foods made the decision to open a store in Nashville, the word spread across the plant-based community. Their first decision was to buy out Wild Oats. This announcement was made to the vendors of the Tuesday market, with whispers that we may have the chance to apply for entry in the new Whole Foods store.

Well, a few weeks afterwards, a representative from Whole Foods came to our Tuesday market and literally handed out applications! I obsessed over the application and the product samples I needed to send. I’d tweaked my hand made labels, created a Vision Board with the Whole Foods logo and prayed continuously over the outcome.

About a month after shipping everything off, I received word that I was accepted! The coordinator even mentioned his pregnant wife adored my products. Since then, I’ve grown my business tremendously.

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 started out as a 24-year old New York executive working on Wall Street. Having recently switched to a plant-based lifestyle and begun studying holistic health therapies, I felt the urge to leave New York and explore my life’s calling. My then boyfriend, now husband, encouraged me to move to the South–to his family’s farm in Nashville. Excited for this new adventure, I took him up on his offer.

While volunteering at a couple of Nashville non-profits, I met a community of beautiful, like-minded women. One told me about books that taught how to make natural beauty products. (This was before YouTube became popular). I literally went to the library and took out every book I could.

Formulating holistic beauty products became my new obsession. I would stay up all night making them in the kitchen of our farm house. What inspired me, was the desire to make the products intentional and nutritionally powerful. In fact, I called them “consciously crafted” decades before the term was used by Ulta or Sephora.

My clients loved and trusted EssenceTree’s products. They knew they would receive effective, plant-based formulas for hair growth and dry skin. And even more, they used our products to complement their lifestyle–I sell crystal anointing oils for meditation, love oil for couples, inner peace products for serenity and anxiety.

Above all, I want my customers to feel celebrated and adored, like the goddesses and kings they are. EssenceTree’s luxury superfood skin and hair products continue to provide that. As well as our amazing educational seminars and self-care events.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I’m still unlearning fear to this day. Each new level of growth requires overcoming and releasing fear. And, I believe this is an ongoing journey. I was afraid to go into multiple Whole Foods stores. Afraid my products were lesser than the others on the shelves. It’s taken me a lot of spiritual work and coaching to unlock this thinking. We’re often afraid of our greatness. So, for me, I have to continually learn to accept and honor the gifts that Spirit has given me. Without falling into the fear of expansion.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Initially, EssenceTree was self-funded by just my husband and I. I would use all of my spare money to make the products. When I needed to make bigger purchases, my husband would put down the money.

My first “external investors” were a business credit card and a family friend.

Our second phase of fundraising involved courting several friends to offer short term investments in us.

Today, I’ve received government grants and loans as the primary source of our business capital.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.EssenceTree.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/essencetreelife
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/essencetreelife
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@essencetreebeauty

Image Credits
Ken West Shannon McCollum Shoot, Inc.