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

Donna, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you share a customer success story with us?

From Darkness to Light trying to raise 3 children on my own with the electricity and gas being shut off in the middle of winter. the only thing I knew of was survival. I was born bow leg and pidgin toe and wore orthopaedic boots until I was 10 years old. The only thing I knew was to survive. I never gave up, People laugh at me and constantly teased me but I would keep going even when everyone told me I was crazy to start my own skincare line. It has taken well over 10 years of formulating and developing.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Donna Howlett, an Australian native, turned an almost tragic event at age 17 into inspiration for her very own skincare line.

On holiday one summer with her friends after a long day of water skiing, Donna went to use an old-fashioned gas stove. It was the type of stove that requires that you turn the gas on and then light a match to light the burner. Donna fell asleep waiting for the oven to heat up and the flame had blown out but the gas was still on. Half asleep she turned the gas off and back on and lit a match and the combustion from the oven blew up in her face leaving her with third-degree burns all over her face, ¼ of her hair was burned off, and temporarily lost her eyesight.

It took over an hour to get to the hospital and the pain from the burns was quickly increasing. Trying to minimize the pain Donna’s friends kept a wet towel over her face the entire journey. After her parents were notified, Donna’s dad drove over 5 hours to get to the hospital. Upon arrival, the doctors notified her dad that Donna would incur severe lifelong scarring from the sustained burns.

Luckily for Donna, her father was a man of nature and pushed all of the burn creams from the hospital aside and utilized ingredients that were already growing on the family horse farm. He sliced Aloe Vera leaves in half and placed them on her burns during her prescribed 2 weeks of bed rest. Returning to the hospital 4 weeks later for a follow-up visit the doctors were shocked by how Donna’s scars were healing. Her father explained that it was just Aloe Vera from their farm’s backyard. Had it not been for her father’s belief in the natural healing properties of Aloe Vera Donna would have ended up with irreversible scars and skin damage for the rest of her life.

After healing from such a traumatic event and starting her own family, Donna has always believed in the power of natural and whole ingredients and her passion to start her own skincare line grew stronger. MODINC SKINCARE was born! Donna has worked on perfecting the product formulas for over 10 years to include natural, sustainable ingredients from Australia that are high-quality, cruelty-free (NO ANIMAL TESTING), safe for the whole family, and affordable!

We hope you and your families love our products as much as we love formulating and discovering new ways to bring our customers high-quality skincare at an affordable price.

MODINC SKINCARE is a woman-owned and operated business based out of Orange County, California, and manufactured in the U.S.A. Available at MODINC-SKINCARE.com

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

From the age of 10 I was constantly running away from home I was abused by my brothers . The only thing that got me through my horrific childhood was my love for horses, I was an Australian Equestrian Rider. At the age of 12 I decided I did not want to be anything like my sibling’s that were drug dealers and addicts, so I enrolled myself in Lady Deportment School and Toast Masters Public Speaking and Debating. At the age of 15 I left school and started to work in real estate. The age of 18 I was married had 3 children by 23 years old and divorced at 26, Raising 3 children on my own.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

I worked 3 jobs to pay the bills, Then I got a job in Sydney Markets which is a fresh produce Market doing bookkeeping. I saw how much money the sales people were earning and I was trying to save money to put my children through school and start my own skincare line so I decided to be an agent in a male dominated industry and from there I started my own business in the Fresh Produce Industry and became one of the top Sales person, landing contracts with the supermarkets.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.modinc-skincare.com
• Instagram: modinc.skincare
• Facebook: modincskincare
• Linkedin: donnahowlett
• Youtube: donnahowlett