Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Elena Kazas. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Elena, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?
I am a happy business owner because I am pursuing something that I have a passion for. Being a college student, from time to time, the thought of having a “regular job” crosses my mind, especially when talking to my peers about internships and job offers that they get. Hearing about the companies they work for and all the things that their daily tasks seem great, especially for what they want to do. It also seems refreshing at times to leave everything at work between the hours of 9-5 and not essentially have your work cap on all day every day. But, with those things being said, I would still never want to work any of the normal jobs they have because they have nothing to do with what I’m PASSIONATE about. Yes, all the jobs/internships they have pertain to their related field of study in business, but just because I am a Marketing major doesn’t mean I want to take a Marketing job at any company. Some may say I could find a “regular marketing job” at another skincare company since my passion is skincare, but it’s not that simple for me. Yes, skincare is what I love and know, but Calithea, my brand, my company is my passion because it’s more than just the product itself. I built this company based on what I was taught as a young girl by my grandmother. She instilled my practices in me, which then made me become a skincare fanatic, and wanted to make something for myself to then share with others. So yes, I have had thoughts of what it would be like to have a normal job, but I know I would dread it. I would be doing something I have no true connection to.
Elena, 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?
Calithea Skincare is a natural olive oil-based skincare line for those who want to enhance the overall quality of their skin. Calithea Skincare provides skin and body care products to women and men allowing them to embrace their simple beauty with simple ingredients without using synthetic chemicals in their products.
Calithea started with my own personal skincare journey (co-founder Elena Kazas). I come from a very family-oriented household so as a young girl I spent a lot of time growing up in my grandparent’s home. Both were Greek and my Yiayia (grandmother) was an immigrant who came to the States in the late 1950s from Kalamata, Greece. My Yiayia is the one who first introduced me to natural skincare. Her hometown, Kalamata is notoriously known for its olive oil. She knew how to use the natural resource for health & skincare. As I got older I became more impressionable to the media and all the different options in the skincare market. A lot of the products on the market were expensive, didn’t improve my skin’s health, and even would give my sensitive skin burns and rashes sometimes. I realized I was constantly cycling through different products and was at a loss for what to do. Then I reverted back to my roots and started using a 100% all-natural olive oil soap bar. After 2 weeks I noticed how radiant and alive my skin looked and how soft and supple it felt. I went into a deep dive into all the benefits of olive oil and was exposed to how amazing it is for the skin. It was a full circle moment for me as I realized why my grandmother used olive oil on my skin and hair. This is what sparked Calithea for me and for the base ingredient to be organic olive oil. I wanted to take the unique lessons I learned from my Yiayia and pass them on to anyone and everyone who would be willing to listen! With being so deeply connected to my culture it was also important for me to source all the ingredients from Greece to keep it authentic as possible. We take pride in that our key ingredients are derived from the land in which they are produced. Everything in our line is made and manufactured in Greece!
We are unique as we are one of the only companies in the U.S. that offer an olive oil base in skincare sourced directly from Greece. Using the finest organic olive oil as a base allows the benefits of our other natural ingredients to be amplified immensely. The simple science behind it is that organic olive oil generates biomimetic, skin-compatible liquid crystals. These crystals act as a delivery system that allows plant-based ingredients to penetrate deeper into the skin for a more targeted and effective result. Some of the key notable benefits of olive oil are anti-aging properties, anti-redness to prevent irritations in the skin, it acts as a shield to protect the skin from harsh environmental insults, and its liquid crystal structure promotes luminance in the skin and hydrates it. We then implement additional natural ingredients to create the best clean skin and body care products for our customers.
We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.
Calithea Skincare has two clients: our wholesale customers and our direct website sales customers.
When it comes to keeping in touch with our wholesale clients we are constantly sending out emails to them to check in on inventory and see how the product is moving in their stores. We evaluate what’s moving quickest and what’s not and help them figure out which products resonate with their customers best. We ask the stores to also send in photos/videos of their Calithea Display so we can promote it on all of our socials! Another thing we do is send brochures and a display image for them to help them explain our products to the customers better and to give them a brochure with their purchase so they can really understand the ingredients and our intent as a company. Lastly, we send these stores a sleeve of soaps free of charge for them to hand out to their customers with a purchase, to sample, or however they please to give it to them! We always want to keep open communication with our wholesale clients to facilitate a long and healthy partnership!
When it comes to our direct website customers we connect with them through social media and newsletters to keep them up to date on what’s the latest news with Calithea, ingredient benefits, product bundles, and more. We also have our telephone number and email listed on our website so they can contact us at any time with any concerns or questions. We LOVE hearing our customer feedback whether it be via email, website or Google review, social media DM, or through social media shoutouts! Calithea wants to deliver to our customers what they want and we are always open to hearing feedback on our current product line to make any necessary improvements on packaging or formulations. For example, two things we would hear a lot from customers were wanting a thicker face moisturizer with skin reparative properties and body butter. So with this info, we came up with our Night Cream which is designed to hydrate the skin like our day cream, but it also contains other natural ingredients that help with anti-aging, improving skin elasticity, promoting peptide rebuild, etc. We also came out with our Cocoa Butter & Vanilla Body Butter to give our customers that thicker body lotion experience they were asking for! We also send our customers promotional emails around the holidays to give them a discount code for being loyal customers! Calithea also offers a free bar of soap for all first-time customers because the 100% olive oil soap is what got me to switch back to natural skincare so I want to share that with them! We also add a thank you card and brochure to all of our orders so that our customers can connect with who we are as a company.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Calithea had lots of success in its first year of 2018, and I was able to get it into a big-name box store and start discussing a product expansion. In January 2019, my younger brother, Elias, was diagnosed with cancer at just 12 years old. More specifically, Elias was diagnosed with Anaplastic Astrocytoma of the brain stem, which is a rare and aggressive type of brain tumor. This terrifying discovery took such a toll on him and my family. For the next 10 weeks, my parents were with Elias at St. Jude’s in Memphis, TN. I was only in high school at the time so my older brother Peter and I had to stay at home. Elias had the toughest challenge ahead of him, fighting for his life and enduring countless rounds of radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Due to this, everything was put on hold with Calithea for the majority of 2019. With the generous support of St. Jude, Elias, my family, and I came out of this experience stronger than ever before. Though Elias still faces a tough journey ahead of him, he has truly become my hero, and I learn from him more and more each day. Because of this, Calithea donates a dollar to support St. Jude’s research hospital and its amazing efforts to support children suffering from cancer and their families, as well as crucial life-saving research. In September, which is childhood cancer awareness month, we double our donations for all orders made in that timeframe. Right after this, COVID-19 hit and everything shut down. We were ready to come back with a bang after everything that had happened with Elias. We had 7 new products lined up to launch but all production was put on hold as production had to shut down. We persevered through this though and were able to launch the 7 new products in the first quarter of 2021 our customers loved them, so it was worth the struggle! Both of these back-to-back lessons have taught me that the Entrepreneurial Journey requires risk because you have to be ready for the unexpected. Coming out on the other side of both of these events made me realize that the struggles are worth it to be able to do what I love every single day and share it with others!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://calitheagoddess.com/
- Instagram: @calitheagoddess https://www.instagram.com/calitheagoddess/
- Facebook: @calitheagoddess https://www.facebook.com/Calitheagoddess
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/calithea-skincare/?viewAsMember=true
- Twitter: @calitheagoddess
- Youtube: @calitheaskincare9236 and @elenamkazas
- Tiktok : calitheagoddess https://www.tiktok.com/@calitheagoddess elenamk6 https://www.tiktok.com/@elenamk6
Image Credits
all owned by Calithea Skincare