Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jasmine Ryans. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jasmine , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

Originally, in 2017, when the business (Soul(tre)), first launched, we sold retail health and beauty products for the family unit. Over the years, we continued to change products and improve the formulations of our products. In 2020, when the pandemic hit, we began to grow internationally and in 2021 we were afforded opportunities to stock our reatail products in stores in Dubai, Switzerland and France, but we noticed a lot of service-based business that were negatively affected by the pandemic and decided to take a risk and change our entire business model from selling retail to providing white / private label products to businesses and brands. It was one of the biggest risk I took in my business but I wanted to be able provide products for other businesses to continue to make a profit, build their brands and have products that would complement their services to enhance their clients experiences while my business was still able to provide quality, value-adding products around the world. It was a slow start but, since our re-launch in 2022, we have seen a steady growth in our white label services and products and have able to work with celebrity brands across the globe!

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 am Jasmine Raquel, a mother, native of Augusta and lover of all things health, wellness and beauty. Because i struggled with my health growing up, I dedicated my life to learning how to heal my mind, body and soul and educate others on how to be healthy and whole. Even though I suffered and struggled, I always knew I was a healer and could bring healing to others despite my own circumstances. I learned early on that your circumstances will never override who God called you to be. When I became pregnant with my daughter, my biggest concern was her health and I didn’t want to jeopardize her health when she came into the world. So, I started buying all-natural products to use on her. As she got older, her hair was growing thicker and her skin started changing. I couldn’t find products that worked well for her that were safe and sensitive enough for her so I prayed over some ingredients I had at home and started making my own hair and skin care products for my daughter. They worked so well that other parents at her daycare were asking about what I was using on my daughter and if I could make something for their kids because they were having skin issues and could never find products that were safe enough to use on their kids’ hair and still work. This is what led to the birth of my company, Soul(tre). Over the years and due to the pandemic, I have pivoted from selling only retail health and beauty products to white label products. Today, Soul(tre) is a faith-based health and beauty product distribution company that supplies white/private label hair care, skin care and men care products. We help businesses and brands build brand recognition and increase profits by providing custom complementary branded health and beauty products that are premium quality and add value for the brands and their customers. Any small business can create their own branded product with a low minimum order quantity of 25 units compared to the 100s or 1000s minimum order quantity required by other 3rd party manufacturers. We pride ourselves in providing a personalized experience and endless support to small businesses and brands to ensure their success in creating and launching their customized product line!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In 2019, I lost my job, car, and lost my house, all during the time that the business was not growing in the way I had anticipated it to. I didn’t have a back-up plan, I couldn’t find a job to save my life and I almost got to the point of just closing the business and being done with it. But I kept reminding myself of the reason I started the business in the first place and I remembered what God told me even though my situation looked nothing like what He said. In that moment, my faith and to be greater than my fear and the promise had to matter more than my pain. So, I keep going in the business then the pandemic hit in 2020 and halted all my travelling plans to expand my business. I was sure at this point that I just needed to give up, but I had just enough faith to keep moving forward. I pivoted and changed the business model and started becoming an answer for other business problems during the pandemic which was increasing profits and growing brand recognition and loyalty. Ever since the pivot, the business has been growing and we continue to get more exposure to businesses and brands around the world and working with celebrity brands. All of this happened all because I made up in my mind that quitting wasn’t an option.

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

One lesson I had to unlearn is that it matters what people think of me. That is a flat out lie and one of the things I struggled with growing up and even early on in my adult life. I held people’s words and opinions as truth in my heart. I would lower myself and hide my true self in order to appease to people that didn’t matter. I would disobey what God told me to do because I would listen to people that didn’t understand the vision that He gave me. I needed people too much and sought their approval too much. I begin living a life approved by man but not by God. When you live your life trying to satisfy man, you will never be fulfilled because they will never be satisfied. You begin to feel like you are never enough, but you are enough for the right person and that our Creator. I had to remind myself of Galatians 1:10- “Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.” So, I focused on pleasing God and seeking His approval and living my life on purpose and with purpose and not worrying about what people thought of me and said. This mindset shift helped me to get clear on my business and the life I was purposed to live and now I live being unapologetically me and understanding that no one can take me away from me, so I live freely as me. That’s true freedom.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.soultrenaturalproducts.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/soultrellc and www.instagram.com/jasmine_ryans
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/soultrenatural

Image Credits
Kalea Ayanna