We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jenna Cadena. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jenna below.

Jenna, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

The goal has always been to promote self-love and self-care. My goal has never been focused on anti-aging and I believe this is what differentiates us from the industry standard. Necessity being the mother of invention, and being a mama myself, my company was born out of necessity to alleviate the irritation my oldest daughter experienced with sensitive skin, more specifically, eczema. The lotions and creams we bought at the larger stores seemed to help initially but we always found ourselves washing whatever we had just rubbed on, right back off of because her skin would become irritated and red. This cycle went on for years and has been the motivation behind our goal that centers on keeping this safe for all ages. Additionally, because of my background in mental health, the focus is on both loving your skin and practicing self-care. I feel it important to provide quality ingredients in our products along with the accessibility in knowing the people behind this business actually care about you and what you are putting on your skin and/or bringing into your home. It really does matter to me that our customers walk away happy with their purchase which is how I came up with our slogan: shop clean, feel confident, live happily.

Jenna, 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?

I was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas and I was the first in my family to go to college. I studied biology as an undergrad, marriage and family therapy as a graduate student, and went back to graduate school to complete my doctorate in psychology. It was in this final program when I began working on bath bombs and trying to come up with a formula that would create a bubble bath for my children. The bath bombs we sell today are several years in the making that took months of trial and error. We have had many broken, failed, and wasted attempts at molding them. While working on bath bombs that bubble, I started formulating a body moisturizer that would last long after its application. When I began this process it was the winter months, so it was cooler here in South Texas. I had not anticipated how much I would continue to reformulate once the summer heat hit. It was also during these summer months that we started venturing out to local markets to establish ourselves within our community and it wasn’t long before I noticed other businesses were not selling their body butter during the summer. And secondly, most of the advertisements focused on anti-aging marketing strategies.
I knew I wanted to figure a way to continue making our body butter work through the summers here in Texas, and I knew that I never wanted to make our customers feel as though they have to change anything about themselves.
When I am at trade shows or talking with customers, I do try to get to know them. Even if it’s a busy Saturday, I try to give them a chance to share their experiences because many times, they have had a similar experience with eczema or sensitivity and have struggled to find something that truly helps so I do listen.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

My parents divorced when I was 4 and my mom remarried someone who was extremely violent. Growing up in that environment changes how you view the world, especially so as a child. I am also my mother’s oldest and growing up in a Latino household the eldest daughter is typically expected to look after the younger siblings, take on more responsibilities. That’s me in a nutshell. My drive for education and with this business comes from watching what my mom went through and knowing that my children are watching me.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Taking my childhood into consideration, I will say that I have worked to curate a positive outlook and philosophy through music and exercise. I also feel that my experience and studying mental health allows me a greater depth of understanding the power of our thoughts. These sway heavily on the psychology side, but I enjoy books related to attachment, positive psychology, and neurobiology.

Contact Info:

• Website: jennanicole.com
• Instagram: @drjennanicole
• Facebook: facebook.com/drjennanicole
• Other: [email protected]

Image Credits
Rethlyn Beaty