We were lucky to catch up with Jennifer Smith recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jennifer , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.
One of the things we at Laine Co Beauty do differently from all of the Corporate brands, and most independent brands, comes down to the ingredients we use. We source local & organic ingredients and will never skim on an ingredient simply because it is cheaper. For example, most soap makers will use a carrier oil that is cheap to keep costs down and have a higher profit margin; we don’t believe in using what’s cheaper; we believe in using what works well and has for hundreds of years now. We pay a high premium for our special carrier oil and it is definitely noticed by our customers when they use our bars. We will never sell out and will never use synthetic ingredients either. Our soap bars are now and always will be able to use the title of soap because of our quality ingredients and process.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Jennifer & I am the owner of Laine Co Beauty. Laine is my middle name and a family name. About 8 years ago I started educating parents on nutrition and essential care for their children in an underprivileged and mainly Spanish speaking school district to help the children thrive and do better in school. Through my parenting education classes I would provide lists of safe products to consume or use as a guideline (as well as teach people how to read and decode labels for new products) and as time went on those lists got smaller and smaller, making it hard to be able to trust products on the market. I was already making foods and things from scratch for friends and family at this point. That grew to a first business and my educational classes for youth as well. From that evolved this company and something I am very proud of. Not only do we offer a solution but I still educate people to this day. I teach them how to spot a natural/organic product versus a synthetic based one at every market/ event we do. I encourage people to buy local and natural, even if it’s not from me, for their own benefit. The main problem our bars solve for people are on a cellular level. They fix the skin ailments many suffer from after using synthetic products for so long. It only takes a few days to see reversal from problems. I am most proud of myself for never giving up on this journey. As a single mom of 4 children (2 special needs), it is not an easy task to also run a business and try to provide for their every need 24/7; but helping people has always been what I am about. So many people have told me I have a heart of gold my entire life. I won’t even think twice about helping someone, even if I just met you. I want my followers to know that the values and principles that I stand on when I started this company will always be our core business practices. If you’ve met me in person you have probably heard me say ‘I would rather tell the truth and gain a friend for life than lie to gain a customer’. You guys are the reason this business is a success and I will always put my customers first!
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
One time I had to pivot in business was when I spent almost 6 years building my last brand up and the entire business and someone thought it was such an amazing business that they stole everything from me. Just like that, overnight! It was devastating and overwhelming and a huge set back. Regardless I brushed myself off, started another business and did the darn thing all over again. This time I was not starting from scratch, I was starting from experience! And that experience taught me a lot. But what it really did was prove exactly what kind of daughter my parents raised. A resilient, smart & determined woman & mom that was not going to stop for anything.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A really hard lesson I had to unlearn is that not everyone deserves your presence. Some people only want you around to use you for their benefit and some want you around because you make their life easier. What I mean by that is wether it’s family, friend, business or work; not everyone deserves access to you. As someone with a huge heart who really always saw the good in everyone, this was a super tough lesson to learn for me. Ive learned to let things go and not overly foster relationships that are not deserving of my presence. I’m much more selective of those around me now and because of it I am much more at peace. The backstory to this hard learned lesson is that I had a friend of many many years who was quick to throw me under the bus to save her own face when her crap hit the fan because she couldn’t take blame for her own actions, thus leaving me as the scapegoat. I let things play out and learned who to trust after that based on who believed what version of the story. It’s true we get wiser with age!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lainecobeauty.com
- Instagram: @lainecobeauty
- Facebook: @lainecobeauty
- Other: TikTok : @LaineCoBeauty
Image Credits
all photos were taken by Laine Co Beauty LLC