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

Alright, Kathryn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. 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 have said this many times before. Building your own business takes twice as long as you think, is three times more expensive than you budgeted and is ten times harder than you expected. But it is also one hundred times more rewarding than you could ever imagine. I sometimes wish for things to be less stressful and to grow faster and not have all of the hurdles, but that is also part of what makes it so rewarding, knowing that you have gotten to the other side and accomplished so much.

Kathryn, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

After a long struggle with my personal health, I came to the realization that what we put in and on our body has a significant impact on how we feel and our overall health. I have always worked in the beauty industry (not on the clean side) and have worked with some of the biggest retailers in the industry. But when I started trying to seek out clean beauty 16 years ago, there was no Facebook, Instagram or any of the other resources that we now have readily available to us. For years, I just kept wanting to shop my store. I wanted a place that was TRULY clean, not green-washed, and that really delivered results. Finally 8 years ago, the universe aligned that I was the one to bring this to the market place and I opened my first AILLEA!

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

Covid Covid Covid. We are a brick and mortar retailer, so when we had to close our stores in 2020 it was devastating. Landlords were not giving any concessions, I still had to pay electric, insurance, ADT and all of our other expenses but the shift to online sales did not offset all of the losses. And when we were able to reopen, there were capacity restrictions that limited our business that did not come off until well in to 2021. We have slowly been building back and reclaiming our growth trajectory which has been very exciting.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Be as authentic as possible. We find the best responses to our social media is when I step in front of the camera (something that doesn’t necessarily come naturally to me). However people really want to connect with a brand and see the people behind the brand!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.aillea.com
• Instagram: @ailleabeauty
• Other: TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@ailleabeauty