We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mercedes Edney a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Mercedes, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
I am from St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. The Ixora flower is very popular back home and blooms in multiple colors. I wanted something that reminded me of home, as I started this company back home for the first 8 months before relocating back to Charlotte. Two of my first scrubs were named after neighborhoods in St. Croix; Mon Bijou and Golden Rock.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Hi!
My name is Mercedes Edney. I was born and raised in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. I am 39 years old and went to school for chemical engineering. I also have an esthetician license. Since I was a little girl, I had severely dry skin and eczema. I knew in high school I wanted to do something in chemistry but by college I knew I wanted to work in skin care. When I graduated from college in 2007, we were entering a recession and it was very hard to find jobs. I worked in the chemical field from DOW chemicals, to BASF to even working in construction labs. In December of 2011, I moved back home temporarily and that was the time I was having a convo with a friend about what I wanted to do with my life and she suggested I make my own products and that was how Ixora was born.
Ixora Botanical Beauty was named after a very popular flower back home that came in a myriad of colors. I debuted with body care products like body butters and scrubs in January 2012 which I was making in the kitchen of my uncle’s house. Since 2012, the brand has evolved into face and body care with our hero line, donkey milk products. I also formulate all the products.
One of the things that my brand stands for is making products that are gentle enough for sensitive skin, including actives (chemical exfoliators/retinols). We provide everything from cleansers, moisturizers, exfoliants, body washes, lotions, body butters and more. Not only are our products safe for sensitive skin, but we also specialize in anti-inflammatory and barrier repair products which are often the root of many people’s skin issues. So if you’re dealing with anything from eczema, acne, psoriasis, strawberry legs, hyperpigmentation to wrinkles, we have products for you.
You can also find us on instagram(ixorabb), twitter(ixorabb), and facebook (ixora botanical beauties).
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
What started to build my reputation was that I regularly discussed skin care. When I decided to get my esthetician license, I routine posted about what I learned in school in threads to further teach the science behind skincare. Something else that really gave me my “Skin Care Bully” online moniker was routine reminding everyone to do their skin care routines and wear sunscreen in a funny way. Because I became known as someone with great skin care advice, it translated to people being interested and trying my products.
My advice is to be authentic with your audience. Give. advice in your field to garner trust. People don’t want to feel like you’re selling to them. They want to feel like you’re giving them knowledge that is improving their lives in some way.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
When I first started my business, I didn’t know anything about marketing outside of telling people on twitter about the products. Maybe 2 years after I started my business, IG became a thing and other companies like mine started popping up. I started to lose sales and because I didn’t know how to market, I suffered. I ended up having to get a job to supplement my lack of sales and for the next 4 years, I worked on rebranding and figuring out what I wanted to see from my brand.
There were days I wanted to give up because I felt stuck, but I kept changing and adjusting and doing different things until luck and opportunity presented itself with my donkey milk products. When I didn’t have money to hire others for help, I bartered services. I did anything I could that would help further the success of my business and get my products into more hands. I also did a lot of vending during that time as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ixorabb.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ixorabb
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IxoraBotanicalBeauties
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ixorabb
- Other: tiktok – https://www.tiktok.com/@ixorabb