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

Raya , 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?

My grandmother, the inspiration behind my company, was my dearest friend. She believed in the goodness of people, always saying that “People are just trying the best they can.” When she passed away, my life seemed to come to a halt.However, the creation of my company became a new beginning, giving me a purpose to spread love and kindness. As I write this, holding back tears, I’m proud that my company is dedicated to helping people and the planet. This is for you, Grandmother; we’re always doing the best we can.

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?

Hi! My name is Raya and I am engaged to my best friend, I am a proud rescue dog owner, and a passionate tree hugger. I am a pastry chef by trade, but I previously taught high school students how to not burn their eyebrows off in the kitchen. In high school, I fell in love with naturopathic medicine while undergoing immunosuppressive therapy, attempting to learn how to walk for the third time. While learning to walk, I was on a pretty intensive medication regimen resulting in severe hair loss. During this time, I became plant based and I couldn’t find a sustainable alternatives and plastic free hair care for my curly hair. So I created it with my love gardening and globally inspired naturopathic plant based approach to hair care. Thankfully, I managed to learn how to walk and grow my hair back. Along the way I found so many others that were looking for truly sustainable, inclusive and safe for curly hair and clean body products along the way. Over several years, I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to help people like me who strived for products that would help not harm, their journey post medical treatments. As a born and raised California girl the humble avocado took the forefront as a way to prevent waste and shine a light on this incredible vitamin packed fruit and that’s how I chose to focus on avocados being our main ingredient. Avocados have a short window for ripeness and often times end up as waste, we take avocados and make something beautiful out of them. When I started PFJ I wanted to focus on helping communities transition to “lower waste” by focusing on things they already knew like shampoo but making it better for you and the planet as well as concentrated lotions that really worked resulting in you needing less of it. I love that we are sustainable, inclusive and often times a customers first step in creating cleaner lifestyle.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

I think the closest I’ve ever been to closing the business was when I was trying to navigate my mental health on my own. My family went through some pretty tough times around the same time the world was experiencing them too and like so many other people my mental health took a tailspin. I don’t think enough small business owners talk about being the owner, maker, seller, HR and payroll person essentially everything to your business all while navigating grief and loss. Pair that with knowing “if you don’t do it, it won’t get done” and you have a recipe for disaster. I had a history of physical ailments in the past, but struggling with my mental health while being a business owner was an entirely knew ball game. There was days at a time where my loving fiancé would just congratulate me in getting out of bed so orders where the farthest thing from my mind, let alone paying invoices and bills. On the end of things, I would work myself to the bone. One year since tragedy? I’d purposefully sign up for the most grueling 12 hr days at markets or events so I wouldn’t think about whatever was bothering me. This led me to make unstable quick business decisions and experience the worst burn out I’ve ever had. In that moment that I reached out for help. I found an amazing doctor and a wonderful therapist who help me process grief and life in healthy ways that allow me to show up for my business and family in healthy ways. I say this everyone as a reminder to myself and others, drink water and take your meds. For those that are struggling I say this with my full heart and knowing first hand what it feels like, I am so glad you are here and you are loved.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

I remember thinking it was scam and I called with the intention of telling them they shouldn’t scam small businesses because these businesses are our hearts. Picture it Sicily 1942, I’m kidding, I just love The Golden Girls. In all honesty, just last year I was so frustrated with the amount of spam I was getting through my contact form on my site that I was going to close it down for good. Then the straw that broke the camels back came in one morning saying one of the largest airport retailers wanted my products in their airports all over the country. I told no one, and wrote it off as a another scam and but then I said ‘…that’s it I’m going to call and tell them they shouldn’t scam small businesses…” so I called the next day. A cheerful lady answered the phone and was excited to hear from me, and I couldn’t believe it. She said she had to run into a meeting but would call me back in 20 minutes, and I went to grab a snack and thought yeah sure she would. But sure enough in 20 minutes she called me back and she was looking for local businesses to showcase. I told my fiancé I have no clue where this will lead but she wants me to pitch to her buyers this week. Before I knew it was pitching to buyers for the first time with 6 products and DIY wholesale sheet . The meeting went incredible and I was floored. The buyer said how about we start you off small with 5 locations and 2k items. Since then I’ve had more sleepless nights than I can count and more stress than imaginable but I’ve also been tagged pictures and have seen my grandmothers name all over the country and loved by travelers all over the world. I mean in Laguardia Airport I’m right next to Kate Spade and Coach and on the other side is the Strand Bookstore for Pete sake! It was a giant risk for small business and I can’t tell you the wave of emotions I felt towards it all ( truthfully I felt them all), but I’m so thankful it wasn’t spam.

Contact Info:

• Website: petalsforjean.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/petalsforjean
• Facebook: Facebook.com/petalsforjean

Image Credits
Dan and Tyler Photography , The Goodlight Club