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

Rikki, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

My parents taught me a lot. One of my favorite lessons comes from when I decided to go vegetarian at 12. My parents were amenable, as long as I was willing to cook for myself and I gave them a presentation on every vitamin and mineral needed in the human body and how to get them through a vegetarian diet.

After a million complaints, I sat down at my Windows 99 computer and began my research. As I learned about vitamin c and calcium, I came across information on how to adapt meals with meat to make them vegetarian. I found out what celebrities and historical figures were vegetarian. I found recipes and cookbooks, and began to explore the vegetarian world. While I worked on my project, I came to understand how to explore a topic on the internet, and how much information was really out there.

Lesson 1: Dive into information before making a lifestyle change. It will lead you to more than you think.

As I presented this to my parents, I included the things I had found. I taught them how to adapt recipes to be vegetarian. I explained what foods are good to keep in the house, and how we can use them to replace the meat in recipes.

Lesson 2: Give people the information they need to help you. They can’t help if they don’t know how.

Finally, it was time to start cooking for myself. For ease of shopping, it was decided I would just make a vegetarian version of whatever my family was having. I spent years across from my mother, adding chickpeas to a small dish as she added chicken to a large one, chatting about school, what books we were reading, politics and life.

Lesson 3: Find the love in everything you do. And when possible, involve food.

At 35, I’m still close with my parents. I’m still a vegetarian, and I credit that to the work my parents had me put into becoming one.

Lesson 4: If something matters, put in the work.

Rikki, 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?

Mind Body Skin Care believes in the power of a ritualized skincare routine to improve mental health and emotional well-being. We believe that everyone deserves to take a moment for themselves, take a deep breath, and do what they need to feel good in their skin every single day. To that end, Mind Body Skin Care offers artisan skincare products, which are used in facial and body services, makeup application and lessons, and facial waxing.

We serve the LGBT community, and our families and allies. One of our specialties is helping people beginning gender- affirming hormones balance their skin as their bodies and skin change.

Another specialty is helping people prepare for weddings. As a makeup artist with 14 years experience (and a hopeless romantic at heart) I love helping people look and feel their best for their big day through facials, body treatments and makeup.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

I think my empathy and acceptance of people where they are sets me apart from the beauty industry at large. I want you to feel good in your skin. Not aspire to feel good in your skin, not feel good when this or that clears up, not feel good after your next major treatment or surgery. I think you, exactly as you are, deserve to feel good in your skin. Everything I do is with that goal in mind. I’ll help you clear your skin, but I’ll never judge or make you feel insecure to make a sale.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I started my esthetician’s journey in Los Angeles in January of 2020. After falling in love with skincare and giving facials for two months, our school shut down with the rest of the world, and I had to figure out what to do.

My industry shut down and my wife was laid off, so we decided to move back to St. Louis, my hometown, and live with my parents for a few weeks. I decided to start studying skincare formulation. I spent my quarantined days creating cleansers, lotions and serums. I developed Mind Body Skin Care, the line and the company, in quarantine.

As the world opened up, we found jobs and an apartment, and I finished school for my estheticians license.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mbscskincare.com
• Instagram: Mind_body_skin_care
• Facebook: Mind_body_skin_care
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMs8sl-C4qDhsEYs2JgHZZg

Image Credits
Ryan Archer