We were lucky to catch up with Sabrina Yavil recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sabrina, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

The idea for Gryme came straight from the chaos of my own home. I’m a mom of three boys. And if you’ve ever lived with boys, you know that getting them to shower, wash their faces, or even acknowledge that they might be a little (or a lot) stinky is a battle. They don’t care. They don’t want to slow down. And honestly, they’ll cut every corner possible when it comes to cleaning up. I was tired of the fights, the reminders, the “Did you actually use soap, or just stand under the water?” interrogations.

At the same time, I wasn’t just any mom—I had decades of experience in the beauty industry, helping brands develop and launch new products. So I started doing what I do best: researching. And what I found made me even more frustrated. Most kids’ products were either packed with unnecessary fragrances and essential oils (which are irritating even for adults) or were just repackaged adult products that weren’t designed for younger, more sensitive skin. Even the formulas labeled as “clean” or “gentle” often contained ingredients that had no business being in kids’ products. And beyond that, everything on the shelf either looked super childish or was so boring that no tween or teen guy would actually want to use it.

After a decade of frustration, I realized three things:

1. No one was solving this problem in a way that actually worked for both parents and kids.
2. Tween girls may be swarming Sephora in droves, but most guys wouldn’t bathe if they didn’t have to. And body sprays are not the answer.
3. If I wanted a solution, I’d have to build it myself.

That’s when I knew Gryme wasn’t just a good idea—it was necessary. It had to be safe. It had to be simple. It had to work fast (because no kid is going to spend more than 30 seconds on skincare). And it had to feel cool—like something kids (boys and girls) would actually want to use; not something their parents were forcing on them.

The logic was simple: If I, as a beauty industry insider, struggled to find products I felt good about for my own kids, then other parents were feeling the same frustration. I wasn’t just creating another personal care brand—I was creating a real solution for real families. And that’s what got me most excited.

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.

I didn’t start my career in beauty—I started in finance, working in M&A and audit at Deloitte. It was a great foundation, but in spite of being there for seven years, I knew it wasn’t really for me. One weekend, I was getting my hair done at Bumble and bumble in Manhattan, and something about the energy of the salon hit me. It was the kind of environment I wanted to be in—creative, dynamic, fast-paced. I also liked the idea of working with tangible products, something people could experience and connect with. That moment set me on a new path.

I decided I wanted to move from finance into operations, and as luck would have it, Bumble was hiring a head of brand strategy. After beating out 20 MBA candidates, I got the job, and with it came the opportunity to work across different areas of the business, including sales and marketing. That experience led me to Clinique, where I transitioned into global product marketing and worked on developing and launching skincare products. That’s where I really honed my expertise in branding, consumer insights, and product innovation.

As my family grew, I shifted into fractional CMO work, which allowed me to stay deeply involved in the beauty industry while also being present for my three boys. Balancing high-level strategic work with hands-on parenting hasn’t always been easy, but it’s been incredibly rewarding. Over the past decade, I’ve worked with a range of brands, from early-stage startups to household names, and I’ve learned something valuable from every engagement. Each experience has made me a better strategist, a better marketer, and now—a better founder.

Because now, I’m not just a consultant. I’ve built my own brand from the ground up, and that gives me a unique perspective. I know what it’s like to be on both sides—helping companies scale and grow, but also being the one making the tough decisions, navigating product development, branding, and everything in between.

And while my career has given me the tools to build a brand, my experience as a mom is what led me to create one. I saw a real whitespace in the market and knew I could fill it—not just from a business perspective, but from the perspective of someone who deeply understood the problem.

This journey—from finance to beauty, from corporate to consultant, from strategist to founder—has shaped the way I think about brands, consumers, and what makes a product truly resonate. I love what I do, and I love that I get to keep learning, evolving, and building something meaningful.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

Gryme is sold on our own website (www.gryme.co), which is hosted on Shopify, and we also sell on Amazon. Each channel serves a different purpose, and there are trade-offs with both.

Our website is our home base—it’s where we have complete control over the brand experience, messaging, and customer journey. The biggest advantage is that we own the first-party data. We know who our customers are, how they shop, and we can communicate with them directly. The downside? Driving traffic is hard. With rising paid ad costs and iOS privacy changes, the traditional DTC model has become increasingly challenging. You have to work much harder (and spend more) to get consumers to your site, and that’s a big hurdle for newer brands.

Amazon, on the other hand, is an incredible discovery and conversion platform. Consumers go there with the intent to buy, which makes it easier to drive sales. Instead of trying to get people to a separate website, you can advertise to get in front of relevant shoppers who are already looking for products like yours. The challenge? You don’t own the relationship with the customer. Amazon holds all the data, and you don’t have direct access to your buyers. If the algorithm changes or if ad costs spike, your sales can take a hit—and you have no control over it.

Lately, Amazon ads have become much more expensive. Since last quarter, my cost per click (CPC) has tripled or even quadrupled, making it harder to maintain profitability. So while Amazon is great for visibility and volume, you have to be strategic with how you spend on advertising.

Ultimately, I believe in an omnichannel approach—using our website for brand building and direct customer relationships while leveraging Amazon for reach and discoverability. Both platforms have their strengths, but neither is a perfect solution on its own. It’s about finding the right balance.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

We don’t manufacture Gryme in house, but I’ve been deeply involved in every step of the process. From my work as a fractional CMO, I already knew that finding the right contract manufacturer (CM) is one of the most critical decisions for a product company. But even with that experience, going through it firsthand for my own brand was a huge learning curve.

When I started looking for a CM, I had a long list of questions—about formula ownership, production timing, R&D fees, minimum order quantities (MOQs), and, most importantly, whether they could meet my clean formulation standards. Gryme has a “No” list of over 3,600 ingredients that I won’t allow in our formulas, and not every manufacturer was willing (or able) to work within those constraints. Some CMs challenged my list, some said it was too stringent, and others came back with cost estimates that were completely unrealistic. At one point, I worried I wouldn’t find a facility willing to make Gryme at all—especially at the cost targets I had set.

But after reaching out to a couple dozen manufacturers, I finally found one that understood exactly what I was trying to do. When we started discussing our first product—the Body + Face Wash—they offered a few formulation paths. But when I stood firm on not using certain surfactants, preservatives, or fragrances, they not only said “okay” but actually agreed with me. That was the moment I knew I had the right partner. The costs are high (clean formulas with high-quality ingredients always are), but they’re reasonable given the quality and quantities I’m producing.

One of my biggest lessons? Most contract manufacturers prefer to develop formulas in-house. Early on, I made the mistake of hiring an independent product formulator to develop two formulas for me. But when I brought those formulas to manufacturers for pricing, the costs were 5x higher than a typical body wash. I had to scrap those formulas entirely, losing six months of time and thousands of dollars in development fees. It was a painful but valuable lesson in how the industry works.

Another key learning is formula ownership. Most manufacturers own the formula until you meet a certain hurdle—whether it’s sales volume, number of units produced, or time in market. Some I spoke to said they’d transfer ownership after making 25,000 units or hitting $1 million in sales. Others offered upfront buyout options, but those fees ranged anywhere from $8,000 to $250,000. Every contract is different, and understanding the long-term implications of these agreements is crucial, because it’s not as easy to change CMs as some imagine.

Looking back, finding the right CM took persistence, negotiation, and a clear vision of what I was unwilling to compromise on. It was a challenging process, but in the end, I found a partner that believes in what I am building—and that made all the difference.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gryme.co
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gryme.co
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gryme.c0
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabrinayavil/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@gryme.co