Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Vladimir Druts. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Vladimir thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

The journey to starting FRWRD Skincare was an emotional one. My struggles with extreme combination skin started early and took a toll on my self-esteem and self-image. After the stress of becoming a father I also developed Rosacea. I felt broken and was looking for a way to heal my skin and my mind. This is when I re-discovered the ancient power of mushrooms.

Growing up in Russia, I my fondest and earliest memories were spent foraging for mushrooms and learning about their properties.

Starting FRWRD Skincare was not just about creating a product, it was about sharing my love for what I believe to be the most remarkable organism on the planet, the mushroom. It’s a manifestation of my love for nature, my commitment to mindful living, and my desire to help others feel as confident and beautiful as I am growing to feel today. The unique combination of ancient knowledge and modern innovation sets FRWRD Skincare apart, making it more than just a skincare brand – I envision a movement towards holistic out and inner beauty; inextricably linked.
I wanted to create a skincare line that was not only effective but also made from natural, minimally processed ingredients. After extensive research and collaboration with the right manufacturer, I spent over 1.5 years testing and perfecting my formulas.

My goal was to develop a 360 corrective routine in a bottle, a one-stop-shop for all your skincare needs.

What makes it all worth it, is reading the testimonials. Each time a person says they are able to use my product and that they are seeing an effect and feeling better about themselves and their skin, it fills me with deep gratitude.

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’ve been in the entrepreneurial game for over a decade now, trying my hand at all sorts of things. I started out in tech and design, then moved on to directing and cinematography, and even built a marketing agency along the way. I’ve always been curious and loved to learn and try new things, so it’s no surprise that I eventually got into ecommerce and product development.

It was when I started dealing with Rosacea that everything really came together. I wanted to find something that worked for me, and I saw an opportunity to help others at the same time. That’s when I discovered the amazing power of mushrooms and started experimenting with using them for skincare.

So, I took my decade of experience as an entrepreneur and all the things I’ve learned along the way, and put it into creating FRWRD Skincare. I was determined to make something that would not only help me, but also others who were struggling with skin issues.

As a male entering a space I knew very little about and had very little experience in, as you can imagine I had to learn a lot, very quickly. I guess delving into the literature about skin biology helped satiate constant thirst for knowledge.

Something that I’m still working on figuring out is how to perfectly combine mindfulness into the product. Mental health is really important to me, my journey and frankly to how our skin responds. So I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t just creating another product but a mindful experience. I wanted it to be a true ritual; a way that you could feel more connected with possibility and stillness. To carve out a few loving minutes throughout the day.

I developed a sort of affirmation deck to use as you put on the product, but I truly envision it going much further. Journals, guides etc. Things I’m very excited about it and still solving for.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

One of the most difficult aspects of starting the new business was the fact that we had to launch at the height of the pandemic lock-downs. This meant that my video marketing agency had to essentially shut-down. Not only that, but in the middle of preparing for launch and building the product my wife and I were going through a divorce and I was a newly single father.

As you can imagine this put an incredible amount of financial pressure on me.

It was a truly trying time for me. The thing that got me through it was having a support network and a number of important rituals I relied on, from affirmations, cold showers to daily journalism. I simply had to put one foot inf-front of the other every day.

I think I used the FRWRD launch as a sort of therapy for myself. I really dove into it and truthfully had I not done that I probably wouldn’t have been able to get it out so quickly.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Funding was another challenge. To date FRWRD , all of the development, research, formulation, marketing and all else has been entirely self-funded.

It’s been one of the areas where I’ve found myself most challenged. There are many things that I simply had no appreciation for, before venturing into e-commerce. Things such as rising costs of goods and fulfillment. During and post-pandemic many of the prices for our USDA Organic ingredients have sky-rocketed. This also includes the cost to ship our product to our customers (which we today do for free).

It’s an incredibly volatile and challenging landscape, but hey that’s why you get into this. Not because it’s easy but because you believe in something worth while to bring to the world.

To date, we haven’t advertised but focused on PR. It’s something that I’m just about ready to do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.frwrdskincare.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frwrdskincare
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vdruts
• Other: linktr.ee/vdruts