Founding and formulating products for Kiss Kiss Goodnight is what I was born to do, it’s what I love to do, it’s what I have trained years to do, it’s what I do well.
I am a chemical engineer by trade. I have a bachelor’s and master’s in chemical engineering from Columbia and Princeton University, respectively. I’m not (really) an Ivy League snob; I‘m more of an underdog, an underdog that sometimes felt she did not belong but worked hard to prove herself wrong.
Why did I become a chemical engineer?
Because I wanted to make hundreds of chocolate chip cookies… no joke. When I was in high school the “Society of Women Engineers-SWE” presented the different engineering disciplines to my class. They described a chemical engineer as someone who developed processes to make not one cookie but hundreds. - I have a soft spot for chocolate chip cookies.
After I received my degrees I started working in the pharmaceutical field developing processes for diabetes drugs. It was a noble profession, but I wasn’t very excited about it. I later worked as a chemist in a color lab and formulated lipsticks; that was fun, formulating cosmetics was fun, especially mixing color.
I then got married and moved from New York to Maryland. I worked for an adhesive manufacturing company and I developed processes to make pharmaceutical and cosmetic adhesives like birth control patches and colored nail strips.
After I had my first baby, I stopped working and started my MBA part-time. Six years later, I had three kids total, an MBA and lots of DIY skincare projects under my belt.
After graduating with my MBA I decided my TRUE NORTH was formulating skincare and I wanted to run my own business. I enrolled in Formula Botanica, an organic skincare cosmetic school and learned to formulate organic skincare.
So much has happened in between starting at Formula Botanica and now… I started my first skincare brand - Shell’s Formula, I went back to work as an engineer and I am now a momma of four. During those five years, I have also...
Each product I make has gone through hundreds of iterations.
I work with an amazing team that helps with branding, copy, and graphics... but I am the formulator and manufacture.
FORMULATING IS MY SUPERPOWER.
I don’t formulate in a bubble, I use customer feedback to improve my products. If you have tried our products, let me know what you think.
Check out our new prices on our website. I’m getting better at scaling and you’re benefiting from it.
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These fun, gift ideas are also portable, take-up little space, and are baby and momma approved.
After having 4 babies, I realize that they really do enjoy simple pleasures.
I try not to think of the weeks or months ahead or what “could” happen and just focus on the day at hand (kind of like when you have a newborn and you are just looking forward to the days when you can some sleep, you know it will come, but not sure when).