Jasmin, could you give us an insight into your inspiring founding story of Magalie&ME? What motivated you to start your own business?
I come from a family of entrepreneurs, have financed companies and accompanied start-ups for many years. So it was always a familiar world for me and not very new. I tested quite a bit of natural cosmetics during Covid and was more or less dissatisfied. My life changing moment was one evening with my little son - 4 years old at the time, who told me after I applied a birch serum, "Mom, you're so green in the face and you stink." I had to agree with him, I felt so earthy and musty around the nose. So when I found my mother's herbarium New Year's Eve 2021 while cleaning up - which she had made as a druggist during her training 55 years ago - she and I quickly realized that I wanted to try it myself. With my idea in mind, I talked to many people and exchanged thoughts. One person gave me a lot of encouragement, courage and support. This was ultimately directional for me, my focus changed and I believed myself that I could do it. I learned a lot from him, still today he is my backup and I am glad that lovely people actively support me. Mindset is very important. So an inspiration became a New Year's idea and a startup with hopefully further steadily growing impact.
hat role does nature play in your products? Could you tell us more about the natural ingredients and their positive effects in your cosmetics line?
I used to make calendula ointment with my grandmother when I was a child. The ointment helped me with a severe sunburn. My grandmother introduced me to natural active ingredients, herbs and flowers from nature at an early age. Even then, she regularly made herbal steam baths for her facial skin. And so one thing led to another.
My credo in the cosmetics line is: we combine the best from nature and do not close our minds to innovative ingredients that are synthetically produced in the laboratory. We highly appreciate the way bee venom works. We are aware of our responsibility towards nature and therefore resort to synthetic bee venom - bees are very worthy of protection. Harmony, mindfulness and respect for nature are important to us - therefore in our products both worlds merge.
The idea of "female empowerment" is an important part of your brand. Could you explain how Magalie&ME helps women enhance their natural beauty while promoting self-love and self-confidence?
Female Empowerment is very important to me and not just a statement. Because Magalie&ME is the story of strong women who make their way independently at an early age. We just returned from Zanzibar. I visited a female empowerment project there. In Zanzibar, women are being trained as coral farmers. I went to see this on site. In the farms in the Indian Ocean, so-called aquacultures, coral sponges are cultivated, which are incredibly suitable for cleaning. A pure natural product, which in combination with our products can be used super harmoniously to cleanse the face. The farmers are mostly unmarried mothers who are thus empowered to feed their children themselves and become independent of men or their families of origin. I think this project is great.
My mother took me into the company just eight weeks after I was born, I have always worked myself to be independent. With this project, by selling the Seasponges here in Germany, I can help women in Zanzibar to be more independent. This is a matter close to my heart. My customers benefit from it here on site, because they get a great natural product, with antiseptic and exfoliating properties that help the skin regenerate. Starting your ME-time with the good feeling of giving independence to another woman through the purchase of the sponge, and valuing yourself through self-care and grooming, is a very special start to the day and at the same time gives a good feeling before going to sleep.
As a PhD in business administration, a mother of two sons and a dedicated charitable person, you are very active in many ways. How do you manage to balance all these aspects of your life with managing your startup?
There are many people in the background who help me. I have built up a broad network of supporters that run like cogs in a wheel. There is a saying: It takes a village to raise children - we involved grandparents early on, so we have a good support network and the children have many caregivers. Without these people, none of this would be possible. My family is part of the startup because it's very important to me that my kids know what I'm doing and why I'm on the road. I got them involved early on and explained a lot to them, which makes for understanding. I come from a family of entrepreneurs myself. There, too, the compatibility of family and self-employment was actively practiced. Self-employment gives me more freedom and I can work more flexibly and ultimately adapt to my children's schedules.
What hurdles did you have to overcome on your way to founding and establishing Magalie&ME? Are there any particular challenges you'd like to share?
In very few cases everything goes according to plan, even if the preparation is so good. We spent a year working towards the product launch in January this year. Set all the course, established timelines and ordered the packaging materials and the products early in August 2022. We thought that was early enough. In January, we had to do the press event without products - actually unimaginable - the goods came in March. Who would have thought that we would launch products without having them in stock, but we could not cancel or postpone the date. Many journalists accepted the invitation and we had the location, the caterer - everyone was on fire, only the products were not there. I learned, if there are things I can't change, I have to accept them and find a solution. It really strengthened my problem-solving skills. A lot of orders came in and I wrote to every single customer and the feedback was consistently positive. The nicest was a customer who wrote me, "No problem, dear Jasmin, my wrinkles won't go away that fast, they'll still be there in 4 weeks!"
Your vision aims at more equality. How would you like to support women through networking events, connections to organizations and actions to express their strength and femininity in society?
I am very involved in two women's networks. The Mission Female network actively promotes equality and visibility for women in leadership positions. We still hear too often, "no woman wanted to speak on the panel," or "we didn't find a woman to fill the board position." These are all excuses, and we are working hard through good networking to ensure that women are represented on panels and that the women's perspective is included. I was a speaker at the female founders festival in Cologne last weekend and was glad that I could encourage women with my story to implement their own start-up ideas. Because often the role models are missing, who show that one's own beliefs and external boundaries can be overcome. If I tell them that I successfully completed my doctorate with two small children, I might reach a woman who has thought about the same path and I can encourage her to go her own way. I think it's important to encourage female founders to stand up for their idea and to take it step by step. The topic of compatibility is the focus of the "mamameeting" network, and here we are actively involved in compatibility issues, because all too often there are still major challenges here.
Finally, could you give us an outlook on the future of Magalie&ME? Are there any innovative plans or initiatives that we as customers can look forward to?
In the future, we plan to expand the product range with new great products made from highly concentrated and therefore effective ingredients. We have already developed exciting formulations for next year.
For me, an effective, almost noticeable concentration of active ingredients is very important - everyone has water at home - my customers appreciate the effect, which many can already see with the naked eye and feel after a short time of use. I am currently working on a journal that will complement the Morning Routine. I think journaling is very important because it focuses us and triggers transformation.
Last but not least, Jasmin, please share your personal recommendations. Are there any travel destinations that have particularly impressed you and that you would recommend to our readers? What made these places so exceptional for you?
My goal is to show my children the world and to experience magical moments together with them that will remind them of their childhood even in adulthood. I believe that shared experiences and moments bond and create belonging, and that you carry and feed off these positive memories for a lifetime. I just came back from Zanzibar. I spent August there and was able to enjoy the beauty of the island, the culture and the people for a long time. I am impressed by the joy of life, the colors of nature and the cuisine. In any case, Zanzibar is worth a trip, in my opinion. We had not focused on Zanzibar and became aware of it through the sponges. It was dreamlike. Zanzibar seems to be a hidden place to discover.
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