That failure is absolutely in no way negative, and a much MUCH better teacher than a ‘win’ — if you take the time to sit with it and unpack it.
Today, more than ever, wellness is at the forefront of societal discussions. From mental health to physical well-being, women are making significant strides in bringing about change, introducing innovative solutions, and setting new standards. Despite facing unique challenges, they break barriers, inspire communities, and are reshaping the very definition of health and wellness. In this series called women in wellness we are talking to women doctors, nurses, nutritionists, therapists, fitness trainers, researchers, health experts, coaches, and other wellness professionals to share their stories and insights. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Christine Glaser.
Christine Glaser is a notable presence within the wellness sphere, with credentials as a certified aromatherapist and an organic skincare formulator. In her role as a handmade e-commerce business coach, she shares her expertise, aiding aspiring entrepreneurs in the natural skincare industry. Christine’s overarching objective is to foster a dedicated community of wellness advocates, empowering them to collectively promote holistic well-being to their customers and their families.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
Thank you for having me! Even though I advocate for wellness every day in my ‘current’ life, I didn’t know about the wellness scene until my college years in a tiny liberal town. I’ve always had an open mind to new ideas and lifestyles, but wellness just wasn’t a part of the conversation growing up in the suburbs of St. Louis in the nineties. I was introduced to mindfulness, meditation, sustainability, veganism, and other ‘wellness things’ in Columbia, Missouri (mostly due to hanging out with the locals more than the college crowd), and I was hooked. In a way that I can’t describe, I felt like I knew all of this intuitively. It was like coming home in a sense. Flash forward seven years later, I found myself living in Santa Monica, California with my future husband. We spent our weekends walking around Abbott Kinney and Venice Beach, and I fell in love with the essential oils that adorned the shelves of all the little shops. This turned into a passion for creating my own cleaning and personal care products, which naturally morphed into a product line on Etsy. All of my spare time was spent highlighting and annotating aromatherapy books, experimenting with my own formulations, and training my nose to identify the aromatic notes in different essential oils (and as a fun aside, this was at the same time my husband was studying to become a sommelier, so we were training our senses together for both of our passions, an amazingly complementary combination!). It eventually dawned on me that all of my customers on Etsy were ‘natural living’ customers already. They knew what to look for. What ingredients to avoid. They already knew WHY it was better to shop small batch versus grabbing bottles from the shelves in big box stores. That’s why they were shopping on Etsy for personal care items, right? Despite being successful with that target market, I wanted to reach a different kind of customer, one that didn’t know the benefits of natural products and how taking care of your body in multiple ways can improve your skins health and appearance too. I wanted to show the ‘average person’ (basically the ‘me’ before I stumbled upon wellness) that they could experience something new and feel better, both in body and mind, and then spread the word to THEIR friends and family. With my collegiate background in education, I wanted to teach. I wanted to inspire. I wanted to share with others the burning passion I had found and to have them pass it on to others as well.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
Oh man. How much time do you have? Entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster! But I think the most notable for our conversation today is the journey to get my aromatherapy certification. Before starting that process, I have to admit I felt really knowledgable and thought I had all the background of wellness and essential oils I needed to do anything. Full disclosure, I was initially getting my certification just to take home the ‘official credentials’, the fun letters behind my name to let my students (and Google) know I was the real deal. Lo and behold, I was in for the surprise of my life. Not all aromatherapy courses are created equal, and I took the BEST of the best. And this brought with it sooo very much more than essential oil chemistry. I learned anatomy. Physiology. Psychoneuroimmunology. I learned exactly how everything in our body and life is connected…our brains, our GI tracts, our stress levels, our environments, our experiences, our personal relationships. It is all so intricately connected, and it completely changed the trajectory of what I wanted to accomplish with my business and my own future education. If I thought my soul was on fire before, this was a raging forest fire. But it also showed me how little I knew when I THOUGHT I knew it all, and shrank me down to realize how much more there is to know, now that I knew MORE. The huge lesson was that there is ALWAYS more to learn, and that you have to be willing to humble yourself to continue moving forward.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
My biggest mistake, strangely enough, was coming in too hot when sharing my knowledge and passion about wellness with others. It’s so exciting to learn quite literally LIFE-changing information, and when we do, we read a lot, take in a lot, and we also adopt new lingo. New concepts and new vocabulary can sound exhilarating to us personally, yet OFF-putting to individuals not on your same train, even when it has scientific backing. It’s so hard to pump the brakes when your soul is on fire and you want to share everything — but the biggest lesson was in learning how to share information in a way that is more likely to be accepted, subtly and gradually over time. If people see that you love what you’re doing, they’ll ask questions in a way that will let you know where they are on their own journey. Or…they won’t. And that’s okay. Our differences make the world go round. But you need to learn to listen to that non/verbal communication too. They’ll know what you stand for if they change their mind and would like to learn more!
Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
Several years ago, I rooted my business focus in wellness to center specifically on natural skin care, and this was very (very) intentional. Naturally minded or not, it’s safe to say that the majority of people care about their skin. At the same time, there is a growing awareness and passion for supporting small, local businesses. *Light the fireworks* The recipes that I have created as an aromatherapist and organic skin care formulator are insanely effective and produce results that not many other products can. Couple that with spreading the word about holistic skincare and you have a life changing business model. While I do have my own skin care line(s), I now put most of my energy into sharing recipes and education about holistic health with my e-commerce students to recreate for their own handmade businesses. The beauty of this is that when someone finds a product that works, they naturally gravitate towards the rest of the product line, which has the opportunity to lead to the education that brand has to share. For many of my skin care customers (and those of the other entrepreneurs using my recipes), this is the first time they experience the AMAZING power of natural products and it makes them curious. So when they stumble upon information discussing wellness and holistic approaches to skincare, it doesn’t sound ‘woo woo’ because they’re coming in with dramatically changed skin already (which can sometimes be a really emotional transition). They’re more open to hearing new information than they would have been before. It all comes down to exposure and personal experience. You can’t look for information you DON’T know you DON’T have. In this way, effective and natural skin care can then be a gateway product into a whole new mindset and lifestyle. It’s a snowball effect. Of course I love skincare just as much as anyone else. I love helping people to feel confident and comfortable…but my real goal is to start a conversation about wellness in all areas of their lives. And this approach is WORKING. Indie, small batch skincare has a sincere chance in making WAVES in the holistic health conversation and general understanding.
Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing?
1 . Find one thing a day that helps you completely destress and relax (mediation, taking a bath, doing a puzzle, listening to calming music, etc.)
- In a world that is constantly asking us to go-go-go, we spend so much time in ‘fight or flight’ mode, increasing our cortisol levels (the stress hormone), which makes it harder for our body to fight off any disease. After awhile, this has disastrous effects. Our goal is to be in the ‘rest and digest’ mode as often as possible so that our bodies can properly do its job (which includes a healthy immune system and proper food digestion).
2 . Add turmeric to your spice cabinet or tea collection.
- Cooking with turmeric (or drinking turmeric tea) has an amazing amount of benefits that help with inflammation, mood disorders, allergies, cholesterol, and more. If you’re cooking with turmeric, be sure to include black pepper — these two combined together increases your body’s ability to absorb turmeric’s compounds.
3 . Swap out your water-based lotion for a bottle of jojoba oil.
- If you are someone that applies body lotion after a bath or shower, swap it out for a bottle of jojoba oil. This is a 100% natural carrier oil that soaks in easily and has indefinite shelf life. Plant-based products (that are fragrance and preservative free) reduce the toxic load on your immune system, allowing your white blood cells to take care of more important business.
4 . Find a houseplant (or many!) that you can successfully care for in the area you are in most often.
- I could write a book about the glory of houseplants, because they’re so much more than a decoration! Besides the immense amount of joy they can bring from their beauty and the satisfaction of keeping them happy and healthy, they are essential to keeping the air inside your home and/or work environment clean. Some of the most polluted air is in our own homes, and individuals in the U.S. are quoted to be spending 90% of our time indoors. Poor air quality can lead to allergies, asthma, cancer, and has a drastic effect on overall energy levels.
5 . Exercise outside.
- Fresh air is essential for your respiratory system, vitamin D for your immune system, connects you to the earth, invigorates all the senses. In addition, exercising outside is a mood-booster, helps you sleep better, stress-reducer, and is a welcome perspective shift (especially for the many people that now work from home).
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
To know what personally causes you consistent stress throughout the day and knowing how your unique mind and body can manage it most effectively through breathing. Sounds silly right? We all breathe. But if everyone practiced deep, intentional belly breaths and focused breathing in moments of stress, it would lower cortisol levels right off the bat (which essentially helps to fight off disease). After creating this habit, it can also help you to develop a sense of self-awareness. “Hey, this xyz experience or environment or person or topic is consistently giving me the need to stop and breathe differently”…that’s a cue you didn’t have before that the ‘xyz thing’ needs to be modified or eliminated from your life for your overall well-being. Self-help really at its best. And it’s free!
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
- Your journey is your journey. Allow yourself to be inspired but others, but avoid comparison. Everyone’s journey is different.
- Don’t try all the things at once. You’ll get overwhelmed and throw in the towel. This is about growth and creating new habits, both which you’ll be working on your entire life.
- Do your best and forget the rest.
- You don’t have to burn your bra. Yes, you can be a ‘regular person’ with amazing wellness habits. (But while I’m here, try going without a bra once in a while, your ladies will thank you for it!)
- That failure is absolutely in no way negative, and a much MUCH better teacher than a ‘win’ — if you take the time to sit with it and unpack it.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health, and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
Mental health. 100% mental health. If you don’t have that, you can’t approach the others.
The importance of this was swept under the rug for so long, was so hush-hush, that things such as anxiety, depression, bi-polar disorder, etc. are/were talked about in whispers. The fact is that everyone knows someone, or is that someone, or had that someone, that have had their lives stolen in some way or another due to mental health issues. No one, if they’re being honest, is a stranger to what can happen if mental health is not prioritized.
Making it a normal thing to talk about mental health, making struggles not so hush-hush, and giving a voice to these so-very-common situations would help people to realize they ARE more common than they realize. If mental health was a conversation that was safe to have around any dinner table, individuals would be so much more likely to get the support that they need.
After suffering through severe postpartum depression (twice), I can personally attest that aromatherapy and following a holistic skincare regimen has an amazing ability to support mental health. This is one of the reasons I am so deeply passionate about what I do. It is about so much more than a product — it really is about wellness from the inside out and truly has the power to change lives.
What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?
Everything supporting what we’ve talked about today can be found at www.diyskincarebusiness.com — I encourage all of the readership here to navigate there and subscribe to my newsletter so that you can receive new information every week about all-natural skin care, wellness, and the most amazing handmade e-commerce industry that can make a huge difference!
Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.
About the Interviewer: Wanda Malhotra is a wellness entrepreneur, lifestyle journalist, and the CEO of Crunchy Mama Box, a mission-driven platform promoting conscious living. CMB empowers individuals with educational resources and vetted products to help them make informed choices. Passionate about social causes like environmental preservation and animal welfare, Wanda writes about clean beauty, wellness, nutrition, social impact and sustainability, simplifying wellness with curated resources. Join Wanda and the Crunchy Mama Box community in embracing a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle at CrunchyMamaBox.com.
