Do you really know what chemicals are in the beauty products that you use?

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[00:00] SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_02: Hello and welcome to Calgary's podcast with Mario Toneguzi on Canada's podcast network.
[00:11] SPEAKER_02: Joining me today is Jasmine Mara, who is founder of Gypsy and Jasmine.
[00:17] SPEAKER_02: Thanks for joining us today, Jasmine.
[00:19] SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me, Mario.
[00:21] SPEAKER_02: Tell me a little bit about Gypsy and Jasmine and what it is and what you guys do.
[00:28] SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
[00:28] SPEAKER_01: So Gypsy and Jasmine is sort of my passion project.
[00:32] SPEAKER_01: So I started it in 2018 and it's a company that has all natural beauties.
[00:38] SPEAKER_01: So my little boys, I have two little boys, one's eight, one's two and I have a third on the way.
[00:45] SPEAKER_01: And they were all born with some skin sensitivities.
[00:49] SPEAKER_01: So it sort of lent me on this adventure to learn about what's in our products.
[00:52] SPEAKER_01: And to be frank, I was pretty shocked.
[00:54] SPEAKER_01: So I started this business out of a need for women and kids who would like products that have beauty
[01:02] SPEAKER_01: without sort of compromise of all those chemicals and additives.
[01:06] SPEAKER_02: So tell me what kind of things I guess you guys would have put out.
[01:11] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I actually have a couple here.
[01:13] SPEAKER_01: I can show you.
[01:14] SPEAKER_01: Sure.
[01:15] SPEAKER_01: So we create all natural bath bombs.
[01:18] SPEAKER_01: These are all real therapy bath bombs.
[01:20] SPEAKER_01: So a lot of sort of kids bath bombs have lots of colors or really strong sense.
[01:26] SPEAKER_01: We don't use any of that.
[01:27] SPEAKER_01: No colors.
[01:27] SPEAKER_01: Everything is botanical based in essential oils.
[01:31] SPEAKER_01: We also create all natural earth inspired soap.
[01:35] SPEAKER_01: So this one's Rosemary Mint.
[01:37] SPEAKER_01: And then we also have just a number of different products like baths, soaks,
[01:42] SPEAKER_01: lip bombs.
[01:42] SPEAKER_01: We partner with a bees farm here in Alberta, Uncle Lee's Beads.
[01:47] SPEAKER_01: And you know, a number of other sort of earth inspired goodies that you can use.
[01:52] SPEAKER_01: So gouache-as-don rollers and exfoliating soap bags to make your life a little easier.
[01:58] SPEAKER_01: So all of the earth inspired goodies for you.
[02:01] SPEAKER_02: Where is and where do you make this stuff?
[02:04] SPEAKER_01: So I actually have a studio here in my home.
[02:07] SPEAKER_01: And so I actually create them right here in my home.
[02:11] SPEAKER_02: And where are they sold?
[02:13] SPEAKER_01: So I actually sell primarily online.
[02:16] SPEAKER_01: So I have gypsy and jasmine.com.
[02:18] SPEAKER_01: That's a fair portion of our sales.
[02:20] SPEAKER_01: And then I also work with some amazing stores throughout Calgary and sort of surrounding areas.
[02:27] SPEAKER_01: Just local stores that carry local goods.
[02:30] SPEAKER_02: Okay, super.
[02:32] SPEAKER_02: Okay, the second part of the name of the company is obvious, but why gypsy?
[02:39] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, I think that's really just about sort of being connected to earth and
[02:43] SPEAKER_01: sort of wanderlustia nature.
[02:46] SPEAKER_01: And so that sort of where that was inspired from sort of connecting my love of earth and love
[02:51] SPEAKER_01: of all things natural and sort of wanderlustia nature with my passion for beauty.
[02:56] SPEAKER_02: Okay, do you think there is a trend now out there that people want more of this
[03:04] SPEAKER_02: all natural stuff, I guess.
[03:06] SPEAKER_02: Well, whatever it is, whether it's food, drink, beauty products, etc.
[03:11] SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
[03:12] SPEAKER_01: I think folks in general are just becoming more aware that wellness is not just exercising and
[03:17] SPEAKER_01: eating healthy.
[03:18] SPEAKER_01: It's also about what we put on our body regularly.
[03:22] SPEAKER_01: And I've seen just a huge shift in Calgary especially.
[03:25] SPEAKER_01: We've been so lucky as a small business, you know, launching pretty close to before coronavirus
[03:30] SPEAKER_03: hit us.
[03:32] SPEAKER_01: We've just been surrounded by so much support.
[03:35] SPEAKER_01: I mean, Calgary is really supportive of local business and really connected to sort of
[03:41] SPEAKER_01: whole life wellness.
[03:42] SPEAKER_01: And so we've been so supported through the community in the last couple of years with this
[03:47] SPEAKER_01: business.
[03:48] SPEAKER_02: And I guess that's the other trend too.
[03:50] SPEAKER_02: You know, beyond the trend towards all natural stuff, there's also that trend about buying
[03:57] SPEAKER_02: local these days, right?
[03:59] SPEAKER_02: Huge.
[03:59] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[04:00] SPEAKER_01: And I mean, you know, when coronavirus hit as a business, I decided that we were going to
[04:05] SPEAKER_01: try and compete with the Amazon's of the world.
[04:07] SPEAKER_01: You know, I think it's hard sometimes for small businesses to compete with some of these
[04:12] SPEAKER_01: mass brands.
[04:12] SPEAKER_01: And we did actually start offering free delivery in Calgary.
[04:17] SPEAKER_01: And that really helped start to build our client base.
[04:19] SPEAKER_01: So across Canada, we offer free shipping for $75 orders and over.
[04:25] SPEAKER_01: And within Calgary, if you put an order in of $30 or more, we deliver right to your door.
[04:30] SPEAKER_01: So we're better than Amazon.
[04:34] SPEAKER_02: I was just thinking about, you know, just the announced today.
[04:39] SPEAKER_02: And now bear in mind, this is all pre-taped and, you know, are interview, but they announced
[04:45] SPEAKER_02: today when we're doing this, that there are five more facilities in Vancouver that they're
[04:50] SPEAKER_02: building, like just like a giant, like unbelievable.
[04:54] SPEAKER_01: It's crazy.
[04:56] SPEAKER_01: And it's hard to compete with, right?
[04:57] SPEAKER_01: Like as a small local business, it's actually pretty hard to offer free delivery.
[05:01] SPEAKER_01: But I think the local community has really responded to that.
[05:04] SPEAKER_01: And we've seen lots of great options for, you know, for folks to order local and get that same service.
[05:10] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[05:11] SPEAKER_02: Tell me a little bit about your boys now, like, you know, using obviously your own products,
[05:17] SPEAKER_02: what's happened with their skin?
[05:19] SPEAKER_01: Yeah. I mean, you know, as a mom, I think, you know, you go into being trying to become a mom
[05:25] SPEAKER_01: here or coming up on Mother's Day. And sometimes your face would be things that are really
[05:30] SPEAKER_01: difficult. And, you know, when my boys came, I had never had a Zemo or sensitive skin necessarily.
[05:36] SPEAKER_01: And it was sort of this just mission to solve that issue for them.
[05:41] SPEAKER_01: And then I realized that it was really fine to just hard to find something off the shelf.
[05:45] SPEAKER_01: You know, anything that I buy, sort of mass merchants has some kind of fragrance or colorant.
[05:51] SPEAKER_01: And actually, that was what was irritating my kid's skin.
[05:54] SPEAKER_01: So today, both of them have, you know, calm and nourish skin.
[05:57] SPEAKER_01: I guess they're a little bit lucky.
[05:59] SPEAKER_01: They get mom to sort of make everything, you know, individually for them.
[06:03] SPEAKER_01: But I'm definitely calm and nourish skin.
[06:05] SPEAKER_01: I don't see those inflammation anymore.
[06:07] SPEAKER_01: And they don't have those troubles at all.
[06:10] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[06:10] SPEAKER_02: Tell me a little bit about being an entrepreneur, Jasmine.
[06:15] SPEAKER_02: And first of all, what do you like about it?
[06:19] SPEAKER_01: You know, I think my favorite thing about, you know, starting this journey has just been
[06:26] SPEAKER_01: the ability to, you know, leverage your creativity and bring it to life in the world.
[06:31] SPEAKER_01: There's something really special about that, you know, that you can sort of lay in bed or
[06:35] SPEAKER_01: anybody can lay in bed and think of like a wonderful idea and actually bring it to life.
[06:39] SPEAKER_01: That's one of my very favorite things.
[06:42] SPEAKER_01: And then the other thing is just the community.
[06:44] SPEAKER_01: The community of other sort of boss baves, if you will, or entrepreneurs locally that have
[06:49] SPEAKER_01: really surrounded me and become really an extension of my friend's circle have been amazing.
[06:55] SPEAKER_01: So those are the things that I love.
[06:57] SPEAKER_02: What don't you love?
[07:00] SPEAKER_01: Well, when I don't love, you know, I think it is tough.
[07:03] SPEAKER_01: I mean, I, you know, I still work full time.
[07:05] SPEAKER_01: This is sort of my passion project on this side.
[07:07] SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I have a small young family.
[07:10] SPEAKER_01: So it does certainly mean that, you know, there's lots of late nights,
[07:13] SPEAKER_01: up creating bath bombs or, or artisan soap so that we can get them in for orders for our stores
[07:20] SPEAKER_01: or, you know, deliver our stuff online.
[07:22] SPEAKER_01: So it certainly makes your life full at times.
[07:25] SPEAKER_02: Do you ever, when you, when you look back at your journey along the way as there have been,
[07:32] SPEAKER_02: what's been helpful for you in this journey?
[07:35] SPEAKER_02: Like, are any people giving you advice or have you seen advice and wisdom in different books?
[07:44] SPEAKER_02: What's your...
[07:44] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[07:45] SPEAKER_01: You know, I've read, I've read lots of books.
[07:47] SPEAKER_01: I think, I think the thing for me that has been so interesting along this journey is,
[07:53] SPEAKER_01: I started my career sort of, you know, with my typical educational background.
[07:58] SPEAKER_01: I went to business school.
[08:00] SPEAKER_01: You know, I felt like I had all the things I needed.
[08:02] SPEAKER_01: But there was that little bit of fear to lean in and sort of take the leap to start your own business.
[08:08] SPEAKER_01: And it is a leap of faith, you know, and sometimes there's these moments as an entrepreneur
[08:14] SPEAKER_01: that you have to leap and there's no net, but there's no net underneath you.
[08:20] SPEAKER_01: And so I think what I've learned along the way, sort of through my experience and sort of
[08:25] SPEAKER_01: leaning into things is just, that's okay, right?
[08:28] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[08:28] SPEAKER_01: It's okay to jump in and sometimes get a no or sometimes to have it fail and just keep going.
[08:34] SPEAKER_01: If you're, you know, really intentional and where you want to go, you'll find the way along the way.
[08:40] SPEAKER_02: Now, you mentioned, you know, this is your passion project.
[08:44] SPEAKER_02: You could tell our listeners and viewers what else you do.
[08:49] SPEAKER_01: Sure.
[08:50] SPEAKER_01: So by day, I am the vice-president of marketing and sales at Brawmuchin Smith.
[08:56] SPEAKER_01: They're a financial company downtown.
[08:57] SPEAKER_01: So work in restructuring and supporting people of debt.
[09:01] SPEAKER_01: And then a mom and a non-tepraner.
[09:04] SPEAKER_02: Okay. And you said you were expecting once the baby due.
[09:09] SPEAKER_01: Yes. Baby number three, who instantly is another boy.
[09:13] SPEAKER_01: So I will have three boys, Mario.
[09:15] SPEAKER_02: A boy.
[09:16] SPEAKER_02: Sorry, president of my, oh boy.
[09:20] SPEAKER_01: Why do I keep getting that reaction?
[09:22] SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
[09:23] SPEAKER_01: I'll report that.
[09:23] SPEAKER_01: But baby number three is due in September.
[09:26] SPEAKER_02: Okay, super.
[09:27] SPEAKER_02: You know, yeah, no, it's funny when you mention that because boys,
[09:30] SPEAKER_02: you know, I have two girls and one boy.
[09:34] SPEAKER_02: And man, totally different, right?
[09:36] SPEAKER_02: People that say, oh, there's no difference in the genders.
[09:39] SPEAKER_02: And no, you're going to have children to understand the difference in genders.
[09:45] SPEAKER_02: And boys will be doing things that girls would never even dream of doing.
[09:50] SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, in sort of different risks and, you know,
[09:54] SPEAKER_02: in playing and stuff like that.
[09:56] SPEAKER_02: Like, uh,
[09:56] SPEAKER_01: Baby, maybe that's why all of a sudden I developed a passion project
[10:00] SPEAKER_01: that's connected to a Roma therapy.
[10:02] SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
[10:04] SPEAKER_02: So with all this, like juggling, like, my gosh, you know, you've got the gypsy and jasmine.
[10:11] SPEAKER_02: You've got the work at Brawmwitch.
[10:13] SPEAKER_02: You've got the, you know, two boys and a third coming.
[10:17] SPEAKER_02: Uh, how do you establish any work like balance in all that?
[10:25] SPEAKER_02: Like for yourself, time for yourself, I guess.
[10:28] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[10:28] SPEAKER_01: You know, I think it's actually something that I had to be very explicit about.
[10:32] SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I have a wonderful partner that supports me.
[10:35] SPEAKER_01: Um, so that's really helpful to have someone that you can sort of depend on and,
[10:39] SPEAKER_01: you know, make your he's there when I'm not.
[10:42] SPEAKER_01: Um, but I think also it's just about being really intentional with my time.
[10:46] SPEAKER_01: You know, and, and really finding that space for me.
[10:50] SPEAKER_01: And, you know, this passion project, even though it's entrepreneurship,
[10:53] SPEAKER_01: and sometimes that can be difficult, um, that fills my cup.
[10:57] SPEAKER_01: And so for me, that's, that's, you know, one of the things that actually is
[11:00] SPEAKER_01: something that I do for me.
[11:02] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[11:03] SPEAKER_02: What kind of the Ebenees specific hobbies or interests that take you away from everything?
[11:08] SPEAKER_01: You know, I love, I love reading.
[11:10] SPEAKER_01: I really, really enjoy reading.
[11:12] SPEAKER_01: It's a huge escape for me.
[11:13] SPEAKER_01: And then the other thing, um, my family and I love to do is we love to go
[11:16] SPEAKER_01: hiking and explore the different hikes, um, in and around Cananaskus and Brad Creek.
[11:22] SPEAKER_01: And so you'll regularly find us if we're not making soap and bath bombs and, you know,
[11:27] SPEAKER_01: handling the finances during the day.
[11:28] SPEAKER_01: Well, you'll definitely regularly see us sort of out doing some hiking and, you know,
[11:33] SPEAKER_01: under normal circumstances, we also love to travel.
[11:35] SPEAKER_01: But of course, that's been helpful.
[11:37] SPEAKER_02: That's true.
[11:38] SPEAKER_02: So when you look into the future, what, um, what are your plans and goals, I guess, for the,
[11:45] SPEAKER_02: for your company?
[11:47] SPEAKER_01: You know, I, I hope to just continue to lean into it and continue to expand, continue to partner.
[11:53] SPEAKER_01: I'd love to see our products outside of the Alberta borders, more frequently finding some
[11:57] SPEAKER_01: partnerships and wholesale partnerships outside of Alberta as well.
[12:02] SPEAKER_01: Um, and then, you know, long term, this is what I'd love to do full time.
[12:06] SPEAKER_02: Now, would you ever consider, uh, actually having a location, a retail store of your own?
[12:12] SPEAKER_01: You know, I think maybe sometime in the future, but for right now, um, I've got such great
[12:17] SPEAKER_01: partnerships with my store friends. I don't see the need to do that.
[12:21] SPEAKER_01: And I think as a result of launching sort of just before the virus hit, we've had the ability
[12:27] SPEAKER_01: to really nurture our online presence. And it's provided us a lot of flexibility without a whole
[12:32] SPEAKER_01: lot of overhead.
[12:33] SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Now, uh, obviously, Jasmine, you've, uh, you know, you've been successful and,
[12:40] SPEAKER_02: and what you've done here, uh, you've, uh, not to put it in a bad way, but you've also seen
[12:47] SPEAKER_02: the challenges, uh, let's put it that way, the challenges that people have these days in terms
[12:53] SPEAKER_02: of money and finances because of the, the, the work you do with, uh, with prom, which
[12:59] SPEAKER_02: any advice that you could give to people who are kind of aspiring entrepreneurs, who, uh,
[13:06] SPEAKER_02: have this idea in their head, uh, you know, uh, what would you tell them?
[13:11] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, I think I'm going to get real here for a second. I think, you know, in addition to
[13:16] SPEAKER_01: my kids sensitivities, um, you know, I'm going to say about five years ago, five and a half years ago,
[13:21] SPEAKER_01: I found myself in a place where I was divorced. I was a single mom, and I'd lost my job. And so,
[13:28] SPEAKER_01: you know, I think I had this moment where I thought, okay, this whole stability thing I thought was
[13:34] SPEAKER_01: happening. You know, this whole like, get a good job, get a good pension thing that was, that
[13:40] SPEAKER_01: was sort of drilled into me through, through my upbringing. Maybe it's not what I want to pursue.
[13:45] SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, after that moment, I just decided I'm never going to be in the place where I have
[13:51] SPEAKER_01: to worry about paying my bills or feeding my family. It's not going to happen. And so, I decided
[13:56] SPEAKER_01: that that point diversifying my income was really important. So, you know, we have rental properties,
[14:01] SPEAKER_01: we have my little entrepreneurial business. But it's all because, you know, I don't want to be in
[14:07] SPEAKER_01: that position again. It was a hard place to be, and I empathize very much with folks who are there.
[14:13] SPEAKER_01: And I think what's really interesting is, you know, as I look at the community today,
[14:18] SPEAKER_01: we're experiencing sort of a sense of depression, right? I mean, this pandemic has really been
[14:23] SPEAKER_01: difficult for people. And if you look at sort of the great depression from back in history,
[14:29] SPEAKER_01: you'll see that lots of people actually started to spur their own businesses. And it largely was
[14:35] SPEAKER_01: that similar sentiment, you know, holy smokes. I can't rely on, you know, what we all thought might
[14:40] SPEAKER_01: be the white picket friends in the perfect way out. And so, I think that gives you a little bit more
[14:45] SPEAKER_01: risk tolerance as you start to build your business knowing that, you know, it's hard. There's no
[14:50] SPEAKER_01: question. It's hard to be an entrepreneur. There's lots of decisions all the time that are difficult.
[14:56] SPEAKER_01: But it does provide you that sense that you're in control of it.
[15:00] SPEAKER_02: Well, you know what? It's interesting when you mentioned that it brought back memories for me,
[15:06] SPEAKER_02: right? And okay, time to be real as well. And, you know, my story, I, 35 years, worked at the
[15:15] SPEAKER_02: Calgary Herald, and one day done, right? And gone. And that was about five and a half years ago now.
[15:24] SPEAKER_02: But the one thing that I learned from that, and I learned by having a coffee with a former boss
[15:31] SPEAKER_02: who told me he said, Mario, there is no security in work. He said, the only security you have
[15:40] SPEAKER_02: is in yourself. In what you can do, what your skills are, your talents, et cetera, et cetera.
[15:47] SPEAKER_02: I always remembered that. And I always thought about that over the years as, you know, especially
[15:53] SPEAKER_02: here in Calgary, which seems such a tumultuous time, right? With the, you know, first with the oil
[16:00] SPEAKER_02: patch, decline, and now with the pandemic. So a lot of people's lives turned upside down. And
[16:07] SPEAKER_02: so I've always remembered that and I've always told that story to people about, you know,
[16:11] SPEAKER_01: you are your security as it's in yourself, right? Exactly. And I think, you know, very wise boss you
[16:18] SPEAKER_01: had, Mario, that's awesome. That's exactly where I landed. You know, I started to realize that
[16:26] SPEAKER_01: there is no sense of security. All you have is you and your ability to be resilient and take the
[16:32] SPEAKER_01: nose and stride and just keep looking for the yeses. Because at the end of the day, you know,
[16:36] SPEAKER_01: you look at folks who are wealthy and we, as a society, like to celebrate success, but I guarantee
[16:43] SPEAKER_01: anybody that standing up there talking about all their successes has had a million nose and a million
[16:48] SPEAKER_01: things that have gone wrong. But it's only the yeses we focus on. So if we can cultivate that resilience
[16:54] SPEAKER_01: together, whether it's to the pandemic or building a business or anything, that's the magic.
[17:00] SPEAKER_02: And you know, well, that's a key word, right? That resilience that I hear it often, especially now
[17:04] SPEAKER_02: over the past year, you know, and failures an interesting thing, right? Because I had an interview
[17:14] SPEAKER_02: with recently with someone else and we talked about this. And I mentioned if it was a basketball
[17:22] SPEAKER_02: fan, if you remembered Michael Jordan, you know, former superstar, Michael Jordan always said,
[17:28] SPEAKER_02: is one quote by his and the paraphrasing. Basically, you said that, you know, what people always
[17:34] SPEAKER_02: remember all the shots I made, but that forget the thousands of shots that I missed. Right?
[17:41] SPEAKER_01: Exactly. And you just have to be brave enough to keep taking the shots. That's it.
[17:46] SPEAKER_02: Yeah. Or as Wayne Gretz do you say if you don't shoot, you'll never score.
[17:52] SPEAKER_01: Exactly. Exactly. And that's exactly it. So, you know, I think for everybody out there who's looking at,
[17:57] SPEAKER_01: you know, anything that, you know, might feel painful or difficult, there's power in that, you know,
[18:02] SPEAKER_02: there is. Okay. Super. Well, thanks so much, Jasmine, for joining us today.
[18:08] SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for having me, Marri. I appreciate the chat today.
[18:11] SPEAKER_02: Okay. Great. That was Jasmine Marri, who is founder of Gypsy and Jasmine in Calgary. This has
[18:16] SPEAKER_02: been Calgary's podcast with Mario Toneguzi on Canada's podcast network. Thanks for joining us today.