We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ebun Ekunwe. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ebun below.
Ebun, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
Being a medical doctor opened my eyes to the dangers to which our cosmetics and other beauty products expose us. Do you think it is a coincidence that the rate of cancers is higher in the developed world where there is a lot of chemicals in our food, water and beauty products? Is it a coincidence that a hair relaxer from the past has been linked to cancers?
The doctor in me knew the answer to these questions and so I went in search of a natural product that could be deployed in wellness and beauty products. That way, you no longer have to choose between looking gorgeous and ensuring you are healthy; you can have both beauty and health.
Enter Shea Butter. And although I have had a couple of friends grumbling about how it is such a waste to employ a medical degree in making shea butter products, I was not deterred.
And it seemed that my history was geared towards helping people be healthy while looking and feeling great. You see, in addition to my being a doctor, my father was a compounding pharmacist – in the days before tableting was industrialized. I grew up watching him touching and enhancing people’s lives through his compounding skills in the hospital pharmacy. Add to that the fact of health programming in some of the least developed nations of the world where health needs abound, and I believe I am in the spot where I was meant to be at this time.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Lovelier Shea Butter was born of my concern that we should have access to wellness and beauty products that do not threaten our health through chemical compounds. I wanted to be able to present natural wellness and beauty products that are pure vegan and 100% natural. If you have watched a loved one battle cancer and you later learned that it was due to the chemicals in their hair or skin product, you would enter into my concern.
Shea butter checked all the boxes, especially when whipped – as we do at Lovelier Shea Butter – with carrier and essential oils. After extensive research, we went into production. Naturally, we did not expect a blow-out at the very beginning and it did not happen. Rather, we have been experiencing organic growth, which is perfect since it allows continued research to proceed.
We are in a great place right now – existing products are moving off the shelves at a satisfactory pace thanks in part to our partnership with various market places, notably Walmart and Amazon. We also respond to requests for customized party favors and that is going great as well. My guess is that people already have a houseful of regular party favors. How many marked mugs or totes or tea towels can you use? But a consumable product like Lovelier Shea? It appears that that is always welcome and our customized party favor line seems to be catching on quite rapidly.
Lovelier Shea Butter also responds to needs for specific skin health issues. Lovelier Shea SkinJoy resulted from such a consultation. A lady approached us with a request for dealing with her dandruff. It turned out she was suffering from Seborrheic Dermatitis but hadn’t paid attention to her face since she could wash off the flakes several times a day. After some research, the Lovelier Shea Butter team compounded a product that worked so well that she started placing additional orders for her friends even before her supply was exhausted.
Our latest consultative effort has taken our breaths away, given that acne is so difficult to clear, especially from a teenager’s face, neck and shoulder. But our primary test subject gladly reported success, volunteering this statement: “I no longer have acne; what you see on my face are scars from the past.” That made all the work worthwhile. After a few more test subjects, we plan to produce Lovelier Shea Butter Rejoice Acne Control Cream.
Of course, we have had to say “no” to the few people who asked for help with conditions that no cream could help with. Diabetes is one such condition, but when it is with the skin, we have been able to respond positively with effective solution with our vegan, all-natural products. A number of our wellness products deal specifically with pain, both in the muscle (fibromyalgia) and the joints.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Being a medical doctor
Growing up with Pharmaceutical compounding dad
Years as a Representative of a well-known beauty brand
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
Would you be comfortable if I answered this question with “God”? Running a business requires a lot of faith. When you start out, you have no clue what the future holds. Will you be successful or will you go into bankruptcy in a few years? Each time you want to order supplies, you require faith to go for the increased profit margin offered through the purchase of the higher volume.
So allow me to say God has helped me to keep going and believing in Lovelier Shea Butter success. He even helped Jacob to know exactly what to do to get a lot of sheep in the olden days from Laban’s flock. Why not me?
He is at the helm of our research effort as we expand and seek to increase our knowledge base.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://loveliershea.com/
- Instagram: @loveliershea
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VeganAllNaturalBeauty
Image Credits
Me
