We recently connected with Mary Landers Green & Ashton Ward and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Mary Landers Green & Ashton Ward, so great to have you on the platform. There’s so much we want to ask you, but let’s start with the topic of self-care. Do you do anything for self-care and if so, do you think it’s had a meaningful impact on your effectiveness?
Being a skin care brand, self-care is at the core of what we do and who we are. We are really proud of our branding because it tells a story. The definition of Intune is “in a state in which one thing agrees with or matches another” aka balance. Since Intune is also a classical musical term, we decided to lean into that, making Harmonize Your Mind and Body our tagline. Every day, we are working toward finding balance or harmony in this life. Eating clean while also not denying ourselves dessert, moving our bodies and also knowing when to rest, being consistent with your skincare routine but if you forget to wash your face one night it’s okay. Listening to your mind, body, and spirit and becoming Intune with ourselves. That’s what we represent and have built our community around.
As sisters and business partners, we share very similar mindsets around how we care for ourselves, which allows us to be accountable to each other in all facets of life. Our self-care routines together always prioritize moving our bodies through a pilates class, cooking or going out for a delicious meal, and creating space for really open and honest conversations. Our personal routines look a little different. For Ashton, tools like therapy, weekly massage, reading and being in nature really help keep her grounded and socially recharged. For Mary Landers, doing an extensive nightly skin care regimen, going for long walks, listening to a podcast and watching The Real Housewives are some of her favorite ways to spend time alone.
Being consistent with our forms of self-care, both together and a part, help keep us motivated and thriving. We are both individuals who work really well when we’re on a regimented schedule. But more importantly, we have also found that when we make promises to ourselves and keep those promises, it makes us more effective and confident in our personal and professional lives.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Our passion for skin care started young and was always at the forefront, thanks to our grandmother. Some of our earliest memories is hearing her say, “Beauty is as beauty does” and “Moisture is the key to good skin,” which still reign true. As individuals, we have always had entrepreneurial spirits, and as sisters, we always knew we would one day create something meaningful together. We built and launched Intune in 2019, a small business with a big vision, as we like to say. Before we launched, “clean beauty” was already becoming oversaturated in the marketplace, but as conscious consumers, we quickly realized that this buzzword no longer held much weight. So much of our journey in creating Intune relied heavily on doing our research, which also meant researching other products and diving deep into the ingredients being sold to consumers. During this period, it became clear that just because a company claims to be clean doesn’t mean it always is. This became a foundation for us, going beyond clean beauty because that should be a given. Being transparent about product ingredients, ethical ingredient sourcing, choosing sustainable product packaging, and achieving zero water waste are and will always be non-negotiable. Since creating Intune, our CEO, Mary Landers Green, chose to go back to school to become a licensed Esthetician, allowing us to further understand the world of skincare and strengthening our credibility in this competitive world. We have relocated and are now headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Co-Creator, Ashton Ward, also went back to school in 2022 to become a licensed Massage Therapist. Today, we are in a growth period, working toward advanced product formulation and many other exciting things we don’t want to reveal just yet. So, stay tuned!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
When we say small business, we mean it. We don’t have outside funding or investors, or any employees, which means we “wear a lot of hats”. The three things that have been most impactful to our journey are being cohesive and consistent with our branding, time management, and most importantly, being patient.
We are in this for the long haul, so being patient, consistent and managing our time well hasn’t always been easy but it’s imperative when starting a business. Overnight success or going viral once sounds great, but the slow burn of building a community with engaged viewers and customers who keep coming back for more is invaluable.
The biggest piece of advice and also our most valuable lesson we have learned along the way is that no one will advocate more for you than you will for yourself. We always like to say we have the biggest hand in our health, meaning only you can do the work when it comes to taking care of your physical, mental, and spiritual health. Just like, the support you show yourself will always be the most important and most beneficial. Building a brand and a community is really hard work, and we’ve experienced many high highs and many low lows, but at the end of the day, only we have the option to keep going or quit. It will only ever work if you become your brand, live it authentically, and represent what you’re trying to sell to people every single day.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
Always be a student is such an incredible mindset to have as a human being. Being receptive and open to learning and growing is what makes us great, but knowing your strengths and leaning into that role is just as imperative. Throughout our journey, there have been many times we’ve taken on tasks that were out of our wheelhouse, so to speak, and we came out better and more skilled than before. However, we also deeply believe that knowing when to outsource is one of the strongest qualities you can have, especially as an entrepreneur. For example, when launching Intune, we knew we wanted to outsource the graphic design for our logo, labels, fonts, ect. because that isn’t our speciality (shoutout to Emily Prestridge for her incredible work). Having the self awareness to know when you need to invest in yourself or someone else, is what being an entrepreneur is all about. So, in a round about way, the answer is both. It ebbs and it flows just like everything else in life, sometimes focusing on our strengths is what is needed and sometimes investing in new efforts is what is needed. Being adaptive to change and moldable are very important characteristics for us.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.intuneskin.com
- Instagram: @intuneskin
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/intuneskin
