Meet Julia Kelley

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Julia Kelley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Julia, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.

Before I believed that I could start a company or create anything of my own, I started by looking up to people that created things that I admired. I listened to countless podcast episodes about founders and their stories. Hearing all of these stories started to make me look at everything differently. I started thinking about the fact that everything was created by someone. About the fact that everything came about because someone had an idea that they decided to implement. Having that mindset made me believe that I was worthy of creating a business and selling my product.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I create organic skincare products, specifically facial oils. I struggled with acne for several years as I was growing up and tried everything under the sun to treat it. After one particularly bad breakout, my dermatologist suggested I try pumpkin seed oil to clear my acne. After using it twice a day for two-three months, my acne was cleared. I was so surprised and have since developed a minimal, organic-based skincare routine. This was the foundation for my brand: to share my experience with pumpkin seed oil and help others realize the same benefits I did.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I would say the three qualities that were most impactful were being curious, being persistent, and resilient. There were a lot of moments that made me want to quit. There were a lot of times where I felt let down by not having the knowledge necessary to keep going. However, having the curiosity to ask questions and keep finding new people to talk to was what helped me tremendously. You would be surprised what you can learn if you just start looking for it.

Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?

My biggest area of growth was learning how to create customer service. Having a skincare product posed more challenges by forcing me to live up to the standard of creating an effective product. I had people that were taking a chance on my product to help their skin like it helped mine. I had to come to terms with the fact that my product would not work the same way for everybody nor would it be everyone’s cup of tea. Regardless, I have realized how many people my product has helped and that has kept me going.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thepumpskin.com
• Instagram: @thepumpskin
• Other: Tik Tok: @thepumpskin

Image Credits

Tinka Peterka