Story & Lesson Highlights with Sara Kirstos of Los Angeles

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Sara Kirstos. Check out our conversation below.

Sara, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What are you chasing, and what would happen if you stopped?
I’m constantly chasing my way back to myself if that makes any sense. As a bonafide and proud introvert, solitude has always been a place of recharge, refilling, reconnecting with myself in a way that very social people may not understand. But as we get older, we tend to lose the quiet voice in our heads telling us to move and act in a way that is very true to your core. I felt pretty far from my own center with all that comes with adulthood and life so for me, I’m always chasing my way back to what truly feels most like me.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Sara Kirstos, founder of CERENE—a skincare brand built around the idea that skin care is self-care and should be non-negotiable. CERENE started from my own relationship with skincare. No matter how busy life gets or how many roles we juggle, we still take time to treat our skin—and I believe those moments should always feel like self-care. After working with countless skincare brands across the spectrum, I wanted to create something essential: skincare products that always treat the skin and become staples you’ll reach for again and again. Right now, we’re focused on getting our name out there and finding the customer base that truly gets it—the ones who see skincare not just as routine, but as a meaningful part of how they show up for themselves.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
Before the world told me who I had to be, I was an introvert who felt most at home in solitude. That quiet space—often misunderstood—was where my creativity came alive. I didn’t need noise or attention to feel full; I had an inner world that was vivid, imaginative, and deeply emotional. I was intuitive, a sensitive observer, and someone who felt things deeply but moved through life with quiet confidence. I saw beauty in small rituals, found clarity in stillness, and felt passion in ways that didn’t always look loud. Over time, I realized that all of this—my way of feeling, noticing, creating—wasn’t something to hide. It was the spark. It’s what led me to build CERENE: a skincare brand that honors care as ritual, that treats the skin with intention, and that reflects the kind of quiet power I’ve always carried. Now, I’m working on returning to that girl—trusting her, listening to her, and letting her guide everything I create.

Is there something you miss that no one else knows about?
What I miss—what most people wouldn’t even think to ask about—is the quiet, uninterrupted space where my imagination used to bloom. Solitude never felt like lack to me—it was fuel. I was the girl who could sit in silence and feel full, who found clarity in stillness and built entire worlds from a single mood or moment. But in the digital age, that kind of space is harder to protect. We scroll through so much, so fast—our brains absorbing more than they can process, our emotions barely catching up. It’s overstimulation dressed up as connection, and I’ve felt the cost of that.
Realizing how much my creativity, intuition, and emotional clarity thrived in stillness is what sparked CERENE. I built it to reclaim that rhythm—to honor care, presence, and the kind of beauty that doesn’t rush. CERENE isn’t just skincare. It’s my way back to the girl who trusted her inner world, who created from feeling, and who knew that softness was its own kind of power.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What’s a belief you used to hold tightly but now think was naive or wrong?
A belief I used to hold tightly was that being quiet meant being overlooked. That if I wasn’t constantly visible, loud, or performing, I’d be forgotten or misunderstood. I thought I had to prove my worth by showing up in ways that didn’t always feel natural to me. But now I see how wrong that was. My quietness has always been a strength—it’s where my intuition lives, where my creativity blooms, where I connect most deeply to myself and others. I don’t need to be loud to be powerful. I just need to be true. That shift in perspective is part of what led me to CERENE.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What light inside you have you been dimming?
The light I’ve been dimming is my ability to fully own the depth and brilliance of my inner world. I’m a Leo,—but I’m also an introvert. That used to feel like a contradiction, like I had to choose between being bold or being quiet. But the truth is, my solitude has always been sacred. It’s where my creativity blooms, where my intuition sharpens, where I feel most like myself. I used to shrink that part of me, thinking it was too tender, too slow, too “different.” But now I see it clearly: I’m the architect of my inner world, and that world is vivid, powerful, and worth protecting and will always set me on the path that feels most like me because it comes from within and it’s my guide.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lovecerene.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialcerene