Natural Skincare & a Story of Entrepreneurship, Celebrating Women of Color Business Owners

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios, it’s time for Women In Motion. Brought to you by WBEC-West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Women in Motion and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Women in Motion, we have Ashley Rankin with AR Naturals Skin. Welcome.

Ashley Rankin: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

Lee Kantor: I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about AR Naturals Skin. How are you serving folks?

Ashley Rankin: Yes, absolutely. So, again, my name is Ashley of AR Naturals, and I have a handmade natural skin care company and I serve my people through handmade natural skin care. My best seller is my Lavender Rest Cream. And I also have support services for rest repair and burnout recovery.

Lee Kantor: So, what’s your back story? How did you get involved in this line of work?

Ashley Rankin: Yes. Before that, I just wanted to thank Ella Lee and Dr. Pamela Williamson for having me on today and for extending the opportunity for me to share my story. And, also, I’d like to thank Sandra Ocasio and Victoria the Podcaster for her guidance and preparing me for today’s interview.

Ashley Rankin: And I got involved in this industry through a personal challenge. So, growing up, I had very sensitive skin, aggravated by many commercial products, which inspired me to create my own skin care solutions. And, again, my best seller is the Lavender Rest Cream, and it was also in addition to supporting and healing my skin. It was also developed as a reclamation to myself to create time and space to take care of myself.

Lee Kantor: So, had you ever kind of concocted some skincare? How would you even know how to begin something like that?

Ashley Rankin: Yes. I’ve made skin care products from a young age. I’ve always been interested and tinkering in the kitchen growing up. My dad grew up on a large farm in Mississippi, and so we grew up on a lot of acreage, and he taught me a lot about herbs and natural ways to heal the skin and the body. So, I just got in the kitchen, I’m also a biologist, so I brought that training into the kitchen and started creating my own products.

Lee Kantor: So, when you’re creating a product like this from scratch, how do you begin? Like what’s the process you use to, you know, even begin experimenting on something that might work?

Ashley Rankin: Absolutely. I often approach it like a lab experiment, but simply. So, I like to just prioritize simple formulations that heal the skin. Nothing, you know, too fancy and nothing unnecessary. So, it’s literally just natural oils, butters, and skin safe fragrances.

Lee Kantor: And then, once you have one of your products, how do you go about testing it? Do you, like, have your friends try it? What’s the process like before you roll it out?

Ashley Rankin: Absolutely. I’m always my first tester and my immediate family. And then, I certainly have a trusted few that will give me feedback on the product on how long it stays on the skin, how it moisturizes the skin. I often get feedback that it helps to support and clear eczema. So, I’m just really starting with close family and friends and then extend it to some of my tester customers and community.

Lee Kantor: So, how do you get a feel for if something’s going to take off or not? Like, I’m sure you tried some things and you’re like, “Oh. Well, that didn’t sell as well as I thought it would. But this one is really taking it.” How do you kind of gauge that?

Ashley Rankin: Absolutely. Trial and error, certainly. So, when I started off, my line was more extensive with body butters and scrubs and lip balms and soaps. I make a variety of products, but I really appreciate this question because what has taken off has been my rest cream, and I believe it’s because many people can relate to being tired, to being exhausted, to having rest deficits that they need to repair. That’s certainly how I came into creating that product. And so, that has been my best seller and the one that resonates most with my community. And I can speak more to my own journey with rest repair as well.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. Please share.

Ashley Rankin: Absolutely. So, in preparing for this podcast discussion today, something I’ve been reflecting on is how rest saved my life. And I’m someone who’s very ambitious and hard working. And I’ve been inducted into my college’s Sports Hall of Fame. And I was accepted into an extremely competitive career field, and, of course, I run my business and I’ve always been willing to wake up very early, to stay up late, and to sacrifice and do the things that ambitious women do to be successful. But all of that discipline without balance led to rest deficits and, ultimately, severe burnout in my personal life.

Ashley Rankin: So, I like to share how I got there and how I crawled my way out. And I found that the external noise of others was louder than my own internal compass, and this took me off course and into spaces and places that were certainly harmful to me. I don’t know if anyone else has felt like this, hopefully some listeners can relate. But that whole journey brought me back to the masterclass of me. And so, this is an SOS call for anyone that is in need of rest repair.

Lee Kantor: So, when you were struggling in this area doing the work that you’re doing helped you kind of get through that?

Ashley Rankin: Absolutely. The Lavender Rest Cream was a reclamation of self, which I call it time that I take for myself that’s protected and just an opportunity for me to be mindful and to take time with my senses. And to use the product, yes, it’s a skincare product, but I like to say that it’s to support self-care and ultimately soul care.

Lee Kantor: Now, as part of your entrepreneurial journey, are you trying to build community around kind of this concept, which it seems like to elevate the skincare is just an element of it, but it’s really, you’re trying to build community around mental health and wellness.

Ashley Rankin: Yes. Lee, I appreciate your question. And that’s exactly what it is, you asked earlier how I know if something will take off, and this is what is taking off for me, what has resonated most with my community, and my social impact is in the area of mental health and wellness, again, stemming from my own personal experiences with severe burnout. And when I found that I was transparent and honest about what I was experiencing, because I was silently struggling – I think other people may be able to relate to that – like looking great on the outside and just falling apart internally – excuse me. So, I am building an active community around rest repair.

Lee Kantor: Now, why do you think it is that a lot of entrepreneurs, or just people in general, they almost want to put on a facade of everything’s great, I’m strong, nothing’s going to knock me down. And then, sometimes when you are vulnerable and you share and you are transparent, like you mentioned, all of a sudden, the floodgates open and people want to help and they want to be part of the mission.

Ashley Rankin: Absolutely. I think that from at least in my experiences from young ages, excellence was modeled to me, high achievement was modeled, never letting people see you sweat was modeled, and it was all well- intentioned. But I know I certainly internalized that to an extent my acceptance within community was conditional and based on my performance and how well I was doing. I know that that was a harmful way that I internalized high achievement. I also think that, you know, it’s scary to be seen, we’re often criticized when we’re not in the right community or around people that necessarily care about us when it’s not constructive criticism.

Ashley Rankin: And so, I know we all learn how to put our representative forth in work and even in our personal spaces, and that is necessary to an extent. But I think I certainly had to learn how to separate my representative, which is authentic and necessary in certain spaces. But how to just live a more balanced life and prioritize the people and the places and the things that accept me authentically and learn how to – excuse me – I say, pause, pivot, and purge from things that are actively harmful to me.

Lee Kantor: Now, when people kind of join your community, obviously they get access to the skincare line, including the Lavender Rest Cream, but is there also workshops? Do you do get togethers where people can interact with each other and network? Are you trying to build kind of that type of community as well or is it just a place to buy product?

Ashley Rankin: I appreciate your question. So, I have been repositioning my company to be, yes, there’s access to the skincare products, but I’m also actively developing my first course, which is called Elevate Your Rest IQ. And so, within that course, we’ll explore and re-explore values and our priorities and really get down to the root and the core of being ambitious is great, but sometimes there are underlying challenges, fears that need to be addressed so that we’re operating in ambition in a healthy way. So, my first course will be launching this summer. And, yes, I plan to do more workshops and boot camps and even some in-person events, rest events around Denver.

Lee Kantor: So, I know you haven’t gotten it all kind of baked yet, but what are some of the elements of the events?

Ashley Rankin: Of the in-person event?

Lee Kantor: Yeah.

Ashley Rankin: Yes. Very simple, just to come and rest. I take inspiration from Ms. Hersey of The Nap Ministry. She’s out of Atlanta and she just would have literal rest events in different spaces around Atlanta, you bring a yoga mat and a pillow, and you lay down. And she may have a short word to share, but I draw inspiration from that. So, it would be something similar for people to just come hold space that we can be still and quiet and validated, and that our value is not dependent on our productivity.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. Now, you mentioned that this evolution into community is important to you, why was it important for your firm to become part of the WBEC-West community?

Ashley Rankin: Absolutely. So, I’ve been part of many accelerators, like I’m sure many business owners have been, and I was encouraged to take advantage of the certification, not only because the trainings, the networking, and the resources are really, in my opinion, superior to what I was able to access on my own, but that the certification is like a premium stamp and it shows intentionality and, I think, seriousness of the business owner to connect and expand. So, it was certainly a priority to receive my certification.

Lee Kantor: So, what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Ashley Rankin: Oh, great question. A community continuing to be introduced to other business owners and, I would say, leadership that, of course, I know has the capability and the interest to expand the rest message.

Lee Kantor: And if somebody wants to plug into your community and learn more about your product line, is there a website?

Ashley Rankin: Yes. My website is currently being managed – or it’s under review – excuse me – it’s being updated, but I do have a link that I can share to connect people into my email list and for the skin care products, for the community events, and the upcoming Elevate Your Rest IQ Course. And then, I’ll plug them in once the website is updated.

Lee Kantor: And then, how can they join that list?

Ashley Rankin: Yes. It’s a Google link so I can forward that to you.

Lee Kantor: All right. So, we’ll make sure that that’s part of the post. Well, if they want to connect with you on LinkedIn, can they do that?

Ashley Rankin: Oh, certainly. So, my name on LinkedIn is Ashley, and then N for Nicole, and Rankin, R-A-N-K-I-N.

Lee Kantor: Well, Ashley, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work, and we appreciate you.

Ashley Rankin: Yes. Thank you for having me.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women in Motion.