As a part of our Beauty Duets series, we are catching up with some of the coolest organic businesses run by women in partnership. Dominika Minarovic, founder of Clean Beauty Co and Hero Beauty (whose Babe Balm is now at CONTENT). Creators of multipurpose beauty products, she walked us through how she and cofounder Elsie Rutterford met, how their friendship grew into starting a company together and navigating close working relationships.
How did you first meet and how did you end up starting the company together?
The pair of us met a few years ago when we were working in advertising. We worked really closely together and became good friends, with health and wellness being a strong point of commonality between us; we both loved exploring new healthy ways of eating and were firm gym buddies.
The idea for Clean Beauty Co was a natural extension of what we were already doing with food: moving away from processed foods and trying to gain a better understanding of how food fuelled our bodies. If we were doing this for what we put into our bodies, why weren’t we thinking about what we put onto our bodies? When we realised we were paying big bucks for moisturisers and treatments that just simply were not worth it, we felt disappointed and a little betrayed. We decided to make a change by taking control of exactly what went into our multipurpose beauty products – by making our own!
What has been one of the best things about working in partnership with a close friend?
It’s great to have someone to bounce ideas off, share the workload but most importantly, we are each other’s motivators. If one of us is feeling stressed or tired, we can be sure the other is there to uplift us and encourage us to keep going.
Top tip for those interested in starting a business as a duo?
We trusted each other’s work ethic because we spent two years working alongside one another, and knowing you are going to work with a good business partner and not just a friend is so important! Make sure you go into business with someone that you can rely on to get the job done, as well as someone you get along with.
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