The Female Founder Show
Are you ready to be inspired! Join Bridget Fitzpatrick, the co-founder of ASBN, CBT News and ASBN Coworks, as she brings you the inspiring stories of America's trailblazing female entrepreneurs. Each week, dive into dynamic interviews packed with game-changing business strategies and expert advice. For more great content be sure to check out ASBN.com – your ultimate destination for everything small business. Get ready to be motivated and empowered!
The Female Founder Show
Ep. 4: Mother of megastar Frank Ocean and Unsun Cosmetics founder talks about inclusive female entrepreneurship
Katonya Breaux, the mastermind behind Unsun Cosmetics, shares her remarkable journey about how she transitioned from a 20-year career in construction to becoming a trailblazer in the beauty industry?
Today you will learn how she shattered misconceptions about sunscreen for people of color and developed a groundbreaking mineral-based SPF formula that works for all skin tones. Katonya opens up about the hurdles she faced as a black female entrepreneur in securing funding and the importance of building relationships over shelling out for expensive services.
But that's not all! We dig into the power of spiritual practices and mindfulness for personal resilience. Discover how self-awareness, meditation, and empathy can help you manage stress and maintain inner peace, even in tough situations. Katonya also offers practical skincare and self-care tips, including how to properly store your sunscreen to ensure it remains effective.
Her journey and advice remind us of the importance of prioritizing self-care and making informed choices about the products we use. Tune in to uncover inspiring insights and actionable advice from a pioneering entrepreneur whose products are now featured in major retailers like Target and CVS.
Fun fact about Katonya: She is the mother of megastar Frank Ocean!
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This is the Female Founder Show with host and entrepreneur Bridget Fitzpatrick, exclusively on ASBN.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to the Female Founder Show. I'm Bridget Fitzpatrick. Today's guest is Katanya Brough, founder of Los Angeles based Sun Protection brand with a strong commitment to delivering beauty and skin protection solutions for women of all skin tones. Katanya's unique talent for recognizing distinct skincare needs, coupled with her entrepreneurial drive, spurred her to develop a mineral-based SPF formula that avoids the common issue of leaving behind a white residue, which is often encountered with other mineral brand-based formulas used by women of color. Over time, catania has expanded Unsun Cosmetics to encompass a range of hand, facial and body products, while also establishing a platform for educating people about the importance of sunscreen. Thank you so much for joining us, catania.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me. Let's have some fun here today.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. This is going to be great. Now I'd love to jump right in and if you could talk to us a little bit about your background and what inspired you to start your company.
Speaker 3:Oh wow, it was totally unplanned. I spent 20 years in construction. I started out at historical restoration, went on to custom home building, went in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina so was swamped and became completely burned out, moved home to LA and wasn't really sure what the next chapter of my life was going to be. But back when I was in New Orleans, I started coming up with these little black moles on my face, which wasn't a surprise, because all of the older women in my family have them. But I felt like I was early forties. They were coming a little too soon. So a trip to the dermatologist made me aware that this was not genetic, but sun damage, and it honestly it floored me. I was like but wait, I'm black. Like black people don't get sun damage. That's crazy, right, wrong. And so now I'm armed with this new information. I don't have to end up with a face full of mold. So I became obsessed about sunscreen. I tried every one. The first things I realized were that the ones I tried early on would burn my eyes. I hated the smell, it was just very annoying. So then I found one that didn't do any of that, but then it left this thick white residue. So, as you know, I'm on a learning curve because sunscreen is new to me and I realized that the mineral was what I really wanted. I just had to deal with that residue.
Speaker 3:Fast forward to 2013,. I'm home in LA. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this next phase of my life, but a friend of mine had a hair care line and I just asked if he could introduce me to his chemist. Literally, sunscreen just for me, not even thinking about a brand, but because I'm from a large family I have 10 siblings the sunscreen we have a range of shades in our family and what I noticed? That when everyone tried it, it didn't have that white residue and it worked on everybody's skin tone. And I was like, hmm, interesting, maybe I can build a brand around the sunscreen, that one SKU we started with, and a big part of that would be in informing other women of color and people of color that, yes, we do need some protection. The melanin does not exclude us and that's kind of the quick story.
Speaker 2:There are so many pieces to that story that I love One you had. There was a problem that you saw a need for and you went for it, and the other thing was that you asked somebody for help. Somebody else that was in the beauty industry helped you to get kind of get going. So those are two key important factors for for people to hear. So thanks for sharing that. I love that.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Now can you share with us some of the key lessons?
Speaker 3:that you've learned on your journey as a female entrepreneur. Oh wow, well, just you would think that construction was totally different. That was a whole thing, really really challenging, but, pushed through, found all the programs that helped women in that industry and there were a lot and there were so few of us, so I really benefited from a lot of the programs In beauty. My greatest challenge the beauty is that there's so many other female founders that you get to interact with and learn from the problem.
Speaker 3:The biggest problem I've discovered in this area is funding Women-owned businesses. Just don't get the funding and forget about it. If you're a Black woman-owned business, it has been. I mean, initially, when we started, we were told, well, we only invest in companies with a million dollars in revenue. When we got to a million dollars in revenue, well, we really it's a little early for us, we only invest in series A the same companies. Who told me and so and I'm like we have distribution and all of these retailers, we have all this stuff going on and it's really frustrating that it's such an oversight for, and that has been a real challenge for me.
Speaker 2:Now, do you have any advice for women of color, specifically as far as getting funding?
Speaker 3:Well, you just keep trying. You know it's easy. You can get caught up in paying a lot of monies to these apps and people to make decks for you. Don't do it, because they just really don't work. It's built on relationships. It's built on finding there are so many ways that don't cost you money to reach out to investors or find out who they are. Out to investors or find out who they are. But don't get caught in the trap when these people tell you that I had one company that was $80,000 over a 10, nine month period that would help me get funding, and then another company I actually paid $12,000 for my deck and then I paid another 3000 for this app to help me. None of them worked. So you really want the funding and you really want to trust and believe that these different things but it's really about relationships Find people who know investors, find people who've been invested in and reach out to them and just do that work. You really don't need to spend thousands of dollars getting these connections.
Speaker 2:That's very, very good to know. Thousands of dollars getting these connections. That's very, very good to know. Thank you for sharing that. Now, how do you balance the demands of entrepreneurship with other aspects of your life, such as family and personal well-being?
Speaker 3:That is huge for me. Huge for me. And I learned that even when I have my construction company, my office was on a busy street with shops and so I would walk three days a week down to the yoga studio, about six blocks down, faithfully. And now I'm here in LA and what I do now, at this phase in my life, as soon as I wake up, I am thankful for whatever pops into my mind. I do a meditation every morning before I get my day started. I, you know, I get massages. I go to a lot of meditation retreats because when we're cloudy and it's so easy to feel cloudy and to feel alone if you don't have anyone who understands the stresses of businesses that it's easy to really get burned out and to mentally fatigued and you have to take the time. The business is going to run. If you take three days away to kind of regroup, the business is going to be fine, but it's so critical to really focus on self-care.
Speaker 2:It really is. I've heard people say before that it's like the oxygen mask in the airplane, where you have to take care of yourself first before you can help anyone else, especially a growing company like yours right, absolutely 100%.
Speaker 3:You do, there's no harm in it.
Speaker 2:Right, right, of course. So now I read a lot of books and listen to a lot of coaches like Brene Brown, brendan Burchard and, more recently, dr Joe Dispenza. Now, where these aren't direct mentors, they are really helpful to me as I navigate this crazy world of entrepreneurship. How important is mentorship for female founders, and have you had any mentors that have made an impact on where you are right now?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I have very, not so much anymore. I, I'm a huge. My mentors are much like yours, not so much in the space like and unfortunately, I feel like women really need to band together more, because it sometimes it begins to feel like there's this competitive air where I don't want to tell you that because maybe you'll take some of my customers or I don't want to give you, I don't want to share, and so there's this, this closing in. I I love Joe Dispenza. I've gone to several of his workshops, I love Brene Brown and so there. So I I look at people like that. Michael Beckwith I'm doing a course with him now and so I just look, because it's about manifesting, it's about self-care, it's about our connection to the world and the people around us, and those things are critically important because when we can balance our inner selves, everything from the outer world just comes naturally and the things that we attract are the things that we need. So you have a great group of mentors. I love that.
Speaker 2:We share some of those. I think that's so important too, because I feel like when I'm trying to practice what these people are saying it's definitely a practice right, it doesn't happen overnight I do feel more grateful and I think when I'm grateful, I kind of exude it a little bit and hopefully uplift people rather than, like you were saying about so many women you know are a little bit catty about things and they really just if you're uplifting, you're going to be uplifted as well.
Speaker 3:That's right. That's right. You attract this light and it reflects, and it comes and it reflects and it's. It can be a really beautiful thing.
Speaker 2:It really can. It really can Now. There are a lot of women watching right now that are thinking about starting their own company. What advice would you have for them?
Speaker 3:Don't quit your job. Quit your job initially. It's beautiful to keep your job, have an income coming in to really balance things out, because women just aren't being funded in the way that men are being funded, and so find something that brings you joy, find something that the world needs, that's really good for the world, that really makes a difference in the world, and it'll make you feel so much better about working hard when you have long days and you have long nights and you're frustrated because that core belief that I'm doing something good is really going to propel you to continue. When things get tough and things do get tough it's challenging. So hold on to the things that support you and keep the money coming in. There you go.
Speaker 2:There you go and, speaking of that, you have overcome some unthinkable challenges in your life that some people would have had a hard time bouncing back from. Can you talk to us about what gives you the strength to keep going even during the most difficult times?
Speaker 3:Yeah, the thing that keeps me going are my spiritual practices, and I've learned so much in these last three years that you know, and even in my prayer this morning, there's so much that our finite minds are capable of understanding.
Speaker 3:And I accept that and I'm so grateful for the things that my mind has been able to understand and embrace.
Speaker 3:And so, if I don't do my practices, if I don't take those moments of reflection and I have this, this need to be in nature, when I'm in a forest, I feel like I was once a fairy, because I feel so at home.
Speaker 3:And so I, you know, I'm not different, I'm not special, I'm just aware. And that awareness is what gives me the strength to move forward, not being stuck in thinking I know everything when I don't really know anything. And I'm so open, I've become so open to learn and embrace all of life's possibilities, and it really, really does give me the strength and I don't always have the strength and when the day has come, I know, when I wake up in the morning, I say, okay, it's this day, this is what I'm feeling, and I listen to those emotions and I listen to my physical body, and if I need to stay in bed and think about my son and talk to him and feel his presence. That's what I do. And when I wake up and I feel good, and then I'm charged and I'm ready to go, and I embrace those days so much because I know that I still have those days where it's a bit of a challenge.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, for sure. I love that you really take the time to listen to how you're feeling and adjust how you need to. I know that there are many days that I wake up and I feel annoyed and I try to think why am I being annoyed? There's some reason and I usually can pinpoint what it is, as long as I catch that feeling pretty early. So I think that's so important to really pay attention to what you're feeling and try to figure out why, if it's a negative feeling, and try to quickly turn it into something more positive.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, and I think meditation really helps with that, because when you're able to be silent and you're able to see that there's me that's meditating and there's something greater that's watching me meditate, and so then you could separate your being from those emotions. I used to have the worst road rage. Now I'm just like, oh, I don't you do that, because the reality is that tomorrow you're not going to remember that, it's not even going to be a visceral feeling, and the next week that guy cutting you off is going to be so why allow yourself to get so worked up in that moment? And it's a beautiful thing to see the shift right. It's really incredible.
Speaker 2:It is, I heard. When I was doing my research. I saw where you mentioned something about you know somebody in a car might cut you off or something, and if you think about it differently and you think about, maybe there's something they're going through right now that you don't know about. So you know, give them a little bit of patience, give them a little bit of grace, and that you'll feel better about it too. So I thought that was that was really important to share.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's, it's yeah Just to see people in the world differently and their journey and their journey could be. I had an aha moment recently and about a certain individual and I was just like huh, okay, and I let it go because I said, I said I said why am I judging that person based on their beliefs? And I caught it in the moment. I had first blocked them when I learned of certain beliefs that they had, and then later it was like boom and I unblocked them and I was like I can't live life like that, because even people who believe differently and it may be deemed good or bad who are we to judge? We can all learn something from all of those behaviors. And again and it was really and I loved it later I couldn't believe it. A few years ago I would have wrote that person off instantly, and so we just need to see people meet them where they are.
Speaker 2:That's right. It's a journey, for sure. I know that I try to be more curious when I'm feeling judgmental now and think why. You know why, why, yeah, just be more curious. All right, I'd like to switch gears for a second and talk about Unsun Cosmetics again. Can you share with us what your vision for Unsun Cosmetics is in the future?
Speaker 3:that are really wonderful that we are not allowed to use here and just make using sunscreen just a regular part of your routine. We have this hashtag that we use in the fall and the winter, called it's not summer screen, and you know, and it's so frustrating that there's considered, even with all my retailers, a season for sunscreen, and but the reality is that the sun is always with us and skin cancer and sun damage, hyperpigmentation, premature aging is always at the waiting, and so we just want to make it easy, we want to simplify everyone's life, and so we're just continuing to make products that are good, clean, reef friendly, cruelty free, mineral based, that are easy and innovative. We make a highlighter that is just so beautiful that I use all the time, and so things like that. That's a mineral clean, not the crazy glitter that's harmful, but really beautiful products, and so we want to add a lip line, finally, and just continue to have some fun with it.
Speaker 2:Well, good for you. Congratulations on all your success. Any final thoughts or advice that you'd like to share with our audience before we go?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So two things. The first is do not leave sunscreen in your cars, especially when it's hot. First is do not leave sunscreen in your cars, especially when it's hot. The sun, the heat, especially from a closed car, really reduces the benefits of sunscreen.
Speaker 3:So it breaks it down. So you don't want to do that. Keep it in your purse, just take it to the beach or wherever with you. Okay, yeah, it's really important. A lot of people don't know that. Yeah, I did not know. Yeah, and just be kind, choose products that are good for you. There's so few things in the world that we can control the air we breathe, sometimes the water that we drink, but we can control what we put in our bodies and on our skin, so take care of yourself.
Speaker 2:Katanya, thank you so much for sharing your story and your advice with us today. We appreciate it so much. And for those of you that want to check out some of Catania's fabulous products, you can find them in Target and CVS, just to name a few, or simply go to unsuncosmeticscom Catania.
Speaker 3:Thanks, again, thank you so much. Have a beautiful day you too.
Speaker 1:This is the Female Founder Show with host and entrepreneur entrepreneur Bridget Fitzpatrick, exclusively on ASBN. If you're a female founder and would like to help other female founders with your inspiring story, we would love to hear from you.