I grew up in Uganda surrounded by year-round sunshine and an abundance of some of the best natural skincare in the world, in its raw, unrefined form. My mom first introduced me to Shea Nilotica butter as a teenager, telling me all about its amazing nourishing and healing properties. I began mixing up my own DIY skin and hair creams, oils and butters in my early 20s.

My passion grew as I learned how toxic and harmful commercial skincare is, filled with endocrine disruptors and harmful, poorly researched and unnecessary ingredients. My homemade creams were simple yet powerful and I could see first hand far superior results for my skin with this minimalist approach.

This posed the question; do we actually need all the skincare and ingredients that commercial brands market and sell? Are there truly benefits that outweigh the risks and harm? The more I researched the powerful plants, oils and butters we have growing in abundance in Uganda, the more convinced I became that there is a better way to create skincare. A simpler yet more powerful way. I dreamed of someday sharing these creations with more people. It made me question the integrity of the skincare industry as a whole and eventually, my curiosity led me to discover that the problem with the commercial skincare industry is multi-faceted. Starting with a broken business model, bad supply chain and ending toxic formulation and misleading marketing, all done in the name of profit.

In my late 20’s I was diagnosed with an autoimmune illness which only emphasized my need detox my life. Thankfully, I did not have a shelf full of skincare products to empty at the time. Our skin does not discriminate and things do not bypass it the way they do our understanding of labels, ingredients and marketing gimmicks. Hidden toxins like fragrance, parfum, run under the guise of being “natural” all while fueling inflammation in our bodies over time. Simply put, you don’t want this on your skin. Something needs to change!

Kostya and I founded Good Skin Food with a vision of simplifying skincare with potent and powerful natural formulas. As a product designer/developer duo, our desire is to create products that change lives and bring good into them. As our family has grown some of our values have remained to live toxin free, grounded in simplicity, working with our hands and creating products that change lives. Our kids Luca and Annelise are part of our team, dreaming up ideas and creating along with us. We moved to San Diego in 2022 and are excited to be launching Good Skin Food!  Having kids has given us even more reason to think about the impact of products in our home and do what we can to create safer alternatives.

Ultimately, Good Skin Food is a labour of love. A small startup, with a big vision to do good in small ways.