How many of us are really educated on what ingredients are in our skincare products? On this 148th episode of the E-Comm Show, Andrew Maff interviews Kim Grustas, Founder of Good for You Girls. Good for You Girls started with a mission to keep girls away from toxic chemicals during their transformation from girlhood to adulthood, and has now become the O.G brand of clean tween skincare.

In this episode, Kim shares her journey of creating a successful brand that not only provides safe and effective products but also empowers young girls to take care of their skin and overall health. She also discusses the importance of education and transparency in the skincare industry, especially for products marketed towards young girls. If you have an educational brand with a meaningful mission, this episode is a must-listen!

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Skincare with a Purpose with Good for You Girls

Andrew Maff and Kim Grustas

CONNECT WITH OUR HOST: AndrewMaff.com  |  Twitter: @AndrewMaff | LinkedIn: @AndrewMaff 

Kim Grustas

Brand Visionary Kimberly Grustas started Good For You Girls to keep girls away from toxic chemicals during puberty. With over 15 years in the natural product and nutrition industries, Kim had advanced knowledge of the dangers of even trace levels of estrogenic chemicals during the delicate transformation from girlhood to adult. Kim’s two daughters had asthma and allergies and when they were entering puberty, she was appalled at the ingredients in products marketed to young girls. The lack of safe, effective and age-appropriate products combined with her knowledge about the lowering age of puberty was all she needed to launch this transformative brand to help other moms keep their daughters safe. Kim has been called the O.G. of tween skincare and it’s not hard to see why. Good For You Girls was the first line of clean skincare dedicated to girls in the US and is a thought leader in helping moms connect to their daughters during these precious years. To learn more, visit: https://www.goodforyougirls.com/

00:03

That's a really important time that mothers can be the real influencers Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of The E-Comm Show. I'm your host, as usual, Andrew Maff, and today I'm joined by the amazing Kimberly Grustas, who is the founder over at good for you girls. Kimberly, how you doing? You ready for a good show? I'm

01:15

great. I'm great. Thanks for having me,

01:17

beautiful. I'm so excited to have you on the show. Your energy is so fun. So we're gonna have a blast. So I like to do the stereotypical thing and kind of let it start off the usual way. Give us a little bit of an intro. Tell us about you know yourself, where you've been, how you got started, with good few girls, and then we're gonna take it from there.

01:34

Okay, absolutely. So I'm a creative director by trade. I started my creative journey in publishing really fast paced. I was also a fitness nut, so I was big into sport nutrition. So my journey in publishing ended up leading me to the sport nutrition arena. And I worked as a creative director for bodybuilding companies all things. So it was really great fitness models, bodybuilders. So working with ingestibles, supplements, creatine powders, amino acids, you know, protein powders, all of those. That's really where my start to this journey began.

02:13

Oh, wow. Okay, so very different from where you're at now, how did you get from kind of like the nutritional side into more of the skincare side.

02:23

So I started my own agency in 2000 which was a big was it? Which was a big leap? I worked for a

02:31

an ad agency. They offered me a partnership, and I decided, Nope, it's time for me to separate and go on my own. So I went on my own, and four months later, I was pregnant with my, with my first daughter, so it was kind of crazy, and she was born. So I was doing, I was working sport attrition. I was working health and beauty, because I would go out to the trade shows, you know, and it's ingestible, it's really, it's, it's a wonderful arena. And naturals were just starting in 2000 you know, the awareness. And it was, you know, just the early days of the natural awareness. And so anyway, so I worked in my agency for companies sport nutrition that I started to take on a health and beauty and when my first daughter was born, she was born with severe asthma and allergies. So we were talking, you know, she would stop breathing. We would rush her to the emergency room. There was EpiPens, there was counting her breaths all night long. It was really it was really scary. She also had a lot of food allergies, so we figured her out. And then two years later, her sister was born. Also had asthma issues, but she also had a hive disorder and eczema. So she had raw skin, and, you know, this, these welts that would appear on her body. So I was one of the early adopters of Naturals. There were no scents in my home. There were no candles. We were I was making my laundry detergent, and, you know, only cleaning with baking soda and vinegar. And it was just really, I was in my own little world, and really research, you know, when, when you have sick children, I think that's, that's a mom's, you know, moms will do anything, right? So that's really where my journey, because I was familiar with ingestibles, right within the nutrition world and how they affect your body. And so the whole skin issue, that was my awareness to that these chemicals in the chemical, chemical exposure, your skin is your largest organ. 65% of what you put on your body gets absorbed through your bloodstream. It also goes right into your bloodstream. There's no digestive system, right? There is nothing to break, no acid stomach acids to break those ingredients down like, you know, when you when you eat something, so, you know, again, having sick children was really my awareness of chemical exposure, and then my daughter, it was actually, it's funny story. It's Hannah Montana. Is actually the reason I stopped a lot. Me Montana. So my oldest daughter is crazy. My oldest daughter was eight, and there was a bath set. Now, remember, I had to control everything that went in and on their bodies, right? Because it wasn't just a mild thing. It was, again, hospitalization, EpiPens. It was, you know, I mean, so food, again, the food allergy. So I had to control everything. You know, it wasn't so eight years old, target. There was a bath set, Hannah Montana bath set. And my daughter beelined towards it, and she says, Mommy, Mommy, can we buy this? And I picked it up and I flipped it over, and I was like, yeah, no, there is no way, sweet girl that I am putting this anywhere on your body. It was made in China. It had preservatives up the, you know, a mile long. It had fragrance, it had dyes. It had just, it was toxic. It was it was toxic. And that really, there was a couple things that happened. Um, first off, she wanted it right? She was eight. She wanted a beautiful she wanted this. She was aware. And secondly, my awareness was, oh my gosh. I cannot believe that brands are slathering this on our children. And so I came back to my office and just did a ton of research, and I was like, Oh my gosh, you we're slathering. It was the Claire's, you know. And remember the Claire stores, the Justice stores, and they had the aisle, you're waiting in line, and it was all these little bottles of stuff. And my daughters would grab them like, no, no, no, no, no, you can't have that, you know. At birthday parties, I was the mom, you know, they would say to me, they would open something, and they would say, you're not going to let me use this. Are you right? And I would say, no, sorry, you can't. You can't. I just can't put, I can't knowingly put those toxins on your body. Yeah? So that was really the beginning and, and that's what good few girls I came up with the name in the shower one one day, and that was really the birth of of good for you girls, because I knew how to do it better, and I knew I could, I knew I could commit and I figured if, if there were moms like me, that there were other moms like me who really had the same ethos and really wanted to protect their daughters, and it's not just, it's it's really a bigger issue than just, you know, a bad ingredient. Girls are susceptible during puberty to what we call estrogenic ingredients, meaning that there are certain ingredients that mimic estrogen within the body. These are dots, these are fragrance. These are preservatives. And so if you look at your body, your body is a very organic machine, right? You eat a carbohydrate, your body knows what to do with it. You eat a protein, your your body knows what to do with it, right? Sugar, fat, all of that, your body says, okay, and it puts in these little compartments when you now introduce a synthetic to your body, whether it be ingesting it or putting it on your body. Your body doesn't know what it is, but the closest chemical compound that we have are hormones, and moreover, estrogen. So that's why we call of these so they they mimic estrogen in the body. And we now know there was, there's been studies that go back to 2008 when I launched this company, that show that the earlier a girl enters puberty, the greater risk she's at for cancer and disease as an adult. You know, this is, again, one of those reasons that, you know, the HRT got, you know, hormone replacement therapy, therapy for women got a big bad rap. Oh, we can't increase the levels of estrogen. It leads to breast cancer, all of the, all of those things. So the the transition that happens in puberty, because puberty starts in the pituitary gland, right? And it's this cascade. And so when the body is giving out these little signals that it's ready for the estrogen that hits the reproductive system and says, Okay, it's time to start. And so any extra estrogen or signals of estrogen that girls are receiving will and and do contribute to that? And boys, by the way, are not immune. So there's you see, right? You know, sixth grade, fifth grade, sixth grade boys can actually develop breasts, and that is what's happening with boys. And then when their natural testosterone kicks in, it negates that, pushes down that estrogen, but we see that estrogen surge in boys as well during the during the puberty years. I'd

09:47

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10:49

I'm one of those early adopters of it all. I knew this awareness. And I think every generation thinks that they discovered something which is, which is kind of fun. But no, you're absolutely right. And the thing is, is it's about little trace, you know, trace amounts, right? And it all is not gonna hurt you. It's a little, it's only a little. It's only a little. Well, the problem is, is, it's the build up of all of it, right? So one thing you're eating might not have a lot, but all the other things that you're eating has more of it, right? So I think it's really important. And we, we as moms do so much for our babies, our children when they're babies. Oh my gosh, there isn't anything we would, you know, wouldn't, do you know, we wouldn't buy linen sheets for ourselves, but we're certainly going to buy them for right, and the cotton and all the organic, right? And we buy it for our children. And so the same, you know, the same reasons you protect a baby from chemicals, it's the same reason. This is the second growth and development in a young girl's life is this is puberty. So it's so important that we just continue to maintain that level of protection. And then again, my whole feeling is, if a girl really learns to love her body, protect her body, or know that it's important. This is a lesson she's going to have for her whole life. I care about my body. I want to know what goes in it and on it, and moms are a huge impetus to that. You know, moms really have an amazing opportunity with their daughters. You know, I didn't want to say no to my daughter. I knew that she wanted something, and she did go into puberty earlier, and so I knew she needed something, and that's a really important time that mothers can be the real influencers, because that's a whole nother hot topic, the real influence in their daughters, In their daughter's lives, and a great opportunity for conversation, yeah? So that's, that's really what I'm all about, is, is just really putting it there and saying, Hey, listen, we're here, you know, if, if we're here for you. Yeah.

12:56

So one of the things I'm curious about a I know that the whole, like, transition of going from, you know, using topicals or eating things that just have these ridiculous stuff and you like, kind of the more clean lifestyles I've always referred to it that is a tough message to teach, right? Like the education to the consumer of, here's why it's better. Here's why you don't want X ingredient all over your body when you're showering or something like that. Like that educational piece is difficult, then you're targeting tween girls, so a tough audience to reach at this time, I would guess, probably a strong Tiktok approach, but they're your end consumer. However, I'm going to assume that your customer is probably the moms or the dads,

13:48

moms, grandma, aunts, dads.

13:51

So what's the what's been your messaging approach? How are you kind of educating and who are you targeting?

13:57

You know, it's the parents. You know, I am very, very strong in my belief that there is no brand that should be in a child's bathroom. I I die on the hill, as they say, you know it so I it has to be through the parents. And again, I just feel that that's where, that's where the influence has to come from. It's from the mom and, yeah, it is tough. It is tough when you have that philosophy. Sometimes, as a small brand, we I have to make a choice. I have to make a choice. But ultimately, I think my customers appreciate that, right? Yeah, the same way they appreciate the type of thought and process, that process it goes through into my ingredients, and that it's they appreciate my approach. And so again, you have to pick it. You have to pick your battles. And that's that is definitely something that's been day one, built into, built into my decision about the brand. Yeah.

15:00

What are you doing? What's been your marketing approach to reach that audience?

15:04

Um, oh, excuse me, I want to cough. Um, so traditional, traditional media, Facebook, Instagram, um, you actually do email lists, if you can believe it.

15:17

Um, emails, can it? Huh? Emails,

15:21

great. So it's like a pendulum. Everything swings, you know, tick tock came out all roaring and whatever. And, you know, it is what it is. I think they'll burn, they'll burn themselves out a little bit again, the Tick Tock shop and the whole thing, they're trying to compete with Amazon, let's be honest. And it's now just a sales, it's, it's a 24 hour infomercial. Is really what Tiktok has become, right? They might as well call it online shopping. I mean, that's all, honestly what it is. And I, again, I don't like the damaging effects that that these influencers have on younger people as well. You know, when girls are at a certain age, they don't have that critical thinking, they don't have that, oh, they're just trying to sell me something, and there is no transparency to that, right? So while we, you know, I haven't done anything with Tiktok. I mean, we have a Tiktok that it's a lawyer, just me, you know, I hate it. Honestly, I'm not, you know, I hate it. It's just one of those things. But that's, that's really where we are. But we have our email list from our customers, so we're kind of, you know, keep in touch with them. But honestly, it's, um, it's very transient. Because, right, the girls come in, they hang with us for a while, they buy all our products, and then they, you know, then they'll move on. We hope, when they move on, that they're, they're better educated, right? And we've had girls that have started, gosh, using our products, and they were 11, and they still buy them in college, right? It's, it's, and that for me, I mean, I see those names come by, and I know because they reach out to me. And then the daughter will use it, and then the mother will use it, and the mom will say, Oh my gosh, I love it, and they'll steal it from their daughter. And I say, you shouldn't steal it from your daughter. Just buy your own, you know. So it really is for me that consumer journey is super important, and I will sacrifice the blow up for that really great customer experience.

17:24

Yeah, yeah, it's, it's obviously the brand, obviously good for you girls, clearly marketed to girls. It's a, you know, targeting a tween audience. But it sounds to me, and obviously, please correct me, I'm wrong, but it sounds to me like the product in itself, like it really could be work just as well for anyone.

17:44

Absolutely, the whole idea with the girls, it's, again, it's a time of her life where, you know, it's the ID Bracelets, the BFF, right? It's gaining its identity. And so I wanted a product that wasn't your mom's product that she just stuck in front of you and told you to use, right? I wanted something that they could identify with and claim as their own, because I think that that's super important. And the time that they spend in the mirror, five minutes washing their face. There's a whole lot of psychology that goes behind that, and as a mom of two girls, I recognize that right. There's that ownership, there's that pride, and yes, boys can absolutely use it, moms can use it, but I've been chastised a lot for for not being gender neutral I have and I don't care, right? I like we are who we are, and that is an important distinction for me. Is because in girls, if any mom out there, has a, you know, 12 year old girl and a 12 year old boy, the boy moms know that it's hard enough to get your son to bathe, right? Yeah. They think the swimming pool is their shower, right? Yeah. So it's, you know, again, it's a, it's a journey, right? It's, it's a, it's a rite of passage. And when they're wanting control. And there's a lot of young girls out there today that think they need makeup and eyeliner and mascara, and it's surprising what happens when you give them good few girls, they don't want those things anymore, all of those issues and those things that they thought that they wanted when they're taking care of their skin, and their skin looks great, feels great. It's, it's very satisfying. That's why, you know, to to a girl going, you know, an early stage, because that's ultimately what she wants, is she wants to feel in, in control of that journey. And I've had moms, you know, ask me, When should my daughter wear makeup? Mm. And I tell them flat out, I say that's your decision when she wears makeup, but tell her she's got to commit to a face washing, face washing routine for at least three months. If she can commit to washing her face for three months, then she can introduce the makeup if, because if you don't, if they don't have that routine, and they're not in that regimen, and they introduce all the bacteria, then you've just got a nightmare, and then it's, it's really hard to backtrack. It's really hard to backtrack from them, from that so healthy skin doesn't need to be covered up. And so that's that. What's

20:40

the what's the plan with the business going forward? Is the thought to expand the product line? Or are you thinking, you're all start creating products to kind of follow their life cycle, as you

20:51

know, I know, and I've been, you know, there's a lot of people giving me all kinds of advice, saying I should extend the life that I don't want to compete with the brands that are selling to 25 year olds. I really don't, right? Because, again, the whole reason I'm here is because those brands were ignoring this consumer. That's the whole reason I'm here. And so, yes, there is, there are new products launching. So the light is for the face and the body. So we have some additional products that we're launching. But the other thing too is to keep it simple, right? The whole idea is to not overwhelm this consumer, and to show her that it is simple. They don't need 14 products. They need a cleanser. And, you know, people, again, the toner is not a traditional toner where it's, remember my date was that sea breeze, alcohol, burn your skin. This, this toner is very, very different. So we like the three step, cleanse, tone, moisturize, and that's simply all they need. So yeah, we again, will, will only expand the line for what we feel that she really needs. Yeah,

21:54

beautiful. Super excited to see where it goes. Kimberly, thank you so much for being on the show. I don't want to take up too much your time. I know you're super busy, but I'd love super busy, but I'd love to give you the opportunity. Yeah, please tell everyone where they can find out more about you, or, of course, more about good for you girls. So

22:09

goodforyougirls.com. And it's all spelled out. Good for F, O, R, Y, O, U, G, I, R, L, s.com,

22:16

easy enough. All right. Kimberly, thank you so much for being on the show. Everyone who tuned in, of course, thank you as well. Please make sure you do the usual rate review. Subscribe all that fun stuff on whichever podcast platform you prefer, or head over to ecomshow.com to check out all of our previous episodes. But as usual, thank you all for joining us. See you all next time.

22:35

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