YUNI: MINDFUL BEAUTY FOR AN ACTIVE LIFE
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This week on SLOWMO, Nicole sits down and chats with Emmanuel Rey the founder and CEO of YUNI Beauty. YUNI is a wellness brand with natural skincare and body products that save time, restore health, and relieve stress. They chat about working in the corporate beauty world, restoring health, and where beauty and wellness are headed.
““Active; authentic; mindful. It’s how we strive to live and why we created YUNI – nature powered care designed to meet the needs of people who share our passion to be more, do more, and live more.””
Clean beauty products to Save Time, Restore Health & Relieve Stress
🌿 Natural
🌱 Vegan
🐰 Cruelty-Free
🌎 Sustainable
How did YUNI get started?
At YUNI, we create healthy, natural skincare and body products that save time, restore health, and relieve stress—so active people who pursue life with passion can do more, live more, and find more joy in every moment.
That's why our active beauty products are designed to be convenient, portable, and formulated to maximize performance. YUNI's natural skin, body, hair, and aroma products are crafted with custom-blended plant-based fragrances and unique textures—sensorial cues which help you hold the positive power of your athleisure activities long after you've cooled down. Our green beauty philosophy inspires us to create natural products that help sustain the health of the environment as they enhance every moment of your life.
MEET THE FOUNDERS
Emmanuel Rey
French-born and one of nine siblings, Rey obtained a degree in engineering in agronomics (agricultural engineering). This technical academic expertise paired with social and political consciousness led Rey to Cameroon and The Ivory Coast, West Africa, where he worked as a cocoa and coffee-buyer in the bush. Rey began to develop his dedication to a win-win-win business model, starting by teaching traditional growers on their small plantations how to produce a premium quality products more effectively, increasing the monetary value of their crops as well as empowering them as independent business-people. Leveraging his intimate knowledge of cocoa production, Emmanuel moved to the Netherlands to become a cocoa trader. His personal connection to the people and places behind the commodities gave him a unique perspective. The experience deepened his awareness of exploitative practices in worldwide markets and revealed an emerging opportunity to create products for people who were seeking ethically sourced goods.
After earning his MBA, Emmanuel began his career in the international beauty business and spent 10 years at l'Oreal where he ended as tenure as General Manager for l'Oreal Paris in Portugal. Searching for a way to use his beauty experience as a path to expressing his belief that ecological and profit goals are mutually achievable, Emmanuel joined Aveda. Quickly rising to the position of Senior Vice President and General Manager for Aveda North America, Emmanuel was instrumental in developing Aveda into a natural, sustainable and profitable brand.
After leaving Aveda to focus on personal growth, Emmanuel intensified his long standing passion for yoga and became certified as an Ashtanga yoga teacher. His experience as a “yogi” gave him new insights regarding the needs of people who strive to make mindfulness a part of their active lifestyle and YUNI was born from those insights.
SUZANNE DAWSON
Born in India and transplanted to Australia at 11 years old, Suzanne Dawson learned the struggles and rewards of starting over at an early age. That formative experience gave Suzanne the fearless confidence needed to become a successful beauty business entrepreneur and innovator.
Suzanne was an early advocate of natural remedies, wellness and self-care. She developed her belief in the power of plant-based therapies into one of Australia’s first natural beauty brands, Enliven, which harnessed the transformative power of essential oils.
Her career path eventually led her to Aveda, which she launched in the Australian marketplace. Aveda’s natural, socially and environmentally responsible culture was a natural fit for Suzanne and she soon relocated to the U.S. and assumed a key leadership role in the organization, Vice President of Global Marketing and Innovation. Over the course of eleven years, she launched some of the most innovative natural products, advanced the mission of the company and helped grow Aveda into a very successful global business. Aveda also introduced her to Emmanuel Rey, her husband and YUNI’s co-founder.
Suzanne reconnected with Yoga that had been part of her early childhood, as a way to create more balance in her life. Her powerful example quickly converted her husband to the practice and culminated in their Ashtanga Yoga teacher certification in 2012. After moving to California, Suzanne has continued to work in key leadership positions as CMO of Murad, CEO of OleHenriksen, Chief Community Officer of YogaWorks, growing these iconic global brands and cultivating her deep passion for beauty and wellness.
Today, Suzanne continues to work in the beauty industry, while Emmanuel leads YUNI Beauty with his passionate team in Hermosa Beach, CA.
listen now to hear the whole chat!
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