Kari Gran was only 29 years when she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, forcing her to rethink what she put into and onto her body, and discovering that “real beauty” is the “holistic approach” of treating your entire being with “loving care and respect”. She set about developing her own homemade beauty formulas from naturally derived materials and shared them with her friends who all fell in love with them.
One friend in particular, Lisa Strain, encouraged Kari “to move beyond her kitchen” to “create a beauty brand that all women could love”. Fast forward a little more than a couple of decades, and Kari is at the helm of her eponymous, internationally acclaimed beauty brand, co-founded with Lisa, and famed for its pioneering “BS-free” approach to the industry. Still handmade locally in Seattle from organic, wild harvested and non-GMO ingredients, they are about to launch their oil range here in Aotearoa, so Verve sits down with the beautiful beauty entrepreneurs to find out more. We begin by asking what, about their products, will appeal to Kiwi customers.
“We are about simplicity and truth-telling,” says Kari. “We offer an uncomplicated line of organic products. We don’t make promises we cannot keep, or suggest that we work miracles. But we do believe that your skin will feel instantly better, more supple and softer after using our products.”
“Obviously New Zealand loves women leaders, and we do too,” adds Lisa. “Kari Gran is woman-founded and -operated, still made by a group of hard-working women here in Seattle.”
“Being involved in a woman owned and operated company is something we’re really proud of,” says Kari. “Part of our mission not telling other women that there’s something wrong with them, and that we can ‘fix it’.”
Other sizeable parts of the company’s mission include sustainability and philanthropy by supporting women’s charities, using recyclable packaging, and being plastic neutral.
“It’s just baked into our beings,” Kari says. “We got to know each other well in our past careers doing philanthropic work together. It’s something that’s important to both of us personally, and professionally.”
“It’s also a reflection of my upbringing,” says Lisa. “Giving back was very much a part of life growing up. My parents had us doing all sorts of community projects as young kids, and it stuck with me as an adult. There is no better feeling than helping others. It’s a two-way street.”
The duo met during their previous careers in real estate, and though, says Kari, they may approach things in a different manner, they “share the same moral compass and core values”.
“We work so well together as team, because we give each other space,” says Lisa. “Kari is the formulator and heart behind the products, and I keep the business and marketing side humming. But we are united in revering our customers and surprising them with jaw-dropping service.”
You made a major career change relatively late in life, what advice would you give others considering doing the same?
“Sometimes you just have to take a chance on the unknown,” Kari says. “I’m a huge planner and didn’t have a well formulated plan for this second act. Lisa was the instigator and had the big idea to turn this into a business. We found that my overplanning and her entrepreneurial drive worked well together. I feel like it was meant to be, or I wouldn’t have the good fortune of answering your questions.”
“I’d say, ‘Just go for it’,” advises Lisa. “Us oldsters are a lot smarter than we used to be!”
Do you hang-out much outside of the office?
“We did pre-Covid,” says Kari, “and I’d say live music was one of our favourite things to do together. It’s one of the things I miss most, a good concert. As a company, we’ve seen the Rolling Stones, Beyonce, and Hall and Oates.”
“I took Kari to her first Rolling Stones concert, and now she understands what all the ruckus is about!” beams Lisa, whose record collection is clearly as impressive as her beauty product one (she also reveals her proudest moment to be playing the lights for 90,000 Stones fans in Buenos Aires during ‘Sympathy for the Devil’). “I love live music and dancing, so that’s what I do whenever I can. Kari and I were friends before we created the business, and that continues, we still even vacation together from time to time.”
Looking back, is there something you wish you’d known when starting the range?
“How much time do you have!” asks Kari. “I was confident with our line and formulations. I worked with a wonderful organic formulator and studied at a local college for natural health. But I wasn’t a beauty industry insider or knew much about the digital world. So much of my time was spent figuring things out how things worked in the industry and learning everything I could about running a digital business.”
But the beauty boss is philosophical about it all, acknowledging the importance of failure in any learning process.
“Everything is so clear in hindsight,” she continues, “how it could have been done for a more successful outcome. Our first website—talk about a disaster! Thinking I was qualified to do wireframes, oh, come on! I think we may have done just about everything not quite right on that one.”
There’s a focus on successful women aged over-50 in this month’s issue of Verve, when you were younger, who inspired you?
“I’m a self-described beauty junkie,” says Kari. “I love it all. I spent years at all the beauty counters trying to get my friends—mostly Lisa—to try everything along with me. Because of this, I’ve always been drawn to Bobbi Brown. She was the woman who brought natural tones back in style, as compared to the bright colours of the ‘80s.”
“My grandmother, Marjorie, was always an inspiration,” says Lisa. “In her early 20s, she lost her husband and was left with two babies to raise during the Depression. She worked two restaurant jobs and had a third job as an elevator operator to make ends meet. Later, she opened her own bar in a logging town and carved out quite a name for herself serving up the most delicious home-cooked meals and libations in the county! She just never gave up.”
As for the future, Lisa says she’s most excited to being able to travel “with reckless abandon” with her hubby again—the couple once “had the pleasure” of hosting a young Kiwi hiker at their house in Italy: “The international language of food and wine beckoned him and we stayed in touch!” She’s itching to visit Aotearoa, sentiments echoed by her friend and business partner, Kari. “I’m definitely looking forward to getting back out on the road and talking to people,” she adds. “And I think New Zealand would be a nice stamp in the passport.”
