Elysse is an “Entrepreneur, mentor, and unabashed wanderluster livin’ it up in San Diego, CA”. She is the founder of Wabi-Sabi Botanicals, a luxury, ethical beauty line and ‘Be Led by Love’, a beautiful website about self-love and empowerment. Elysse is passionate about the betterment of women… all women!
We really are demanding better products better standards, better business practices…consumerism is totally changing…. I think that in the next 10-20 years, if businesses are not taking huge measures to be sustainable and incorporating social impact into their business model, I just don’t think they’re going to be around.
Read our article about Elysse’s path to meaning and self-love here.
We caught up with Elysse in California and she graciously shared her approach to business, self-love and women empowerment all over the world. Specifically, we discussed:
- Elysse’s background, growing up in California and her early studies (unrelated to beauty) and her transition to serving others (~01:25)
- How Elysse moved into green beauty and started Wabi-Sabi Botanicals (~03:35)
- Making the transition from full time work to running Wabi-Sabi Botanicals over the course of 2 years (~08:00)
- Wabi-Sabi overview and business mission, including sources and micro loans for women (~10:20)
- Why the focus on women? (~11:50)
- Impact on local underdeveloped communities from women bringing in an income (~12:50)
- Wabi-Sabi’s approach to Kiva Micro Loans for Women (~13:45)
- Stories of impact from the Wabi-Sabi approach in local communities, including Ximenia oil (~16:00)
- Other ingredients in the Wab-Sabi products (~18:45)
- Other important approaches to the beauty industry including cruelty-free and vegan and why natural is important (~22:00)
- Why Wabi-Sabi is named Wabi-Sabi and the underlying ethos behind the brand! (~25:20)
- What most concerns Elysse most about the world today from a people and environment perspective (~28:35)
- Exciting movements of change from Elysse’s perspective, including the power of consumers to drive change through “buycott” (~30:10)
- Role of small and big business in providing small and big business in making change (~35:00)
- Elysse’s “women empowered” series on her blog (~40:40)
- What’s next in 2018 for Elysse and Wabi-Sabi Botanicals (~42:40)
- Advice for making the jump intro entrepreneurship (~44:15)
- Elysse’s approach to self-love and her message to others (~45:30)
- Importance of serving others and how it helps with self-love (~48:30)
- How to find Elysse and Wabi-Sabi online (~51:10)
