Our Story

Meet the Founder

My acne journey began when I was just 11-years-old.

The next 6 years that followed involved attempting to treat my acne with everything from harsh benzoyl peroxide treatments, to home remedies (like baking soda, apple cider vinegar, tea tree, and coconut oil), to antibiotics, to the birth control pill.

As is the case for so many of us who struggle with acne,

none of these things worked for me.

And if they did, they were only a temporary fix before things started to go downhill again (especially antibiotics - a result of something known as antibiotic resistance, where bacteria become more aggressive + harder to kill over time, due to antibiotic use).

As I'm sure many of you can relate, I started asking myself questions like:

Why am I different?

What is really causing my acne?

Are there other answers out there that I'm not yet aware of?

Little did I know, this was just the beginning

These questions led me to something that I will always be immensely grateful for: the world of holistic health + wellness and the power of skincare.

For 4 years,

I put my head down and worked.

I dove into peer-reviewed research papers, listened to experts on podcasts and in videos, and scoured the Internet. If there was information on how to heal acne holistically, the why behind breakouts, and cutting-edge research findings, I wanted to get my hands on it and find out how to apply that knowledge to my daily life.

This same passion spurred me into enrolling in esthetician school and, eventually, becoming an esthetician.

(Pregnant) me & friends in esthetician school

After graduating esthetician school,

I realized two things.

Not only did I feel like my education lacked the in-depth research I was looking for (the curriculum mostly focused on how to perform spa services rather than the intricacies of skin concerns), but I also realized that working in a spa was actually something I didn't want to do!

Instead, I realized what I was most passionate about was skin information, skin education, and skin empowerment - for myself and for others.

So, one day, I sat down and had a crazy idea: I was going to find a way to be a freelance research writer. And, miraculously, my previous research efforts landed me some well-paying research writing jobs (even with virtually no experience).

Over the two years that followed,

I went from graduating esthetician school to performing dermatological research with a research team.

I had found my passion: understanding the intracacies of the skin on a molecular level + using this research to find practical solutions for the skin issues I was dealing with. I took the knowledge I had gathered, refined it based on the research techniques I was absorbing from my formal research, and started to understand my acne-prone skin + how to nourish it in a whole new way. (I also got a few peer-reviewed, published papers under my belt, too!)

From this foundation of research, I also started to see the gaps in the products geared towards acne-prone skin and why nothing had ever really worked for me the way I had hoped: there were missing pieces...

Some products had great, evidence-based ingredients but also contained ingredients that my own research suggested could be problematic for acne-prone skin (and a barrier to the product's effectiveness)...

Others had none of the problematic ingredients, but didn't address all of the imbalances in the skin that could lead to acne - leaving major opportunities for optimal skin healing on the table.

What I couldn't find for myself, I decided I would create!

So, I pulled together all of my research on natural, clean ingredients, got in contact with the highest quality suppliers I could find, and started formulating. I was so amazed by the results that my beta-testers and I got that I decided this formula was going to be my very first product.

It was then that our flagship product was born: the Clarity Bioactive Clearing Serum - and the rest is history!

Since then, Clarity has helped hundreds of women achieve clearer skin, garnered 5-star reviews, and become a staple in skincare routines around the world.

I couldn't be more honored that you love and appreciate the hard work, intuition, and thought behind Clarity and the rest of our SANA SKIN products. It truly is the product of a thousand divinely-inspired baby steps that have culminated in what I believe to be a sophisticated, results-driven philosophy of supporting the skin, all the while with ultra-clean ingredients.

As always, your support means the world. I can't wait to see where we go together!