Welcome to the Spotlight, Michael. You are one interesting
guy, with an amazing company, Sensatia Botanicals, and a
beautiful lifestyle. I've been looking forward to this
interview for awhile now. Before we get to your current
life, please tell us about your upbringing and how you got to
where you are now.
Hi
Sharon, thank you very much for having me, it is truly my
pleasure. Well, I think my upbringing was a rather normal,
healthy, middle class American upbringing. I grew up in a
small western New York town, (Lewiston, NY) 20 minutes
down-stream from Niagara Falls. Growing up, my father
instilled creativity & ingenuity, passion & determination,
while my mother instilled sensitivity & unconditional love &
respect for all things, with extra compassion for those less
fortunate than us. Both of my parents always emphasized
fairness in every situation, a readiness to fight for what's
right, and to always, without question, adore & respect
nature. In fact now that I think about it, there was no line
between my parents and nature. For them it was like one did
not exist without the other (I think it's the same way they
feel about each other, even after 35 years of marriage.)
I tried living out of nature's element when I went to
school at The Art Institute of Chicago. My stay ended rather
abruptly one dreary, cold & windy Chicago night when I
realized I needed to leave and get some real life experience. (But certainly not before I spent a good year thawing out on
an island in the Caribbean.)
After a year and a severe case of island fever I needed
to jump off that little rock and head back to the mainland. But knowing how I hate gray, cloudy winters and suffer from
light deprivation syndrome I knew it had to be sunny? So,
definitely the almanac would have the answer... I looked up
the city in America with the most days of sun. Tucson Arizona
proudly boasts 360 days of sun per year, and I was as good as
there.
While in Arizona I bought a VW camper bus which was to
be my movable home base. In order to escape the summer Arizona
heat I pointed the VW north and headed to Colorado to enjoy
some summer rock climbing in the Rocky Mountain National Park.
Absolutely incredible, fresh sage brush thrown in the van
window in the morning aromatically came to life with the mid
day sun. But with winter starting early in the mountains it
was time to head back to the desert to avoid any unnecessary
exposure to snow! Yuk!
Well, old Nelly (the van) only made it as far south as
Boulder Colorado, about 45 minutes down canyon from the park
(not as far south as I expected.) Anticipating a quick-fix of
the bus I hung out in Boulder for a little while. That little
while turned into 5 good years.
Boulder is where I met my mentor Nathaniel Lieberman. What a fireball! Thorney was I.M. Pei's principal
architectural photographer for years while he lived in New
York City. I learned more about photography (and life) in one
day working with Thorney than a whole semester in school. Working with Thorney and as photo editor for the Rock Climbing
magazine, Rock & Ice I was getting the life experience I
craved. But as all things seem to eventually get monotonous
Boulder also served it's purpose and it was time to point the VW (this time a little black sports model) to California.
I ended up across the Golden Gate Bridge from San
Francisco, in Sausalito living on a friend's boat. This boat
was hilarious, even Popeye would have thought it was funny. My
friend Jason (an eccentric Cornell graduate turned
eco-friendly skateboard producer) knew of this old Italian
fishing boat sitting on the bottom of the San Francisco bay
since the 1940's. So he does what any Cornell graduate would
do... He dives deep into the bay, finds the wreck amidst the
cold, murky, sharky waters of Northern California, ties a rope
to it & has his friend, a tug boat driver hull it up. He then
built a gawky cabin on it and called it home for quite some
time.
It was living with Jason (& various other vagrants)
where I grew addicted to surfing. Freezing cold 6am
dawn-patrol surf checks at Cronkite beach always sparked my
imagination for what surfing in the tropics would be like. But
not before a very interesting to say the least, warehouse stay
in downtown SF with a crew of surfers, artists & skate rats. Warhol may of even been shocked.
Cities seem to have a way of driving me to my wits end,
but the silver lining is that it always forces me to flight. This last flight will have brought me half way around the
world (via a one-way air ticket) to find my garden of Eden
hidden in Bali Indonesia. Jasri, Karangasem, Bali, Indonesia
to be exact. A delicious little no-frills, black sand beach,
fishing village with a group of folks that have turned into
the brothers I never had. This is where Sensatia was born.
Now please make us all envious with how and where you live
now.
Hhhmmm, where to
start. Well I probably should start by saying that the grass
is always greener on the other side of the fence, right? But
for me, I truly found the perfect latitude and longitude in Karangasem, Bali, Indonesia. It certainly has not come without
some initial sacrifices, but the sacrifices have proved to
make all the difference in life and as to how I sit in the
village amongst everyone now. By that I mean for the first few
years I lived in Bali, I lived in a Balinese family compound a
few hundred meters from the beach. It was an incredible
experience, an endless summer if you will. Up at 5:30 every
morning, a leisurely stroll down to the beach to check the
surf, usually with every step another chuckle as we joked
around without a care in the world. If there were waves a
refreshing morning surf to get the blood pumping, a ravenous
lunch that "mom" made from all kinds of fresh, southeast
Asian
produce and fresh Mackerel that "dad" brought in from fishing.
Baths were always a sedating social event, in the river while
everyone scrubbed their clothes (and each other.) Actually, it
felt like I was the only white boy standing in the middle of a
national geographic photograph. Quite amazing, a time & space
in Bali that will never again be repeated. Sure there are
glimpses of it from time to time, but in the 11 years I have
been here things have changed quite dramatically. Everything
got quite modern, quite quickly, as I guess it has everywhere.
After a few years I finally realized that this little
village on the other side of the planet is where my heart is. I bought a piece of land, about 1/4 acre and built a few,
small buildings on it to live in, then a few small buildings
to use as our current Sensatia workspace. In Bali, because the
temperature rarely drops below 80 degrees, even at night, most
compounds are made up of individual buildings, connected
together by walkways thru gardens etc. It is very comfortable,
its like the outdoors is your living room. If you walk from
the kitchen to the living room it is from one building to the
other, always under the stars, always thru the garden. I have
planted many fragrant flowering trees, like Chempaka,
Frangipani etc., to make that small journey even that more
enjoyable. There always seems to be one aromatic or another
tickling my nose pretty much wherever I am in our space. But
again, its all about choice, I also had to sell the coconuts
from my land before just to survive, so it wasn't always Chempaka & Frangipani, hahahaha.
You run an amazing all-natural beauty business. What prompted
creating the business, and what sets your products apart from
the rest?
I am actually
trained as a photographer, and could usually find a job
whenever & wherever I needed one. For the first few years I
was in Bali I did photography to keep afloat. But it felt
strange to me that I couldn't bring my friends along with me
to work. Photography, with the exception of an assistant or 2
is pretty much a one man show. There was no work in this
jungle location, I had to travel a few hours by motorbike to
get to my jobs. So I would go away, make money and come back
to where I lived and spend it. This idea started to eat at me.
Not just because 2 hour motorbike trips in the 3rd world can
be a bit hectic, but mainly because it felt like I was the
only one that could make money. It didn't feel nice. I wanted
to come up with a way that I could help empower my friends,
these amazing people that somehow didn't enter into any
equation of making a living. So back in 1999 we started with a
few samples of these hilarious soaps on a rope. I personally
peddled them around town to the tourist shops etc., it started
out pretty quick & easy. Then actually at one point Cost Plus
World Market picked up this "islandy" product and
that's kinda
where it began. They were called Pak Bina's Coconut Soaps, and
they had these hilarious drawings of this old man, Pak Bina,
in different settings in Bali. Actually Pak Bina (Pak is "Mr."
in Indonesia) was a man from this village who oddly enough
never used soap in his entire life. We used to try to give him
soap and he just raised his nose , smacked his lips and ran
away like what the heck would he do with that. Traditionally,
some older pacific island cultures, like the Balinese, would
simply use large lava rocks to scrub their skin clean. It is
very relaxing sitting in rivers that are fed by fresh springs
that literally bubble up delicious potable water right from
the ground. Me, of course, being the joker that I am I thought
lets name a soap company after a man that never used soap in
his life, hahahaha. (see, I still find humour in that idea)
We started with myself and 2 of my Bali friends. After
just 4 months we added another 6 people, after a few years we
expanded to our current 25 person crew.
The idea was and is to ONLY ever use 100% pure & natural
ingredients and to ONLY ever be a profit-sharing company.
I think generally what sets up apart, besides the fact
that we are a profit-sharing company in a part of the world
that is truly in dire need of outside assistance, is our
product. I can say with 100% honesty and certainty that I
never create a product with a price point in mind. I only
create what I think is gorgeous, beneficial to your health,
fills a need and what I think people will like. Then I figure
out what it will cost to produce, not the other way around.
But unfortunately most of the big guys have to do it the other
way around. All their/ your money goes into huge corporate
salaries, pricey, stylish office buildings and advertising
budgets that is often more than the GNP of a small country. In
the end very little of why you bought the product is even
found in the product, instead just a bunch of inert synthetic
fillers. Sensatia on the other hand is the real deal,
that's
what sets us apart. We use Sensatia everyday because we love
to use Sensatia everyday. Here is a great excerpt from an
email I received just this morning:
"...We have one woman who has the most beautiful skin
that has been using your products. She said her estetician
(sp?) asked her what she was doing. She told her what she was
using and she said to keep it up because it obviously was
working very well. She said her skin looked fantastic!! :) "
Oops, as I was typing I just received another one from
a woman in Australia: "...Id also like to say that I
absolutely love your products they are so amazing to use and I
have not been able to help but rave to friends and family!! I
also enjoy your approach to business, and life itself!"
You have a very unique relationship with those that you work
with. Please tell us about that.
Yes, that is true. A major part of that fact is because before I started this
company I had become friends with everyone, so the obvious
people to employ were my friends. When you work with your
friends, its like everyone, (including me) is tricked into
working, because it never feels like work. Because I had
already developed trust, understanding and enormous amount of
respect for these people, it, of course felt like part of my
mission here to make sure they were taken care of. But wow,
talk about through thick & thin. It has been an amazing
learning experience. A true test of patience & passion. An
important part of what makes our relationship successful is
that I have lived (even for a brief amount of time) just as
they do. So when in the past, all of a sudden our workshop
has running water with faucets that need to be turned off, and
they are not turned off, of course I don't get angry because I
know they have never had to turn off the river, but not having
experienced life the way they live it could easily lead to an
unnecessary misunderstanding ;-)
Furthermore, I personally don’t dictate but rather
encourage everyone to think things out for themselves. They
are all Hindu, they have a profound knowledge of right &
wrong, and a strong belief in karma. For them its clear, they
know when confronted with a situation exactly what to do. I
found some great words somewhere that I have on my office
window to remind me of how to deal with everyone fairly: “Tell
me and I forget, Show me and I remember, Involve me and I
understand”. In this way we deal with issues as equals rather
than employer- employee. I think by treating everyone equally
they are left to take action and be responsible, rather than
just being told what to do. It has worked quite nicely for
everyone over the years, and truly feels like one big family. Simply put, I live by the rule; treat others as you, yourself
would like to be treated. A simple, basic idea that works in
every country in every language of the world.
Another great saying I have in my workspace is from a
friend, King Oba from Ghana, he lives in America now and sells
incredible African Shea Butter direct from his brother in
Ghana. Anyway he wrote to me in an email before "...What we do
for you, we do for ourselves, we are one in the same."
Whenever I read that I gotta say I get a bit choked up. Where
in business has the human element gotten so lost as it has in
today's business world. We avoid those "bottom line" people
like the plague and try to work with people of whom we have
developed a mutual respect & worth (like King Oba). It is
important, otherwise what is the purpose..... just money? ;-(
What advice do you have for those starting off in the business
of creating and selling all-natural products? Are there any
mistakes that you've made along the way that you'd encourage
others to avoid?
I think the best
advice for folks just starting off, is don't rush it, don't get
flustered, go slow and make what you love. Believe that what
you are doing is right, that everything happens for a reason
and exactly when it should. I think my greatest mistakes have
been when I have rushed something that just wasn't ready to
happen. I hate to say that dad was right, but haste does make
waste, and yes dad, you are right ;-)
One other bit of advice, and this should be shouted
from the rooftops, TRUST YOUR FIRST INSTINCT. Fortunately and
unfortunately it is usually 99% of the time correct. I think
its human tendency to try and disprove our first instinct, in
fact I think we spend a great amount of our lives trying to
disprove our first instinct to eventually only come back
around to the same place we started at, ummm, yep, our first
instinct. Where as if you just go with your first instinct to
start with you find you have tons of time leftover to relax or
surf or work on new products or whatever you like to do in
your spare time :-)
Your packaging is gorgeous. Since our All Natural Info article
this month is about packaging, please tell us how you came up
with yours, and what creative processes you use in your
decision-making when it comes to packaging and marketing your
products.
Well thank you very much Sharon. I like things simple, easy on
the eyes and not at all complicated. In fact our whole company
from start to finish is quite simple. I think simplicity is
not only the most gorgeous but also the hardest thing to
achieve. Have you ever watched a professional surfer, tennis
player, or dancer and thought that looks so easy, then tried
it yourself? Then you know what I mean, hahaha ;-)
Our packaging is always a work in progress but has
developed partly for fashion but mostly for function.
Throughout this business you are confronted with problems that
need solving. So in many instances our packaging is actually
the answer to a problem once solved, if that makes any sense. For example the amber glass to better protect the botanical
materials from UV light which cause quicker deterioration.
The
product boxes which keep people from opening bottles when in
the store, also help to protect the bottle and the product
inside. Our soaps use a Poly-Olefin shrink wrap which is
bio-degradable, does not release any toxins when being
produced or being used by our crew, and is completely food
safe. But its main purpose is to hinder the evaporation of the
pure essential oils to ensure a fresher, tastier product for
the end user. Its then boxed to hinder bumps and bruises and
charge backs from retailers. But that doesn't stop everyone
from wanting to see what is in the box. So from the
photographers mind, I thought we should just put a photograph
on the box and that will satisfy most people. I mean Mac
Computers has done a pretty good job with that idea so I guess
it wouldn't be such bad footsteps to follow in. ;-)
All in all I think our packaging came from bits &
pieces of things I like, a message I want to convey, and
functionality. That combined with never stopping until its
perfect. It gets ridiculous sometimes. I could easily slave
over 1 millimetre of where to start the logo for example. But
the great thing about living in Bali is that, one is not so
tied up with the daily hustle and bustle to survive as you are
in the states. This allows you more time to explore your mind
and actually affords you the time to consider that 1 millimetre instead of force a decision.
What are your favorite products in your line, and which are
the most popular?
Well I do
absolutely LOVE
blossom facial dream cream
&
wild honey day barrier cream
but you know every single time there happens to be a bar of
seaweed sage & bali lime soap
in the bathroom, I always think to myself (with a nasty little
self-indulgent smile) "Damn, that is an awesomely perfect bar
of soap!!!!" While in America recently I also found a
Traditional Balinese herbal lulur scrub in my mother's
bathroom, so thought I would indulge. And I have to say it was
incredible using that product out of its natural Balinese
context that I am used to seeing it in. Incredibly healing and
naturally aromatic, we do not add any additional essential
oils to this product, it is just ground up herbs & spices
intended to be used as a scrub/ pack for the entire body and
hair. Quite nice, I was impressed, because sometimes I create,
test, and move onto the next thing so I lose track, but it was
a pleasant surprise. I'll have to go home and raid mom's
bathroom more often. Hahaha.
It is difficult to say what is my favorite and what is
most popular, everyone has their favorite for different
reasons, but what I did to help with this is, I included a bit
"extra" about each of our products on our website (www.sensatia.com)
that I thought the user might enjoy. On every product page
there is a "more info..." link on the bottom of the product
body text, if you click it you will get ingredients, extended
info etc., etc., and my favorite section, "Interesting rants &
raves" where I get to... well, rant & rave about some little
interesting thing about that product. In many cases you will
find a small essay about why or how I created the product. Some are a bit off the wall, others with a gentle political
message, and still others may qualify as simple
caffeine-induced jabber ;-) But ALL definitely worth the read.
Another MUST READ is from an old Sensatia newsletter I
wrote for the "what's hot" section called "The
simple truth to supple, great-looking, baby skin."
It is packed with some real good info, and at the bottom of
that article it gives a step by step procedure for a great
home spa facial treatment with a line-up of products that
really compliment one another. I would say if you were going
to try any Sensatia products, I would definitely get your
hands on those products and perform this awesome ritual on a
lackadaisical Sunday afternoon. I will bet your work
colleagues will ask you what the heck you did this weekend to
look so darn good ;-)
Where do you envision your company heading in the future?
Up, up, and further
up, hahaha. Well, I would say that one of the most major
things we are preparing now for is the US market. Over the
years we have kept more than busy with our Japan market, even
supplying 300,000 little, handmade, hand-wrapped, 25gr soaps
to Hotel Nikko of Tokyo, Japan each year. But it is time to
bring Sensatia to the masses, I think our products would be
loved in every town & city in America. Our sites are set on
Whole Foods Markets, but I just don't want a few, I want all
of them. ;-) So we have been preparing our production facility
and updating our packaging with all the necessary information
and barcodes with the eventual destination Whole Foods. But as
I said above I am also in no hurry, I don't want to rush
anything and let it happen at exactly the right time it is
destined to happen. I am in no rush, I still have plenty of
warm water waves to surf to keep busy, hahahaha.
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