Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Natalie King.
Hi Dr. King, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I thought it would be helpful to add my website here; it has some information that might be useful regarding my background and current work. https://www.nataliekingphd.com
I’m a Neuroscientist and Health & Beauty Founder, and my journey in St. Louis (by way of Chicago just prior to that) started in April 2019. I still work my corporate role in Medical Affairs but started my company, Florae Beauty, at the height of the pandemic. I was battling diagnosed anxiety and needed to channel my energy into something positive while also experiencing mild hair loss due to the stress of the pandemic. I started researching ingredients, searching the scientific literature, and began realizing I could create something that was not only safe but effective for women like myself. I started to experiment in my kitchen, applied for the Arch Grant (won in 2020), and began building out the initial business plan for Florae, eventually launched in 2022. We have completely custom-made formulas, manufactured and packaged right here in St. Louis, and have been nominated for beauty awards, amongst other great accolades! We’ll be launching our new collection in June 2024, and we want to continue to provide excellent products while expanding the conversation around the profound connection between hair/scalp health and mental well-being—a field known as neuro-trichology (Psychotrichology). Studies indicate that women with skin conditions (scalp is skin) are 2-6 times more likely to face mental health challenges. My mission is to elevate this conversation, help break down the stigma, and foster a supportive community where women feel empowered to embrace their natural beauty and advocate for their overall health.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Absolutely not, for one, I am someone who not only works full-time in my business, I also work a full-time/high-visibility role in healthcare. One that includes a lot of travel. So, managing both has not made the ability to launch, grow, and scale quickly very easy. I’m also new to business overall, so the learning curve to make sure I understand the basics of business and seek help when needed has been steep. As an entrepreneur, especially for someone like me who’s used to being a high-performing individual contributor, it’s not easy to ask for help and accept help, but you absolutely have to build a great team and find the help in order to move beyond being a small business.
Outside of the personal challenge of expanding my business skill set, some other big challenges included trying to find a chemist and manufacturing facility during the height of COVID-19. Everyone had shifted to creating hand sanitizer and I wanted to stay local in order to best manage our creative process, so that took almost a year to figure out. Despite our rich history here in STL regarding haircare (Annie Turnbo Malone, etc.), it still is not the best suited for product-based business manufacturing, particularly in the beauty sector. Since then, I’ve introduced so many other Founders who have come behind me or I’ve come to know to my community of manufacturers, suppliers, and artists to help them with their businesses because I know how hard it was for me to organize those resources initially.
Third, and in many ways most important, the challenge of business funding was and still is the biggest hurdle. CPG and Beauty Product businesses can be somewhat capital intensive, especially in the early years so raising money for the business or finding creative ways to launch, grow, and scale has the next biggest learning curve. I’ve definitely been luckier than many other brands, having raised over 500K to date, between grants, amazing local & national angel investors, and a celebrity-backed fund; however, it’s still an area that is fraught with bias racial inequity. Black founders in the U.S. raised 0.48% of all venture dollars allocated last year; the numbers for women founders were even more dismal, so it’s just something I am always up against. All businesses need capital and resources to grow and be able to compete, so I’d say that’s been one of our biggest struggles to date.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Florae Beauty?
Florae Beauty is a visionary company at the crossroads of health and beauty, dedicated to revolutionizing haircare for women. With over 30 million women in the U.S. struggling with hair and scalp conditions, we offer innovative, science-backed products and high-quality, evidence-based education. Our goal? To empower women with solutions that intertwine their health and beauty routines, fostering agency and advocacy in their personal care.
Our current target market focuses on women with textured hair (spanning race/ethnicity) who seek personalized haircare solutions. Recognizing the diversity within this group, our products are designed to address their specific needs for hydration, strength, and growth. We combine innovative technology with natural ingredients to create formulas that cater to the unique characteristics of textured hair. Our future service model will extend beyond products, offering a digital platform for education and support, thus meeting our customers’ desires for comprehensive haircare that acknowledges and celebrates their individual beauty journey.
Our aim is to transform how our customers view and approach their health and beauty routines. We empower them with knowledge and innovative products that cater specifically to their needs, ensuring they feel confident and supported in their self-care journey. In the future, our digital platform will help to create a community where access to reliable, culturally competent health and beauty advice is the norm, not the exception. Our impact will be measured by the positive changes in our customers’ lives, both physical and mental, fostering a holistic approach to beauty and wellness. This is what sets us apart. In addition, as a Neuroscientist founder with over 10 years of experience in healthcare, I’m uniquely positioned to create this new integrated beauty model for haircare.
I’m most proud of the fact that within our first year, our initial product line was recognized for innovation in the haircare category by executives from L’Oréal and Unilever via Beauty Independent (2023 Beauty Impact Award nominee), sold over 900 personalized hair wellness collections, received over 30,000 responses from our proprietary hair quiz that has served to give us insights on what women today want/need within the category, and we’ve had opportunities to build local partnerships with the YWCA, Ulta Beauty, Girls Inc and VIP gifting opportunities at the Super Bowl, Allstar Weekend, amongst other high-visibility events. This year doesn’t show signs of slowing down as we are preparing for our next product launch based on feedback from our growing community (coming June); been invited to one of the largest beauty festivals this summer (we can’t say which one just yet) and planning to test pilot our digital health platform later in the fall!
I want readers to know we are STL through and through. We support the community, so feel free to check us out! We can be found at our brand website (We ship everywhere in the US) and can also be found on the shelves at the Procure Shop over at the City Foundry. I also want them to know that at Florae Beauty, we’re committed to helping destigmatize hair loss due to medical conditions such as cancer, alopecia areata, lupus, and burns, to name a few. A percentage of Florae’s profits are donated to organizations that support women who are experiencing these various hair and scalp conditions as well as organizations that support Mental Health.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
Too many to count, honestly.
I’m a part of numerous founder communities, including but not limited to BraintTrust Founder Studio and NewVoices Family. Each of these are filled with Founders who are at various phases of building their businesses and readily share insights on how they’ve launched, grown, and scaled. Lots of resources on business grants/funding that’s available and opportunities for partnership.
My private group of mentors includes many of those who have invested in the business and/or who are local business heroes themselves, including but not limited to Dave Peacock, former President and COO of Schnucks, and Maxine Clark of Build a Bear Workshop.
Next on the list are the various accelerators and investor groups I’ve been a part of, including but not limited to Arch Grants, ITEN, SLUStart-iCorp, Pipeline Angels, and Blueprint FTC. Each of these organizations has provided resources and funding that have helped me ideate, launch, and grow to date.
Finally, my family (mom and sister), friend groups, etc., who all provide amazing sound advice or direct help packing orders, giving necessary feedback on our custom formulations, etc., have all been instrumental as an internal sounding board and source of help for me. Truly Invaluable.
Pricing:
- Hydration Collection (includes 3 products) $79
- Strength Collection (includes 3 products) $79
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Growth Collection (includes 3 products) $79
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Launching Soon : Customizable Shampoo & Conditioner!!! Join our community for updates and discounts!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://floraebeauty.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/floraebeauty_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FloraeBeauty
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drnatalieking/
- Other: https://www.nataliekingphd.com
Image Credits
Florae Images
Doina Crucerescu Photographer
Mena Darre
Cosmetic Science Hub
