Laura Rudoe, Evolve Beauty - A skincare revolutionary
Harvard graduate Laura Rudoe, 32, cut her teeth in the beauty business helpinq Fresh &. Wild founder Bryan Meehan (backed by Bono's wife All Hewson) to develop and launch the orqanic sklncare range Nude in 2007. But her desire to develop her own ethical business inspired Laura and her husband to self-fund the launch of Evolve, an affordable organic. chemical-free skin and bodycare ranqe, in 2009.
Evolve is my modern take on 'green'. At Harvard, following a deqree at t he London School of Economics, I realised I wanted to work in a business that gave something back. Working with Bryan Meehan on Nude was a huge learning curve - when I returned to the UK in 2004, I worked with Bryan on Whole Foods (to whom he had just sold Fresh & Wild) by day, and researched for Nude at night. From finding labs to researching ingredients and packaging, I soaked up the knowledge like a sponge.
After Nude launched, I felt ready to do my own thing. In 2008 I set up Good Ventures, an ethical development company, and became preqnant at the same time. It was difficult to find affordable yet desirable organic skin- and bodycare, so I beqan to work on the idea of Evolve as my first ethical venture.
I've incorporated powerful antioxidant ingredients in the formulations such as goji berries and argan oil - with recycled packaglnq, all for £10 to £15 a product. I like to be collaborative, so I've drawn on the use of social networking such as Twitter and writing my own bloq, to send out samples to willing consumers In return for feedback on the products that I'm developlnq.
We've put our own savings into Evolve so I didn't want to create somethlng that just had the surface veneer of goodness; it had to run deep on every level, from having good relationships with our small UK suppliers and manufacturers to keeping the carbon footprint as low as possible.
Being small means you can be nimble it's the best way to stay ahead of the big boys.
Article first appeared You Magazine, 11th April 2010.