Female Disruptors: Susan Goldsberry of Ina Labs On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Live life with a purpose — Growing up in the Philippines, I have a strong sense of community that was culturally instilled in me. So I have always felt the need to do things for or to help others. In my mind, creating products, building teams, and now building a brand that will be built by a community of women are all ways of doing things for others, and that gives me purpose. It’s been the purpose that gets me out of bed every day.
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Susan Goldsberry of Ina.
Susan Goldsberry — a renowned cosmetic chemist, entrepreneur, and beauty industry veteran — has always been at the forefront of product development innovation in the personal care, beauty and cosmetics industries. Susan has formulated thousands of clean beauty products for babies and adults over the years, but it wasn’t until she began caring for her elderly mother that she realized there was a gap in the market for evolutionary, better-for-you personal care products. As a clean beauty chemist, Susan was shocked to discover the ingredients in personal care wellness products for the 60+ demographic were filled with questionable ingredients and unnecessary chemicals.
Upon speaking with her niece, Dr. Beri Ridgeway — an accomplished OB/GYN — about her findings, Dr. Ridgeway echoed these concerns that she saw in her practice daily. The pair then began dreaming of a collaboration between them that ultimately resulted in Ina Labs. It was a 15 year journey to develop the ideal, clean formulations that the brand offers today for purposeful feminine care.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I was born and raised in the Philippines on a small, primitive tropical island called Polillo. I have always been inspired by the connection between nature and science having grown up surrounded by pristine natural beauty. When I was 19, I immigrated with my family to the US and was accepted to UC Berkeley and earned a degree in Environmental Science. I always thought I would pursue a career working to better the environment, yet life had a different plan for me. I took the first job I was offered after college as a chemist in an R&D lab of a cosmetic company, and from there, I never looked back — I had found my passion.
For six years, I worked in several R&D labs in the beauty industry developing formulas that were botanically based before accepting a VP position with the preeminent R&D lab on the West Coast where I stayed for over 20 years before starting my own company, Benchmark Cosmetic Labs.
Over the next 14 years, building my own business and fostering numerous ‘unicorn’ brands along the way was the most rewarding, exciting and challenging time of my career. I sold Benchmark Cosmetic Labs in 2019 and I’m now starting another chapter pursuing my passion project — Ina Labs, a revolutionary intimate care brand for women.
For 40+ years I have had the privilege of working with some of the most iconic brands and people in the beauty industry, developing products that are still legendary today. From Fortune 500 companies such as P&G, Estée Lauder, J&J; doctor brands such as Murad and Obagi; and founder-led brands such as Drunk Elephant and Haus Labs by Lady Gaga, the list is long, however I cannot disclose many of them due to confidentiality.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
Looking back, much of my work has been unintentionally disruptive. The lab has always been my playground. In a sense, I was never afraid to try something new and fail. My team and I would experiment with new raw materials, processes, formulas and technologies to create first to market products. So I guess I’ve always pushed the boundaries of what is possible to deliver breakthrough innovation and in doing so, we were disrupting the norm and shifting the industry towards new trends.
With my new adventure, Ina Labs, I believe we are here to disrupt the intimate care category. Years ago, while caring for my mother, I realized that most feminine care products were developed without consideration for clean ingredients, efficacy, comfort or user experience. I knew there was a better way. Together with my Co-Founder, Dr. Beri Ridgeway, we created Ina Labs to revolutionize intimate care for women.
Our mission includes: changing the narrative in women’s intimate health, using proper anatomical words like “vulva” and “vagina” in our communication, creating a community and educating consumers (both men and women) on the importance of intimate care as the foundation for overall health and wellness.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
It wasn’t funny at the time, but now that I look back at it, it makes me laugh. I’m not sure how I managed. I was hired to lead an R&D lab focused on natural products, with only one year of experience on the bench.
I really didn’t know what I was doing. I made a lot of mistakes, mixing things that never should have been mixed together. I learned on the job by making those mistakes. I believe this trial by fire made me a much stronger chemist and an early expert in clean formulations (before clean was a claim). In a span of 3 years, I created 300+ formulas. It was a really fun part of my career.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
So many people have helped me throughout my career, yet three stand out as being pivotal. Duane Tabata hired me out of college without any work experience. This first job set me down the path that I’m still on today.
Next is Ralph Akyuz, owner of Raffaelo Research Laboratories where I worked for over 20 years. He was an amazing chemist. He taught me the ethics of hard work, yet instilled the practice of refining a formula to perfection. Our work was also very collaborative, which was a very different way of doing things. We worked with hairdressers and aestheticians to create products that worked the way they needed to work. Under his mentorship I was able to create some of the most iconic hair care and skincare products that to this day are still bread and butter products for brands.
Probably the most influential mentor was Sally Yeh. She was one of the first Asian-American women that I worked with who held a high position in a company. She was the president of Murad, and before that, of Bijan Fragrances. She was an inspiration and still a role model to this day. She believed in me before I believed in myself. She taught me that there was more to life than work… that family was the most important and that there needed to be a balance between both.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time?’ Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive?’ Can you share some examples of what you mean?
In beauty, disruption tends to be good, yet there can be downsides too. For example, clean beauty has definitely been a disruption. Consumers have become savvy to reading labels and avoiding ingredients that are either not good for them personally or they’ve learned are not good for their body. Brands are scrambling to reformulate or create clean formulas because it is what consumers are looking for. Yet, not everything is bad that has become touted as bad in the eyes of consumers. Misinformation has definitely become a hurdle for brands to keep up with and to pivot around.
Our brand, Ina, is an example of disruption that is positive. Our goal is to disrupt with proven, elevated formulas and packaging that is beautiful enough to display on your bathroom counter. We want to destigmatize the use of intimate care, to start the conversation, and to normalize the use of words such as “vulva.” Women shouldn’t be ashamed or embarrassed to talk about what they need or to explore new forms of self care that make them feel good and confident. At Ina, we believe that our bodies deserve better.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
1. Live life with a purpose
Growing up in the Philippines, I have a strong sense of community that was culturally instilled in me. So I have always felt the need to do things for or to help others. In my mind, creating products, building teams, and now building a brand that will be built by a community of women are all ways of doing things for others, and that gives me purpose. It’s been the purpose that gets me out of bed every day.
2. Be a connector
I’ve had the privilege of working with and meeting some of the most amazing people throughout my career. I’ve made a point of staying connected with as many as I can and connecting them to each other. It’s amazing to step back and to think about all of the colleagues who are now friends and some who are now like family.
3. Do what you love
This may sound like a cliché, but it has been very true for me. I’ve been very fortunate to have found my passion early in my career so it has never felt like work.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
We launched Ina on October 20th, so my next adventure is just getting started. Usually at my age, people are enjoying their retirement, but after selling Benchmark Labs, I just didn’t see myself ready to stop. I want to create a brand and build a community that will make a difference through what I know best — elevated, evidence-based products that improve women’s lives. I want to meet the women who use our products and hear their stories, keeping my mother’s memory close to my heart.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
When I started in the beauty industry 40+ years ago, the most prestigious leadership and respected positions were held by men. I remember going to Society of Cosmetic Chemists meetings where there were only a handful of women in attendance. I read somewhere that female founders secured only 2% of venture capital in the US in 2021. This number is even lower for BIPOC founders. While we have made progress, there are still definite challenges faced by women in science, business and entrepreneurship.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
I love reading biographies and I binge listen to beauty podcasts, such as “How I Built This,” “Unfinished Biz,” and “Beauty Is Your Business.” I am always inspired by other founder stories. I can often relate to the triumphs and struggles of building a business.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I would love to have an impact on destigmatizing the conversation around intimate care for women. In the early stages of starting Ina, I talked to many men in the beauty industry to get their advice and all of them were very uncomfortable with the conversation. So uncomfortable, that I actually stopped asking their advice. Why do we have to use words like “hoo-ha” or “va-jay-jay” or “down there,” when talking about intimate care? I would love to be part of the solution that makes talking about women’s bodies and women’s intimate needs as open and honest as most conversations about sports!
Can you also please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote?” Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Coming from humble beginnings, I’m extremely grateful for all the opportunities I’ve been given and for being able to live a purposeful life. That’s probably why this quote has stuck with me for years and has helped me in more ways than one. These “Life Lessons” were shared by my mentor, Sally Yeh:
Personally
Love your family
Treasure friendship
Spread kindness
Count your blessings
Enjoy life
Professionally
Unfold your talent
Inspire others
Share success
Lead with grace
Express gratitude
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Female Disruptors: Susan Goldsberry of Ina Labs On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.