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Women In Wellness: Bassima Mroue On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

The people that support you early on may not be with you until the very end. This is the most emotional and hardest lesson I had to learn. You love the people that believed in you early on and helped you, but the company will change at such a rapid pace and the skills needed to evolve.

As a part of my series about women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Bassima Mroue.

Bassima Mroue is the CEO and co-founder of SkinTē, the first-ever sparkling wellness soda with collagen that benefits skin, mood and immunity. Prior to SkinTē, Bassima helped drive Ecosystem Strategy for Spanx, was President of the Sara Blakely Foundation and spent a decade at Nike Inc.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?

We are three female founders: a doctor, a chef, and myself on the business side. We each went through major life transitions (back surgery, divorce, loss of a child), and channeled all that energy to create a brand that has a positive impact on emotional and physical well-being. We wanted to develop a product that was beneficial for skin, hair, nails, joints, gut, and mood all while not compromising on taste. Dr. Bader designed a unique and powerful formula with ingredients hand-picked for emotional and physical well-being, which Chef Elizabeth Zieg used to work her magic and create delicious flavor profiles. We were the first product in the market that combined collagen, super herbs and tea in a light, refreshing, fizzy and fun experience. SkinTē is a true lifestyle product that our consumers drink as their morning or afternoon ‘pick me up’, post-exercise recovery, or to use as a favorable beauty cocktail.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?

I left the corporate world to start SkinTē with big risks and minimum security, but we were betting on ourselves and on our fans who value health and beauty from the inside out. There were incredible challenges and victories along the way, from fundraising in the middle of a pandemic and worrying about surviving, to growing 300% in 2020 and launching in 1,273 Walmart stores in 2022. I always tell people who ask what it’s like to be an entrepreneur and I tell them my experience has been that the highs are so high and the lows are so low: you are either bawling in the fetal position or pinching yourself about great news you never dreamed could happen. I cannot tell you the number of people that thought I was crazy to walk away from huge wonderful brands to take such a big risk. It was scary to put myself out there, as everyone was watching to see if I would succeed. Even as we reach huge milestones, like launching into Walmart, people are still watching to see how far we can make it. The biggest lesson to me is to ignore all that noise. It’s about the consumers we serve and love, the journey, the purpose and the incredible experiences and learnings along the way.

Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

The biggest mistake I made was not hiring a CFO early on in the process. Many would say we were too small for a CFO, so we decided to outsource. The key is to understand your strengths and weaknesses as CEO. At Nike or Spanx, I always worked with really strong CFO’s as my partners. With SkinTē, we outsourced but didn’t have someone living and breathing the financials or helping me with fundraising. Cash is king and queen and without it, a startup can crumble. We have been lucky to have amazing investors that have stood by us when we ran out of cash, but I believe also having a true CFO partner early on, would have helped me avoid some of the issues we faced. One of my investors, a seasoned serial entrepreneur, told me he always made sure that he had a business partner on the team early on that was very strong with financial and operational experience, which made all the difference. I also have learned that strong financial acumen is something women need to learn and understand for their personal and professional lives.

Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?

SkinTē’s mission is to nurture health and beauty from the inside out, every day. It’s “self-care in a can” and allows consumers to take a timeout and nourish themselves to set the foundation for everything else. The overall experience of SkinTē, from its light and refreshing taste (which is rare with collagen), the carbonated collagen with real brewed herbs and teas, to the chic and fashionable packaging is what sets SkinTē apart from others.

Each flavor includes a powerful blend of the highest quality kosher bovine collagen peptides, organic teas, super herbs, 100% DV vitamin C and smart ingredients (no soy, dairy, gluten, dyes, added sugar or artificial sweeteners). Each ingredient was handpicked for its emotional, spiritual and physical impact on well-being. The four flavors currently in the market are White Tea Ginger, Green Tea Grapefruit, Hibiscus Vanilla (caffeine free) and Lemon Lime (caffeine free). Nothing gives me more joy than the emails, texts and calls we get from consumers saying that SkinTē was their “go-to pandemic drink”, because it made them feel better and glow during such a challenging time.

Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.

  1. Micro Self-Care Mindset — It all starts with mindset, and for a lot of us, it’s all or nothing. We are either “being good, eating well and working out” or we are not. I used to be so extreme. Now I’m more about the little things you do daily that add up. Having the right mindset about wellbeing is everything, and it really sets the foundation for how you perceive yourself and the narrative in your head.
  2. Moving Your Body — I know everyone says this, but it’s so key. One of my investors had always said “strong body, strong mind,” and that always resonated with me. By moving my body every day in small doses, I support my performance abilities in a challenging startup environment.
  3. Hot Baths — Hot Baths are a huge part of my weekly routine! I read an article once that a suicidal person managed to completely change their mindset and avoid medication by taking hot baths with epsom salt every night. I started doing this and it has been life changing! It is how I transition to the evening and clear my head. It calms me down and reminds me to take a moment for myself. I don’t do it every night, but I try to do it several times a week.
  4. Gratitude — This is probably the most important one. I wake up every day and I feel so grateful for my life, even with its challenges. I’m grateful for the smallest things like the softness of my white bed sheets, the love of my life, my family, and my kittens! I don’t even write it down like so many people do; I just think it in my head and I smile inside. It makes a huge difference for me.
  5. Hormone Balance — For me personally, having had PCOS and stage 4 endometriosis, focusing on my hormones is a huge part of my life. It makes a significant impact on my lifestyle and emotional well-being. This is a priority for me and I see doctors several times a year to make sure I’m in balance.

If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?

MICRO SELF-CARE. When I changed my mindset to focus on small acts of self-care, everything changed. Not everyone has the luxury to go on the one week vacations you see on Iinstagram. People have to find ways throughout the day to time out. I am not the type to meditate the traditional way, and instead I focus on the little things that have a big impact. When you focus on yourself, practice whatever self-care works for you, and put the oxygen mask on yourself first, the rest just falls into place.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?

  1. Self-care is more important than ever and it saved me. No matter how busy or stressful things get, when I go back to the basics and drink more water, sleep eight hours and exercise, it helps me be more productive and more clear-headed. I once had to travel to NYC for a two day panel. It was a 12 hour trip, and I had so much to do when I got back home. I was behind on emails and meetings, but the first thing I did was book a massage and take a walk.
  2. Postpone the stress if there is something to worry about. Don’t give it all equal weight and if you can postpone worrying about it. There are so many priorities and by the time you get around to what you were worried about, it may not be as big of an issue. Learning that I can emotionally postpone “the worry” has been a secret weapon. To start this company, my partners and I self-funded for a while and I dipped heavily into my 401K. I was really concerned about my personal financial situation, so I would set a date, maybe six months out at a time, when I could decide to worry then. I was more worried about getting SkinTē off the ground so that took precedent. By the time six months went by, solutions started popping up for my personal financial situation.
  3. The people that support you early on may not be with you until the very end. This is the most emotional and hardest lesson I had to learn. You love the people that believed in you early on and helped you, but the company will change at such a rapid pace and the skills needed to evolve.
  4. Passion trumps experience… up to a point. I am a huge believer that you need to hire the most passionate people, and I always hire the ones with the best attitudes that can grow and develop. As a startup though, sometimes you really need the hard skills because there isn’t much time for big learning curves. You need a team that can come in and make it happen based on experience because you are at a vulnerable stage with limited cash flow. I am a huge believer in coaching and it taught me a lot, but as a CEO of a startup, you don’t always have the luxury of time.
  5. Raising money will feel like a full-time job on top of your job. I had to really learn how to juggle fundraising while launching the business and I had no idea what I was getting myself into with fundraising. Although it was difficult at first, it was the best thing that ever happened to me and I grew so much because it really forced me to articulate the vision and value proposition clearly.

Sustainability, veganism, mental health, and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?

These are all such critical topics, but for me mental health is a number one focus! It has become such a significant crisis with the younger generation especially, and made worse with the pandemic. In order for all of us to be at our best and in turn have the biggest positive impact on the world, we must go inward. I strongly believe that mental health is the root cause of so many of our issues in society.

What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?

Please follow @skinte and @bassimamroue on Instagram, and linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bassima-mroue-16814039/

Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.

Women In Wellness: Bassima Mroue On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.