There’s a quiet grief that comes with outgrowing something you once loved. A career that you had spent many years trying to grow. A version of yourself that you've curated to the perfect detail. A dream that you built by hand when it was just an idea. The brand that you had launched in a middle of a breakdown.
I've been through many ups and downs, including the losses and the wins.
For me, Matte Equation evolved from what it was at the very beginning.
Of course, starting this brand is a personal experience. It began with a dream to help me find balance in my life. Then things changed. In the aftermath of a burnout and a diagnosis I didn't want to believe, I had fainted in a doctor's office from carrying too much for too long. The work, the performance, the optics—it had all taken its toll.
Skincare became my way back to myself.
One ritual. One breath. One night routine at a time.
Before taking this full time, with Statement Strategies, my PR firm, I was accomplishing so much and in awe of what the mind could do when you just simply believed in yourself. I thought I was building a company. But I wanted to build a lifeline. And like most lifelines, it evolved as I did.
I took Matte Equation full time.
GROWTH ISN'T GLAMOROUS.
We love to use the word “growth” as a means to market our potential. It sounds so beautiful on paper. And it sounds like an easy process. However, real growth is messy. Incredibly disorienting. Sometimes, it looks like questioning everything you creative. Other times, you've found yourself going silent on social media because you can no longer recognize your own voice.
There was a moment, maybe several, when I wondered if I should let it all go. Statement Strategies and Matte Equation were both doing fine. But I wasn’t. I had built something meaningful, yes. Two meaningful businesses that I loved both dearly. On one end, though, for one of the businesses, I had built it around a version of myself that no longer existed.
And that’s the part no one tells you:
When you change, your brand might change too.
THE RISK OF EVOLUTION.
It wasn't about choosing between the two. I didn't choose Matte Equation over Statement Strategies. I chose a version of myself that evolved from the habits that got me here. I had to find balance, joy, peace, love and curiosity within my work.
It’s easy to keep showing up as the persona people liked best—or were used to. The founder who was always on. The publicist that you could call at 3 in the morning. The visionary with the perfect moodboard. Your consultant who had it all figured out with solutions when things were to go awry. But pretending is its own kind of burnout.
So I gave myself permission to evolve. To let the brands choose their destinations. One took a break and got quieter. The other got more intentional. It was important to stop chasing trends and start building rituals. To speak from the in-between places, where real people live.
And slowly, Matte Equation began to evolve as it took the lead in this next chapter.
The voice softened. The products deepened. The storytelling became more cinematic, more honest, more me. I've never felt so comfortable to talk about issues, topics and skincare in the way I do today.
We moved from skincare for the sake of glow to skincare for the sake of living. From aesthetics to emotional wellness. From performance to presence. To the exploration of neurocosmetics and psychodermology (or psychodermatology).
SKINCARE THAT LIVES WITH YOU.
The discourse that I wanted to hold with Matte Equation was always going to be beyond skincare and aesthetics. It is inherently rooted in care and the way we feel—deep in our nervous systems. It is about exploring rituals that influence and regulate the way we feel. It's about creating space where burnout, stress, sleep and silence could all coexist in the act and routine of putting a mud mask on (with a guided meditation).
In that way, overtime, I realized that we weren't just selling skincare. We were making space—space for people to return to themselves.
And to do that well, I had to return to myself first.
I had to prioritize my well-being, explore what it truly means to investigate a life that you can embrace for your own health and well-being. To be curious about taking the initiative and bringing power back into your hands when it comes to taking care of ourselves.
That’s what happens when you let your brand grow with you. It stops being a performance. It becomes a reflection—of where I've been, what I've survived and who I'm becoming.
** Looking to de-stress today? Try our first child, the Quantum Mud Mask!