Marla Rene of Marla Rene Skincare

THIS WEEK WE'RE TALKING TO MARLA WHO'S MOTHER'S BATTLE WITH CANCER MADE HER TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT SKINCARE INGREDIENTS AND LED HER TO CREATE A BEAUTY COMPANY WITHOUT COMPROMISE.

BLK+GRN: Why do you do what you do? MARLA: I’m a mom, wife, and lover of just about all things DIY. I do what I do to empower women to take control of their health and well-being by enabling them to make skin care choices that will help them achieve their personal vision of beauty without sacrificing their inner being. BLKGRN: What was your "Aha Moment" and when did your vision start to manifest? MARLA: I was drawn to creating a natural skin care solution for women of color, after caring for my mother who passed away from complications due to cancer. While caring for her, I was forced to take notice of the ingredients in the products she was using. At that time, I had no idea that the knowledge I was gaining would birth Marla Rene Skincare. I needed an outlet during my grieving process and dove into making my own products. Through trial and error and years of research, the brand was born out of passion, diligence and love. BLK+GRN: How is your brand green? Why was this important to you? MARLA: We deliver uncompromising results naturally through wild-crafted, Eco-conscious, cruelty-free ingredients. With a laser focus on purity and efficacy, we provide beauty without compromise and the use of petroleum, parabens, silicones, DEA, PEGS, TEA, sulfates and other harmful carcinogenic ingredients. Once you know better it’s important to do better. Research has proven that many ailments that we experience can be attributed, in part, to long-term exposure and absorption of harmful toxic ingredients found in our skincare. By creating non-toxic effective skincare, I’m able to contribute to improving quality of life. BLKGRN: What need do you currently see being unmet that you address? MARLA: On a broader spectrum, caring for skin is universally the same based on skin type and not dependent on skin color. However, there are several concerns that melanin skin experience that doesn’t allow for a cookie-cutter approach to developing solutions. We have worked diligently and have developed an extensive assessment to help uncover the needs of each individual beauty which allows us to then customize a regimen specific to their unique concerns.