Today, KWUF Radio in Pagosa is scheduled to interview The Queen Bee of Skin Care for their new show called Positive in Pagosa. Tune in if you can! 2:00pm January 26th, 2012. If you can’t dial in, then watch here for a link to the video!
Here is how the discussion is scheduled to go:
Positive About Pagosa – Queen Bee Skin Care
Good morning Pagosa Springs and all of you are blessed to be here welcome to this addition of Positive About Pagosa, I am your host Thad McKain and we are here at the KWUF studio. On todays show I am joined by local entrepreneur and business woman, Queen Bee – Lynne Killey
Lynne, how did you find your way to Pagosa?
- I think you can call me a local. My family moved here in the 1970’s. We bought a music store that was next to Liberty Theater. Back then, we also started a skating rink (now OakRidge), hobby store, ran the movie theater, and started Radio Shack. My family is still mostly here. Mom is Melissa McDonald (retired teachers and very active with garden club and the fair board). Lee Sanchez is my sister. (Gorgeous, wicked smart dental hygienist). John Kennedy (my King Bee) and I went to high school here together in the 80’s. His family had the local hardware store. I retired in 2000 and had a lot of real estate here, so I came home to ski for a winter and stayed.
Let’s talk about how Queen Bee came about and what attracted it to you so much.
- It is ok. You can say obsessed! I am obsessed and always have been with skin care. I love the textures, the smells, and the positive changes it can make. I remember concocting my first “sauces” as a little kid in the bathroom. Back then I was mixing shaving cream with food coloring and “baking” it in the little acrylic boxes that store playing cards. (I am sure my mom cleaned up more messes than she would care to admit). My grandparents encouraged it too! They would clean out their pantry and let me “cook” up products out under a big shade tree. The bigger the mess the more excited they seemed to be with my project. So now I get to spend my days experimenting with flower and seeds oils and thousands of dollars of essential oils – filling my office with the most delicious scents.
Would you tell us about your organic skin care line?
- I make about 60 products designed for dry aging skin and high mountain living. There is a product matrix on the site that helps you identify which products are right for your skin type. If you go to Queen Bee Skin Spa and click on the link for Skin Care Matrix. You can see which moisturizers or exfoliants are best for you. All of them are made with the best ingredients I can source from around the world. Like Tamanu from Southeast Asia (Bora Bora) which treats redness and burns, Seabuckthorn which contains high dose Vit C but also Omega 7 (which is very rare) repair damaged and dry skin from Russia, Squalane with adds elasticity back to aging or damaged skin from Israel. Raw shea butter from Ghana.
- In the next two months, we are rolling out several new products. Three are based on a Sodium Hyaluronate which stores 10,000 times its molecular weight in water allowing the skin to plump. There is a new facial primer to be used after washing (Hydro:Primer) in a dropper (super strength); an easy to use sprayer version and bee luscious lip plumpers! All of them will be out and available for sale soon and this is another all natural product that can be taken internally for joint issues.
- The other new products is a more organic version of Retin A which causes a reaction deep within the layers of the skin that irritates and makes the cells turn over quicker. Current versions of this product are loaded with chemicals and parabens. Our version will be a soothing base of raw shea butter!
- You will notice that if you look at the labels of anything we make – it is very clear what is in each bottle or container. This was what really pushed me into the organic skin care bizz. Current products from big manufacturers are just LOADED with things that you would never consider eating (some require that you have a haz mat license to acquire them), yet we eat through our skin.
- Consider a nicotine patch, birth control or a morphine patches. Those chemicals are released into your blood stream faster than through a shot! I like the analogy of your pores being little mouths and you are feeding them by how your treat your skin. You want to be sure to avoid chemicals like TriClosan & Phthalates which alter hormone regulation and are linked to some birth defects and are commonly found in hand sanitizers and synthetic perfumes, and many forms of Parabens which are in lotions and are linked to cancers
Now is your business limited to Pagosa or does your customer base reach beyond Archuleta County?
- 80% of my clients are outside of the area. I have some lovely spa and laser studios that carry products as far away as Naples Florida. I spend mornings creating the shipments and by about 11, that part of my work is done. I have an incredibly easy online order system which tracks inventory, does my accounting, processes credit cards, and creates the packing slip. Amazon has also provided additional reach and exposure. Most of that inventory is shipped to one of their warehouses in Indiana and then they ship out from there. I hope that I will hit my 10,000 order at some point this year.
Now I know that you have a strong following, but what is it that gives you the edge over other the competition?
- Crack Factor! It might sound silly, but if you are going to have a strong mail order bizz… there has to be something pretty irresistible in the product to make you go through the effort to find my site, place your order, pay a premium price and wait for it. Otherwise you could just pick something up at the store near you that works. For my products, it is the combination of super hydrating properties and the scent!
- I did my esthetician training at Aveda – that is a wonderful way to learn how scent and the power of Olfactory response. Customers come in by the droves because they are in love with the way their hair products smell. You see customers sniffing all over the stores!
- For most things I make, there is a combination of super healing quality ingredients AND scents made with essential oils or phthalate free scent.
Alright you could probably have had opened your business anywhere you wished, so why Pagosa Springs?
- Good question! I am so happy that of all places to make my dream mail order bizz come true, it would be Pagosa! One of the best things my bizz has going for it is the idea of Worker Bees. I have about 35 people who make my bizz run. My worker Bees! Thank my lucky stars!
- This is a unique feature of a small town where lots of people are retired or are looking for ways to volunteer! They pick up and drop projects which I can leave out or in an open house. The benefits of safety from theft and easy driving/parking enable this. They work for $20 an hour in product helping me create the sample sizes and full retail product labeling, assembly etc.
- I also have affordable space. In San Francisco, I couldn’t have afforded the storage space for all the empty jars/bottles etc that I need to be effective. Here I use a vacation rental garage, a storage unit and one full garage for shipping out of the hive on Lake Pagosa.
I noticed on your website you mentioned the movie “Baby Boom” – please explain why you made that comparison?
- That comparison was from my PR firm. It is a good fit if you remember that she ditched the big city for a better way to live and a shift in priorities. I’m still a capitalist pig, but I can live in Nature!
So what are your other passions that intrigue you and that you pursue in your free time.
- I love textures smells foods and everything outside (gardening, skiing, boating). I have taken cooking classes all over the world including Cordon Bleu in Florence, Shopping food markets with chefs in Indonesia, walking food tours all over California’s wine country, dairy farms, and San Francisco.
What is your vision for Pagosa Springs and our fellow Pagosans
- I love it the way it is now. The way it used to be. I hope we can continue to have a safe, friendly little pocket in an otherwise hectic world. Because it is remote and inaccessible you have to want to be here. Choose to be happy.
What are the rules/laws/secrets that you contribute to your success?
- I love manifesting a change in someone’s day or someone’s skin. I understand that customer service is the most important part of “selling”. If my products work for their skin challenges, they will want it. I surround myself with people that are happy and spend my energy in positive pursuits. Years ago I began to make lists of things that make me smile, giggle etc. It created an immediate shift where I was smiling just making the list. It wasn’t big items – just things like my favorite people, flavors, smells. I have a little top happy list and if I’m not feeling the love I do something on the list.
How do you deal with the days that you want to pull your hair out and go running wildly into the river?
- Thankfully those days of high stress are over for me. If I don’t feel the love, I don’t brew product. My big issues now are pretty simple… UPS drivers, labels that don’t want to adhere. Easy!
Is there anything else you want to share with our listeners?
- Yes – thanks for having me!
- If I could ask the listeners to please take a minute to become my Facebook Friend? Lynne Killey, Queen Bee Skin
- If you would like to support my bizz:
- You can pick up free samples or test any of the products in person @ the beehive on Lake Pagosa or at the Outfitter Department Store on Putt Hill. My mineral powder sun screen is great for anyone – men, women, kids. It is called Bee Sunny!
- Book a facial with me! 970-316-buzz
- OR become a worker bee by email us at QueenBeeSkin@gmail.com
