We ask Natasha Gold and Jessica Conrad-Pickles, founders of The Wellbeing Sisters about the story behind the brand.
Give us the elevator pitch. Tell us about your brand
Wellbeing Sisters is the home of clean beauty and wellbeing. We are the only online retailer committed to solely stocking beauty and wellbeing products that are truly clean and free from all ingredients known to harm women’s health. We check every ingredient in every product, so you don’t have to. Wellbeing Sisters makes toxin-free shopping a stress-free experience. Browse our shop, check out the WS Naughty List (a research-backed searchable list of toxins and chemicals), and join the WSCLUB. — a new way to discover some of the best toxin-free beauty and wellbeing products with 40% off.
What inspired you to set up your company
Wellbeing Sisters was initially launched as FertiliBox – a subscription box for women trying to conceive. Our story began with co-founder Natasha’s fertility journey. After years of infertility, unsuccessful IVF treatments, and being told by specialists that her chances of conceiving were slim, in preparation for her last round of IVF, she decided to make changes to her diet, personal, household, health, and beauty products to avoid ingredients that could be negatively impacting her egg quality and general health. These lifestyle changes had a profound impact on her fertility, and she gave birth to a healthy baby girl in November 2020. Inspired by the multiple health benefits she observed in her sister, Jessica also made significant changes to her lifestyle. She couldn’t believe the differences between her third pregnancy and her previous two, nor the health improvements noticeable postpartum for both herself and her new baby boy. Although FertiliBox received rave reviews, it wasn’t long before the sisters realised that every woman at every stage of womanhood could benefit from reducing their exposure to harmful toxins. So, Wellbeing Sisters, a company committed to helping ALL women avoid ALL harmful ingredients, was born.
Wellbeing Sisters does it all. Our expert information hub houses loads of information such as the Naughty List, a research-backed searchable list of toxins, endocrine disruptors, and other chemicals that have been found to damage women’s health, as well as advice from women’s health and wellness experts, podcasts, interviews, and recipes. The Wellbeing Sisters shop stocks only clean beauty, health and lifestyle products that have our seal approval which indicates they are free from nasties and potentially harmful ingredients that have links to poor female health.
What was your biggest challenge in year one?
The biggest challenge for us was realising that we needed to grow as a company but having limited resources to do so. When we launched FertiliBox, we were only targeting women trying to conceive. It wasn’t long before we started receiving feedback from friends, family and other potential customers who weren’t trying to conceive, asking us if they could benefit from reducing exposure to harmful toxins too — the answer was of course, yes! No matter your lifestage, the potential health benefits of removing harmful toxins are extensive. So, we realised that we had to expand. Thanks to a very successful crowdfund, and a lot of blood sweat and tears, we did it! We adapted and rebranded as Wellbeing Sisters because every woman deserves to thrive. This also taught us to be open-minded and adaptable and create a company that values our customers’ wants and needs.
What would you say has been your biggest marketing success?
Without a doubt working with influencers and particularly those going through their own fertility journeys has been a huge marketing success for us.We have collaborated with influencers and supported them to switch their products, talking to them during ‘lives’ about the risks of using products with toxins, and making suggestions for which products they can switch to, and then sending them the products to review. We have gained significant exposure this way, which has increased our traction and driven new followers and customers to our Instagram page and our website. Thanks to Instagram, many women have learnt how reducing their exposure to toxins is essential and how as a company, Wellbeing Sisters can make toxin-free living simple and stress-free.
What has been the biggest mistake you made
Much like when we launched FertiliBox, when we launched the Wellbeing Sisters subscription box – a high end subscription box tailored to all the different stages of womanhood – we made the mistake of not asking enough of our customers and potential customers what they wanted and needed from us first. We really have learnt now that it is essential to always be talking and hearing from your customers. Our current and potential customers have been central to the development of the new WSCLUB. – it has been designed based on exactly what women want from us – so we’re really, really excited about it. Thank goodness we’ve finally learnt this lesson!
Tell us about your plans for the future.
Wellbeing Sisters has some pretty huge plans coming up. We are about to launch the WSCLUB. — a new way to discover clean beauty, health and lifestyle products with at least 40% off. It’s a new take on the traditional subscription box model as you can join for free, pick your own products, control how much you spend, and even skip a month whenever you want! Wellbeing Sisters will continue to grow, raise awareness about harmful ingredients and make toxin-free shopping easy, but who knows what’s next! Maybe our own line of clean, toxin-free products and perhaps even WS for men could be on the cards – watch this space!.
