We spend a lot of time interviewing our peers, women who have built careers on Instagram, throwing themselves into building online engagement and great digital branding. But today, we have the pleasure of introducing a woman who got there first, breaking boundaries, pushing limits, and embracing the tenets of organic and sustainable goods long before hashtagging was a thing. Meet Karen Behnke, a beauty industry pioneer who, since the 1980s, has dedicated her life to knowing exactly what we’re putting in, and on, our bodies.
Chances are you know Karen’s brand, Juice Beauty. It’s a cult favorite cited widely by your favorite celebrities and ahead-of-trend friends alike. It’s her tinted moisturizer you sneak into your Whole Foods cart before heading to the register. And it’s this organic skincare empire that proves just how far a desire for quality can take you.
The origins of Juice Beauty are shockingly simple. Pregnant with her first child at 40, Karen was understandably concerned about the products she was using, and turned her attention to the items in her bathroom drawers. She was shocked to discover countless toxic ingredients on her favorite labels, many of which had been banned from our food. How could it be OK to put them on our faces? All it took was one thought to launch her company: I can do this better.
Karen rolled up her sleeves and started experimenting, taking the time and care necessary to truly create quality products. The result was skincare that suits women of all skin types and lifestyles. That passion for great, sustainable products that work long-term isn’t something we see often today, in a world full of disposable products and planned obsolescence. But the widespread popularity of Karen's company proves that quality is something women still value above all else. If you don’t believe us, we refer you to Gwyneth Paltrow, Queen of the Holistic Lifestyle, who recently chose Karen as her partner for goop's new beauty line.
Read on for how this beauty empire was built without compromise (and a whole lot of great smelling ingredients).
Her Starting Point
Your background is deeply rooted in health and wellness, going back to when you established one of the first American corporate wellness companies in the 1980s. What was it about the industry that first caught your attention?
Health and wellness were my original passions, and I wanted to combine my career and passions! My goal has always been to consistently marry my passion for helping people enjoy healthier lifestyles with my ability to build financially successful businesses that are mission driven.
When I started my business in the early ‘80s, a few of us helped pioneer the corporate wellness industry in its gestation phase. I seem to be drawn to the “early adopter” arena. I founded PacifiCare Wellness Company (formerly known as Execu-Fit Health Programs) in San Francisco, where it was one of the first and few corporate wellness companies in the country. The company delivered worksite medical fitness screenings, health risk appraisals, and fitness programs, for major corporations. Eventually, it grew to provide services to over 2 million members in six states staffed with 300 health care professional employees.
In 1991, I sold the Wellness Company to PacifiCare Health Systems (now United Healthcare) and became the parent company’s second female executive during a five-year parent company growth phase from $1 to $5 billion in revenue.
How has the wellness industry changed since you began your career?
The industry in general has become more mainstream. Most major corporations have some type of employee wellness program at this point and so much of it is digitally driven now. From a personal perspective, I’ve evolved from my wellness foundation in fitness, nutrition, and stress management to become very interested in sustainability and organic living. This evolution happened as I grew and became more involved in all aspects of healthy lifestyles and as organic products started hitting the market more and more over the last 20 years.
Along with your love of all things healthy, you clearly have a penchant for entrepreneurship. What was it that first appealed to you about starting your own business?
It takes a sort of crazy, passion fueled, “there’s something missing in the marketplace and I can do it better” mentality to start your own business. Right out of college in 1980, I started my first, which was an aerobics exercise business—pretty unique at the time—and then moved on to my Corporate Wellness Company and then to Juice Beauty.
Let's talk about the start of Juice Beauty. While expecting your first child, you started investigating healthy, organic personal care products. This interest then led to your establishing your own line. Can you tell us more about that process of discovery?
I had been an entrepreneur in the health and wellness field for 18 years when I became pregnant with my first baby at 40. Although I was specializing in nutrition and fitness, I’d never paid attention to the ingredients in the beauty products that I was putting all over my face and body, despite my professional and personal passion for wellness, fitness, and beauty.
So when I became pregnant, it was the first time I actually read a beauty product label—and I couldn’t believe it. Many potentially harmful ingredients were in high-end and low-end beauty products, along with some ingredients that had been banned from our food. I was astounded to discover that, although the skin can absorb over 60% of what is placed on it, there were very few healthy personal care products available that worked well. My entrepreneurial sense kicked in and I thought: I can do this better.
Years later, I bought the name “juice beauty” and started the company based on a basic premise: instead of starting with a water base or a petroleum glycol base, we use nutrient rich organic botanical juices and then add powerful skincare ingrediens—so every drop feeds the skin. And of course we never add any of the potentially toxic conventional chemical ingredients such as petroleum fillers, phthalates, pesticides, parabens, PEGs, TEA, DEA, GMOs, sulfates, silicones, artificial dyes, or synthetic fragrances.
When I first started conceptualizing the company, I was experiencing both hormonal changes resulting in blemishes and the beginning of fine lines. I wanted to create products that wouldn’t just work “better than” conventional products, but be better for you. Fast-forward to today and two of our biggest regimens at Juice Beauty are our age-defy/anti-wrinkle collection and our blemish clearing line.
Her Big Break
What was the biggest obstacle you faced in getting the company up and running? How did you overcome it? Were there any start-up moments that were surprisingly enjoyable or easy?
Patience! It takes great patience to achieve the highest efficacy yet purest products. It takes years and years of scientific trials. Entrepreneurs are not known for their patience so I definitely got frustrated along the way.
Another source of frustration was recruiting a world class team. It takes a bit of scale and notoriety to recruit amazing leaders. At the start of 2011, Juice Beauty really began to escalate when we recruited a professional product development and in-house chemist team as well our first top executive, Jackie Duda.
Our biggest success is where we are today and it was driven by passion, authenticity and an amazing team!
Juice Beauty has high efficacy skincare products organized into various Collections (Stem Cellular Atit-Wrinkle, Green Apple Age Defy, Blemish Clearing, Daily Essentials); plus our sister brand, Juice Organics luscious hair care. Of course now we’re coming out with Juice Beauty Phyto-Pigments Makeup under the creative direction of our business partner Gwyneth Paltrow; we are winning multiple skincare awards, and we are housed in a beautiful sustainable headquarters in Marin County, California. All of this is supported by the most amazing management and employee team in the world. I am very, very grateful.
You’ve been working with Juice Beauty for ten years. Now that the new business jitters have long since passed, how do you stay motivated? Where do you look for inspiration?
I love listening to our customers when they rave about our products as well as when they suggest changes. I’ve hit other slumps in business, but creativity or running out of ideas hasn’t happened yet—when that happens well I’ll probably retire!
My drive certainly comes from within, it’s a burning drive I was born with and I think will be with me until the end. Given where I live, in Marin County with all of the non-working Moms, I sometimes have struggled over the years wondering if I had made the right choice to work every day, but at this point, I have accepted my driven personality and am embracing it.
Really, our incredible employees amaze me every day with their motivation and inspirational work.
What does your morning routine look like (including organic beauty regimen, of course!)?
I get up at around 6:30ish A.M. and after saying goodbye to our kids (who now drive to high school), I then head out to exercise usually in the form of a run, bike, or swim and often with my cardiologist husband. Sometimes I take morning phone meetings on one of our decks overlooking the San Francisco Bay—or I head immediately to our beautiful sustainable headquarters in Marin County, located just over the Golden Gate bridge and right between San Francisco and the wine country.
As far as my beauty routine goes, I rotate between Juice Beauty’s Stem Cellular and the Green Apple Collections. First, I cleanse with either the Stem Cellular 2 in 1 Cleanser or the Green Apple Gel Cleanser. Then I apply the Stem Cellular Booster Serum or the Green Apple Age Defying Serum. Next, in the morning I moisturize using the Stem Cellular CC Cream in the Desert Glow shade (and at night either the Stem Cellular Moisturizer or the Green Apple Age Defy Moisturizer. If I am with the press or our retailers, I will finish with Juice Beauty’s Phyto-Pigments foundation, concealer, eyeliner, and mascara, all of which were released in January under Gwyneth Paltrow’s creative leadership!
If you were suddenly gifted 2 extra hours in your day, what would you do with them?
Hang with my husband and two teenagers—that is if my son and daughter were ready and willing! Although, I must say I would also lie under an umbrella on our solar-powered pool deck overlooking the San Francisco Bay with Juice Beauty’s Stem Cellular Instant Eye Lift pressed Algae Masks under each eye!
Her Perspective
Throughout your career, you’ve had the chance to work with several very successful businesses. How do you decide when it’s time to move on and tackle a new project?
Great question. It’s really been kind of a step-by-step progression in the healthy lifestyles/products sector. Building a brand is a long term endeavor and as we are elegantly disrupting the beauty sector and building a brand that strives to be the leader in clean and organic beauty…well let’s just say I’m in it to win it and in it for the long run.
What is your number one tip for aspiring entrepreneurs? What about women in general, starting out?
Find your passion and your mission and work with a company that you believe in. I think most of Juice Beauty’s employees would say that they are doing more than working in beauty, they are building a sustainable, mission driven company that is hopefully creating additional and significant meaning to their lives. We are Win-Win-Win. Win with highly effective results oriented products. Win with healthy ingredients absorbing into your skin. Win with helping a sustainable company support organic farming and sustainable suppliers.
What’s one thing you wish you could go back and tell your 20-something self?
Listen and trust your gut feelings.
What do you wake up looking forward to? What’s next for your career?
Continued rapid business growth, continued launch of innovative products, and I’m very excited about the launch of over 78 makeup products with our business partner, Gwyneth Paltrow, for her brand, goop. On the family front, I’m nervous, happy, and sad to see my high school senior son looking at colleges and love watching my high school sophomore daughter grow in all manners.
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