We Talk About:

• Starting with a vision
• Bootstrapping a business
• Building a network early
• Making face-to-face connections
• The power of saying “no”
• Delegating your weaknesses

 

Resources:

• klur.co
• Instagram: @klur.co
• Instagram: @luvlesley

 

Show Notes:

When Lesley Thornton set out to found Klur, she wanted to create something that she had never seen before. The standards that she expected just didn’t exist in other businesses. Fed up with not feeling represented in her industry, she created a passion-driven skincare line with a purpose. Lesley’s goal with Klur is to carve a space for people of color in the clean beauty industry and show that the community has value.

 

Question Highlights:

• What drove you to start Klur?
• What’s the meaning behind the name?
• What have you learned from bootstrapping without startup support?
• What products were you focused on in the beginning?
• How do your customers find what’s right for them?
• What’s your go-to skincare routine?
• What are some time-saving hacks that make you feel more productive?
• How does your team collaboration work?
• What’s on the horizon for you?

 

Guest Bio:

Lesley Thornton is the founder of Klur, a purpose-driven, eco-inclusive, botanical skincare line. Before founding Klur, Lesley made her way across the full spectrum of the beauty industry, beginning at Estée Lauder as a beauty trainer. She then transitioned to working as a freelance makeup artist, specializing in editorial and advertising. From there, Thornton was cast as an on-air beauty expert for the TLC network. After a decade in the beauty industry, she realized that there was little-to-no representation for people of color in the clean beauty space.  

In 2010, she obtained her esthetician’s license and started her own, private practice. After years in the industry, she remained equally frustrated by the harmful, but hard-working, conventional beauty products, not to mention the lack of rigorous R&D and science behind green beauty products. 

She realized that the real issue lay in the lack of consideration for facts and data, prioritization of eurocentric beauty, and absence of education available to most consumers, so she quietly built Klur from top to bottom. Relying on her own relentless desire, she was able to create responsible products that deliver consistent results through elegant and luxurious formulations, despite having no team and no funding.

Klur is a skin-wellness brand, cultivated to reflect the values of clean, ethical, and inclusive beauty. Based in Los Angeles, Klur integrates the principles of high-performance technology and botanical sciences to create the most efficient, effective, and eco-conscious line imaginable. 

Klur’s formulas are made by implementing low-impact practices, advanced green chemistry, and compositions of 100% biodegradable ingredients, as well as bio-identical and lab-derived materials, when necessary to advocate for the preservation of the natural environment. 

Klur passionately (and sustainably) manufactures their entire range of goods in the United States. Their careful attitude resonates greatly with their eco-conscious customers, thanks to their decision to choose every component of their product-offerings with significant thought toward post-consumer, recycled, and biodegradable materials.