Today we’d like to introduce you to Paula Keif.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
After examining the ingredients listed on many of the products in my home, I realized how many contained toxic chemicals and fillers. I grew passionate around using safe products and wanted to help others make more informed choices about the products we use every day. My commitment to sharing information about safe, non-toxic products blossomed into Green Koala.
I am also deeply committed to the footprint we leave on our environment. We live by the three Rs – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle with both our business and personal life. From the biodegradable soy wax used in our candles to packaging made from recycled material, we work hard to ensure our processes and end products are eco-friendly.
Now, eight years later, I continue to review and scrutinize the ingredients we are using in our products. I look at how and where our ingredients are processed and listen to customer feedback to tweak our recipes. This year, in fact, we updated our lightweight lotion recipe to include ingredients that keep skin moisturized longer, and have used our knowledge and expertise to create face moisturizer and a new men’s line with hair wax, beard balm, and beard oil.
The popularity of our phthalate-free soy candles has also taken off and we have been picked up by larger stores such as Christmas Tree Shops. In the past 8 years, we have gone from a small home operation to be in over 80 stores throughout New England, having a manufacturing facility and studio in Pembroke, MA where we still make our products by hand and have increased online sales outside of our local area. We owe much of this success to our loyal customers who share our passion for embracing a greener more organic way of life and continue to re-purchase our products and share them with their friends and family.
Has it been a smooth road?
Being an entrepreneur and owning your own business is extremely difficult. You wear many hats. Each day presents itself with new challenges. The key is to find your passion, follow your intuition or gut, ignore nay-sayers, never give up, and learn from every experience – good or bad.
Early on, I encountered wholesale representatives that said the candle and cosmetic market was already saturated and very competitive with well-known brands. These comments fueled me to figure out a way to succeed in this space. I looked at every failure as an opportunity. In my heart, I believed that Green Koala had the foundation to be successful – hard work, determination, desire, and passion to produce high-quality eco-friendly products.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into Green Koala story. Tell us more about the business.
Green Koala is devoted to helping individuals and families embrace a greener, more organic way of life. Even though we’ve grown, all of our products are still handmade in small batches, contain safe high-quality natural and organic ingredients, and come in a variety of non-toxic, phthalate-free scents.
Our popular hand-poured candles are made with 100% pure soy wax, fresh seasonal scents, and cotton wicks. Our customers love them because they offer a longer, slower, and cleaner burn than paraffin candles and don’t discolor walls or emit harmful toxins into the air.
We also manufacture a wide variety of soaps, lotions, body butters, body scrubs, lip care, aroma sprays, and beard care products that do not contain any harmful preservatives, animal products, petroleum products, parabens, or sulfates. The success with our skincare comes from our expertise in matching ingredients to purpose to create recipes that are effective, using the products ourselves, and listening closely to customer feedback.
Green Koala is also committed to giving back to the community and our environment. We have donated thousands to a growing list of non-profit organizations and schools, such as One Tree Planted, Wicked Good Cause, Hope Floats, South River Elementary School, the Marshfield and Scituate Animal Shelters, and the North River Arts Society.
I’m most proud of the fact that we created Green Koala from scratch, an idea and a blank piece of paper.
Now, fast forward eight years, and we manufacture over a dozen different products, are found in 80 retail locations, and have become a recognizable eco-friendly brand.
Who do you look up to? How have they inspired you?
Growing up, my mother was a wonderful role model. She was strong, educated and worked as an office manager at General Electric in a time when most women were stay-at-home moms. More than that, she inspired us to look for the good in everything. She had a positive attitude, looking at the glass as half full, and helped us appreciate every moment in life by teaching us that no matter what happens, we should walk away with the lessons learned.
Pricing:
- Bar Soap $6.95
- Body Scrub $5.95-$21.95
- Body Butter $5.95-$19.95
- Lotion: $5.95-$11.95
- Beard Balm: $11.95
- Beard Oil: $11.95
- Lip Balm: $3.95
- Lip Scrub: $5.95
- Hair Wax: $11.95
- Soy Candles $11.95-21.95
- Phthalate Free Diffusers: $21.95
- Insect Repellent & Aroma Sprays: $11.95
Contact Info:
- Address: 90 Corporate Park Drive, Suite 1440, Pembroke, MA 02359
- Website: https://greenkoala.net
- Phone: (877) 304-4493
- Email: marketing@greenkoala.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/green.koala/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreenKoala4u/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/GreenKoala4u/
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/lovegreenkoala/
Image Credit:
Green Koala
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