Evereden skincare artfully combines the highest quality of pure, plant-based ingredients to create a range of high-performing, results-driven skincare specially formulated for even the most delicate of skin types to care for you and your family’s skin.
The brand is thoughtfully formulated and created by prominent dermatologists from Stanford and Harvard who are also mothers, themselves. The products consist of meticulously sourced botanical ingredients that are proven to be good for the skin, such as Organic Cold-Pressed Sunflower Seed Oil, Avocado, Coconut and Rosehip oils. Each ingredient is carefully selected and curated by Evereden’s team of dermatologists to ensure that the products live up to their efficacy and safety promises.
Evereden is founded by Malaysian-born investment banker turned entrepreneur, Kimberley Ho. She was featured in US Forbes 30 Under 30, and Evereden has garnered multiple accolades since its inception in 2018, including from Wall Street Journal, Vogue US and Martha Steward. Our team speaks to Kimberley where she shares more about Evereden, her entrepreneurial journey, on choosing the right skincare and more.
Image Credit: Kimberley Ho
Exclusive Interview with Kimberley Ho, Founder of Family Skincare Brand, Evereden
1) Please share with us more about your background? What made you decide to leave your career as an Investment banker and move into the Beauty industry?
Kimberley: When I was in finance, I invested primarily in CPG companies that sold skincare and personal care products. I became very familiar with the brands’ manufacturing processes, their formulas, their research and development and quickly realized that, by and large, many family and mom/baby skincare brands are still using the same questionable ingredients, working with the same large contract manufacturers who haven’t changed their formulations in decades. Seeing that this space has hardly innovated – unlike the competitive women’s beauty and skincare space – was truly eye-opening, and I knew that there was an opportunity to create a brand truly dedicated to pursuing and exacting the highest safety standards for our products.
2) What inspired you to set up Evereden, how did you start up your business and come up with the name, Evereden?
Kimberley: Our mission and inspiration is to rebuild skincare for new generations, from the ground up. We started by reformulating the core products that every parent needs for their babies: shampoos, lotions, diaper creams and massage oil, then adding on entirely new products to the category, such as our Nourishing Baby Face Cream. We then also took a look at what was out there for moms themselves and just weren’t satisfied. A woman’s body undergoes so many changes while pregnant, but skincare for pregnant and newly postpartum women felt as if it had not yet experienced the same dynamic innovation that luxury women’s facial skincare had. So, as part of rebuilding skincare for a new generation, we created our mom line, to provide safe yet effective products that would help transition a woman into becoming a mother. For all that we do, we take a medical practitioner’s approach, with our team of Moms in Medicine, or industry leading dermatologists, to rigorously vet every ingredient that we put into our formulas. We’re bringing science to the confusing, oversaturated “natural” conversation — helping parents understand what ingredients are safe and effective.
The name Evereden came about when I was on a road trip with my husband and co-founder, Huang. We were riffing about how we wanted to give the best products to every family, everywhere. It was this idea of “every person’s Eden.” Huang is a sucker for symmetry, so we decided to cut the Y. Hence, Evereden.
3) What has been the biggest challenge you’ve had in your entrepreneurial journey and how did you overcome it?
Kimberley: This year has been challenging, as I think many others can attest too, with the worldwide pandemic. With a global team, managing the unprecedented hurdles that faced us this year was quite daunting. However, a lot of the success of a business hinges on the people within the company, and luckily, we have managed to build a team of creative and tirelessly driven problem-solvers who have helped us accelerate the business’ growth, despite the odds this year.
4) What is clean skincare? What do we need to look out for when choosing the right skincare products specially for mothers and children?
Kimberley: “Clean”, “All-natural” and “Organic” are marketing terms that have no true definition, nor are they definitions that are vetted by legitimate third-party organizations or watchdog agencies. And we know that just as there are many harmful natural ingredients – for example, taking this to an extreme, poison ivy is natural but clearly bad for you, while commonly-used lavender essential oil is an all-natural ingredient found in nearly every product, but also a common skin irritant and potential hormone disruptor for children’s developing bodies. Our team of doctors are able to step in and provide these insights, to help us determine what is safe, clean and effective to use. For us, it’s important to strive to use the best of pure, plant-based botanicals with ingredients that promise scientific efficacy and safety.
5) Can you share with us more about your products, how Evereden is setting the standard for mum-and-baby skincare and how do you differentiate your products from other natural and organic skincare products in the market for mothers and children?
Kimberley: We are setting the safest standards in skincare, with the help of our team of Moms in Medicine. Having that experience as a mom gives our doctors an edge to think through our formulas in a way that they couldn’t have if solely approaching it from just a hard, cold professional point of view. Our Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Stanford’s Pediatric Dermatology Department, Dr. Joyce Teng, has 3 children and personal experience with eczema growing up. As a doctor, her main area of expertise and research is in eczema, but as a mother, she has spent countless hours researching ingredients, irritation, allergies herself and the types of products to avoid or keep in her children’s routine. Our other doctor, Dr. Sarina Elmariah, is a lifelong sufferer of eczema (as well as her two young boys) and she always wished she had products that met her standards as a mom and dermatologist when they were growing up. A mother is someone who stays up all night, sacrificing herself for her family, and doing innumerable hours of research despite being sleep deprived and stressed to no end – but a doctor has the professional and scientific training for solving some of these issues. Evereden is the only brand that tackles the problem of skin health from both the perspective of a mother and doctor.
With this perspective, we vowed to ban 2000+ questionable ingredients from ever making their way into our formulas, holding ourselves to the safest standards in skincare. We also seek third-party certifications from well-known organizations, such as the Environmental Working Group, National Eczema Association, and Made Safe, to vet our products as truly safe for your family’s skin. For us, we know that parenting is already hard and stressful enough as it is, so when we created Evereden, we sought to provide parents with one less thing to worry about for their most intimate everyday moments – from bath-time to diaper changes.
6) At what age do babies and children need skincare and why?
Kimberley: Until it’s fully developed around the age of 2, babies’ skin is 20-30% structurally more fragile than the delicate area under adults’ eyes. Because of its thinness, babies’ skin dries out much more easily than that of adults, and when it’s dry, the skin’s protective barrier is increasingly diminished, which can lead to skin issues such as eczema. According to our Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Joyce Teng, “If we pay attention to skin barrier protection in infants – as early as 2-3 weeks of age- it can help to prevent eczema and other allergy symptoms by as much as 50%, even in high-risk families.” So, it’s really important to begin caring for babies’ skin quite early on, within weeks of birth, to ensure that their skin barrier has the protection it needs for overall developmental health.
7) For those with Eczema, what do they need to know and what kind of skincare products can they use? Can Evereden products help them?
Kimberley: Eczema is very common with over 20% of children having it, and the cause of it is due in part to some sort of compromise to the skin’s barrier. When it’s functioning optimally, the skin barrier retains moisture and protects you from allergens, bacteria, and such, but if it’s compromised, those can penetrate the skin causing certain reactions that look like rashes our dry patches to our eye. Our Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Stanford’s Pediatric Dermatology Department, Dr. Joyce Teng, has 3 children and personal experience with eczema growing up. As a doctor, her main area of expertise and research is in eczema, but as a mother, she has spent countless hours researching ingredients, irritation, allergies herself and the types of products to avoid or keep in her children’s routine. Our other doctor, Dr. Sarina Elmariah, is a lifelong sufferer of eczema (as well as her two young boys), and both recommend their patients to liberally apply moisturizer to their babies multiple times a day to help increase skin barrier protection.
Again, according to our Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Joyce Teng, “If we pay attention to skin barrier protection in infants – as early as 2-3 weeks of age- it can help to prevent eczema and other allergy symptoms by as much as 50%, even in high-risk families.” So, it’s really important to begin caring for babies’ skin quite early on, within weeks of birth, to ensure that their skin barrier has the protection it needs for overall developmental health. With our Baby Moisturizing Lotion, we’ve included colloidal oatmeal, a known skin soother to help calm inflammation and relieve any itchiness. It’s also formulated with organic, cold-pressed sunflower seed oil, which is known as one of the most research-backed skincare ingredients that’s not only proven to moisturize the skin but to also strengthen the skin barrier while doing so. All of our baby products are formulated with sensitive, newborn skin in mind because we understand that what it comes into contact with has the potential to have a lasting impact on its health.
8) How did you come up with the formulation and ingredients for Evereden products and who are behind the formulations?
Kimberley: We work very closely with our team of Moms in Medicine to first identify products that are parents’ and moms’ go-to, and then from there, we analyze how we can make them better. There are always multiple rounds of trial and error – our Nourishing Baby Face Cream was almost two years in the making – but that’s because we hold ourselves to such a high standard of excellence. Evereden sets itself a part by implementing the expertise that our doctors provide us throughout our formulation process. For example, we know that synthetic fragrances are potential allergens to babies and children, so when we set out to create a scented version of our best-selling Soothing Baby Massage Oil, we worked very closely with our doctors to provide their expertise on which natural, distilled essential oils were safe to use on neonatal skin. One of the essential oils in question was a citrus-based one, and because of our Scientific Advisor, Dr. Sarina Elmariah’s insight as to how citrus-based essential oils can cause increased photosensitivity in the skin, we stayed away from it. However, citrus-based essential oils are quite common in other skincare brands that are marketed towards babies, and the onus is on the parent then to do their due diligence, which is exactly what we want to alleviate them from. So in the end, it really is this back and forth with our doctors, who are very much in the weeds with us on these formulas, to get to the perfect formula for your family.
9) What’s your advice to someone who aspires to be an entrepreneur like yourself and go into the beauty business?
Kimberley: Think about what you’re most passionate about and why; this is the thing that will keep you going when you’re running on empty. Consider your core skills, and how you can build upon what you already know to do something (or learn something!) entirely new. Finally, work your network; even if you set out on a new path, existing relationships are invaluable.
10) What are some of the hurdles that an aspiring beauty business entrepreneur might face and not be aware of?
Kimberley: There are large contract manufacturers that also formulate for many of the brands that we know of and recognize, and when you’re an aspiring beauty business entrepreneur going to these large CM’s, you unfortunately don’t have that much sway. For example, we were told by so many large contract manufacturers to “just include Cocomidopropyl Betaine”, in our Baby Shampoo & Body Wash since all the other brands did. But we knew from our Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Stanford’s Pediatric Dermatology Department, Dr. Joyce Teng, that this very ingredient was named allergen of the year in 2004. So, it’s important to not become discouraged in moments like this and to stick to your vision because there will eventually be others that see it and can help you build upon it as you primarily intended.
11) What are some of the Evereden’s products that you can’t do without?
Kimberley: I love our Nourishing Baby Face Cream – it’s the perfect rich yet lightweight moisturizer to use on my own face, and the packaging is great! It’s a vacuum press pump, dispensing exactly the amount that’s needed, so that you don’t have to contaminate the entire product by digging your fingers in. I also can’t live without our Golden Belly Serum, which I actually double as a facial oil. It’s a blend of 13 botanical oils, including Marula oil and Rosehip oil, which are common oils found in women’s luxury facial oils as well. The Nourishing Baby Face Cream and the Golden Belly Serum together are actual a dream for glowing skin, for me.
Image Credit: Evereden (Soothing Belly Mask Collection, Nourishing Stretch Mark Cream and Golden Belly Serum)
12) Lastly, what are your favourite beauty and skin care tips that you would like to share with our Mummy readers?
Kimberley: I love popping on a face mask whenever I’m about the house, doing other things. It’s a great way to multi-task while also leaving my skin glowing. Now that I’m working from home too, I’m taking advantage of being able to mask throughout the day!
For pregnant and new moms, you’re always pressed for time, so really anything that helps make your beauty routine more efficient is a win. My girlfriends who are moms always say that one of the main areas of beauty that takes a hit is their hair routine. For quick and easy styling, they recommend doing simple braids at night for beautiful, subtle waves in the morning. It literally
takes an extra minute in your nighttime routine and all you have to do is go to sleep!
Thank you Kimberley Ho for taking our interview!
Image Credit: Evereden (Baby Shampoo & Body Wash, Baby Moisturizing Lotion, Soothing Baby Massage Oil, Multi-Purpose Healing Balm and Nourishing Baby Face Cream)
Evereden boasts a whole range of safer-than-safe, cleaner-than-clean, all-natural skincare products from baby shampoos, sunscreen to stretch mark creams and belly serums for expecting mommies that gives you a peace of mind when you’re looking after yourself and your family’s skin health. To find out more about Evereden and to purchase the products, please go to www.ever-eden.com. International shipping to Singapore is at SGD$15 and orders can be delivered in 9-12 working days.
