Meet The Maker - Anna Lahey
Tell us a little bit about yourself, and what are some of the cornerstones in your journey that make you the woman you are today?
Creating a business and becoming a mother to three children are defining moments that have shaped who I am.
Launching an ingestible beauty brand seven years ago into a market that didn’t yet understand beauty supplements was undoubtedly life-changing. It was a challenge and I embraced it head-first.
Can you tell us about those early days dreaming up Vida Glow, what ignited the passion, and how did you start turning dreams into a reality circa 2014?
Vida Glow is, quite simply, my passion. Everything from the brand’s beginnings, its philosophy and scientific innovation reflect my personal drive for helping people discover real results.
When Vida Glow launched, marine collagen wasn’t the beauty buzzword it is today. I tried every supplement I could find to treat my hair loss, and marine collagen was the only treatment that gave me fast, visible results. I’d buy marine collagen and gift it to family, friends, and anyone I knew who was struggling with a skin or hair concern. Like me, they saw incredible results. At this time, I couldn’t get marine collagen readily in Australia. So, I saw an opportunity for a business venture.
In our beginnings, it was just my husband, Kieran, and I working on Vida Glow after hours. I’d stand outside health food stores handing out samples. We didn’t have a business plan or strategy, but we believed in our product and its real, tangible results.
Vida Glow is the number one, natural marine collagen brand in the world. What does being an industry global leader mean to you?
It’s an incredibly exciting time for Vida glow, and ingestible beauty. It’s still an emerging industry and has endless opportunity for innovation. Vida Glow is built around clinically proven results, and we're proud to be leading the way for substantiated ingestible claims. Our mission is to keep pushing the industry’s science, efficacy standards and innovation forward.
Any key mantras you live by?
“You can’t really worry too much by looking to the left and the right about what the competition is doing, or what other people in your field are doing. It has to be a true vision” - Anna Wintour.
What is the best perk of your job!?
The biggest perk of my job is being surrounded by our team every day. Our team is everything. We have an office full of dedicated and talented experts who are invested in our mission. They share our passion for the brand and I’m grateful for them every day.
Your greatest achievement to date?
Between running a business and having three children – there are plenty to choose from. For Vida Glow, our recent rebrand was a very gratifying milestone. Not just for me, but the whole team who put years of hard work into bringing the vision to life. Although we’re seven years in, 2021 feels like year one for Vida Glow. Our rebrand has set the tone for our continuing innovation at the forefront of ingestible beauty and has propelled us to being a brand with global appeal and opportunities.
And your greatest lesson?
Don’t be afraid to be the first, welcome the challenges. Having a first-mover mindset is what drives us to challenge the standard and innovate for our customers.
At The Facialist, we look at beauty holistically. While we work topically with the skin, inner health and mental wellbeing play a large part in the glow in the surface. That is why Vida Glow has fast become a much-loved part of our offering, supporting skin health from the inside out. Can you please tell us more about how your Marine Collagen works:
Vida Glow’s Natural Marine Collagen is a hydrolysed collagen peptide powder that replenishes and restores collagen to a deeper layer of skin, hair and nails. Marine collagen is derived from the skin of fish. We use responsibly sourced fish skin that would otherwise be discarded as waste by the food industry.
Once ingested, marine collagen is absorbed and distributed into the bloodstream, via the blood vessels, to a deeper layer of skin called the dermis. Once it reaches the collagen matrix it stimulates fibroblast proliferation, generating the production of fresh collagen. Our marine collagen is clinically proven to smooth fine lines and wrinkles, increase skin firmness and enhance skin elasticity.
We offer a Collagen Beauty Shot on our beverage menu in the studio, a great way customers can internally support their treatment. What are other ways you’d suggest we can support our skin health from the inside out?
Ingestible beauty and advances in our understanding of nutrition have shown just how important it is to maintain a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle. In the simplest of terms, Vida Glow is an ingestible beauty brand. It’s important to recognise that ingestible and topical treatments are designed support you alongside a balanced lifestyle. That means, a good diet, regular movement and mindfulness are also key to looking after yourself – and your skin.
What is your personal approach to beauty, any grounding philosophies?
My beauty philosophy focuses on a bi-directional approach. I know that a routine that includes looking after myself from the inside out and the outside in delivers maximum results.
We love that a good beauty and skincare regime offers bookend self-care rituals to a busy day. What do your AM and PM beauty routines look like?
Morning: In the morning, I take our Original Natural Marine Collagen in glass of water. Then, my skincare routine includes a gentle cleanse, followed by an antioxidant serum, moisturiser and sunscreen.
Evening: In the evening, I take a more targeted approach to treating the pigmentation left behind after having my children. I cleanse, and switch between and exfoliating lotion and a pigmentation serum, and finish with a rich cream. I’ve also recently introduced our new brightening capsules, Radiance, to my regimen – and my complexion already looks more even and luminous.
And if you could only pick one ‘desert-island’ product? Is there an MVP in your beauty bag?
Our Original Natural Marine Collagen. It’s flavourless and can be mixed into any drinks – hot or cold. Plus, I’d be lost without its skin-pluming benefits.
And finally, we know ingestible beauty is a growing market as more people understand the positive impacts it can have on their health, beauty and over-all sense of well-being. With that in mind, can we expect anything new from you Vida Glow in the coming months?
Now we’ve established a solid base of multitasking daily essentials like Natural Marine Collagen, Anti-G-Ox and Hyaluronic Complex, we’re expanding into our innovation and clinically-driven Advanced Repair range. This is a collection of targeted products for specific beauty concerns. Our first product from the range is Radiance, a capsule targeting the effects of pigmentation. I believe these products will change the way people perceive ingestible beauty.