Tell us a bit about yourself and some pivoting moments that led you to become the woman you are today.

I started work very young and looking back I saw how a business was run through watching my parents. I grew up at their office, worked there and learned the ‘in’s and out’s’ since day one. Starting at age 5 with the mail run, then stationery orders. At the age of 7, when I was given the responsibility to write out cheques to suppliers (way too much responsibility for any 7 year old!). I can still remember the recipient’s names. This grounding in business gave me a thirst for entrepreneurship. It showed me the dedication and commitment that is needed on a daily basis to create and run a successful business and instilled in me a respect for the value of a dollar. I witnessed the trials and tribulations of acquiring clients and managing staff from a very early age. I learnt to take nothing for granted, and that everything is earned through hard work.

I have suffered with endometriosis and menorrhagia since I was very young and was not fully diagnosed until my first surgery in 2013, which was six hours long. Although you can tick every symptom box for endometriosis, surgery is the often the only definitive diagnosis. This has definitely impacted my life in a major way. Along with crippling pain during most weeks of the month, anaemia, migraines, back pain, leg pain, IBS, and brain fog conspire to take over the best of you. I know many women who have endometriosis, who tend to suffer in silence because pain can be extremely subjective.

After University, I lived overseas for a period of time which are some of my best memories and definitely my most interesting tales to tell. The bar is set very high for anything service or product based. Today’s consumer is more informed and less influenced by brand alone, so you can’t really produce anything unless it is better than what already exists. This definitely played a factor when conceptualising Tronque, creating a point of difference in a category that hasn’t been too saturated.

In the last couple of years I’ve had the most personal growth. Reworking past experiences has been very healing and strengthening.

Congratulations on creating such a beautiful and thoughtful product. We are so thrilled to be able to offer Tronque via F Store online and in the studio, after searching for what felt like forever for a body-care collection that paired well with The Facialist values and holistic approach to beauty. Face-worthy skincare for the body! Rejoice!! Take us back to it’s inception, where did it all begin?

Thank you so much! That is so wonderful to hear! Tronque was born out of much pain, it’s been a blessing to flip the narrative and to help so many people from my journey. My motivation to create Tronque has its origins in my struggle with my reproductive health. While recovering from my second surgery from endometriosis and other uterine complications, I learnt about endocrine disruptors in skincare, which was a very sobering moment.

After writing a list of the top 10 most questionable ingredients found in skincare, I had to throw away 53 products that I had been using from top to toe and was left with just 3 products. I’m a beauty junkie, always have been and I learnt that these endocrine disruptors were found in basically everything I have been using for about 17years. Finding alternatives was very difficult and there was nothing on the market with the same efficacy as my original products, while being stringently ‘clean’. The only clean body products I could find were not products that I was excited to use, or proud to have on my bathroom vanity.

The Tronque Scar Concentrate was the first product formulated. After surgery, I was left with five scars on my pelvis. I tried everything on the market to help heal my scarring, nothing worked and most of the products I was using were full of endocrine disruptors, synthetic dyes and silicones. After experimenting with many different formulations in my kitchen, I found a ‘holy grail’ product that ended up erasing my scars completely. I had five scars to experiment on, to make sure I created a formula that really worked and truly healed. I had a major problem to solve and knew I wasn’t the only one, so after my own positive results I decided to test it further and then take it to market.

Tronque Scar Concentrate is a unique product that can be used on not only scars, but also a wide range of skin concerns such as stretch marks, burns, pigmentation and rough skin. It’s been enlightening and empowering to hear stories from different women about their battle wounds. Our scars mark us as survivors and I believe they show the journey we’ve taken to get to this moment, that can also be a source of pride.

And in those early days, going from a dream to reality?

Where to begin! I truly thought Tronque would be a side project until I saw and heard the powerful images and feedback from friends and family who were first using the Scar Concentrate. They were the ones who motivated me to bring the product to market. There was no hand-book or person saying “this is the next step”, “this is how to do it”. I can’t tell you how many “no’s” or blocks I encountered along the way. It was purely a deep-seated drive and motivation of authentic purpose that kept me moving forward.

Developing the formulas has been the most time-consuming. I had manufactures tell me, “amazing idea, but we can’t do it.” The modern consumer is intelligent and knows the difference between longevity and quality, versus a fleeting one-time purchase. I could have launched much earlier, however, to me, the formulas were not 100% perfect. One product took over 20 versions to get it to where it is today. There was no choice for me, other than to not go to market unless we were the best in our category.

Tronque is a curation of timeless, high-quality products that elevate our quality of living. We feel that we can stand out in a product category that has been stale and untouched for a long time. We want, and have worked incredibly hard, to be best-in-class.

There was never a consideration to focus on the face, as the skin of the body consists of 85-90% of our largest organ. If you’re rubbing on questionable ingredients or cheap fillers all over your precious organ 1-2 times a day, that’s a lot for your skin to process. There would be no compromise on what I was putting on top-to-toe ever again. I had a passion and a drive to tell every woman I knew about my discovery, and we all had the same feelings of confusion and powerlessness. We deserve better and I wanted to give every body, in particular women, the power and choice of the best body care products that could be available to them.

Tell us what it’s been like launching to market, how are you feeling? I mean, 2021 was wild! Did you feel the effects of the pandemic, and did it shift your strategy in any way?

Wild is one word to describe it! Launching in the middle of a pandemic was crazy and I wouldn’t recommend it. I’ve only just recently had a full night’s sleep. I’ve had countless people say, “If you can succeed through this, you can succeed through anything.”

Our launch was delayed throughout the year due to Covid and supply-chain issues also impacted production. However we couldn’t wait any longer and the launch couldn’t have gone better, considering we were in a lockdown. The Tronque products and brand have been so well received by the customers, media and retailers. We have delivered orders to Europe, Hong Kong and the United States since day one.

I’m extremely grateful to our launching retailers who believed in Tronque from inception. I’m so grateful to them to have had their stamp of approval from the day we launched. I’m a perfectionist and to date there has been so much out of my control, however, we launched into the New Zealand market and now we enter the next phase of growth and scale.

Tell us about your brands guiding philosophy; face-worthy skincare for every body?

Tronque is a clean, high-performance body care brand that specialises in using ingredients typically found in face care. Why not treat your body with the same kindness and respect as we do our face?

‘Against neck-down neglect’ is our mission statement and symbolises our motivation to offer the same obsession normally reserved for the face. Skincare means more than just our face. Our formulas are ‘beyond clean’ with no added fragrances of any kind. We offer full ingredient transparency and maximum efficacy. Body care products typically have cheap, toxic filler ingredients to bulk up the volume. As we are fade-grade, no budget was compromised while formulating, as many of our customers choose to also use Tronque on their face.

At The Facialist we believe in the raw power of nature, and it’s healing potential. We just love your ingredient list – tell us more about each product, and what they’ve been formulated to do.

Thank you so much! We’re really proud of our ingredients list. The Scar Concentrate was the baby for Tronque and opened the doors to launch with three powerfully formulated products;

Rich as Croesus Firming Butter gives your body the intense, long-lasting moisture it deserves. Rich in vitamins, minerals, acids and enzymes, the firming butter renews elasticity and deeply revitalises dry, damaged areas.

Softening the texture and look of scars, Soft Focus Scar Concentrate combats uneven pigmentation with four high potency forms of stable, deeply penetrating Vitamin C. A complex of 26 bioactive superfruits and antioxidants improve the formation of new tissue by increasing cell turnover and encouraging collagen production.

The Everyday Revelation Exfoliating Serum gently resurfaces and refines skin, from shoulders to shins without scrubbing, drying or irritation. A combination of natural ingredients provides a gentle chemical exfoliation and deep penetration through the skin barrier for optimum cell renewal.

A lot of new naturally efficacious beauty brands refer to ‘green science’ or ‘clean science’ for someone new to investigating their beauty products – how would you best explain this term?

Green Science or Clean Science is simply the best of both worlds. Mutually beneficial.
Laboratory science and natural ingredients enhanced in a lab create powerful formulas that are incredibly effective and still completely safe.

The term Bio-Cleanical® describes the convergence of nature and technology at the core of Tronque’s product formulas. It’s a term trademarked by Tronque and essentially it describes the unique combination of ingredients in each highly active concentration. Our Bio-Cleanical® ingredients are hoping to set a new standard for formulas in the body care category.

What can we look forward to seeing from Tronque in 2022?

We’re so excited for 2022. Aside from partnering with international retailers, we have some really exciting and innovative new products launching this year. We can’t reveal just yet, but you’ll be the first to know.

And for you personally, what are you most looking forward to?

In 2022 I’m really looking forward to further building the business, growing the team, partnering with new retailers and getting more feedback on the products from customers so we can continue to enhance and expand the product line. I’m genuinely excited to get out of bed every day and work on growing Tronque.

Hearing positive feedback and seeing before and after images warms my heart more than anything.
As Tronque was born out of so much struggle and pain, it’s been a blessing to help other women with healing their scars, endocrine disruptor education and just offering products one looks forward to using.