Sylvia Walker RN, BSN, MBA, MHA, CCP is the Founder and owner of NAIWBE Natural As I Wanna Be® with over 25 years of combined health care experience as a Registered Nurse and Corporate Healthcare Professional. NAIWBE Natural As I Wanna Be® is certified woman owned business by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council and located in Jacksonville, Florida. NAIWBE® is a lifestyle brand promoting clean skin care products. “I created NAIWBE® as a direct result of seeking a solution to my own dry skin conditions of Eczema since childhood and developing Contact Dermatitis as a young nurse. I experienced dry cracked skin on my hands due to repeated hand washing in a hospital environment with harsh cleansers and water-based lotions. After formulating my moisturizer in 2011 and experiencing positive results, the concept “Natural As I Wanna Be” was a natural decision to create skin care products that represent a responsible healthy lifestyle choice. I test marketed NAIWBE products with family, friends, and co-workers in the health care profession. The feedback was extremely positive and provided healing for all skin types, especially for dry skin conditions.”
“My mission is to continue to develop, provide and maintain the highest quality standards for clean responsible skin care products for all skin types. NAIWBE® benefits go beyond healthy skin and are committed to providing, developing, and maintaining sustainable products with environmental, social, and economic benefits while protecting public health & the environment.”
FWM: Please share the backstory on NAIWBE®.
In 2013, NAIWBE® participated in the One Spark Crowdfunding event, whose purpose was to attract businesses in different categories to compete for seed funding and private investment opportunities. NAIWBE competed in the Health and Innovation category and received the highest number of crowdfunding votes and received a monetary seed award and event recognition. We utilized the small monetary award to continue promoting NAIWBE by participating as a vendor with the Jacksonville Jazz Festival which led to an interview with Kumasi Aaron, News Reporter with WJXT and a professional relationship developed providing numerous opportunities to be interviewed on the benefits of responsible skincare products.
As a new and developing business the realization of the journey is not a direct path but a circuitous path to the goal. Faced with the challenge of securing opportunities to get Healthy Lifestyle companies to offer our products in their stores, we realized that the only way to get our products known was to open the NAIWBE Day Spa which opened on October 24, 2013. NAIWBE Day Spa offered massage therapy, facials, manicures, and pedicures with NAIWBE skincare products being the featured product for all the services provided. We established relationships with the Downtown Hilton and Hyatt as a preferred vendor for their guests which featured the Annual Mrs. International Beauty Pageant.
In 2016, NAIWBE was selected as a contestant for a new show ‘HATCHED” on the CW Network’s in Los Angeles, California highlighting new business with opportunities to get exposure and funding. In 2022, The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (CSC), launched the nation’s first-ever safer Black beauty public database featuring NAIWBE products. NAIWBE was one of the 80 Black-Owned brands to be featured on the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. Our products are free of the harmful ingredients on CSC’s Red List of Chemicals of Concern in Cosmetics, which includes chemicals of particular concern for Black women. This list allows Black women to shop for beauty products with confidence knowing that the products they’re purchasing are free of ingredients linked to negative health effects, including those of special concern to Black women. NAIWBE continues to promote safe cosmetics and healthy lifestyle choices.
FWM: What makes your brand unique?
As a healthcare professional with skin issues, we wanted to create products without harmful ingredients from day one. We knew our target market and customer. I wanted to create non-toxic skincare products to not only help myself but also decrease women of color exposure to chemicals linked to breast and ovarian cancer, uterine fibroids, reproductive harm, and more. Our mission is to not only to develop, provide, and maintain quality skincare products at an affordable price but to keep our communities healthy and safe and do our part to help preserve our planet for the generations to come. We only make and sell products that we use every day. We believe “Clean Skin Starts with Clean Skincare.”
FWM: Tell us about Simply Made Well™.
Simply Made Well is another way of saying we care about the ingredients we use in our products, and we care about our customers. The skin is the largest organ and first line of defense. It’s important that we use safe products that penetrate the skin to provide a protective barrier and prevent dryness especially on the hands. The first step in any skincare routine should start with clean moisturized hands. I came up with this expression after being asked on several occasions, have you thought about investing in some of the new innovative ingredients out on the market. My response was no. Skincare products don’t have to be complicated to be effective. Just because something is new doesn’t make it better and I’m always cautious about limited data on a new ingredient whether from a natural plant found somewhere around the world or created in a lab because we don’t know what the long-term effects will be. We are simply honest, straightforward, and transparent about our products. They are made in a way that helps guarantee success with all types of skin. The very first formulation I created is an anhydrous (waterless) moisturizer that can be used on the hands, feet, body, and scalp for natural hair to help prevent dryness. It is well worth the price providing desirable results of healthy glowing skin. It just means we use quality ingredients in our products. Our products feel good on your skin from the outside in, are effective, and perform on all skin types. There are millions of people that have not found a solution to their dry skin issues or just looking for a healthy alternative. I invite you to explore the NAIWBE experience. Beauty is powerful, when it is simple, and you can be yourself.
FWM: Mother’s Day is around the corner. What specials are you offering?
Free Gift, IDA Facial Mini Kit Retail Value $25 with any purchase from www.naiwbe.com Limited Offer for Mother’s Day. This is a great gift to share with a friend, family member , or loved one. Give the Gift of NAIWBE clean skincare this Mother’s Day.
FWM: What have you learned as a successful entrepreneur?
I’ve learned to not rush things, let them happen organically. I remember listening to an interview years ago of an artist that I thought was new and he said It took me twenty years to become an overnight success. I thought to myself that is deep and when it is your time nobody can stop your success. My personal mantra is To always deliver more than I promise. My motivation to be the best and do the best comes from within me.
Keep dreaming your dream until it becomes your reality. You already have everything you need inside of you to be successful.
FWM: Do you plan on expanding your brand in 2023?
My goal has always been to connect with the healthcare industry. This year, that has finally come to fruition. We signed a contract with Baptist Health, a local hospital system to provide personal care products. We recently received our first purchase order from them that will be shipped to our customer in a few days. We hope to continue expansion in 2023 by increasing awareness, our product portfolio offering, and contracts with other healthcare entities.
