Today we’d like to introduce you to Monica Pittenger.
Monica, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Like all good stories, let’s start from the beginning. After 7 years in the classroom as a middle school Math teacher and cheer coach, I decided to say at home and raise my 3 boys! Yes, I said 3 boys!! I enjoyed that chapter in life, but I started to lose my identity in my boys. I was no longer Monica; I was now the mom with 3 very active boys. I love my boys more than anything and always will, but I needed to find me again, I needed my confidence back. So, over a Christmas holiday, my sisters and I were discussing how we all lost ourselves in the busyness of life. During that discussion, my older sister Julie was complaining about her hair and especially her hair in the humidity. We started to discuss all the different products that you had to mix together to get the one perfect product for your hair. And that my friend is where the idea was born! If we could make beauty easy for the busy women, more moms would have the time for beauty. More moms would regain their confidence! We had an idea! We had a plan and we got to work.
After a solid year of research and countless product samples we finally developed our first product. Our Signature Styling cream. One product that does it all! It controls frizz, adds shine, protects from heat, all while nourishing the hair overtime. It does it all!
How can 3 sisters create a product? Well, older sister Julie, is a chemical engineer, and little sister Katie is a doctor, so I’m surrounded by brains and beauty! Ha! Funny but true. My sisters are gifted, and I get to benefit from their gifts.
Now that I just made my sisters smile, let’s get back to story… After we created our Signature Styling Cream for the hair, we added 7 other amazing products. (All made in America.) And that my friend is how Busy Beauties came about.
It is Beauty for the busy women. Real products made by real women designed to help women regain their confidence.
So that is where the story ends…. WRONG! It is kind of just the beginning.
Busy Beauties just celebrated its 3-year anniversary and is slowly climbing the business ladder. We even survived a global pandemic, so we can’t complain.
My 3 boys are now older, I have two in Middle school and one in Elementary. It’s a fun age that created a new problem.
You see, my oldest son (who is 6 feet tall in 8th grade, wowzers) has morning football practice before school. I’m talking a workout in Texas heat every morning before school. Then, the 150 boys are given 4 minutes to shower in only 3 showers…. You see the problem? The boys were not given enough time to shower and let’s face it, most were too embarrassed to shower. So now you have a bunch of boys going through the day smelling like…well…smelly boys! If that was the only problem, I might have not started another company, but it was not. My son’s face was breaking out big time. So, I did what any mom would do. I started to pack my skincare products from Busy Beauties in his backpack every day. You see, I am very particular on the products that I will allow my boys to use on their skin. After researching skincare for 4 years now, one can say I know too much.
Well, here is the problem, he refused to use my products at school. Something about the words Busy Beauties written in purple on frosted bottles was not considered cool in the boy’s locker room.
So, I started to look for something easy and “cool” for my boys to bring to school. And to my disappointment, I could not find anything on the market! I just wanted oversized, individually packaged, body wipes, made with good ingredients, and made in America. You see, you cannot rub alcohol on your face after a workout. Your pores are open and exposed and the wipes on the market would do more harm than good. I just wanted something that would cleanse and nourish the skin without drying it out.
So, I made my own! Yep! That is how company number 2 started. We call it “Wash Yo Self” Don’t you just love the name? It is individualized, oversized body wipes made with aloe and witch hazel and made in America. Let’s talk about size… they are big enough to clean your face, pits, and privates (in that order please). Honestly, like nothing else on the market. And you can just grab one on your way out the door for the day. So convenient!
So that is the end of our story… kidding! There is just a little more.
My sisters partnered with me on Wash Yo self and so did my good friend, Tim Cook. Tim owns a gym here in Prosper called Buit4it. He trans many of the professional athletes in the area. He is also lucky enough to train me! HAHAH I think I’m his least favorite client. I like the idea of being fit, but the work that goes into it is honestly insane! Anyway, back on topic. With Tim’s help we have some amazing professional athletes as our ambassadors who believe in our product too. It’s really cool. In fact, Ice Cube gave us a shoutout on his IG page. Yes, the one and only Ice Cube. This is only the beginning guys. Blessed is an understatement.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, I honestly believe if any business owners tell you, it has been a smooth road, they are hiding something. I’m not sure where to start. I guess the biggest challenge we had with Busy Beauties was the Trademark trouble we got into the first week we launched our new company.
Here is the short story: Some company from the northeast applied for a trademark with a similar name and got denied because it was too close to our name. So, they decided to send us a letter demanding us to dispose of all our products and demanding us to give up out trademark. CRAZY!!! I know. It made us so angry that a company could do that. We did everything correct. We filled out the trademark paperwork. Waited many months, got approved, and sold our goods. How can a company come in and demand us to give up our trademark, our name?
I will tell you. They were young professionals (just out of college by a few months) with a new company idea and a lot of money from mom and dad! Not cool! So, after two years of legal fees, we of course won and got to keep our name. But we spent so much money on legal fees. I wish the other company well, but it quickly made me realize not all business owners have the Texas hospitality that we pride ourselves in.
There have been so many struggles along the way. It is how you handle those challenges that truly matter. Never compromise your core believes in the process. That is HUGE.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Busy Beauties and Wash Yo Self?
Yes! That is correct. I own 2 companies!
All of our products are made in America. They are created by women for women. We are a family-owned, 100% women-owned company and we believe in quality ingredients.
Busy Beauties just a launched a NEW hand cream. Our first new product in 3 years! It really is a game-changer for the market and has its own unique story. So, as I mentioned before, little sister Katie is a doctor. She does long 24-hour shifts at the hospital and that job requires a LOT of hand-washing. Add a pandemic to the mix, and that equals chronic dry, cracked, irritated hands. One night she went back to her call room and her hands were on fire. Katie didn’t have any lotion, so she pulled out our lab sample of an overnight face cream we were working on and rubbed them all over her hands. The results were amazing. Her hands felt and looked better after just one use. The more she used the moisturizer, the better her hands felt. So, Katie got excited and passed samples around the hospital to other doctors and nurses. The results were all the same. People fell in love! It soothed their hands, didn’t feel greasy and smelled fresh but not overpowering. In that moment, we decided to turn our face moisturizer into a luxury hand cream! We believe your hands deserve as much love as your face and this formula has the best ingredients we could find!
Are there any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
With both of our companies, we are building ambassador programs. So, I am reading anything and everything I can get my hand on about building a tribe of truly amazing people. With this ambassador program, we believe we can take this company to the next level.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.busy-beauties.com and https://www.washyoself.com
- Instagram: @busy_beauties
- Facebook: @3.crazy.sisters
- Twitter: /officialbusybeauties
- Youtube: @wash.yo.self
Image Credits
Audrie Dollins
