Layoff to payoff: Here's how one local mom launched a successful skincare line

Tired of rubbing steroids into her daughter's skin to clear up eczema, Angela Hubbard came up with a homemade, plant-based formula that did the trick.

"Before creating skincare products, I spent most of my professional career in project management, which has helped me tremendously in my entrepreneurial journey—handling multiple projects simultaneously, budget, task and vendor management, and, most of all, organizational skills—all skills that are beneficial in life as an entrepreneur," she tells me.

Hubbard's company is named in honor of her grandmother, the late Juanita Watts. "She was my she-ro, and a true example of anything can be achieved if you put your mind and heart into it," Angie tells me.

Hubbard lives in Rolesville with her two children, ages 10 and 13, and her husband. Here's a Q&A with more details about how the business got its start, what it offers and what the future holds.

The situation of being jobless wasn’t the ideal condition in which to start a business, but I used it as an opportunity to prove to myself that I have what it takes to operate and build a successful business. It was a pivotal fight or flight moment for me, and I decided to fight with Angie Watts and it ended up taking flight! I turned a layoff into a payoff!

The products we offer include whipped body butters, eczema therapy products, hair and body oil, facial care (cleansers, toners, exfoliators, masks, serums, etc), and a newly launched line of men's beard products.

I formulate recipes made from plant-based, organic and natural carrier oils. They are completely edible, however, I would not advise having a serving of whipped body butter as a dessert…LOL.

Most of the ingredients in the products can be found in your kitchen cabinets, including olive oil, avocado oil, grapeseed oil, coconut oil, and apricot kernel seed oil. They have amazing therapeutic and hydrating properties. You will never find an obscure, 15-letter ingredient that you can’t pronounce in our list of ingredients.

We want the products made available globally in the future. In the coming months, we plan to reach clean beauty lovers in Canada, the first phase of “going global.” We also hope to penetrate the retail market, so that our products are more accessible to clean beauty consumers here in the United States as well. Having a retail location where the consumer can go in, touch and/or smell the product, makes the purchasing decision more rewarding.

I love the idea of leaving behind a legacy for my children. Although they are only 10 and 13, I am already teaching them many aspects of the business. Once in a while, you might just see one of them assisting me at a local pop-up here in the Triangle. With that being said, any decisions I make for the future of my business, I have my children in mind.