49 min
Marleen Maras - Why This Scientist Is Taking The Development Of Natural Cosmetic Products Into Her Own Hands And Why Entrepreneurship Is Not About Age! - 012 Behind The Story - Career Change, Life Change
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- Careers
This podcast episode is part of a new series, "Talking To Jane", in partnership with Start it @KBC, (Facebook) a Startup Incubator with the largest Startup Community in Belgium.
In this series, Jane interviews entrepreneurs of Tech Startups, put forward by Start it@KBC. You will hear their inspiring journey's and the role of incubators to start and grow their business.
Here is what is shared and discussed in this episode:
Links and Resources:
Marleen's company and Social Media Links: http://www.enfleur.be/en/home - Her blog is on her website LinkedIn Facebook (closed)-Enfleurtjes Facebook (public)-Enfleur Marleen can be contacted through: Social Media Enfleur website contact form Email: info@enfleur.be VIB - VIB is a life sciences research institute, based in Flanders, Belgium. Marleen worked at VIB for 11 years doing Research Marleen get's business coaching from Stefan Schippers at Startit @KBC Marleen get's further business coaching from team at http://www.thinkwithpeople.be/ http://www.gova-benelux.be/ - Marleen got a lot of advice on ingredients from this company in Antwerp/Belgium, and she get's mentorship from the owner, who is a Formulator himself. Organizations and dermatologist that provide detailed consumer information on ingredients in skin care products. Marleen uses these sites often for consultatation: http://www.cosmeticanalysis.com/ https://www.ewg.org/ https://www.cir-safety.org/ Dermatologist Jetske Ultee - https://www.dr-jetskeultee.com/blog/ Dermatologist Perry Romanowski: http://chemistscorner.com For more:
Right-click here and save as to download this episode to your computer You can find the shownotes to this episode on: http://behindthestory.be/podcast/episode12 Subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Android
If you would like to be part of my storytelling community, please join my Facebook group here The interview:
Marleen is owner of Enfleur Pure Natural. She started her company using her experience as a scientist, her passion for nature, and concerns about ingredients in cosmetics, to develop and produce her own brand of natural skin care products.
She has a Ph.D. in Biotechnology and she was (and still is) a scientist and an account manager in the Life Science field for years, before she ventured into entrepreneurship and started her own business.
As a child, Marleen was always interested in plants and animals. Around the age of twelve, she knew she wanted to be a biologist. After finishing her Bachelors in Biology, she did a Masters in Biotechnology and to obtain her Ph.D, she worked at the research institute, Vlaams Instituut door Biotechnologie (VIB), doing research projects in different domains. One of the projects she did was about ecotoxicology and she saw the impact some chemical components of consumer products had on our environment, causing pollution and affecting wildlife. These compounds can even end up in the fats of Polar Bears on the North pole. She believes with good efforts and good will we can help our environment and the generations to come.
Over the years, she got more and more inspired to develop her own skin care products. She experienced some skin problems from creams, other creams lost their effect, and she got concerned about the fact that we don't always get the correct information about all ingredients in commercial products. She then started developing creams with natural ingredients in her lab. Marleen would do research on the ingredients to determine which ones would work and be safe and which ones were toxic and even cancerous. Even though it was more a hobby doing it on a small scale, she decided to start the process of commercializing her products.
Education is key to Marleen, as cosmetic labels are not easy to understand and we are often not familiar with the ingredients. She consults specific databases on websites she trusts. But even information on good websites can be conflicting and contradictory. Also, a negative review o
This podcast episode is part of a new series, "Talking To Jane", in partnership with Start it @KBC, (Facebook) a Startup Incubator with the largest Startup Community in Belgium.
In this series, Jane interviews entrepreneurs of Tech Startups, put forward by Start it@KBC. You will hear their inspiring journey's and the role of incubators to start and grow their business.
Here is what is shared and discussed in this episode:
Links and Resources:
Marleen's company and Social Media Links: http://www.enfleur.be/en/home - Her blog is on her website LinkedIn Facebook (closed)-Enfleurtjes Facebook (public)-Enfleur Marleen can be contacted through: Social Media Enfleur website contact form Email: info@enfleur.be VIB - VIB is a life sciences research institute, based in Flanders, Belgium. Marleen worked at VIB for 11 years doing Research Marleen get's business coaching from Stefan Schippers at Startit @KBC Marleen get's further business coaching from team at http://www.thinkwithpeople.be/ http://www.gova-benelux.be/ - Marleen got a lot of advice on ingredients from this company in Antwerp/Belgium, and she get's mentorship from the owner, who is a Formulator himself. Organizations and dermatologist that provide detailed consumer information on ingredients in skin care products. Marleen uses these sites often for consultatation: http://www.cosmeticanalysis.com/ https://www.ewg.org/ https://www.cir-safety.org/ Dermatologist Jetske Ultee - https://www.dr-jetskeultee.com/blog/ Dermatologist Perry Romanowski: http://chemistscorner.com For more:
Right-click here and save as to download this episode to your computer You can find the shownotes to this episode on: http://behindthestory.be/podcast/episode12 Subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Android
If you would like to be part of my storytelling community, please join my Facebook group here The interview:
Marleen is owner of Enfleur Pure Natural. She started her company using her experience as a scientist, her passion for nature, and concerns about ingredients in cosmetics, to develop and produce her own brand of natural skin care products.
She has a Ph.D. in Biotechnology and she was (and still is) a scientist and an account manager in the Life Science field for years, before she ventured into entrepreneurship and started her own business.
As a child, Marleen was always interested in plants and animals. Around the age of twelve, she knew she wanted to be a biologist. After finishing her Bachelors in Biology, she did a Masters in Biotechnology and to obtain her Ph.D, she worked at the research institute, Vlaams Instituut door Biotechnologie (VIB), doing research projects in different domains. One of the projects she did was about ecotoxicology and she saw the impact some chemical components of consumer products had on our environment, causing pollution and affecting wildlife. These compounds can even end up in the fats of Polar Bears on the North pole. She believes with good efforts and good will we can help our environment and the generations to come.
Over the years, she got more and more inspired to develop her own skin care products. She experienced some skin problems from creams, other creams lost their effect, and she got concerned about the fact that we don't always get the correct information about all ingredients in commercial products. She then started developing creams with natural ingredients in her lab. Marleen would do research on the ingredients to determine which ones would work and be safe and which ones were toxic and even cancerous. Even though it was more a hobby doing it on a small scale, she decided to start the process of commercializing her products.
Education is key to Marleen, as cosmetic labels are not easy to understand and we are often not familiar with the ingredients. She consults specific databases on websites she trusts. But even information on good websites can be conflicting and contradictory. Also, a negative review o
49 min