As a young boy growing up in Greece, I was always drawn to creating things. One of my favorite pastimes was standing under the faucet, grabbing every soap I could find, and trying to mix up the ultimate “super soap.” From an early age, I was fascinated by mixing and crafting new formulas—an interest that eventually led me to pursue chemistry. That passion even earned me a publication during my internship at Hope College in Michigan, titled “Synthesis and Structural Investigation of an ‘Oxazinoquinolinespirohexadienone’ That Only Exists as Its Long-Wavelength Ring-Opened Quinonimine Isomer” (try saying that five times fast!).

Fast forward a few years ago, my mom planted a seed that changed everything. She was half-joking mentioned how expensive her favorite cosmetic was and said, “You’re a chemist—why don’t you make something?” Challenge accepted. I thought, Why not bring back the magic of those childhood experiments?

After months of research, testing, and tweaking formulas, I finally landed on a winner. My mom loved it, and soon I was handing it out to friends and family. The feedback was incredible. I kept hearing things like, “Bro, my wife loves your stuff—you should sell this!”

Of course, starting a business came with its fair share of hurdles. What should I name the company? What font should I use? How big should the letters be? What kind of bottle? What colors? And how on earth do I get this onto Amazon?!

Now, here we are—with one product out in the world and many more on the way. If you made it through this whole story, let me just say—wow, you’re awesome! Thanks for sticking around.

Christos Sikes