Dreamers Club: The Bod Society

I'm so lucky to meet so many incredible business owners as part of my Brand Photographer journey. The lessons they've learnt, the success they've celebrated and the stories they tell inspire me everyday. A story that is very close to my heart, is from Christie from The Bod Society.

Christie was my first official brand client when she first launched her business. I had been running my business for about 4 years - and well and truly loving the life of families and weddings. Christie was my eyelash queen & skin therapist at the time and every appointment she would talk to me about how she wanted to start her own skincare brand. Not only was her excitement and passion contagious, but her knowledge on skin was out of this world - in fact, she managed to clear my acne within just a few months (something I had struggled with for at least 10 years prior).

So when the time came to bringing the vision to life, she asked if I wanted to photograph her products. I was hesitant as it's not something I was passionate about at the time, and almost said no. But Christie's belief in me to bring her products to life, convinced me to take on the job and my goodness - I'm so glad I did, I've been hooked ever since.

Since then, I've been lucky enough to create magic for The Bod Society every month since - and have gained a beautiful friend along the journey. So to kick off the Dreamers Club monthly spotlight, I couldn't imagine anyone else to have along! So... let's get into it, it's time to meet Christie - the magical creative skincare formulator, boss babe and mumma.

After being the beauty industry for 13 years, Christie saw a lot of brands that didn't align with her and she always wanted to dabble in the creation of skincare but never took the leap because the industry is so saturated. But, in early 2017, Christies Dad was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. He underwent some serious chemo and radiotherapy which took a toll on his skin. He was uncomfortable and itchy all the time, His skin had sores and burns all over the areas they targeted. Christie felt quite helpless so she started fluffing around with a chamomile and oatmeal bath soak, soothing body oil and a gentle body scrub. She made these at the start to help heal his skin or to at least make him feel more comfortable and at ease. Her Dad and grandpa both suggested she should sell it, and in that moment - The Bod Society was born.

The Bod Society first launched in February 2018 after 4 months of hard work and preparation, it's now grown into an INCREDIBLE brand that is connective, effective and earth friendly - transforming the skin of over 6000 customers and counting! The Bod Society is a natural skincare brand that's passionate about creating sustainable, fabulous, eco friendly & effective products. Focusing on revolutionising an industry that is saturated in plastic, chemicals and lacking in community.

The Bod Society's range is constantly growing, releasing new exciting products that are always vegan, eco friendly and cruelty free. Her latest product release (and Christies current favourite product) is the tropical body butter and my goodness - this smells AMAZING. Hand poured into a 150gm aluminium tube, the rich and decadent body butter was created to deeply nourish, heal and restore the skin with black currant oil, olive butter, macadamia butter and mango butter. It helps boost the skin's firmness, fighting against the signs of ageing and preventing skin conditions like eczema & dermatitis - all while smelling like a tropical island. Heavenly.

Christie's favourite thing about running a business has been creating a beautiful community. She has met so many phenomenal people through her brand - including both life long friends and loyal customers. But it hasn't always been sunshines and rainbows along the journey, as other biz owners would know - the entrepreneur life is one big learning curve of successful wins and hard lessons. So we asked Christie.. "What has been some of your biggest challenges along the way?"

"Getting to the point where I knew I could no longer do it on my own. Having to hire people so that I could lighten the load and focus on the things that only I could do (which I thought was everything haha). Letting go of some responsibility and getting help from others has been very hard but the most rewarding. Another challenge that constantly comes up is that due to the speciality of ingredients I choose they are hard to find. Sometimes only one stockist supplies it in the whole of Australia, so it can be challenging at times to source items."

"But my advice to other biz owners is when things get tough - keep going. Don't listen to that little voice of self doubt and imposter syndrome when it pops up to say hello. Sometimes business can be slow, but it will pick back up. If you're lacking in creative juices, take a break and go for a walk, get off social media for a few days. Reset and recharge."

Not only is Christie an inspiring boss babe - but she's just stepped into the life of a being a first time Mumma (and being an amazing one might I add!). But finding balance between the two has been HARD. Christie describes it as being "a bitter sweet dance between being exhausted and being in love, with both the biz and motherhood". But in the 5 short months of Koa being earth side, the dream team duo of Christie and Blake has found a routine that works. Setting one day a week for admin, marketing & socials while Blake has Koa and steps in every few hours for a feed and cuddle. Blake then goes to the factory 2 - 3 times a week to make the products, organise stock and clean while Christie gets to spend quality time with Koa. There's usually one day a week where they'll take a family adventure to the factory and take turns manufacturing/entertaining Koa.

Christie is a true dreamer and still has big goals for the future of her brand. So I had to ask what the future looked like for The Bod Society, and she said "Having our own independent stores with refill and recycling stations, enough room to hold events like educational nights, DIY stations and much more. The skys the limit. "

Inspiring right?! Being apart of Christie's journey has been incredible. Watching the brand and her family grow , creating magic of her products every step of the way. If you'd like to follow her amazing journey and show her some support - you can find The Bod Society on Facebook or Instagram!

So how can you get your hands on some Bod Society goodness? The next collection launch is Monday 2nd August 6AM AWST and products sell out super fast. Use SARAH5 at checkout for a cheeky discount.