SPOTLIGHTS
BEAUTY
“
I always wanted something that was naturally based that wouldn’t harm my skin
“
16
MADE
SIMPLE N
making of Good Skin. “I became an ingredient-phobe and an ingredient whore,” she said. “I can tell what an ingredient is because I learned her bible for ingredients.” In addition to retail, she also worked in supply chain management and trained beauty advisers across Florida to experience the full scope of beauty Story by: Samantha Chery
sales. While Robinson may seem to have the setup for a picture-perfect business, her life leading up to Good Skin was riddled with bumps and
yimah Boles Robinson sees
beauty industry.
bruises.
2020 as a good year for Good
She began her career as a seasonal
As a former sharecropper’s daughter,
Skin.
associate for Bath & Body Works,
she grew up poor in Harlem during
Robinson, 35, launched Good Skin,
but her passion for natural beauty
the crack epidemic of the 1980s. The
a homegrown black skin care line, in
products blossomed from working as a
apartment her family lived in was
September of 2018. With the collection
store manager for The Body Shop
across from a five-story crack house,
of products now in a few stores across
The brand’s founder, Anita Roddick,
and the playground adjacent to the
Florida, the businesswoman hopes to
inspired Robinson to use simple and
building was littered with cocaine vials,
expand the brand to Washington and
straightforward substances in the
New York by the end of 2020. “I always wanted something that was naturally based that I could use but wouldn’t harm my skin,” she said. Based in Gainesville, she set out to address skin problems specific to women of color. Five years and dozens of trial formulas later, she accomplished her goal by creating rejuvenating concoctions that heal skin and leave a lasting glow, she said. To craft the products, such as antioxidant gel cleanser and bioactive facial oil, she infused her 16 years of experience from different sectors of the
SYNERGY MAGAZINE
