Elizabeth Lopez, CEO and Founder of rue Santé (translation road to health) grew-up in a family of healers. She learned a lot about natural remedies by watching her grandmother, who lived to be 110 years old, cultivate herbs for medicinal purposes and overall wellness.
After years of traveling internationally for a global ingredients manufacturing company, Elizabeth’s health began to suffer due to an underlying condition and high stress resulting from a work environment that always needed more and more out of her. Ultimately, Elizabeth no longer felt proud about her career choice and ventured on a new path. She left her corporate career behind to run her own business; one based on her own values and that would also help animals.
rue Santé is a vegan, organic, luxury brand of products that aim to promote health and beauty while maintaining environmental sustainability. Elizabeth says, “Our promise is to improve your well being through self-care products and practices for your mind and body.” All products are made in-house in mostly recyclable or compostable packaging. Elizabeth is very adamant about working with eco-friendly materials and reducing her carbon footprint. A portion of rue Santé proceeds go to various causes. Elizabeth says, “We are deeply committed to serving the voiceless, under-represented beings of the earth. We donate a portion of our annual proceeds to support local and global organizations that advocate for the protection of animals and the environment.”
When Covid hit, her manufacturing slowed down significantly. Elizabeth says, “Our wholesale business was completely devastated – all of our brick and mortar partners were forced to close and many remain closed. Our DTC (direct to consumer) business via our online store remains open.” Elizabeth did not take out any loans to stay afloat and that’s thanks to the backing of her supportive family and friends.
The pandemic also had an effect on some of her products. Elizabeth says, “There was a severe shortage of hand sanitizers. We couldn’t find any anywhere so we repurposed our high-end organic perfumery ingredients to make hand sanitizers for our use here at work, not really thinking about selling these.” When clients found out about this, the orders started coming in. There was also a shift in her top sellers with an increase in sales on blemish correcting products like her mineral clay masks and serums. Wearing PPE face masks for prolonged periods of time causes some people to develop “maskne” and other skin issues.
Elizabeth asserts that self-care has never been more important. She preaches Mindfulness-Based Self-Care™ (MBSC) as a powerful practice anybody can implement to help with stress management, disease prevention, mental well being and generally, to live a happy, balanced life. She says, “Beauty is just one of the side-effects.” rue Santé is offering an exclusive 16% introductory discount, use promo code: PHINNEYWOOD valid through October 4, 2020.
For more information or to place an order visit www.rueSante.com
Photo Credit: Karla Rava
