Jenell Brown is passionate about protecting the environment for future generations to enjoy. By launching her business, Total Wellness Esperance, she has made it her mission to provide natural, ethically-sourced and environmentally-friendly products. Here she talks about the inspiration behind her business and her plans for the future.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
Most of my life I have suffered from skin sensitivities, health problems and digestive issues relating to environmental impacts and changes. I’ve tried so many products and have spent hundreds of dollars, with many falling short of what they claimed. I knew that there had to be a solution, a process that made it easier for people to find suitable products that had been trialled and tested. I do understand that not all products are going to work for them as they do me, because everyone is uniquely different, but it was a good starting point.
I started questioning the products I was using daily, my beauty routine, supplements and cleaning products. I began googling ingredients on the labels. At times this felt like I had opened Pandoras box and I was taken aback by my findings – it’s really scary the ingredients that are declared safe in our daily products as well as the ambiguity behind the organic market. The University of Queensland Law Journal stated that Australian organic labelling framework was “a somewhat murky environment” due to the use of ambiguous terminology, in particular the use of the terms “organic” and “certified organic”.
The research process began, looking further into products which were sold as organic and certified organic in the aim to find genuine products to deliver to my consumers, aiming to stock those which had substantiated claims and evidence behind their labelling.
I uncovered the lack of follow-up support and after sales service, which I myself had experienced. With this information I saw an opening in the market – I identified a niche that I could own in my specific market. With my passion and experience, I could offer products that my customers could fall in love with and brands they could trust, giving them peace of mind when shopping at my store, with genuine and honest support.
Along this journey it became evident that my focus had somewhat changed, leading me on an extended journey of not only self-discovery and things that were important to maintain healthy living, but also that of the impact that we have on our environment and what I could do personally to spread the word and educate people within my network. I looked into where the ingredients where coming from and how they were harvested. I aligned myself with companies that showed a genuine and supportive approach to helping developing and local communities and provide them with a good future. This made me feel good and gave me a sense of accomplishment that I was making a change in the world and environment around me. As I grow in my business, I hope to give back to such worthy causes and make a more substantial difference myself.
I am inspired with how important protecting our environment for the future is, so I extended my product range to incorporate products which were natural but effective, ethically sourced and environmentally friendly.
