How These BFFs Navigated Business & Friendship to Create a Natural Skincare Line

Learn more about Phenic Natural Skincare here.

When it comes to mixing business and friendship, just about everyone warns against it, but thankfully Sophia El-Hayek and Alexandra Haigis don’t listen to “everyone.” In 2018 the two BFFs and business partners founded the natural skincare line Phenic Natural Skincare. The line was derived from a generation-old family moisturizer recipe passed down to El-Hayek, a first-generation Lebanese immigrant whose ancestors would travel throughout the Middle East selling the face cream; and is now a national brand that recently made its Beautycon debut in 2019.   

We sat down with the founders of Phenic Natural Skincare to learn more about their products and how they’ve managed to successfully navigate and integrate the worlds of business, beauty and friendship.     

What prompted you both to start the company?

Sophia: My skin was a continuous struggle growing up, and because of that I developed an extensive skincare routine. I became really passionate about skincare and creating a healthy complexion not just for today, but the future of my skin. My grandmother passed down the recipe for an olive oil face cream that her family used to make and sell throughout the Middle East. This recipe, just a long list of ingredients, inspired countless product testing rounds until it became our Oil Cream Moisturizer and the foundation for our product line today. 

Alexandra: Although I never had skin issues, it always deeply bothered me how common ingredients found in US skincare had actually been banned throughout the world. This isn’t even a small number — 1,328 ingredients are banned in Europe alone, compared to 11 in the United States. It always made me uncomfortable that a lot of these products aren’t tested for their long term exposure effects and I wanted to be able to create a line that was easy to understand and was free of harsh chemicals that we really don’t know what they do in the long run. I am proud to be able to bring to market a line of skincare products that truly work, while remaining natural and pure.

Was it challenging, particularly in the beginning working together as friends?

Sophia: Actually, it has been surprisingly easy working on Phenic as friends. You hear so many horror stories about friends who go into business together at the cost of their friendship. We respect each other as both friends and colleagues. When working on Phenic we see each other as colleagues first and I think that is important because it allows us to be objective and make the right business decisions for Phenic.

Alexandra: I agree. I think going into this as friends first allowed us to be able to face every challenge with respect. I respect and admire Sophia, and if there are ever conflicting ideas we are able to sit down and weigh the pros and cons of each decision from a place of understanding. I love that this all started with a family recipe and I want my friend to succeed and be able to share it with the world. We have truly developed great products. The challenges we face in business are not worth losing our friendship and partnership over.

How have you defined boundaries in your friendship and business relationship?

Sophia: We always stay in regular contact (We’ve gotten better. It used to be every waking moment, lol) and have actually grown closer by working together. In terms of boundaries, I’m not sure that we actually make strict definitions. We have a pretty good flow, and our communication styles complement each other well. We always tend to be on the same page with our work and that has made things easy for us. We will both have different ideas and they are all valid so instead of picking one over the other, we will usually try them all.

Alexandra: I think it’s great that we both bring different skills to the table with our company. Sophia most recently worked as a Project Manager for a consumer goods company so she has a lot of strategizing experience which comes in handy with product photography and label design. I have been working in marketing for five years and helped [produce] large-scale conventions which has both helped us with our marketing efforts, as well as get us into consumer tradeshows like Beautycon. I am sure as Phenic grows we will have more defined roles, but right now it has been relatively easy tackling everything together. It has been such a blessing to have a partner who both challenges you and usually has pretty similar ideas of where things should go.

In a partnership it's key that the strengths of each individual are leveraged, particularly when one excels in an area another may not be as strong in. What role do each of you play in the business? 

Sophia: The easiest way to describe our roles is that I am more backstage while Alexandra works on stage. I work on all aspects of the products themselves as well as logistics, fulfillment and development. Alexandra works more heavily in advertising, PR, marketing and networking. Since we are a startup this isn’t a hard rule as we both will work in all the business functions at various times. 

Exhibiting at Beautycon is a major business accomplishment. Tell us, how did this happen? 

Sophia: Attending Beautycon was one of our goals very early on. We knew that was the one show we needed to attend if our brand was going to be discovered by our target customers. When we finished developing our line and knew the products were ready, we applied to exhibit at the New York City show back in 2019. We were fortunate enough to be one of the brands accepted, and before we knew it we were on our way to the Big Apple to meet thousands of attendees and share Phenic with them! We ended up being such a huge hit that we sold out of some of our products on the very first day. 

More and more beauty brands are launching natural skincare lines. How have you distinguished Phenic Skin Care in the marketplace?

Alexandra: Many brands have launched natural skincare lines as our culture becomes more health-conscious. Ours is different in that we use highly effective ingredients backed by science that not only work but improve your skin and give you a healthy and desirable glow. I can’t tell you the number of times I have ordered natural products that either didn’t work or gave me breakouts. I am proud that we are able to use minimal ingredients because oil is a naturally stable ingredient. We also stand out from the crowd by simply being able to bring a luxury level skincare line to the mid-level price range by careful and smart sourcing of our ingredients. From the beginning we wanted to shrink the gap of products that work versus products that millennials and Gen Z can afford, and we are glad to be able to bring a product like ours to a younger demographic.

How have you both been a support to one another during this pandemic, professionally and personally? 

Alexandra: Unfortunately we both live on opposite ends of the country, I live in Florida and Sophia lives in Massachusetts, but we have been able to make it work. We keep in touch daily and rehash our plans for the future over the phone. It’s always great to have someone to bounce ideas off of who isn’t afraid to tell me if an idea is bad and vice versa. Currently we are doing a lot of planning work for store launches and have been supporting each other by doing our fair share of the work that needs to be done.

Sophia: …In a sense the pandemic hasn’t changed too much for us. After Alexandra moved to Florida, we shifted to a mainly virtual working relationship (with visits every few months). Thanks to technology we are always in constant communication with each other to work on tasks, create plans, discuss new ideas or just talk. There is always plenty to be done and we share the workload. One great thing about our work style is that we can pass projects between each other and pick up where the other left off so easily. 

Best piece of advice to friends considering going into business together?

Alexandra: Don’t take yourself too seriously. A partnership with friends is no place for your ego. I have always wanted to emulate Abraham Lincoln’s “Team of Rivals” because it is always important to be able to hear another’s point of view respectfully. You are not always going to have the winning idea and fighting over a menial issue is never worth throwing away your friendship.

 Sophia: Going into business with a friend is like co-parenting. You are both combining your effort and time to create and grow a healthy business. Everything that you do together is for the best of the startup. When decisions are made they must be done with the benefit of the business in mind, not the benefit of one partner over the other. In a partnership, both people have unique talents, skills, strengths, and ideas. Each brings something different to the table. For this to work each person needs to come into the partnership with an open mind and willingness to listen. Startups are not about me versus you, but me plus you to equal success.