Jessica Montrose,
The Natural Skin Store

I began by picking damask roses from my garden. They had the most incredible natural scent and I created rose floral water. I gave some to friends and they said that it was beautiful and asked if I could make some for them. It grew from there.

I worked with a naturopath and a formulations specialist and things really took off when I designed my own face moisturisers. They’re hard to find without chemical additives but I persevered and created silky soft, divinely scented face moisturisers.

I ended up founding The Natural Skin Store, where I hand make natural, vegan skincare using certified organic
ingredients from floral waters, candelilla wax, native botanical extracts, flower, nut and seed oils, clays and pure essential oils – all the good stuff!

I live in Tasmania and I swim in the river every day in the summer. I’ve always been a nature baby, it’s my solace. Having a business using pure, earthy ingredients was a natural progression for me.

I’ve been a single parent of three boys for a long time and with that responsibility I learnt so many skills that it was hard to go and work for someone else. I needed to be my own boss.

I enjoy the challenge of business. I didn’t in the beginning – I found it very stressful and a lot of pressure as I had no business qualifications and the technology/social media side was daunting – but gradually I’ve realised that I can do this so long as I do it my way! I remember someone once saying that business is a bit like climbing a mountain, you get to the peak and then there’s another one. And you’re off again, up the next mountain.

Global Sisters run all sorts of courses. There are so many aspects to business, you kind of have to master them all. There’s a lot to understand and working with Global Sisters has been a huge learning curve and a great opportunity. I’m very grateful for their support.

We are all Sisters, it’s lovely. I have two sisters and they live on the other side of the world, so I’m happy to adopt sisters from anywhere! I love the fact that people come from all different backgrounds and create such original and diverse products.

I have big plans to expand The Natural Skin Store and feel very fortunate that I’m still going. It hasn’t been easy, but I’ve been tenacious. The more support women get, the more we have a beautifully, feminised world and that helps to redress the balance.

Shop Jessica’s beautiful skincare on our Marketplace here