Ep. 43 - Nuele - Christine Martey-Ochola

Christine Martey-Ochola, founder of NUELE, shares her remarkable journey of creating a beauty brand that embodies the perfect blend of effectiveness and health-consciousness. After reflecting on childhood memories of witnessing chemical treatments and feeling the societal pressure to conform to a specific beauty standard as a Black woman, Christine and her co-founder Anne Cheatham, drawing on their backgrounds in biochemistry, research, medicine, and food science, spent four years developing their flagship product, NUELE hair serum.

Their unwavering dedication to patience, relentless research, and innovation shines brightly, underlining the profound significance of crafting clean, sustainable, and non-toxic products that will leave a lasting impact on the well-being of both present and future generations. Their tireless devotion to serving Black women with nothing less than exceptional, clean beauty products is bound to ignite your own passion. It's an inspiration to embrace a slower, more deliberate approach, to prioritize health, and to become an agent of positive change in the world.

Quote from interviewee for callout box: “You know what really drives us right, I’d say on a fundamental level is having healthy options. When we are looking at care. Health is a critical component for us.”

Biggest Takeaways You Don’t Want to Miss:

• NUELE is committed to sustainability and environmental responsibility. They work with farmers, participate in tree-planting initiatives in Africa, and use recyclable packaging materials.
• Benzene and formaldehyde are considered harmful ingredients in hair products due to their potential carcinogenic and irritant properties, posing health risks to users.
• Christine's unwavering patience paved the way for her to craft a product that embodies health, sustainability, and versatility, all while breaking free from conventional beauty norm

Check Out These Highlights:

• Christine shares how her and her co-founder Anne's unwavering passion for delivering all-natural and non-toxic hair care options took precedence over their pursuit of funding for their brand (10:44)
• Christine discusses NUELE’S commitment to being a part of the solution, providing customers with all-natural and healthy haircare options (14:50)
• Christine discusses the versatility of the NUELE hair serum and the challenges of creating a product that is both non-toxic and effective (20:54)

Quotes:

 “We realize that a core thing that we do every single day is use hair care products, but we don't always know what's in them and we don't always realize what the impact is.”

“And so, for us a key driver is how do we ensure that if we are going to play in this space, that we will be on the right side of that story, that we are on this side of positive health outcomes, no matter what.”

“We only want accord around the importance of developing products that we all can be proud of, and if it takes a while so be it. We’ll have to invest that.”