We had the good fortune of connecting with Allyson Owens and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Allyson, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
The balance has definitely changed over time – especially with sleep! When my kids were younger and went to bed at an earlier time, I would get back on my computer after they went to sleep and crank out work until around midnight. I would be very productive with my work later in the evening, but I would wake in the morning feeling like a complete zombie and it was hard to get through the day. Now that the kids are older and go to bed later, I go straight to sleep after tucking them in, around 9:30pm. I wake at 6am every morning and have enough energy to get through the day. I don’t believe it’s necessary to work a 14 hour day to be a productive and effective Founder. I think balance, rest, being organized, delegating certain tasks and prioritizing are what’s important in the work day. Plus we have to consider our circadian rhythms and the effects of staring at a screen late in the night with all of that blue light and how that effects our sleep and health.

What should our readers know about your business?
I stared thinking about Pleni when my daughter was born in 2010. At that time, I had been in the skin care industry for 9 years and the last 2 of those years I worked as a skin care product development consultant. I remember going to the store (think Whole Foods) and at the time, when looking at the children’s skin care products on the store shelves, it felt as if all the products were too similar; they were all formulated with some sort of combination of calendula, chamomile or lavender. I love those ingredients, but to me this was an opportunity to do something different in the children’s skin care category! I pulled from my experience as an aesthetician and product developer and created a skin care line with ingredients we used a lot when formulating in the prestige category – fruits and vegetables! And fruits and veggies just makes sense. The skin is our largest organ and we should be feeding it with the same nutrition we feed our bodies. So fast forward to today, I’ve been in the skin care industry for 20 years now, and we have a skin care collection for adults in addition to skin care for children. It just made sense for me to circle back to my original passion of helping people achieve healthy, balanced skin and create a skin care line for adults – as this is where my expertise is. We basically have the household covered as far as skin care is concerned!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
There are so many fun things to do in and around Denver! Our business is in Boulder and we live here, too! Pearl Street Mall is a must for dining and shopping in Boulder. We also love taking friends up to NCAR in Boulder for a little scenic hike and over to Celestial Seasonings for their tea tour (although I am not sure if the tours are happening now because of the pandemic). In Denver I like shopping at cool spots like Modern Nomad and Barcelona is a great restaurant right next door, which I recommend. If time permits, a visit up to Rocky Mountain National Park is must and we love to stay in Grand Lake while visiting the national park although Estes Park is great and a bit closer. A concert at Red Rocks in Morrison is also a must in my book.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I wouldn’t be where I am today with my business without the support of my husband! He deserves a HUGE shoutout as Pleni wouldn’t have been possible without his support. I’d also like to give a shoutout to the non-profit MADE SAFE, as they vetted all of our skin care products as being safe for use on our bodies and also our ecosystems. We have to think about what happens to the shampoo, for example, after it is rinsed out the hair and goes down the drain. Do the ingredients being washed down the drain harm our soils or aquatic life? If so they will not meet MADE SAFE standards. I am grateful for MADE SAFE’s guidance and we are committed to only creating skin care products that pass the stringent MADE SAFE screening process.

Website: https://pleninaturals.com

Instagram: @pleninaturals

Facebook: @pleninaturals

Image Credits
Haley Bergsgaard www.haleysphotography.co

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