“Katini Skin is inspired by ancient wisdom as the source of beauty and truth. ”

So first, tell me a bit about yourself. Who is Katini and how does that inform the brand, Katini Skin?

I guess I’ll take you back to my origin. So, my mother's Japanese, and my dad is from Ghana, and I was born in Tokyo. We lived between West Africa and Japan until I was about seven years old. I was 5 years old when, unfortunately, I lost my father, so my mother decided to move us all to Australia. So, I had my upbringing there.

The holistic lifestyle has always been a huge part of who I am and how I was raised. I’ve been doing yoga and meditation since I was a young girl, and I've been plant-based since birth. After my father’s passing, my mom decided to move us to Australia because of this unique school that followed the teachings both she and my father had instilled in us. They had yoga and meditation as a part of the school curriculum, and you could only bring plant-based food. They really taught you how to live in peace with nature, animals, and people. You had your regular Math, Science, English, all those classes, but then you'd also have a class where you'd go out to the garden and you’d pick wild-harvested flora and make soaps and fragrances and facial oils and different things like that.

After graduating high school in Australia, I landed a record deal and moved to Tokyo for a few years singing Japanese pop music. Things were going well, but my passion was always in jazz and soul, so after a few years I moved to New York to focus on those genres of music and I've been a working artist ever since. 

Was your upbringing more of a cultural decision, a religious decision, or something else for your parents?

It was a philosophy that my father lived by. I mean, he sort of explored different religions and was like, “Nothing really is for me. [So] one day, he traveled to India and found himself in this ashram, met this guru and was like “Oh meditation really is something for me because it helps to balance me mentally, spiritually, physically,” in a way that he felt most connected with. My mother—she also practiced yoga and was into meditation well before she met him, but I think when they connected they sort of—that amplified and they decided to raise their children in that way. 

The one thing that they believed was really important [was] to be able to self-develop enough in all the ways. Whether spiritually, mentally, physically—and then go back into the world and give service to others or to bring happiness and to be able to hopefully make this world a better place in whatever capacity.

How does your holistic upbringing contribute to what led you to Katini Skin?

Katini Skin has been a lifelong dream of mine. My mother did a great job teaching me about the things that I grew up eating and using, like Tsubaki flower, rice, and sea algae, and how beneficial they are in your skincare. My maternal grandmother, too, would always sit at her vanity and spend hours doing her skincare. I would just be in awe, asking, "What are you putting on your face?" And she'd always remind me that "Skincare is that 5, 10 minutes, however long you want to spend in your day, where you consciously give yourself love and are present with yourself. So you can put your best foot forward and mirror that love onto others.” That really stuck with me. That's when I realized, ‘Wow, there's so much more to just beautifying your skin topically. It's really a ritual of inner beauty, being reflected in outer beauty.’ After that, I really fell in love with beauty rituals generally and decided to start my own. 

How did you go about building on that foundational knowledge? Beyond what you observed or were initially taught in your childhood?

I started exploring through my Ghanaian aunties, and they would tell me about things like Rooibos tea for my hair to help make it shiny, and then “Okay, let's put it in a face mist.” 

I also started exploring some of the things that we would typically eat that could also be used topically. There is so much strength in wild-harvested plants. I'd often look at it this way—you'd get a beautiful plant that would grow in the desert and withstand drought and all of these harsh environments, you know, but you'd also have plants that would grow in a monsoon or in the rainy season across Asia. It just says so much about the power of resilience in these plants. I like to look at human beings in a similar way where, whether we're in the city or we're in the desert, we're being faced with emotions, which I believe are similar to the weather, like happiness, sadness, anxiety, and loss. Regardless, we have to come through stronger at the end of it. And so, if plants can do that in a sense and continue to bloom, and we're doing that as human beings, there's a correlation there. 

I feel that Katini Skin is inspired by ancient wisdom as the source of beauty and truth. We've searched the globe for the highest quality ingredients to help beautify yourself from the inside out.

Similarly to how people approach religious practices, I know there's the worldly function, and then maneuvering that world with your own beliefs. How are you able to do that in such a fast-paced and convenience-based world, especially in the US and New York, more specifically?

It's hard. I mean, we're in a culture where we're only rewarded when we're about to burn out. Our plates are full, and it's like, "Oh, I'm busy. My schedule's full for the next three months." I think being an entrepreneur and a musician, I've always been there to push things forward and to move things forward because I've always counted on myself. In the world that we live in, we can get lost in that quite easily. 

So, for me, it's always coming back to asking myself the question, “What is my purpose?” Because if I don't know what that is, if I lose track, then you can keep moving forward and get to some direction, but you don't know where that is. When answering that question, it always comes back to heart. It always comes back to my values and staying grounded. A part of that is my spirituality and meditation. Keeping a mind that’s balanced and that isn't oversaturated with material things, but more focused on, “Why am I living? What's my life's journey, and what am I here to do?” I think tapping back to my core values always helps me realign and re-pace myself despite what's happening around me.

Sustainability is a huge tenet of Katini Skin. How are you able to manage that in producing your ingredients, given the current climate issues we're experiencing globally?

We’re really conscious about it. It starts with the packaging because it begins externally. I wanted to make sure that we had glass bottles that were recyclable, whether you just put them in your recycling bin, or—I do this sometimes—wash the oil out and add a flower and use it as a vase or something like that. Even our external boxes are FSC certified, so it's all recycled paper. When it comes to the ingredients, facial oils are the one beauty product that is very pure. We're not adding silicones. We're not adding plastics. We're not adding chemicals to be able to fill the formulation. It's really just pure oils that go around the world. So, we're really respectful with which suppliers we work with and make sure that we're bringing in wild-harvested plants or organic plants to our labs and our partners. We always use high-quality and ethically sourced ingredients as well.

You spoke about ethical consumption, but is there a limited amount that you're able to produce a year?

No, we're not limited to a set amount, but for me, as the founder, I never want to overproduce something. For us, it's not about mass production, but more consciously produced batches where we know everything that's in them. We don't want to have an excess amount of products. When we first started Katini Skin, we wanted to be sure of that. So, we worked with more boutique labs to make sure that what we're producing is exactly what we want. We've been on the market for about two and a half years, but I would say that we grew in a way that was very thoughtful to make sure that what we're producing is what people want. We're able to get the highest quality ingredients without having to add any chemicals to the formulation because we wanted to stay friendly to the planet.

Who would you say your customer is? Who is the person that uses Katini Skin and its offerings?

We are a luxury brand and I find that within luxury you've got several different brands, but very few of them are actually conscious about the planet and use natural ingredients. So I would say the person who is thoughtful about what they put on their skin and takes time in their skincare routine. They like the experience of skincare, down to the bottles and packaging. We take a lot of time for it to feel elevated, because it is that moment for you before you start or end your day. We want our customers to feel that for themselves. We bring a lot of plants across as our “hero ingredients” from Japan, Africa, and Australia. Some of the ingredients are not as widely used in the United States, so someone who's open-minded and here to learn about different ingredients that are so tied to different cultures. Someone who appreciates simplicity, appreciates design, and keeping beauty simple.

How do your roots in music influence your approach to Katini Skin and the way that you express the overall mission and goals of the brand to the customer?

I’ve always seen music as a form of self-care or wellness for me because when I'd write and sing music, it'd make me feel happier. When we're down or we're happy, we always have music around us to help enhance that emotion and to make us feel better. 

Although skincare and music are very different, the sentiment behind it is very similar. It really did help me in the creation of Katini Skin. We are a skincare brand within wellness, but we believe that igniting the five senses is really important. For me, it's been like “Okay if I'm hearing something that's making me feel happy while tasting something, while seeing something, while feeling something, it enhances that overall moment where it’s now more multi-dimensional.” It's got all of these other wonderful things that are helping to elevate it, so this year, we’ve created our very first Katini Skin audio ritual, which is a song. It's almost like a mantra for you to listen to while you're doing your skincare routine to help elevate and ground you—helping to remind you of what your purpose and path are. 

I would say Katini Skin is what it is because of my experience and background within music, which I feel is really harmonized for human beings.

You do a lot of grounding practices in order to stay connected to your values. What does a typical day look like for you? 

That’s a good question. I like to wake up and sit for meditation, depending on how much time I have. That’s just to set my intentions for the day, clear my mind if there's anything that has rolled over that I was anxious or worried about. I find that when we can have that moment of detachment and focus on our inner self and the connection to the universe, it helps to open up more opportunity. 

Then, if I could get some exercise done in the morning, it's always great to get the endorphins running. Next, I would say that I like to work a lot from home. I also spend a lot of time at my co-working space, NeueHouse in the city. It's in Flatiron, and it's a very amazing cultural working space for a lot of creatives, so I find inspiration there. 

In the afternoon, I try to switch off around 5/6:00 p.m. and do some writing. I find that my days are very long because, of course, I'm working on Katini Skin, but my evenings are mainly creative.  

Now my last question-- what’s your favorite way to use Katini Skin oils?

After I wash my face and apply my toner, I'll typically apply the oil and give myself a facial massage. I find that it's the best way to stay in the present moment. There's so much power in facial massaging, whether it's to lift your face to visibly look a certain way or to bring in that touch element. I also use the body oil after a bath. I just love the ritual of applying an oil. It smells amazing and makes your skin feel so soft. I think facial oils and body oils are the key to a beauty ritual.