Asel Hofgartner, Kana Vita

CBD skin care and pain care products (topical, ingestible, and otherwise) seem to be everywhere; and there’s quite a lot of new skin care and personal care on the market formulated with hemp seed oil and novel botanical ingredients that act on the body’s CD receptors now too. Still, which inputs, suppliers, manufacturers, and brands will come out on top in this new beauty market niche is yet to be seen.

Here, entrepreneur Asel Hofgartner shares a profile of herself and the brand that she’s hoping will be counted among the best of the best in cannabis beauty, Kana Vita.

Name: ​Asel Hofgartner, Founder

Indie Beauty Company: ​Kana Vita

Launched: ​November 2019

Headquarters: ​Tarrytown, New York

Cash flow: ​Our company is funded independently by my husband, Darren Hofgartner and I. We do not have investors. We own 100% of our business and are very proud of it.

Indie how? ​To me, a beauty brand is independent if it owns more than 51% of the business and functions as its own entity with the founders and senior team in complete control of decision making.  An independent brand does not receive any corporately-backed funding to keep it going and its startup funds come from the shop owner him or herself.

Team work: ​At the moment, it’s just my husband and I, and whenever we need help, we outsource it. We’ve created a great team of professional women that are helping our brand grow.

Distribution: ​We reach our consumers on our ecommerce site KanaVita.net​ and are currently in the process of opening our distribution to luxury retailers.

We are also very active on social media and engage with our customers as much as possible. We know that there are a lot of questions about CBD as an ingredient and it is imperative to us that we communicate our message on a personal level.

Years in beauty: ​I am newer to the beauty industry, we began working on Kana Vita over a year ago and my background was in finance and later medical marijuana.

I was, however, able to use my vast knowledge of medical marijuana growing to combine the best possible ingredients to create the effective and luxurious Kana Vita products you see today. 

Years at Kana Vita: ​a little over 1 year

Entrepreneurial experience: ​This is our first beauty company but not our first foray into owning our own business. My husband Darren and I previously owned a cannabis company – my decision to start producing medical marijuana was based on the lack of a top-quality, lab-tested product. I made it my mission to create only pharmaceutical-grade medical cannabis that has been tested for mold, was rich in terpene profile, and was pesticide-free. After mastering that world, I took this same mission and applied it to the CBD category in the beauty industry.

The business: ​Our brand is looking to help right the category by educating consumers and earning their trust. Kana Vita offers products that are created in a state-of-the-art Swiss lab, using high-quality organic hemp together with other clean, powerful, quality natural ingredients.

The wow-factor: ​We are providing consumers with innovative, multifunctional, and high-quality clean CBD beauty products that were designed and formulated by the experts in CBD with a background in medical marijuana.

The consumer: ​Since CBD is beneficial to so many people, our target consumer is pretty wide-ranging: women who want quality, luxurious skincare that works; men or women who are experiencing pain or inflammation and need a solution, and millennials who love CBD and are looking to try something new.

Milestone moment: ​We recently hosted a launch event for media and influencers. This was a very exciting milestone for us because we were able to finally share this project that we’ve been working so hard on with the best of the best in the beauty industry. 

We were particularly pleased to hear all of the positive feedback from guests who are around products, including CBD products, all of the time.  Hearing that what we are doing is truly unique from other products on the market was very validating for us because we’ve worked so hard to create a CBD brand that isn’t just following a trend but one that truly works.

Advice for fellow beauty entrepreneurs: ​Never give up! Be persistent and do your research.

Just one: ​I love multifunctional beauty products! So, if I had to pick one, that would be Kana Vita’s Face and Body Lotion​. It replaces a lot of the beauty products that I used to have.

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Deanna Utroske, CosmeticsDesign.com Editor, covers beauty business news in the Americas region and publishes the weekly Indie Beauty Profile column, showcasing the inspiring work of entrepreneurs and innovative brands.