Women who Inspire - Sarah Biggers-Stewart

I started CLOVE + HALLOW because I was frustrated by the lack of options within clean and conscientious beauty: everything was too sheer, too limited in shade range, too expensive, and kind of a little…boring? I felt like my background as a makeup artist would help spice things up!

Even getting to that point was a challenge given that being bedridden with a mystery illness is what pushed me towards clean beauty in the first place. An integrative MD was able to diagnose and treat multiple issues I’d been having that no other doctor had, and along the way I learned a lot about how our bodies interact with the ingredients we come into contact with. Clean beauty seemed like a no-brainer — although I now find myself gravitating towards “conscientious” beauty that prioritizes safety and science and sustainability over pure naturalness.

CLOVE + HALLOW has given me so much — not the least of which are the life and business lessons that would have taken me decades to learn otherwise. The importance of keeping your eyes on YOUR vision, rather than looking at what everybody else around you is doing; the value of having a good crew of people surrounding you - personally and professionally; and the benefits of being open to change.

People always say that grit and perseverance are important to entrepreneurship, and they’re correct. I’ve been through so much with C+H that I am relatively unfazed nowadays by personal and professional hiccups that previously would have sent me into a panic. I give myself an hour to be angry or wallow or complain, and then I jump back into action.

That is truly my greatest takeaway from this multi-year journey. Rather than looking at mistakes you’ve made or unfair moments where things go sideways beyond your control as infallible roadblocks to your goals, consider them slight detours that will sharpen your skills. The more you handle detours, the easier it gets. The easier it gets, the more confidence you have. The more confidence you have, the less you worry about things going wrong. The less you worry about things going wrong, the quicker you can achieve your ultimate goals while simultaneously enjoying the present more.

As I lean into this next chapter in life - I’m 19 weeks pregnant! - I am not stressed out about how I’ll “manage” all of it. I know I’ve got these lessons in my back pocket and I’ll figure it out the same way I launched CLOVE + HALLOW: by taking it day by day with one foot in front of the other. 

And it doesn’t hurt to have such wonderful brand partners like Shimmer and our customer community who make it easy to stay motivated and inspired!