Exploring Life & Business with Marissa Quarton of Kay + Kingston Naturals

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marissa Quarton.

Hi Marissa, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
It all started with coconut oil…

Well, not really, but close! Hi, my name is Marissa and I’m the owner of KAY + KINGSTON Naturals, a health and beauty brand named after my children Kaylee and Zachary Kingston. I am the product of two super health-conscious parents. To give you an idea of what I mean, I was the kid that ate Ezekiel bread sandwiches and juiced before it was trendy to do so.

Kaylee and Zachary Kingston inspired me to do better with what goes in and on my body. While finding good healthy options to put in my body has been easier than ever before, finding skincare products was proving more difficult.

I had already been an avid user of coconut oil internally, but when my first-born, Kaylee, came around I took my health-conscious ways to a new level. Realizing that what you put on your skin gets absorbed into your body, I made the decision to only use coconut oil as a moisturizer for not just Kaylee but for me too! Coconut oil was literally my answer for everything. In fact, I often joked about it. If anyone had a question about anything, I would simply respond with “coconut oil,” after all it has so many uses. Then, around the time of my second child, Zachary Kingston, I started getting more familiar with essential oils and their many benefits. At that point, I realized that I could pack more punch into my coconut oil applications by adding essential oils to the blends. This led me to become more of a DIYer with all my health and beauty products. I began giving handmade gifts for birthdays and Christmas and used recycled spice jars for a lot of my packaging. I did this for years, hand-drawing my label on each gift till one day I decided to make it legit and print some labels. Thus, KAY + KINGSTON Naturals was born.

KAY + KINGSTON currently operates on good ole fashion word of mouth and participating in some local makers markets. Currently, there is no website however we are in the process of setting up our Etsy site, so if you want to place an order and you can’t find it on https://www.etsy.com/shop/KayAndKingston, just reach out via Instagram DM to @KayAndKingston.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I find that my biggest challenge is decision-making. Whether it be deciding which packaging option to go with or what business step to take next. I often catch myself second-guessing my decisions wondering if it was the right one since I don’t necessarily have a mentor to reach out to. In the end, it all comes down to the fact that this started as a labor of love—a passion to make simply natural health and beauty products for loved ones. I want to keep that labor of love alive by providing my products to others at a fair price without sacrificing quality. So, when making business decisions, I go with my heart and of course a little research too!

As you know, we’re big fans of Kay + Kingston Naturals. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
KAY + KINGSTON NATURALS is a collection of simply natural health and beauty products handcrafted with love.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I don’t have a mentor per se. I draw ideas and inspiration from social media. I have some friends who are small business owners who provide helpful insight. Whenever I am a vendor at a market, others are always open to sharing tips and advice.

Pricing:

• Green Tea Clay $18 – face mask
• Toning Toner $26 – face toner
• Forever Young $26 – facial oil
• Butter Up $18 – body butter
• Positive Spin $18 – essential oil roller

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.etsy.com/shop/KayAndKingston
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kayandkingston/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kayandkingston
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@kayandkingston

Image Credits:
Personal Photo by Kim Maier (IG @maierkimmy) Other Photos by Marissa Quarton