Today we’d like to introduce you to Duwie Tran.
Hi Duwie, 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?
I was always a creative child. While others slept, I stayed up into the night, penning soulful lines of poetry about love and heartbreak, all at the tender age of eleven even before I had any idea of those concepts. I’d explore the small streets I lived on, capturing the essence of the world with my camera lens and expressing myself through drawing too. I was a little bit of a dreamer.
But as I grew older, the relentless grip of practicality slowly took hold. Afraid of financial instability, I shied away from pursuing anything that didn’t offer a clear professional advantage or monetary gain.
One day I woke up, I was 26 years old and realized the void that existed within me – no hobbies, no outlets for my artistic expression, no space to escape the realities of life. As fate would have it, I stumbled upon soapmaking. In a serendipitous moment, my heart connected with the gentle lullaby of bubbling oils and swirling botanicals.
I quit my job, bought my first soapmaking book, Jan Berry’s “Simple & Natural Soapmaking,” studied it like the bible and through it, I learned to incorporate the gifts of the earth – herbs, fruits, vegetables, milks, spices, and more – into my creations. I felt a renewed sense of connection to the natural world and vowed that sustainability would always stay central to my mission.
And so, Dewy Monday was born, a testament to my willingness to take a chance on myself. It’s been almost three years since I made my first loaf of soap, and I haven’t looked back. In addition to my shea butter soaps, I make botanical face and body oils that have garnered the affection of so many people. I’m incredibly grateful that others have taken a chance on me too, and it’s the biggest reward to hear that I’ve helped so many with their skin.
Soapmaking was not just a way to revive my inner creative, but it gave me something to work toward and gave me confidence. I’ve always been very much a thinker than a doer – always contemplating, scrutinizing, and overanalyzing. I tend to doubt myself, but Dewy Monday genuinely helped instill self-confidence in my abilities.
I’d like to note that my journey with skincare is not like that of many other skincare enthusiasts. I wasn’t born into a family of beauty routines where I watched my mother’s gua sha. I had no collection of products on display in my bathroom cabinets, stacked like treasure. As I got older, I realized self-care isn’t a luxury but a vital act of self-preservation, a necessary step in my daily creation. Focusing on how good and at peace I felt after a mere five minutes of a skincare routine was enough to convince me how much I needed it.
I find solace in simple rituals; just a few gentle touches can make us whole. I hope to show that skincare is for everyone, even if you think you’re too busy or you’re super minimalist. You don’t need to be a beauty junkie or even be very knowledgeable about skincare to enjoy its endless benefits.
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?
Amidst the general turbulence that comes along with starting a new business, I’d say the toughest obstacle required me to learn how to tune out the cacophony of voices in the online space and cultivate my own unique voice. While the internet provides a wealth of resources and ideas, it also bombards us with endless “rules” and advice.
I found myself following countless businesses, gurus, and social media marketers, attempting to replicate their paths to success. As a new business owner with no business background of any kind, I was desperate for all the right answers. But the sheer volume of advice was overwhelming: post every day including ten stories a day, use these specific hashtags, identify my target audience, hook them in using this and that, find their pain points, market to their pain points, use scarcity marketing tactics to drive conversion, etc.
But I just don’t resonate with any of that conventional wisdom. I craved authenticity and humanity, not dry business jargon and sales gimmicks. So to quiet the noise, I literally unfollowed all those accounts overnight. I’m way more intentional with whose advice I follow nowadays, making sure their values align with mine so that I can run my business the right way, one that values human-to-human connections. No persuasion, or pushy sales tactics, or overpromising claims. Just honesty, a true willingness to serve others, showcasing my personality, and building genuine connections by being personal and heartfelt. I still struggle with many things, but as long as I operate from a place of love, I’ll always know the right thing to do for Dewy Monday.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Dewy Monday?
Dewy Monday is an AAPI woman-owned, plant-powered minimalist skincare brand that encourages people to reimagine their mundane routines into meaningful rituals. The difference between the two is that routines feel like something you have to do, like our brain saying, “Okay, time to wash our face to get clean before bed and then moisturize too.” Rituals, on the other hand, are conscious daily disciplines that we give real meaning and purpose to. That looks more like: “Hey, we’ve done a lot today. Let’s wash away the stress that’s accumulated so we can feel renewed tomorrow. Breathe in deep as we do a gentle massage to get our blood flowing and to thank our body for getting us through another day.”
Rather than forcing so many products onto our skin and suppressing it, we should be supporting its healthy functioning. More doesn’t mean better, so my products are simple, effective and easy to remember to use each day. That’s so critical in being able to extract long-term results.
Some well-loved items are Babyface, a softening and brightening botanical face oil containing Japanese Camellia oil and vitamin C, and Wet, a moisturizing body oil scented with a heavenly blend of jasmine and citrus. These babies have some serious fans out there and I couldn’t be more honored!
And of course, there’s my shea butter soap which is made using the traditional cold-process method. The end result is an amazing bar of soap that’s gentle and won’t dry your skin out. I often love to incorporate whole ingredients into my soaps that provide unique nutritive benefits like avocado, banana, and coconut milk. I’m currently using a pumpkin soap I saved from Fall 2021 and my god, it’s even more divine now than it was back then (fun fact: soap ages like fine wine!)
Dewy Monday is committed to ethical sourcing. Raw shea butter, a main ingredient in my soap, is sourced from northern Ghana and directly supports the women who hand-make it, providing opportunity and income for their families and communities. I believe in supporting businesses that prioritize social impact throughout the value chain, and I am grateful that my customers share these values with me.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Sometimes events occur randomly, and yet we have a tendency to attribute them to luck as a way of explaining them. For example, I recall recently where the weather was so gloomy and uninviting for three consecutive markets, which resulted in a lack of shoppers. At that time, I believed that I had the worst luck. But, this perception of myself as unlucky was a way of seeing myself which then had an impact on how I behaved and thought (such as making the decision to not even try hard just because I woke up to rain) and it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. In reality, it was springtime, and heavy rainfall during this period is almost expected. Plus, the rainfall affected everyone, not just me, so it was somewhat egocentric of me to label myself as unlucky. So I don’t know, I think luck can also be a perspective thing too.
Still I’ve been lucky in many ways. Undeniably, being born in a developed society with rights, having a caring family, a quality education, and possessing a strong work ethic, all of which have helped me in realizing my ambitions.
Sure, luck isn’t everything when it comes to determining success in life and business – there’s hard work, perseverance, talent, intellectual curiosity, open-mindedness, etc. – but being in the right place at the right time can dramatically impact the direction of your life.
I think if more people understood the power of luck, we as a society could find more compassion for the less fortunate. If I didn’t have the support I have, I wouldn’t have what I have. I don’t think there’s such a thing as being “self-made.” Behind every success are contributions and investments from friends, family, strangers, teachers, authors, mentors, motivational speakers and whoever else I’ve watched on YouTube that’s had any influence on me throughout the years. It’s in this sense that I’m most definitely not “self-made” but “community-made.”
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dewymonday.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/dewymonday
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/dewymonday
Image Credits
@andrew.nguofficial (personal photo)
