Exploring Life & Business with Julia Alcantara of ORNA Formula

Today we’d like to introduce you to Julia Alcantara.

The story of the ORNA Group, founded by Julia, the youngest of the three sisters, started with the blog “Tudo Orna” in 2010 when she was studying at the Federal Technological University of Parana. For four years, Julia and her sisters, Debora and Barbara, dedicated themselves to the blog. In 2014, Julia went to study fashion design at the Savannah College of Art in Design in Georgia (USA), and there came the idea of setting up the company Orna to sell fashion accessories online. It was a success. “We wanted to offer a quality product,” she says. It worked so well that, in 2016, they launched a makeup line, Orna Makeup. “It exceeded all of our expectations.” Then came the two face-to-face courses, “Profession Blogger” and “Digital Business” and, in 2017, the online course “Effect Orna”, with topics built on digital entrepreneurship. In 2018, Julia’s brother-in-law created Cafe Orna in Curitiba. Now, in 2021, the goal of Julia, who lives in the USA, is to internationalize the Orna Brand. And to do that she’s started ORNA Formula, a skincare line for smart people.

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?
Being an independent small business in Brazil is not easy. Brazil’s economic freedom score is 53.4, making its economy the 143rd in the world rank. A lot of resilience and consistency was necessary to keep up with the business that just completed its 11th year of operation. 

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
ORNA Group is an independent Brazilian group specialized in the development of smart consumption Digitally Native Brands.

The blog Tudo Orna, created in 2010 by the Alcantara Sisters, is what would become ORNA Group only a few years after. With a background in Design and Public Relations, the sisters used their expertise and communication to bring to life the digitally native brands ORNA (2014) and ORNA Makeup (2016), which would later become ORNA Formula (2019). Then came EFEITO ORNA,(2017) the education project with the aim of democratizing access to entrepreneurship education and has more than 3500 students from 40 countries. ORNA Cafe (2018) was born as ORNA’s offline experience, as a collaborative space between creative and streamlined.

ORNA Formula, the skincare brand, is the first brand from ORNA Group that we are bringing to the US. With its HQ in Curitiba Brasil and Los Angeles, CA, our purpose is to demystify the idea of a complicated skincare. We provide easy learning content and develop Smart Cosmetics Products with the perfect balance between the best of nature and technology for a minimalist skincare routine.

What matters most to you?
The most important thing is to be able to provide self-care products with high-performance ingredients – focusing on a minimal skincare routine.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: en.ornaformula.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/ornaformula

Image Credits:
Gutyerrez Edermann, William Kesling