Today we’d like to introduce you to Linnea Stalberg.
Linnea, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am a working mother, living in laurel canyon with my husband, two daughters and two dogs. I grew up in a small beach town in Southern California but moved up here to attend UCLA. I moved back down to San Diego for a brief period but have spent the majority of my life in LA.
I’ve worked my entire life, summers in high school and college and full-time after college. I started my career managing action sports athletes. After about four years, I transitioned to event production and marketing. I’ve spent the last ten years as a marketing executive.
Three years ago, I started consulting because my husband is in the film industry and a project he was working on had him away from our family for three months. I wanted to be home for our children more, so I transitioned to consulting. I’ve was more than busy as a marketing consulting until COVID-19 hit and I lost all of my contracts. I didn’t let that get me down, I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit and there’s no way, I was going to just take time off while being under “safer at home.” That’s when Handcrafted in Laurel Canyon was born!
Back in March, we couldn’t find hand sanitizer, it was sold out everywhere. So, I researched how to make it, using the CDC recommendation as well as the FDA approved formulations. Once I had a formulation that I liked, that didn’t leave your hands sticky or dry, we consulted two doctors to get their stamp of approval. We initially made it for our family. Then we started to make it for our local Canyon Store. A few friends with shops started carrying it at their stores, that’s when it became real but we didn’t want to stop there. Our wholesale margins are really low so, we couldn’t afford to give back but we really wanted to. So we decided to build a site and sell direct to consumers. For any 2oz bottle sold on our site, we donate one.
Has it been a smooth road?
There is never an easy time to start a new business. Starting one during COVID-19 was challenging but we made it work. We had issues with supply chain, the bottles and tops that we use were always out of stock. Alcohol is apparently the toilet paper of the chemical world, so that was not easy to source either. As a small business, we use Shopify and we’ve had a lot of issues with them unfairly targeting us as well as our retailers and removing our products. I would say our biggest challenge was shipping, we didn’t want to use any plastic, styrofoam, etc. We had a lot of bottles break on the way to our amazing customers but we finally figured out an eco solution that worked.
It’s like a big game of whack-a-mole but every time a challenge arises we just smack it down!
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Handcrafted in Laurel Canyon story. Tell us more about the business.
We are a small family run business that makes premium hand sanitizer. It’s not filled with a bunch of ingredients that you can’t pronounce. We have three simple and effective ingredients. Our scents are all hand-mixed using high-end essential oils. Our product does not dry our hands out or leave them feeling stick. We are are proud of the fact that we have stayed true to our beliefs creating a premium product that is clean, effective and has mother earth in mind. We strive to use the best ingredients that are domestically sourced, we have refills, so you can refill your smaller spray bottle and we use glass bottles that can be up-cycled and eventually recycled.
What sets us apart is our formulation and delicious scents, we’ve been called the “Gucci” of the hand sanitizer world.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think that hand sanitizers are here to stay. As the world opens back up and people start to get out more, they will more than likely have hand sanitizer with them at all times. I see a lot of people starting to support local businesses more. People are also starting to look at ingredients and are being more cautious as to what they put on their bodies.
Pricing:
- $14 for hand sanitizer spray
- $38 for refill (4 refills)
- $18 for Indigo Dyed Multi-Purpose Towel
Contact Info:
- Address: 8787 Appian Way
Los Angeles CA 90046 - Website: www.handcraftedinlaurelcanyon.com
- Phone: 3104866314
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @handcraftedinlaurelcanyon
- Facebook: handcraftedinlaurelcanyon
Image Credit:
All of the product images are John Stalberg and the lifestyle are Stephanie Loren for Little Moon Society. My daughters and I are all wearing Little Moon Society too 🙂
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