How did you conceive of Pookie?

During and after college, my friends and I would exchange creative handmade presents for the holidays as a fun twist on gift giving. One year, a friend made homemade lip balm as the gift she gave out. I was a lip balm fanatic and loved what she made. I told her that I thought she could sell them, and she laughed it off. By the end of the week, I had a marketing plan and proposal all done to show her that we could do it.

How did you come up with the formulations for your products?

We had decided that we were going to use a beeswax base because we wanted our product to be natural and soft. We went to health food stores and bought different kinds of natural oils like avocado and grape seed oil, lanolin, shea butter and all sorts of natural ingredients. We played around with the recipe. It was really just trial and error. We knew not to try vegetable oil, because that wouldn’t work. We looked at the ingredients in other cosmetics and lip balms and tested to see which ones worked. We used ingredients that went in almost everything to get ideas, but our formulations are completely original.

You make it sound like you did this in your kitchen.

Actually, we started it in my friend’s kitchen. Her husband used to smile and say if we were going to experiment in the kitchen, the least he expected was a good meal. He laughed it off originally, thinking we were just playing and having fun. When we finally achieved the right consistency, the right combination of soft products with the ones that would hold the product together, we knew we had the right recipe. It was one of those moments when you think, this is it!

How did you build up Pookie from scratch into a brand that has nationwide distribution?

We really worked very hard to build our brand. We started by sending product samples to lots of people we knew, and even more that we didn't know, to get the word out. We started appearing at trade shows and finding stores that we thought would be interested in carrying the product. Now, Pookie can be found mostly in individual beauty boutiques. We’re online on our own websites and on other beauty retailer websites. When we originally started, we wanted to be in the bigger stores, and in the beginning we were taken in by one or two large retail stores. We were in a Nordstrom store opening, even though we knew it would only be for the opening or for a holiday season.

And that’s fine with you?

We would love to be there permanently, but just to get our name and our brand into the stores is amazing.

Do you intend to branch out to other products?

We started with six flavors and expanded from there and have also created a lotion and body wash. We started the company in 2001 and were in our first store in 2002. By 2002-2003, we were getting some press coverage and were being sold in more stores than we thought we would be and were forging ahead at every opportunity. We are working on ideas for the future. We’ve played around with the idea of branching out into other products, but we’re not sure what the next step is yet. Right now the state of the economy is not great and a lot of stores are scaling back.

How do you publicize your brand?

We do our public relations by mailing out press releases and samples to all the major beauty editors. We’ve been in a lot of the major magazines thanks to celebrities who have used our products. Jennifer Garner used our product and Judith Light sent us a thank you note when she hosted a fundraising event where she asked us to participate by donating some of our products for a gift bag. We have also always been very philanthropic. When we started the company we decided that we always wanted to give back if we could, and we donated a portion of our proceeds to Broadway Cares/Equity fights AIDS. Since then we have donated products to lots of fund raisers.

Do you think your brand can succeed outside the US?

We have had lots of sales outside the US and are slowly working our way into more and more stores overseas. We have a lot of inquiries on our website from stores and individuals who want to carry or buy the product. In Europe, it’s very popular. There were a couple of articles written in English magazines about our brand, and I guess people are always looking for new products. There are a few small stores in England that carry Pookie.

What do consumers think of the brand name?

They think it is a cute name and it makes them smile which is exactly what we want! For a lot of people, it‘s a childhood nickname so it evokes good memories. We’ve received emails from people who were looking up pookie online, found us, and really appreciate that Pookie is our brand name. They think we’ve done it personally for them. We’ve had people who asked us to make certain products because of our name. We even had a woman with a cat whose name was Pookie who wanted us to make products for her cat, but we thought that was a bit much.

Chana Mayefsky is a freelance writer. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Yeshiva University and holds a Bachelor's degree in English and a Master's degree in Jewish History.