In this episode, meet Patrice Mousseau, CEO, Founder Satya Organic Skin Care, an inspiring West-Coast based skincare entrepreneur who's travelled a unique journey. Starting from a media background, she's built a breakthrough skincare brand over the past decade. As an award-winning indigenous entrepreneur, her approach to product development differs, promoting inclusivity. Patrice reflects on the changing landscape for indigenous female founders, shares valuable advice for retailers and aspiring entrepreneurs, and hints at an exciting future in her entrepreneurial journey.
In this episode, meet Patrice Mousseau, CEO & Founder Satya Organic Skin Care, an inspiring West-Coast based skincare entrepreneur who's travelled a unique journey. Starting from a media background, she's built a breakthrough skincare brand over the past decade. As an award-winning indigenous entrepreneur, her approach to product development differs, promoting inclusivity. Patrice reflects on the changing landscape for indigenous female founders, shares valuable advice for retailers and aspiring entrepreneurs, and hints at an exciting future in her entrepreneurial journey.
About Patrice
Patrice Mousseau is a member of the Fort William First Nations and the Founder and CEO of Satya Organic, a 100% Indigenous and Woman-Owned skincare company. Founded in 2013, Satya began when Patrice’s daughter was diagnosed with eczema and prescribed a topical steroid by her doctor. A former journalist, Patrice used her investigative skills and dug into traditional medicine, medical research, and the latest academic studies, desperate to find a steroid-free solution. With a $15 crockpot she bought off Facebook, she experimented in her kitchen with the best organic ingredients she could find. Shortly after, Satya was born – a balm that would clear Esme's eczema up within two days. Today, Satya’s product line has expanded and is sold in over a 2000 stores across Canada, including Shoppers Drug Mart where it became the first Indigenous brand on the shelves.
About Michael
Michael is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc. and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada and the Bank of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, Today's Shopping Choice and Pandora Jewellery.
Michael has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. He has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions with C-level executives and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels. ReThink Retail has added Michael to their prestigious Top Global Retail Influencers list for 2023 for the third year in a row.
Michael is also the president of Maven Media, producing a network of leading trade podcasts, including Canada's top retail industry podcast_,_ The Voice of Retail. He produces and co-hosts Remarkable Retail with best-selling author Steve Dennis, now ranked one of the top retail podcasts in the world.
Based in San Francisco, Global eCommerce Leaders podcast explores global cross-border issues and opportunities for eCommerce brands and retailers.
Last but not least, Michael is the producer and host of the "Last Request Barbeque" channel on YouTube, where he cooks meals to die for - and collaborates with top brands as a food and product influencer across North America.
Michael LeBlanc 00:05
Welcome to The Voice of Retail podcast. My name is Michael LeBlanc and I am your host. This podcast is produced in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
In this episode meet Patrice Mousseau, CEO and founder Satya Organic Skincare and inspiring West-Coast based skincare entrepreneur who's traveled a unique journey. Starting from a media background, she's built a breakthrough skincare brand over the past decade. As an award-winning indigenous entrepreneur, her approach to product development differs, promoting inclusivity. Patrice reflects on the changing landscape for indigenous female founders, shares valuable advice for retailers and aspiring entrepreneurs, and hints at an exciting future in her entrepreneurial journey.
Let's listen in now.
Michael LeBlanc 00:47
Patrice, welcome to The Voice of Retail podcast. How are you doing this afternoon?
Patrice Mousseau 00:50
I'm very good. Michael, thank you so much for inviting me to be here.
Michael LeBlanc 00:54
Well, thanks for joining me on the mic. Where am I finding you today?
Patrice Mousseau 00:57
Hi, I'm in North Vancouver on the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation and it is a cold, rainy day in Vancouver.
Michael LeBlanc 00:58
I'm really looking forward to our conversation. You know, I feel like you and I have swapped places like one of those movies because I started off my career a bunch of years in brand and in retail and then got into media and you feel like you've done the opposite, a veteran media person who got into brand and retail. So, if changing places or swap places like we've jumped right in and tell us about yourself and your personal professional journey a bit and like I said from media to skincare entrepreneur, tell us all about it.
Patrice Mousseau 01:38
Sure. Well, you know, and not a lot of people know what my background was in, in, in radio and television broadcasting. So, I, actually in, you're in Toronto, right?
Michael LeBlanc 01:50
Yeah.
Patrice Mousseau 01:51
So, I was on. Most of my media career was in Toronto. So, I did a talk show, I had a talk on CFRB. I did some stuff with news worlds. I did a bunch of radio, I did Sirius Satellite Radio, I had a music show there. I was national news anchor for APTN worked for CBC all of, you know, I had a show on the I channel.
Michael LeBlanc 02:13
You're making You're making me nervous, by the way now because I'm a total amateur and you're like a pro and me, I'm so-
Patrice Mousseau 02:19
And you know what, I'm a total amateur too and it's funny, you should mention that because I was being asked to do some backfill for News World International or not News World International, just News World proper and I talked to the executive producer and I said to him, I said, look, you got to know like, I do not have a university education. I did not go to Ryerson for this and he said don't worry about it, probably just makes you more interesting. You know, and then I stopped making excuses for you know, not having the education. So, it's really just about who you are, I think people connect to.
Michael LeBlanc 02:56
And how did you find yourself in media, what, what took you to, you know, what did you always want to be in media, and we'll get to the, what you're doing, your tenure success, your success 10 years in the making, but what got you in the media in the first place?
Patrice Mousseau 03:08
Well, that's again, kind of a weird story. So, I, I grew up in a really small town in Northwestern Ontario, called Sioux Lookout. I'm actually from a member of the Fort William First Nation, as well, I'm indigenous and I was in Toronto modeling for several years and I was out for dinner with a friend and one day he said, like, you know, what are you doing and I'm like, what do you mean, he goes, you don't like doing what you're doing, which was absolutely true. I was terrible at it. Like not to say that I didn't get work, but I really didn't enjoy it and I was never good, I think, at getting my picture taken and, and that sort of thing and-
Michael LeBlanc 03:48
That, that is a bit of a precursor, that's the model I suppose.
Patrice Mousseau 03:49
It is right, but it was the 90s. So it was like, you know, it was the thing to do and he said, well, what do you want to do, and I said, Well, you know, I still, I still want to I want to change the world, I want to have an effect and he said, Well, why don't you get involved in media because we shape culture and so I called up a company that I had done a jeans campaign for, and I asked them if I could start by answering their phones. I just did job after job and met people and you know, I ended up on CFRB because I met with the executive producer there at a CRTC meeting for another job that I had and you know, it's just it just kind of grew from there.
Michael LeBlanc 03:50
And one thing led to another, now you're in, now you're a skincare entrepreneur and I was reading a bit about the story, and it seems like this intersection of the personal and the professional but tell us a story about how you came up, what's the brand and tell us about the product and how you came up with it?
Patrice Mousseau 04:45
So, my brand is Satya Organics, and it is something that I created out of a need because my own little girl, she developed eczema, eczema, depending on how you say it when she was eight months old, and I took her to the doctor because it was really bad and the doctors only option to me was course topical steroids. So, I had interviewed a woman who had written a book about the toxins in everyday cosmetics and our personal care products and so I knew that this was not necessarily going to be a thing I want to put on my eight-month-old baby. So, I use my research skills and I just looked at every piece of information I could access, medical research, academic studies, of course traditional medicine, I bought a crock pot off of Facebook, used for victim dollars, which I still have.
Michael LeBlanc 05:41
Perfect. It's in the museum.
Patrice Mousseau 05:43
In the museum, exactly.
Michael LeBlanc 05:44
In the Brand Museum, right.
Patrice Mousseau 05:45
And, and develop something that eventually cleared her, her skin issues up in two days. So, I had made a full crock pot, and I didn't need a full crock pot anymore. So I ended up sharing it and everybody went crazy for it, people were driving hours to come and buy this basically from my kitchen window and it was probably about a year later that I finally just started thinking, oh, you know, maybe I will make it a business because I saw some other businesses that were creating, creating something in the world that I could really get behind. I guess the perception, at least for me at that time was that being in business was really just about, you know, chasing profit and extraction and, you know, being not necessarily things that I was really interested in, but then I thought, you know, business can actually be a great vehicle for change can help people can show that there's a different way of being in the world, that is not negative. So, I started by doing a farmers’ market in Port Moody, which is a town just part, here, of Vancouver, and sold $110 and I was off.
Michael LeBlanc 07:01
And talk about how it's evolved over these years. So, you've got one of the things that brought us together. We'll talk about it a bit later; you got a major listing in a pretty big retailer. We'll talk about that in a little bit, but you know, between the, the crock pot and the farmers market, and today talk about the, you know, the, how many products you have, and the scope and scale, is it traded internationally, do you sell it online. Give us just a little bit of that foundational stuff.
Patrice Mousseau 07:26
Yeah, so the product itself is a topical anti-inflammatory. So, it's a replacement for steroids, basically, but it's made with all botanicals, plant-based ingredients, it's very simple and clean. It was very important to me that we have a whole bunch of different, you know, go through all the certifications. So, we're approved by Health Canada, we have our FDA, we are certified organic, we're made in Canada, we are indigenous woman owned, we are-, our multi use line as approved by the EWG, the Environmental Working Group down in the US. We're plastic neutral, we're carbon neutral, we're Leaping Bunny certified, we are National Eczema Society, seal of approval and we are just about to get our B Corp certification as well.
Michael LeBlanc 08:15
That's a big deal. B Corps a lot of work, eh. B Corps a lot of work to get certified, but-
Patrice Mousseau 08:20
Well, that's, that's a whole other conversation, we can definitely talk about it another time, but that's, all those things, just so our customers feel comfortable that they're really getting the top quality product that's out there on the market, and that it means a lot to us that we are providing the best of the best.
Michael LeBlanc 08:40
So, you said I think I think you said FDA. So, you're traded in the US as well. I've got, I've got audience on both sides of the border, so it's available in the States as well Canada.
Patrice Mousseau 08:48
It is available in the States. It is currently also available in Hong Kong, and we are making our first toe steps into the China, Chinese market as well.
Michael LeBlanc 09:00
Oh, interesting. Let's talk about your approach in product development and businesses and indigenous entrepreneur, any, do you approach things, I mean, you started by talking about, you know, you got into media to have an impact, let's say but do you find your approach to be different as you think about it or talk about that for a bit?
Patrice Mousseau 09:19
Oh, absolutely. You know, it's when you think about business, I think as an indigenous person, you think about it as being multifaceted. It's not really just about the product or the service that you're producing. It's, you know, what is the impact of producing those things in the world around you, which includes for your community, the community at large for the planet, obviously. How can we do good with this and give back, how do we, you know, find other ways to do the best that we can like, for example, you know, when I first started being a stay-at-home mom and a single mom, I wanted people to be employed. So, you know, I couldn't afford 3PL at the time because you know, to fulfill these orders. So, what I did is I hired stay at home moms across the country, shipped them the product and then they did the shipping for me, which not only lowered my shipping costs, and my customers got it faster, but they got employed. So, it's just about constantly thinking about the different ways of doing things as well as how do we evolve to be better all the time.
Michael LeBlanc 10:36
You've been at this for over a decade or under a decade or around a decade and you've, you as I said you scored fantastic listings, Shoppers Drug Mart right, I think you just that's what brought us together as you scored a listing at Shoppers Drug Mart. Now, now over the years, many promises have been made by governments, financial institutions, retailers voicing their support for indigenous entrepreneurs from, from a decade ago, when you first started, has it changed, how, how is the environment better, if it is, and you find some of those provinces delivered and some outstanding talk about that for a bit?
Patrice Mousseau 11:08
Well, you know, we are the very first indigenous brand to ever be on the shelves at Shoppers Drug Mart. Hopefully not the last, but you know, it's not just about the indigenous entrepreneur as well, although we should see reflection in the very least, based on the population of our country, you know, how many BIPOC companies are on these big retailer shelves, but also like to support small and medium businesses to enter into these larger, massive organizations, it's quite difficult.
Patrice Mousseau 11:44
So I'm hoping that we will see more, more open doors for businesses like mine, who are adding to the health of our economy and the types of products that we have available as well. Now, as far as, you know, how things have evolved, I think that it's mor-, there’s, there’s more, a little more space, maybe, but honestly, it's, it's really, really difficult. I mean, we can talk about the numbers of you know, the fact that, you know, people just aren't getting investment, like, you know, women owned businesses get what, like, it's now like one or 2% of all venture capital, well, you put that into a woman of color or indigenous woman. I mean, it's not even a .001, right. Not to say that venture capital is always the way that we need to go because it absolutely is not, and you know-
Michael LeBlanc 12:40
As an indicator, though, there's a lot of promises made from financial institutions or whatever. I mean, how do we support entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs and indigenous entrepreneurs, right?
Patrice Mousseau 12:52
I would like if, if, if I could make anything happen with a snap of my fingers, I would love it if companies and not just big companies, but all companies try to set themselves procurement targets, you know, 1 to 5%, let's make sure that we have that we some representation, either in the products we buy the people we have sitting on boards, our employees, why, you know, our customers, like there is there is so much opportunity to bring everybody into the fold and if you're only getting your opinions from one type of person, that's not a strong business. That's a weak business and the more, I think, diversity you can bring in, the stronger your bottom line is going to be.
Michael LeBlanc 13:40
Most of my audience or retailers or retail industry insiders, what can honing in on retailers, what can we do better as an industry to support entrepreneurs, particularly Indigenous women entrepreneurs?
Patrice Mousseau 13:54
Have conversations, you know, be available to people to talk, get involved with some of the indigenous ran organizations or minority ran organizations like CAMSC, the Canadian Aboriginal Minority-, I'm not getting the acronym right, but it's called CAMSC and CCAB, the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, you know, getting involved there seeing, you know, how can we get involved what, you know, how can we outreach to other organizations. For example, the reason why I ended up in Loblaws, in the first place, was through an introduction through CCAB. We had a little, they did a, Loblaws did a quick pick pitch competition and I mean, I can kind of say we blew them away because we were so ready. We had EDI and everything, you know, all set up and ready to go and it was kind of a no brainer for them, but they had never heard of Satya before. So, I think it's-
Patrice Mousseau 14:57
Well, you know, you have to build the environment and the circumstances for people to feel welcome. I always call it like the field of, what does that field-, that movie Field of Dreams, you know, you build it, they will come. With you are, you know, if you're serious about this, you want to have a concerted effort to do some outreach, you know, spend half an hour googling how we find, how we, you know, what's the best way to connect with indigenous entrepreneurs in Canada and just kind of go from there. A lot of people oh, you know, they say, oh, you, we can't find anybody or there's nobody to hire, there's this that I don't think that's true. I think people just use it kind of as an excuse. So, we got the internet here. Just get yourself connected.
Michael LeBlanc 14:57
It's super interesting, right, I mean, and it's not like you're new and you have distribution before we're going to talk about that a little bit, but it's like, do you find there's enough on ramps, if I can put it that way, or ways to get retailers to pick up the phone and any advice for retailers about how they, it's funny, right, they did the, many retailers are always saying they're looking for new, they're looking for new and interesting and connected products, but do you think there's enough on ramps for that, from your experience?
Michael LeBlanc 16:09
Let's talk. Let's talk about the business for a sec. So you got a big listing and I'm curious as an entrepreneur and as a brand in the context of retail, how you think about channel management stuff, right, so you've got a major listing in national retailer, but you've had years of independent or other retailers supporting you, how do you manage those two things because you want everybody to win, right, you want the kind of one to one and you've got a DTC business you sell direct so how, how in your mind, do you make one plus one equals three in all that?
Patrice Mousseau 16:41
Well, you know, for me, it's always about the slow managed growth too, it has been a little bit like holding the reins of a wild horse sometimes because it's, you know, the demand is, is so, so needed here. You know, we just, we've built relationships with people over the years, Whole Foods, Thrifty's, Sobeys. I mean, I wouldn't necessarily call them small and independent, but also of course, you know, the smaller guys, like Big Carrot in Toronto and, and Healthy Planet, like, these guys are our family, and we will continue to have them as, as our family.
Michael LeBlanc 17:21
Probably your first importers too, right. I mean, I know I actually the GM from Healthy Planets been on the pod and, you know, we talked about that a lot, that they find and their work is to find entrepreneurs and give them their early start and, and sometimes they, they grow and they grow they outgrow sometimes the channel but you know, they're kind of happy to see and they start working again.
Patrice Mousseau 17:40
And their staff is fantastic. Like they have a great training at Healthy Planet, for example, because they take it very seriously, I think, what they, what they do, so yeah, it's, it's about hopefully bringing a whole new group of people that have not been exposed to Satya before. Through the Shoppers channel, I believe it's something like 58% of all skincare in Canada is sold at Shoppers Drug Mart. So now suddenly, we become available to help people because it's, eczema is, it's so prevalent. We're talking about 20% of the world's population suffers from it.
Michael LeBlanc 18:20
Is it getting worse the-
Patrice Mousseau 18:21
It is, yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 18:23
And what do you think, I mean, my daughter has a little bit of it. So, what, what, what is contributing to that, is it just the harsh environment, is it environmental?
Patrice Mousseau 18:29
Well, you know, the incidences are actually higher in Western countries than it is in the so called less, lesser developed countries and I think that has a lot to do with the diet and the microbiome, you know, the overuse of hand sanitizer, for example, but I mean, eczema is a multifaceted problem as well, like it can come from so many different places in your life, you know, it can be a like a contact dermatitis, it can be stress, it can be, you know, weak intestinal gut flora, like there's just so many issues and it takes a long time to figure it out. But when you have a product like mine, it helps to manage it and you know, help with that outbreak and make it go back to normal until you can figure out what's caused it in the first place without adding to the problem by adding chemicals and steroids to your body.
Michael LeBlanc 19:25
Right on. All right, advice to fellow entrepreneurs and I'm going to frame this in two starts and one stop, two things they should start doing and one thing they should stop doing, lessons learned from your journey.
Patrice Mousseau 19:36
Stop feeling guilty about everything, you're not getting done. Some of the best advice I got was a lady and I was talking to her, does she have family and you know, this growing business and it was actually I was interviewing her, this was before I got I was an entrepreneur and she's like, you know, I said how do you juggle everything she said I-, poorly like I drop stuff all the time, and you will, right, but the idea is, is that you just have to keep going and keep getting back up, because the only way you fail is if you stop.
Michael LeBlanc 20:11
What's next for you and for your brand?
Patrice Mousseau 20:14
You know, we're looking, obviously, at making sure that Shoppers is well supported. We are looking at the Quebec market as well. We have new products coming out that are going to launch which should be really appealing and, and then, you know, again, slowly looking more into Asia Pacific as well as the US because I don't, I really don't want to do too much too soon. I don't want to have to be, you know, taking out masses of money to grow, which unfortunately, I think people feel like they have to do all the time and I don't. I think it can be a choice. That being said, it's we are we've been doubling and tripling almost every year since we started. So yeah, it's fun.
Michael LeBlanc 21:01
Now, are you a LinkedIn person, where can listeners go to get in touch or learn more about you and your products?
Patrice Mousseau 21:06
Yeah, I'm on LinkedIn. Patrice Mousseau and or I think you can find me through the business on our socials which is @satyaorganic and yeah, you can always reach me on the what is it, in the DMS on Instagram. I sounded so lame there. 'In the DMs'.
Michael LeBlanc 21:30
Well, I'll, yeah, and I'll put all these links to your site into the show notes, but listen, Patrice, thanks so much for joining me on The Voice of Retail podcast, real treat to get to, get to know you and hear your story and thank you for, for sharing and listen, I wish you much continued success and we'll be watching and congratulations on what you've achieved.
Patrice Mousseau 21:50
Thank you. And we'll be talking again soon because you have an event coming up.
Michael LeBlanc 21:54
That's right for all the listeners Retail West happening in Vancouver and you will be there, you will be on the stage and so folks will get to meet you.
Patrice Mousseau 22:04
And wandering the crowd after too.
Michael LeBlanc 22:06
Yeah. Fantastic. Thanks again for joining me on the pod and have a great rest of your day.
Patrice Mousseau 22:11
Thank you, you too.
Michael LeBlanc 22:13
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of The Voice of Retail. If you haven't already, follow on your favorite podcast platform so new episodes will land automatically each week and be sure to check out my other retail industry media properties, Remarkable Retail podcast with Steve Dennis, and the Global E-commerce Leaders podcast.
I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, senior retail advisor, keynote speaker, Rethink Retail 2023 Global Top Retail Influencer. If you want more content or to chat, follow me on LinkedIn.
Michael LeBlanc 22:40
Safe travels everyone!
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
retailers, indigenous, entrepreneur, retail, patrice, business, product, media, eczema, skincare, started, bit, years, support, podcast, brand, world, shoppers drug mart, satya, canada