First came the sun cream.
I had two little boys, Louis and Odin, and I was getting fed up.
Every product I picked up felt like a compromise. The sun cream I was told to trust, made from things I would never put mine or my childrens skin. The 'natural' snack with eleven ingredients I couldn't pronounce. The promise on the front, and the reality on the back.
The tipping point was sun cream. I couldn't find one I felt comfortable putting on their precious skin. So I decided to make my own. In small batches. In my kitchen.
It wasn't meant to be a business. It was meant to protect them. But friends started asking for tubs. Then friends of friends. And a jar of sun cream I made for two boys became the start of something much bigger than I ever planned.
Then came the diagnosis.
Eight months after Sweet Bee began, I was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. I had two little boys, Louis and Odin, and I was absolutely terrified.
I had major surgery and began the long road to recovery. And then came another devastating blow - they had found cancer in my lymph nodes. I was faced with decisions I never thought I'd have to make.
What followed was one of the most defining periods of my life. I questioned everything. I researched endlessly. I searched for natural ways to support my body and my wellbeing.
It became my life's work.
When I came out the other side, my perspective on everything had shifted.
The small jar of sun cream I'd made in my kitchen didn't feel small anymore. It felt like the shape of something I was meant to build.
Now every product we make has to pass the same test. Would I happily put this on Louis and Odin? If the answer is anything less than yes, we don't make it. That's the promise, in the everyday.