Fresh - This Brand’s Soul Is in Every Jar

Ramon Vela (00:02.424)
Now, without further ado, let's get to the main event. I have with me just an amazing brand that I can't wait to dive into. So please help me welcome Lev Glasman and Alina Roytberg, who are both co-founders and brand directors of Fresh. Welcome to the show.

Lev (00:37.476)
Thank you. Good to be there.

Alina Roytberg (00:37.578)
Thank you.

Ramon Vela (00:40.408)
Well, I appreciate you making time and I you're busy and I really love to dive into the brand and learn about your journey and learn by why you do what you do and all the things that you do. But before that, I always like my audience to get to know the people that we are interviewing. And it's my belief that I think people want to know who's behind these companies because it's so easy to sometimes see a company or

product on the retail shelf or online and simply think it's just some faceless corporation. I always like to make sure that we bring these interviews down to on a human level so people understand there's real people behind these brands. These people work very hard. It's challenging. They bleed, sweat and tear over their product. And I just want to make sure they get to know the people that are behind the scenes.

Lev (01:28.165)
you

Ramon Vela (01:35.648)
And one way of doing that is by understanding what they're grateful for. So if you don't mind, and this is directed to both of you, can you share a moment or a memory when someone did something for you that just made you feel grateful because it meant that they believed in you, your vision, or your potential?

Lev (01:54.934)
Well, mean, Alina, you, me, I mean, I can...

Alina Roytberg (01:59.454)
I mean, why don't we will alternate than the next, obviously, as having two founders. You know, while we share a vision, we may have different stories to tell, you know.

Lev (02:03.771)
Hahaha.

Ramon Vela (02:04.93)
Thank you.

Lev (02:07.583)
Yes. Well, well, Roman, thank you for the sentiment. I mean, it's it's always good to start this way because, you know, everything build on a lot of emotion and passion. You know, for me, it's, you know, growing up, up until a certain age, I was 10 years old in Russia. I'm talking about the time when Russia still had an iron curtain. You know, to make it more.

Ramon Vela (02:18.488)
Mm-hmm.

Ramon Vela (02:33.486)
Hmm.

Lev (02:36.353)
It was like wherever North Korea is sort of like today. And I have a very small family in Russia, know, typically because of the space constraints and how people live. People used to live in communal apartments, but they shared apartments with other families or they have, or they had.

Ramon Vela (02:41.645)
Yeah.

Lev (03:02.241)
something of their own, but it's very, very small. So there was never room for a big family. So typically, at least from where I lived in, at the time it used to be called Leningrad, now it's St. Petersburg. You know, families usually had only one kid. And, you know, I had my grandfather who was alive at the time.

Ramon Vela (03:17.443)
Mm-hmm.

Lev (03:31.275)
played a huge role in my life. It's from the moment I was born, because that's the story that I was told, I started remembering him. He really thought that there was something special about me. And I'm not complimenting myself, but that was the version of what I heard. He always walked around and said something about my grandkids.

And I'm going to be calling him a Wunderkind, which is a, you know, Wunderkind means a kid like with wonders and so forth. And because he was speaking Yiddish and he was also, you know, very religious man, but he had a very special emotion towards me.

Ramon Vela (04:01.838)
He

Lev (04:28.001)
And as when I started sort of like being aware of him and his presence in my life and how he always, how he always looked at me, how he talked to me, how he really expressed so much emotion towards me, although he was very, very strong man and he wouldn't show his emotions to a lot of people, but somehow with me, it was all always.

Ramon Vela (04:50.542)
Mm-hmm.

Lev (04:55.808)
was gone, always went away. And he told me, I remember when I was probably six, seven years old, he started to really tell me that, you're going to do what I could not do. He is a smart man, he managed in business, even in Russia at the time when there was no free enterprises.

he managed to be independent and make money and really support the family in a quite significant way on all sides. On my mother's side when she came into his life and of course his other two sons. And he...

I know if I'm thinking about him, if he would have been living in another country, if he was able to immigrate to America, he probably would have been very successful individual. He was very smart, very focused, very dedicated, actually very, very passionate. And he somehow thought that I'll be the one that sort of going to be taking over that dream of his, that what he couldn't do.

Ramon Vela (06:15.907)
Mm-hmm.

Lev (06:17.76)
He thought I would be the one that I could do it. And he would be supporting me in everything that I would do. If I would be performing on school plays or dancing or reading or reciting poems or just talking. He was always so supportive of me and always so complimentary of telling me how...

much I have to offer and what my capabilities are. you know, remember as a kid, you don't even think about those things, but he really was very influential in putting that sort of like triggering something in me, understanding that life has a lot to offer and maybe I do have the ability and...

and strength to be able to go to that place that he thought I should be. And I started dreaming about it and my ambition and my appetite for really taking life in and exploring it to the fullest and giving myself a chance to completely dive into it and...

and build my future, a lot of it has to do with him. And my gratitude towards this man is limitless. I only wish one thing is that I would have been a little older because as a kid, I was appreciating it, but not enough.

Ramon Vela (08:10.508)
Yeah.

Lev (08:14.247)
Last I saw him when I was 10 years old when I immigrated from Russia to Israel and he passed away a couple of years after that. But he's definitely so present in my life and I always feel protected just by thinking about him.

Ramon Vela (08:24.099)
Yeah.

Ramon Vela (08:37.134)
Yeah, it's amazing these people that we have in our lives that provide us with support or encouragement in small ways sometimes, but that leave a lasting mark on us for the rest of our lives. So I think that's amazing. Thank you so much for sharing that. It's so powerful to have people like that. And I'm sure he knew what you were capable of and what you would achieve, but you know, there's always that little bit of a

Like, I wish he would have, you know, I wish he was, you know, saw where I was going or what I was doing or, know, in what direction, but I have a feeling he's, I'm sure he's very, very pleased at what's going on.

Lev (09:22.825)
Well, Ramon, can tell you one thing and I will wrap it up with that is that if he would have been alive then in the so many times I think about it, he would have been so beyond proud. He would have been absolutely elated in so many different ways. But he so knew that that's what it is. He was so convinced about it.

And he also, one thing I want to say is that he played a big role for us getting out of Russia because he did not want me to be there. He wanted me to be able to live the life that he couldn't. And he made it very clear.

Ramon Vela (10:04.782)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Alina Roytberg (10:07.68)
I think it ties very much to the whole immigrant spirit as most of us are. And specifically in this case, obviously, I also grew up in the Soviet Union. I was 16 when my family left. I think when as an immigrant, come to a new country and you know that your parents had sacrificed a lot of things to do it. Because while they were leaving a certain life, but they were already grownups. But the reason they generally would want to make that kind of a drastic move is because they want a different future for their children.

And I think that that drive of when you come to a new place, you know, because there's no foundation, you know, there's no ancestry, there's no family. So I think the pressure to build something, something lasting is definitely in you. I feel like there's a part of so many entrepreneurs that have a certain history, whether they were first generation Americans or immigrants, you know, it drives you to create something that has longevity, something that has presence. And I think that is almost even

a very clear path, whether you, you know, if you come across a dream, and in my case, the dream came when I met Lev, but when you come across that and you actually completely, totally believe and excited about it, then the strength and perseverance comes from that, because I think both of us wanted to build something that had impact, that had presence, that made people feel connected to something, to be emotional about something, you know, because obviously,

Lev (11:10.593)
Okay.

Alina Roytberg (11:35.018)
putting aside the product that we wanted to do, we wanted to build a certain world and we believe that world is possible. And I think that, you know, when you build that dream and you know that there's not an option of walking away from it because until you fully have an opportunity to truly express it, you know, you can't give up, you can't walk away. And just to move a few years, you know, when we opened our first shop in South End, which was not really a retail location, it wasn't really a place.

Lev (11:50.456)
.

Alina Roytberg (12:04.64)
but it was something that we believed would be the right place for us to kick it off. Plus we thought we could afford it and that was the neighborhood we knew and we knew the people who lived there would respond to it. But it was very, very slow going the first couple of years. And it wasn't until finally when we felt strong enough to create our own product. And the first fresh product that was created is the oval soaps. They're still in the line today. This was an opportunity to go live for the first time, we could work with the formula.

Lev (12:19.661)
Okay.

Alina Roytberg (12:34.25)
could for the first time create the fragrance. mean, these things were so special, like doing everything for the first time and finally seeing your vision come to life. It took a lot of loans. I I recently found a picture of this aesthetician who was a loan shark, you know, in the Boston area. We had to borrow a lot of money at very high interest. We had no idea how we would ever pay, but that was like the dream of trying to bring that to really make a difference because we at that point felt that we have something to say.

Ramon Vela (12:48.088)
Thank you.

Lev (12:58.416)
Okay.

Alina Roytberg (13:03.06)
that isn't coming from other brands. have something to say that comes from our own thinking, our own passion, our own idea. And I have to say is that, you know, bypass the journey of how those soaps actually happen and how all night we were wrapping them and trying to get them ready to put them out in the shop that had a big window and it was a window sill and we covered that cool window sill with that oval soaps. And you have to understand is at once because it was a slow location, there wasn't too much foot traffic.

Lev (13:22.311)
Okay.

Alina Roytberg (13:32.704)
It wasn't something that we were spoiled to see, you know, it's not New York. And I remember that when we opened the shop and it was about 10 o'clock and about 10.30, we saw a person, a man outside who was looking at those soaps from the window. He walked in, he picked it up, he smelled a couple of things and then he brought them straight to the gift wrap area or a checkout counter where Lev was doing something. He put them on a counter and...

Lev (13:49.248)
.

Alina Roytberg (13:56.064)
because it took so long to convince people to sell a good quality, high quality soap that was vegetable based and moisturizing. People at the time were really buying their soap in pharmacies. The other option would be these tallow rich soaps from, know, designer fragrances. It was not really something that people were used to pay money for. And here it was a 650, I think, or 655. He just brought them to the counter. And I think Lev, like on autopilot, you remember, you started trying to sell it to him and he said, I'm in a hurry. I want these.

Lev (14:16.852)
.

Alina Roytberg (14:25.952)
Here's my money. Thank you. wrap it. That whole impact of that first sale that happened to our own product without any effort on its own. And that was just the first step. But I have to say that the first time when we saw something that truly it was something that we really created was something that we've put something in. It was a first product of the dream that we had and it immediately produced impact.

And it gave you strength in the munition because what followed was continuing sales of that even before we did any other products. And then when we started selling our product to other shops, similar shops across the country, or Barneys, the same exact thing happened. Those things were taking themselves out of the store. Things were selling very, very fast. People were really hungry for what we had to offer. And I think from that first sale, to be honest with you, to any day even now, whether we are in Shanghai,

Lev (14:57.61)
Okay.

Lev (15:17.523)
.

Alina Roytberg (15:23.208)
in a new shop that opened, the Fresh team opened, that person that comes in and tells you maybe bought that product for the first time, any of the products and the way how they talk about it. You're grateful for the fact that people choose to walk through the doors of your shops or your counters and they have options to buy anything else, but they choose to come to Fresh. I think that part is a constant gratification. It's a constant thank you. It's a constant gratitude. You can't walk away from that ever.

Lev (15:45.339)
.

Alina Roytberg (15:52.488)
especially started as a shopkeeper and created this world that we want people to be interested to come in. I think we should always be grateful for customers to choose our product.

Ramon Vela (16:03.214)
Yeah, I love what you just said and how you put it. And it is amazing, know, that first time when you see someone buy something and like you said, know, Lev started trying to sell it to him, but he was already sold and he just wanted, it's amazing. it's a huge validation, right? It's a validation to that, you know, people actually appreciate this product. It's not just about us, but it's about the product and the product quality.

And that's a good transition over to, well, let me actually clarify. What year was this?

Alina Roytberg (16:42.432)
Well, we opened our first shop in 1991, that's where the business started. our two and a half years later, so closer to 1993 is when our first product was created.

Lev (16:51.618)
Okay.

Ramon Vela (16:52.92)
So that's good, I'm sorry, go ahead, Lev.

Lev (16:56.962)
No, I mean, I just want to add to it is that the interesting part is it's not the money that will go into the register. It's when he bought those soaps, it was, I felt like I was on dopamine. It's, it's everything. My endorphins, everything were activated because I felt that this somebody appreciates what we've done and like, next day.

Ramon Vela (17:11.746)
Hehehe.

Lev (17:26.899)
After we displayed it in our storefront, the first person that walks in just goes and buys two bars of soaps where it just never happened in our store before. There was something about it that made him go towards the soap, smell it, touch it, and not buying one, but buying two. And so to me, it was not about the money. It was about that.

Ramon Vela (17:49.411)
Mm-hmm.

Lev (17:54.112)
incredible feeling of like my god people it's what we created and people actually go for it and that was such a big moment for me and for Arlene I'm sure

Ramon Vela (18:08.312)
Wow. Yeah. And, and, and what I, what also struck me, strikes me is that, is what you were selling at that time, because I think you guys are many ways, many ways pioneers because, I mean, I was around in the nineties and I was a young adult in my, I think my tw- my early twenties. And I remember there wasn't, unlike today.

You can walk in the aisle and you can see plant-based this or, know, these, all these different type of, you know, type of, products, especially in the skincare or personal care. back in the day, it was, that wasn't the case. It was filled with products or full of perfume or fragrances or, you know, all sorts of different things inside of it. And so, so for me, it just feels like.

Lev (18:46.632)
.

Ramon Vela (19:07.658)
I'm wondering how courageous was it for you guys to really start selling these type of products or even want to sell these products. I wonder what was the thing that motivated you to make that first product? Was it because you had a vision of what ingredients should go into these type of products or was it that you spotted a potential

Lev (19:10.905)
.

Ramon Vela (19:36.554)
opportunity in the market that wasn't being served, or maybe a little bit of both.

Lev (19:41.794)
Well, we could not understand why natural ingredients are not widely used, why we lost that conversation, why we lost that heritage, the history. People for centuries used to use remedies coming from nature.

couldn't understand why we sort of like moved away from it and why nobody really talked about it in a way how we were ready to talk about it, in a way how we were committed to it. You know, for me personally, I do have a sensitive skin, but I like also a luxurious experience. And I think there a lot of products out there at the time. They're good, but I wasn't getting the experience that I was looking for. I always was in touch with fragrances. So that was my hobby since I was a little kid.

You know, beauty products was always of high interest to me because I felt it was, there's something was very gratifying about it. There was like immediate gratification. it's something, it's very democratic and anybody can actually have it in their life. You know, you have an access to that. But what we really not only couldn't understand, it just felt that

Ramon Vela (20:54.574)
you

Lev (21:05.271)
It's a wide space. It's it's not really explored in the way how we really wanted to explore it. And we were hungry for not only discovery, but continue learning and understanding more and more all of these incredible beauty rituals and remedies that goes from one culture to another. And it worked. It actually worked for people. And again, you know,

How come we've so put it back and not really using it in the way how we should? And that's what really brought us to the place where we wanted to open fresh. We decided to open fresh because we felt that we do have a lot to share. Not only we're going to continue learning, but we also have a lot to share.

Alina Roytberg (22:05.716)
I think when you start a business also to some extent, mean, a lot of these things come from personal need. Cause I think that's how you invest it. You invested in something that you missing. And initially you don't necessarily assume there's a white space, but you know that because if you were in that world and you see what's missing and you see that that would be an incredible direction to create something that you can find. And I think then you find.

that there's people looking for the same thing. When they're coming into your world, they're really fascinated by your world and they want to learn about it and they want to use it. And I think that, know, as time progressed, especially when the products became more complex, when we moved, you know, into more treatment body care and then ultimately into face products, you know, we discovered that, you know, the natural science and what a fresh science together can make incredibly potent, efficacious products while taking advantage of incredible rituals.

Lev (22:34.712)
.

Alina Roytberg (22:58.496)
that we're inspired by.

Lev (23:00.087)
Yeah, but it's also what want to add on what Alina said is that it's a science of nature. know, nature has its own science and looking at that is understanding that, you know, that science of nature exists. And how do we take our magnifying glass and look into each one of these ingredients and what

Ramon Vela (23:00.162)
Mm-hmm.

Lev (23:29.556)
what nature offers and how do we, with today's technologies and science, can break it down and understand the power of these ingredients and why they worked. Because back then, for centuries, people were using it from just like the same ways they finding food, how they feed themselves and trials and errors, but they explore things. I mean, they had like that intuitive...

ability to connect with nature and understand what's there. And I think that that was the beauty. They were the researchers. They were even, you know, they were the ones that were experimenting with things on themselves and then putting it into not only their culture, but creating rituals around all of those things. And that's why I feel, and we both feel that, you know,

Ramon Vela (24:04.246)
Mm-hmm.

Lev (24:28.277)
that science of nature is so rich, but having an ability where we live today, taking, as I said early on, that magnifying glass and trying to understand how do we take that and create an amazing product that, as Alina said, they're efficacious, but they're very sensorial, but they also give you, each ingredient gives you story.

and the history behind that and the power of that ingredient and what it can do to you.

Ramon Vela (25:06.093)
Yeah. know, and again, just for the audience sake, but back then, you know, now it's easy to see how, you know, there's a huge market now for the type of products that you guys create. But back then there was very little, it was more of a niche. And in order to find a lot of those products, you had to look very, very, it wasn't easily found in places. And that's why I think you guys are pioneers in this arena.

Lev (25:25.393)
Over to you.

That is.

Ramon Vela (25:35.426)
So as you started having some success in these products that you guys started creating, at what point did you hit another validation? Because I know in business there's always all sorts of validation points. You reach this level and you think, wait a minute, now we can potentially go up to here. Where was, from a product standpoint, when was that validation point where you finally realized, okay,

this soap is doing great or this other product is doing great, this is really going to be, like we can make this into a really big business in terms of these products. Was there maybe a retail company that you started with? Was it a number of maybe a revenue sales or anything like that? What was that point, that milestone that you hit that you thought, okay, we're really, really onto something here?

Lev (26:33.768)
Can you want to tell the story or I can tell the story about our first meeting with Barneys and how it started?

Alina Roytberg (26:41.982)
I'm sure I was going to talk about something else.

Lev (26:45.236)
Please go ahead.

Alina Roytberg (26:47.38)
because I was actually moving a little further in time, just because I feel like, you know, by 1999, which was, you know, in eight years, you know, we had probably almost 400 products in our collection. were launching so many products along all categories. And I think, you know, there wasn't really time to sit down and think about what's wrong, you know, like, did we make it? Because, one second.

Ramon Vela (27:14.702)
Sure. Pause.

Lev (27:15.828)
And do mind if you pause for a second because I'll be right back. One second.

Ramon Vela (27:18.989)
Yes.

Alina Roytberg (27:58.878)
I'm so sorry, it was my dog. started barking. And I thought just when I was speaking, he started barking. I was... Although he was here and he was sort of relaxing. So I thought it's great, you know, but I apologize. It just...

Ramon Vela (28:01.245)
no, that's okay.

Well, he's hearing your voice or she's hearing your voice.

Ramon Vela (28:15.446)
No, no, no, no worries. We've had everything on this show. We've had dogs, we've had birds, we've had babies crying, know, all sorts of stuff. It's okay.

Alina Roytberg (28:25.95)
Well, know, that, that, you know, that takes you back on so many levels because, know, when you started business, our first daughter was born actually, you know, two years after. And I do remember like,

That was also the year when we launched our first catalog. And so I remember that I stayed home with her. It was probably maybe a month after she was born. And I was answering the phone for a catalog. And people would be calling to place orders. And I would have to try to keep her quiet or not. And eventually, you can't. You can't keep a baby down if they decide they want to cry. And then eventually,

Ramon Vela (28:44.556)
Mm-hmm.

Lev (28:58.708)
you

Alina Roytberg (29:07.978)
you know, disclosed to somebody who is calling from somewhere, Washington state, who happened ended up to be actually somebody who works for a big retailer and, know, asking if there is a baby and that at some point, you know, you just have to tell the truth. what they're calling is, you know, a business that's very, very small and you're answering the phones from your home and you just had a baby. you know, you could be producing sales in a whole other way.

Lev (29:32.147)
Well, the best part when the customer is calling at three o'clock in the morning. And then you pretend to be a company that actually has a warehouse and everything else. And then they're trying to give you, you know, the SKU number, you know, that's not that easy to remember in my head. So I have to, so my line was always, our systems are down. So can you please just...

Ramon Vela (29:32.162)
Yeah.

Alina Roytberg (29:40.64)
24 hours.

Lev (29:59.837)
give me the numbers and I'll get back to you. So we had to do those things.

Ramon Vela (30:05.814)
yeah, I get it. Okay, so Alina, you were just talking about starting to hunt 400 products.

Alina Roytberg (30:14.068)
I think that specifically one part just, you there was two moments I think that were very significant on the personal level and I think on the company level both. As you know, because it was, I think in the fall of 1998, just seven years later, we were actually able to open a store in New York City. And as somebody who lived in the city, I went to Parsons, I worked in fashion before I moved to Boston.

for a job and at what point when I met Lev and we started the business. But the point about being able to open a store in New York was like an incredible dream for both of us because it was literally just the windows to the world. We were so connected to the city and at the same time we felt like what we're doing in Boston, what we're doing with all these stores, but to truly express ourselves, we felt like we have to have a home in New York City. And I think that when

I remember that when the barricade outside of a storefront went up and I remember that the architect was asking a question like, do you want to paint your barricade? And we talked about that we wanted to paint it a certain color. And it was the first time that very, very light, fresh blue came to mind because we felt that, you know, so much has happened and we were able to do so much in order to bring this

ran forward and actually bringing it to New York, opening it up to the world. So the idea of fresh blue, like that sign of optimism and hope, because when you look up in the sky, that's what you think about. And we decided to paint the shed that color that wasn't a brand color yet. But it was something which we truly thought identified with fresh means. And I think seeing that really tall two story shed outside of our first store.

Ramon Vela (31:58.19)
You

Alina Roytberg (32:09.3)
It was on the upper Madison Avenue, Madison Hill. Seeing that color and seeing the logo out there, that was really just kind of an incredible moment for both of us because it truly meant that, you know, the brand is out of the box and we're coming into the world.

Ramon Vela (32:24.596)
Mm-hmm. Wow. has the company, at what point did the company start doing online sales? has the strategy always been to be retail only or was it always let's find as many channels as possible? Like, what has been the strategy moving forward from that point on in the early days?

Alina Roytberg (32:52.672)
Well, actually that same year we launched Fresh.com. So, and that was really very, very much the beginning of beauty digital because, you know, internet has been around for a few years, but truly beauty online was just happening. And we wanted to be right there, right on. We wanted to be able to have the legs that a website allows you. You know, this is well before social media. This is really, I mean, you had online chats. That's really the only thing that you have.

Ramon Vela (33:21.582)
Mm-mm.

Alina Roytberg (33:22.698)
So we knew that the opportunity to bring fresh for people to experience that and to be able to buy into it, you know, who don't live in New York or Boston, you know, or in some of the other places where some of the little shops were. So I think it truly, it truly was the beginning of something that we knew the future would be very important for Fresh.

Ramon Vela (33:47.086)
Yeah, and so for everyone out there, so you can see what we're talking about and what we will be talking about, you can go to fresh.com, fresh.com spelled F-R-E-S-H.com, fresh.com, great domain name. You can take a look at the product, we're gonna talk about those in a second. So let's fast forward to more of the current times.

And I know that the company, feels like to me, as I'm listening to you and then as I've gone to the website, that the products have developed. Obviously, you've evolved, you've created more products, you've created some new products in new different areas. But it feels to me that what Lev was saying earlier about the type of products and that you were saying earlier as well, the type of products

It feels like the core of the mission is still the same. The core of the mission is, know, the way that you guys have described it in terms of these natural products, but also with science and so forth. Is that how you would think of the new iteration of fresh?

Lev (35:04.528)
I mean, Fresh is, I don't know if it's a new iteration. It's a continuation. know, the main part of Fresh was always Ramon about innovation, bringing something new to the market, something that people didn't know they needed. But when they came across it, they thought, oh my God, how come I haven't had something like this in my life before? You know, like I remember when we launched.

Ramon Vela (35:32.504)
Yeah.

Lev (35:34.727)
a brown sugar body polish. It's a product that's made with sugar, with the beautiful oils and there's a very beautiful citrus scent and, you know, sugar is an important ingredient in natural humectant. It helps to attract moisture into the skin. So when we introduced that, you know, it became a very big product for us. It was successful out of the gate because

People never experienced anything like that. So they didn't know that they needed it. So for us, all the innovation and the drive to continue developing products, they had to be on the cutting edge. We had to be the leaders because we would dive so deep into it and we really did not have anything that will hold us back from innovating and...

and driving the brand forward. And that's always stayed with us. One is that it always starts with the ingredient, which is number one, and making sure that that ingredient and activation of this ingredient formula, we can do it. And it actually delivers on a promise. So the product had to deliver...

the experience had to be incredible because we wanted to make sure that you really experienced the ingredient full on. If it's a black tea line, for example, we have creams and the serums and so forth, you feel like you're putting tea on your face. So there's always a connection.

that the ingredient comes to life with the smell of that ingredient as if how it would smell in nature. It immediately takes you into that place. And then if it's going to be a sugar face polish with strawberries, you will smell the strawberries. Or if it's a rose mask with real rose petals in it, you will not only experience the petals when you're putting them on your face and rub them in.

Lev (37:58.808)
and let them melt into your skin, but you also will experience the freshness of the rose. So it really takes you on a journey every time you use the product. So for us, the experience and innovation and being generous with how we treat the ingredients was always number one, it always will be. And it never changed. It's...

Now today, so many years later, since 1991 to 2025, 34 years for the existence of the brand, of course, things evolving with time, but what never changes is our innovation, the quality, the story, the ingredient that we bring in, the experience, that's always going to be the same. It would never change, ever.

And this is part of what we do today. mean, we as brand directors, you know, still very much involved in product development. We work with the teams and we sort of like gatekeepers to that. But in a way, everybody who works for the brand, they know exactly the same thing. They know that this is where we exist. This is how we live in our brand.

Ramon Vela (38:56.527)
And

Ramon Vela (39:26.691)
Mm-hmm.

Lev (39:26.815)
And that is never going to change. And that's what makes so unique about Fresh is that ability to maintain that. I we're thinking a lot of times about the products that we're going to be launching 10 years from now. I could be dreaming about ingredient and the ingredient itself might still be available in that format or ability to even use the product because it's not even developed yet.

in an application that would like to use it. But I could dream about it for 10 years until we find a way to actually make it happen. And we put a lot into it, a lot into the research, we put a lot into the development. It's very, very thoughtful. Every single formula has its own life, it's its own formula. No formulas within our assortment of products is the same.

Ramon Vela (40:05.56)
Hmm.

Lev (40:25.678)
None. Every cream is different, every serum is different, every mask is different, every body cream is different, every body treatment, it's a brown sugar body polish or it's going to be a honey mask or whatever it is, they're all very, very different. And that is what we're always going to offer. This is part of what

gets me going. This is what I'm so excited the most about. This is what I personally love. I live and breathe the products and I always feel uncomfortable. It's like, what is next? Like it's, Yahoo created this product and I love it and I'm so excited about it. But I'm like, what is the next thing? What is the next thing? How do we continue discovering those incredible things that the nature offers us?

Ramon Vela (41:24.076)
Yeah, mean, I have to say that, you know, when you're, when I'm looking on the website, which is fresh.com and I'm looking at the products, let me move the efficacy of the product aside for a second. But from a marketing standpoint, all the ingredients that you're using, whether it's a sugar caramel or whether it's, what is it, another one here.

the soy or the tea elixir or the rose hyaluronic acid deep hydration moisturizer, all of these. It's so sensory. I'm not just thinking about it as a product. There's so many things playing in my head as I start to think about these things. There's almost like...

Lev (42:13.677)
Thank you.

Ramon Vela (42:20.534)
It's almost like food a little bit. know, like, you know, when you look at food and it makes you hungry, you don't even have to eat it, but you look at it and it looks, it makes, making you hungry. I almost feel that way with some of your products because the names and the colors are just like, there's so many senses going on in these. It's almost like it's marketing itself. It's almost like it's pulling, pulling me in without you even saying anything about these products. I don't, I don't know if that makes sense, but it just, it feels that way as I look at the different products.

you're on mute, Elena.

Lev (42:53.417)
You're mute.

Alina Roytberg (42:56.618)
Sorry, I didn't even notice that. But it's not really the marketing, it's beyond marketing, it's really the base. mean, before anything else, history of beauty is tied so much into history of civilizations. The idea of a lot of the heroes sort of banner ingredients that became sort of certain collections and fresh had been driven by not just the beauty ingredient, but an element that is more than beauty. When you think about tea, the black tea, I mean,

lotto, rose, know, soy, these things are more than just a beauty ingredient. They're remedies, they're food, there's the cultures around some of these ingredients have, you know, have been built. So in a way, when you see that, and you understand that this has been utilizing rose ingredient in such mostly beyond way, because it's really telling you the story of what the benefit of that ingredient is, and you understand it because you've seen it grow, you

Lev (43:32.015)
you

Alina Roytberg (43:51.988)
You've seen it in nature, you understand why certain ingredients want to be there and want to continue to nourish you. So we already working your brain, your brain's already coming into it. You your olfactory sense is one of the most powerful. So I think you're already in your mind seeing the rose, you're seeing what they grow, you see sort of almost see what it smells like. And then you understand from the story as to what are the actual benefits of the oil of the atar and you see why.

Lev (43:55.948)
Okay.

Alina Roytberg (44:20.596)
These ingredients are in these products because they're going to deliver. Not a promise. They're going to deliver what you already anticipate that will deliver because while you're experiencing it, it will impact even more.

Ramon Vela (44:32.782)
And that's genius, by the way, just the fact that you do that and how it affects, like you just said, my brain as I'm looking at it and thinking about the name and the ingredients. this is, I love how thoughtful you guys are with not only just the mission, but just in terms of the ingredients. And it shows to me that you really do care about

Alina Roytberg (44:34.048)
So I think.

Ramon Vela (45:00.6)
you know, this product development, like the innovation component of it. Because I could tell just by your answers how thoughtful you guys are being with everything behind the scenes here. If someone, I know I wanna be respectful of your guys' time, but let's start talking about some of the products because I think people listening to this are really interested in.

Lev (45:23.731)
.

Ramon Vela (45:24.448)
understanding, I mean, you've kind of given us the back end of what, and about the products, but let's talk about some specific products. And we can approach this a couple of different ways. One is, what is your favorite product that you want people to know about? Or probably maybe a better way of looking at it is, if someone is listening to this and they're interested in what you've had to say and...

Lev (45:49.035)
I know that Darina and are going to say the same most likely the same thing. So.

Ramon Vela (45:52.206)
They want to try one of these products. Where would someone start with their journey afresh? Where would you want them to start?

Alina Roytberg (46:05.086)
Yeah, so go ahead. Yeah, I 100%.

Lev (46:11.6)
Great skin starts with clean skin. This is where everything starts for us. So when we were transitioning from being sort of like the innovators and natural ingredients, formulations, but it's all related to body, we really wanted to move on into the face. And our first product was a face cleanser. It's called Soy Face Cleanser. And

When was formulating this product I wanted to make sure that this cleanser is universal. It's for any skin type. I wanted to make sure it's a gentlest cleanser out there. Cleanser that would not strip your skin from all your essential nutrients. A cleanser that is multifunctional, can remove your makeup. Cleanser that smells great. Cleanser that has the freshest, the most incredible texture. That it's addictive because

Cleansing your face is one of the most important steps in any beauty regime. making sure that when you're creating a cleanser that doesn't irritate your skin, anything you put on your skin is becoming effective. So this became sort of like our first product that we launched to move on into the face, which is not always easy because when you're known for one thing, people treating usually skincare.

Ramon Vela (47:36.909)
Mm-hmm.

Lev (47:40.586)
talking about the face, they look at it a little differently. Although treating your whole body is the biggest organ, so body care is sometimes even more important to make sure that you have the right ingredients and the right formulations. But creating this product was a very important entry for us and make sure that that...

Ramon Vela (47:50.338)
He

Lev (48:06.291)
could be almost like a commodity, like something that people can fall in love and they can come back. And that gave us the opportunity to open the door to start bringing other products incrementally. So people really building our authority within the skincare. It's interesting that so many years later, since we launched SoiFace Cleanser, it's still...

our number one product. It's product that the whole family uses. I remember when we launched the product, the mother would be buying it. And then a week later, she would be coming to the store and saying, I need to buy three. My daughter is all of sudden cannot live without it. My husband can't live without it. So now it's not my product anymore. And it became like a story. This is just became a thing where they're cleansing.

of their face became a family affair. So it was a huge product and a big giving us an opportunity to step into the skincare in a big way. we still, until now, somewhere in the world, every minute we sell one. And again, it's not about, it's really not, and as I always said,

Ramon Vela (49:24.705)
Hmm, wow.

Lev (49:31.966)
Yeah, of course, from the business standpoint, it's amazing. But seeing the loyalty to that product is incredible. just... People and customers, when we meet them live, when they talk about it, they're like, there's no other cleanser that I can use. And there's a lot of good cleansers out there, but they just love that. So that's one, that's an important one. And that actually lead us to...

being able to start, you know, as I said earlier on, opening the door into the skincare and today we are the authority in skincare. know, 70 % of our business is actually skincare right now. And from masking to, because it's the whole arm mantra is cleanse, mask, moisturize. Those three steps.

are most important steps. So after the cleansers, the masks came and we gave very, we created very disruptive masks with like masks that made with honey, 40 % honey or masks that contain sugar and strawberry. then masks that contain rose petals, I said early on. it gave people sort of like, they're so infatuated with these products and the experience that they just...

went into that next step from cleansing to masking. And then we introduced the moisturizers. And that's how we were building it by really gaining our customer trust and giving them also an ability to truly enjoy the ritual of that. So.

Ramon Vela (51:19.822)
Mm-hmm.

Alina, you have anything to add to that?

Alina Roytberg (51:26.826)
Well, when it comes to soy face cleanser, know, it's very much on board to be honest with you. It probably the product that we've felt was like the first star product in Fresh because you know, one thing is that when people would try it, they would come back for that and other products. It's really just like a door opener. And I think while back in the day, know, cleansers were truly a commodity from a point of view that people were always trading down.

But it was an incredible step to move people into better cleanser, produce better results. And they were able to really take on the next step and not try to repair with their cleanser with damage. think that, you know, now these days I think about like, I wonder, so they have anything to do with something. And obviously it does is that our first product in fresh was actually a soap, which is a cleansing product, right? In some way. And then the first skincare product was a cleanser for the face.

Ramon Vela (52:14.53)
Hehehe.

Alina Roytberg (52:18.304)
I think there's must be as humans, you we love that process. mean, cleansing is part of purification. It's part of this process that we like to do, you know, to start the day or finish the day and to be able to have a Freshberg, be your partner in that is really, really special. think it's a very important point. And what's interesting is that, you know, I think people across the world wear freshers and work over 28 countries, very receptive to that.

you know, try to address a cleanser or something that is more than just a boring step because, know, you're bringing something else into it.

Ramon Vela (52:45.506)
Mm-hmm.

Lev (52:53.214)
And there's another, there's of course another product that I absolutely have to mention. It's Kombucha Essence, which is, it's another one of those products where, I mean, I can't live without it. know, the Soilface Cleanser, Kombucha.

Alina Roytberg (52:57.642)
Yes.

Lev (53:10.691)
Essence is a huge part of my daily beauty regime. And I think a lot of people, a lot of customers that experience it, they feel the same way. Kombucha Essence, it's amazing because first of all, we were the first beauty brand that used kombucha as an ingredient. And we used that. And what's so magical about it is because it's a fermented tea. And fermented tea...

basically becomes a very powerful antioxidant. So it gives your skin the ability to naturally protect itself from the environment and not to go through oxidative stress or free radicals. It really helps to shield your skin from that. And once you use this product, you feel it. You see the glow of your skin, it's just going to be there. And the effect is immediately. It's not like one week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks.

From the moment you're using it, you start feeling it. So that is also an important product. The sugar lip treatment, the sugar lip advanced therapy lip treatment, is probably one of the, not only the most luxurious, the most incredible, the most effective, you know, lip type of treatment products, but the whole experience of using it, the flavor of that, everything that it's...

Ramon Vela (54:10.433)
Mm-hmm.

Lev (54:36.679)
It's also something that's very, very big for us because you got to treat your lips. And I always say, you got to treat your lips the same way you treat skin under your eyes because we can't forget about it as well. And of course, our...

Ramon Vela (54:48.398)
Hmm.

Lev (54:58.342)
our black tea, elixir serum is another one of those products that I always say just to die for because it's incredible because the tea that we use in it comes from a beautiful island of Mauritius. We grow it in that farm in there and it's one of the most powerful, one of the most potent tea-based ingredient. And I'm so proud to say it's sort of like it's our ingredient.

And it's so powerful. And it's of course exists in every one of the black tea products. But starting it with, you know, like for me, as I'm going through the products and I'm saying, know, surface cleanser, kombucha essence, and then tea elixir. And then you can put any other creams that you're using on top of it.

Ramon Vela (55:30.766)
it.

Ramon Vela (55:44.642)
You

Lev (55:55.334)
there's a black tea or the rose or the lotus or cremation which is a whole other story what that line is all about that the results are spectacular and the experience is amazing it's like the experience is truly like no other

Ramon Vela (56:16.628)
And you know, products you mentioned also go by, also remind me of what I just said earlier, which is the ingredients and everything is so, there's so much sensory senses to it. You know, the kombucha, for instance. By the way, I don't think I've ever seen another product with the ingredient kombucha in it. So that's pretty interesting.

Lev (56:42.117)
I mean, maybe they exist now, but we know for sure that we've been talking about doing it for 10 years, many years. It was probably 10 years before we even launched it. Kombucha, we just, the ingredient was not yet available for cosmetic use, but we ended up doing it.

Ramon Vela (56:46.094)
Yeah.

Ramon Vela (56:57.708)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Alina Roytberg (57:01.876)
But the thing is that, you know, it's a dummy. Yes, sensorily, and you understand it, but you know, when you start researching into an ingredient, that's when you find out things that become extremely efficacious and really incredible to use. mean, kombucha essence specifically directs the anti-pollution, light protection, because you know, that exposure really dulls our skin. So in a way...

Because kombucha has small anti-oxidant molecules, it actually deeply penetrates through the surface and it really adds a certain protection so it could repair your skin from like external stress. And I think this is a part where, you know, it's sort of taking a natural, but really looking and bringing a really important science aspect of that is what makes an incredible fresh product. know, kombucha has been now launched about seven years ago. So that became another staple.

Lev (57:34.465)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Alina Roytberg (57:52.224)
you know, when you think about staple products and fresh, you know, from soy face cleanser to kombucha essence to, you know, the sugar lip advance, just a few other things that are there. Just it's, we try to tell these stories and people come to the site and they've never tried of seeing fresh. I think it's very clearly there and they can understand what we're doing because they can imagine where it comes from and then they can find out more about it.

Lev (58:19.16)
Yeah.

Alina Roytberg (58:19.508)
You know, it's a curiosity. mean, it started from the most simplest product concepts that when we just began, because it was just curiosity of knowing why, why is something works? You know, both of our grandmothers used to use sugar on the cut and scrapes. You know, it's something that we found out my Ukrainian grandmother and that's Russian one is like, wow, like, but you just assume, you know, certain remedy in your family is just being done. But when you start questioning it, when you start looking into it,

Ramon Vela (58:35.48)
Mm-hmm.

Lev (58:38.724)
Okay.

Alina Roytberg (58:47.316)
That's when you find out the magic is actually in it. And how can you utilize that in the product you're creating? mean, sugar is a concept, did not exist either. But as something that is so anti-humectant when you think about what to do with sugar and to bring it into an actually a fictitious king product, it was really, really fun. People embrace that because the idea of that is so, so compelling.

Lev (59:06.468)
Okay.

Ramon Vela (59:07.853)
Mm-hmm.

Ramon Vela (59:11.67)
And I think that's what you just described in this conversation around ingredients. I think this is what attracts people to the brand. The type of ingredients you're using, the efficaciousness of them, and then the luxuriousness of it. Because when I look at the products, when you're on fresh.com, everyone, so the website is fresh.com, you're looking at it the products, just looking at them look...

Lev (59:36.069)
you

Ramon Vela (59:39.49)
Like I know I keep going back to this, but there's a lot of senses that never evolve, but they look good. I feel like I can smell them, like I can feel them. You know, they, they, they feel luxurious. and it's like, want, I want to, I want to, to, feel them on my skin. that's how you, it feels when you're going on the website and you're just, you know, you're going through the different products. So,

Alina Roytberg (59:59.744)
And hope you will be able to, you know, instead of showing the jar in the box, open the box, open the jar and smell it and then you're.

Lev (01:00:00.493)
Yeah. Yeah, but you know, I have like one very quick story that may and I want to relate to relates to the products, of course. And I remember we're. But I saw a Newbury Street in Boston and we're still spending a lot of time there because our offices were there at the time before we transition to.

Ramon Vela (01:00:06.23)
Yeah.

Lev (01:00:28.196)
to New York on a more full-time basis in terms of our work there. And it was amazing to see when I walked into the store, there was a store manager there and there was a customer that comes to, we used to come to our store every, basically every single day. They would be buying coffee because we were a very close community there and the customers would be coming in and bringing coffee to.

to all of our team members there and then they knew each other, they invited each other to dinners and everything else. It was very loyal customer base who basically used religiously only fresh products. They were so proud of us being the Boston-born brand and they were religiously used our products and it was so gratifying to see it. So I remember one of those amazing customers who was there.

She was having coffee with our manager. And there's this lady walked into the store and she grabbed the basket and she started walking around the store. And of course, you know, our team members helped her and she wanted to educate yourself on the product because she heard about Fresh. She came from another state and she stayed in Four Seasons Hotel, which is a few blocks away from the store. One of her main

um sort of like goals were when she come to Boston is to come to fresh stores so she spent a good amount of money and she basically bought I wouldn't say the whole store but pretty close to it she bought so many products and I mean I remember the sale was in dollars it was over two thousand dollars and they're like creams and and and body products and everything else

a lovely lady and she said that first of all, the experience just walking around the store and smelling everything and discovering was incredible. She was very grateful. And when she walked out of the store with the products, with the bags, the customer that uses those products for so many years, she looked at her and she almost had tears in her eyes. said,

Lev (01:02:50.433)
This lady doesn't even know what's coming. What I experienced in parts, what I experienced in, you know, as new products coming in, I will be jumper. She goes, she dives right into the whole world all at the same time. Said she is going to have the experience of her life. I remember just listening to this and how all of it happened. It really brought tears into my eyes because this is how you

Ramon Vela (01:02:53.838)
Thank

Lev (01:03:20.448)
feel the gratification. It's not about just her spending $2,000. It's about the fact that she really wanted to dive into that world and the other person is reinforcing it with so much emotion. That's where you feel like, I think you achieved something, what you really wanted. You wanted that emotion. You wanted people to emotionally connect to what you do. And particularly product like beauty products. mean, it's so important because...

It's intimate, use it when you're on your own, you use it on your exposed body. There's certain intimacy. So it's gotta give you that incredible experience and gratification that we believe that beauty can.

Ramon Vela (01:04:07.508)
Wow, I love this and I want to be respectful every time because we're already going a little bit over but I wanted to do this is the brown sugar body polish. So this is the first time I'm opening it and I just opened it a little bit while we were doing this and it looks amazing. Like I don't want to show too much because I don't want to dispel or anything but it looks amazing.

smells amazing and it really is. mean, there's like, like we've been talking about all this time, a lot of senses going on to this. I don't know if I, if I want to use it or I want to eat it, I want to like smell it. want to, like, it looks, it really looks amazing.

Alina Roytberg (01:04:52.704)
Well, for external use only. Maybe when you're your shower tomorrow and you bring it in, you mix up this large grain sugar. There's a blend of five beautiful body oils in it that creates this beautiful texture. And then eight citruses that are blended in essential oils, different citruses that are created into this completely, totally addictive fragrance. So when you're in the shower and you're massaging the

Ramon Vela (01:04:56.994)
Yeah, yeah.

Alina Roytberg (01:05:20.288)
the body polishing your skin, know, the sugar melts, but the oils, you know, remain on your skin. It's an incredible product to use in the winter for your moisturization and get ready for beach with the smoothness.

Ramon Vela (01:05:34.294)
yeah, Lev, did you have something to say?

Ramon Vela (01:05:43.55)
He might have problems. Well, I think this is probably a good moment to start wrapping up. This has been amazing. Like I can continue talking with you guys forever. Let me just pause here for a second. Let's just see. Lev, can you still hear us?

Alina Roytberg (01:06:01.79)
Love.

Alina Roytberg (01:06:08.202)
think he can't hear us.

Alina Roytberg (01:06:12.606)
Left?

Ramon Vela (01:06:14.574)
Can you hear us, Lev? Or can you see us?

Ramon Vela (01:06:24.91)
Should I just, should I wrap up or should I re-write or? Okay.

Alina Roytberg (01:06:28.186)
just pause for a second I'm gonna just call him and see what's with his connection it's very clear on the on the screen so it could be maybe he silenced his phone in some way

Ramon Vela (01:06:36.651)
it's a-

Alina Roytberg (01:06:46.591)
Perhaps.

Alina Roytberg (01:06:56.028)
Well, you're still here so you just have to just you know your phone probably went to silence Yeah, can you see it? Yeah, I understand but can we see we can see you but did you see us?

Well, now your camera is off. Yeah, I could see you. Can you see me? No, your camera is off. Now we can see you. OK, cool.

Ramon Vela (01:07:31.276)
I can't, yeah, we can't see you. There you go. Okay. Yeah, let's just, all we need to do is wrap up now.

Alina Roytberg (01:07:40.872)
Your microphone is off probably because you're talking, but we can hear you.

Alina Roytberg (01:07:49.056)
You have to turn your phone back on the sound.

Ramon Vela (01:07:56.698)
I thought I heard him briefly. All right, so let's go ahead and Lev, do you wanna just restart it again? Should we just wait for you to restart?

Ramon Vela (01:08:19.65)
Maybe he should just restart again.

Alina Roytberg (01:08:21.214)
Yeah, I think that he's going to try to restart. I didn't realize that like the phone, I guess if the call comes in and stops, right?

Ramon Vela (01:08:24.811)
Okay, and we'll wrap this.

Ramon Vela (01:08:33.378)
Yeah, I think that only happens if you're using an iPhone or an iPad. On the laptop, it doesn't do that, but yeah, it might do that.

Alina Roytberg (01:08:43.56)
I didn't realize there was a chat.

Ramon Vela (01:08:46.988)
Yeah, I think there's.

Alina Roytberg (01:08:50.176)
Studio chat.

Ramon Vela (01:08:51.212)
Yeah, StudioChat.

Okay, let me just let him back in here.

Lev (01:08:58.16)
I'm back. I had to get out and go back. I'm sorry.

Ramon Vela (01:08:59.212)
There you go.

No, that's okay. So, all right, so we're recording now. We're recording. So let me just wrap this up. Cause I know we went over a little bit, but I truly appreciate your guys' time. So let me just, I'm gonna count us back in. One, two, three, go. All right, guys, this is probably, thank you so much for sharing that love. I just wanna just wrap this up and just say a couple of things before we do. I really...

Alina Roytberg (01:09:03.808)
Let's work.

Ramon Vela (01:09:30.41)
I love this passion that both of you have for your product development, for the ingredients, for what you're doing. And then by the way, also just so inspiring, both of your backstories because most people don't remember growing up and seeing, like I remember when I was a child seeing about the Soviet Union and what it was like and so forth back in those days.

So you guys have had a tremendous life and you guys I think are all, not only are your relatives and you know, your relatives love the one that you mentioned. You guys are very inspiring just on that note too, just what you guys have been able to accomplish and so forth. But I love also this passion that you have for this products and for the innovation and for the brand. It really is inspiring as well. And I really do feel like you guys,

Lev (01:10:11.674)
Thank you.

Ramon Vela (01:10:25.694)
meet our tagline, is products for buying, brand for supporting. Because I feel like I want to support you guys. Not just, I mean, I feel it in so many different levels because I'm inspired by you on a personal level, but also just the passion that you guys have for the, and how you speak about their products is just so emotive and just, I love it. And so I can appreciate this and I think the listeners do as well. So thank you guys so much for.

making time for being on the show, for sharing a little bit of your background, but also about your love for the product and all of that and for the products, I should say. So this has been amazing. Thank you so much. I truly appreciate it, both Alina and Lev. Thank you so much.

Lev (01:11:09.015)
Ramon, thank you. Thank you for having us. It's been great to be part of this conversation.

Alina Roytberg (01:11:14.88)
Yes, I really, really appreciate it. the one thing that I just want to sum up or finish with is that, well, Lev and I had founded this brand and worked diligently in it. We've had other people that join us one by one to a strong group of fresh team that are as passionate and as excited about what we're talking about today. Because I think the one thing that you probably wouldn't know, but I...

No, one thing is that it's very fascinating when you interview new potential team members. Most of the people coming into Fresh that they already know about it through maybe one or more than one product that they've tried. So I think that, you know, we're all passionate users and believers. And I think that's what happened. Helps to build this brand, to continue building it is because there's a strong Fresh team behind it now. And without it, I don't think that we would have been able to get to.

Lev (01:11:58.516)
.

Alina Roytberg (01:12:10.528)
the point that we all got to with Fresh.

Ramon Vela (01:12:13.774)
Yeah. And I love that. And thank you for mentioning that. And I would just say one last thing. I know I mentioned this earlier, which is I felt like you guys are pirate and were pioneers because in the early nineties, you know, there of course were products like this, but they weren't mass market. There wasn't a huge market for it. It was very niche. There's very, uh, you know, uh, it just, you just didn't find that in the aisle the way that you do now. And it feels like time and culture and, you know, trends.

Lev (01:12:25.951)
Okay.

Ramon Vela (01:12:43.694)
have caught up to where you guys are right now. you guys are the pioneers. So I can truly appreciate that. And like I said, your products look amazing. So thank you so much again. And we're gonna make sure to have the links to the website, fresh.com on our podcast subscription. We'll also have links to the different products that you guys mentioned, the cleanser and the teas and the kombucha. We'll make sure to have those links as well for people to try. You have to go to the website and take a look.

Lev (01:12:55.281)
Thank you.

Lev (01:13:04.207)
.

Ramon Vela (01:13:13.076)
I highly recommend that you do because there's so many senses that get hit when you're looking at this. I was, you guys were gracious enough to send me some product samples. I'm gonna do a different video on that just to show the different products. But I have to tell you, like just opening up one is amazing. Like I said, you do not wanna eat this. It's only for putting on your skin, but it looks amazing. It smells amazing.

hit your senses on so many different levels, you have to really look at it and I can't wait to try it as well. So we're gonna have all that on our podcast description, which you can find on Apple, Spotify, Google, and all of the places that you will listen to podcasts. And then as I always say, please stay safe, stay sane, stay healthy. And one recommendation would be to make sure to go to the website, follow on their newsletter.

Lev (01:13:44.087)
.

Ramon Vela (01:14:09.964)
That way you keep up to date on all the products and everything else. Beyond that, everyone, thank you from the bottom of my heart for listening to another episode of the story of a brand.

Lev (01:14:18.736)
Thank you.