May 25, 2012beauty tips

Karen chats with Melissa from The Bee’s Knees

Last month, we partnered with our friends at Birchbox to run a contest for beauty bloggers. We asked bloggers to submit their blog posts about why they care about organic beauty for the chance to win an interview with our eco-leader and founder, Karen Behnke.

We were thrilled at the number of awesome submissions – clearly there is quickly growing interest in natural beauty! One specifically stood out from the crowd though, and that was Melissa from The Bee’s Knees Blog.

Melissa (who is one of the most darling girls on Earth) chatted with Karen to get to the bottom of Karen’s organic passion, among other things. And today, we get to share their interview with you!

Read on to check it out!

The Bee’s Knees: How did you decide to use and develop organic beauty products?

Karen Behnke: Health, wellness, and fitness have always been my passion and turned into my career once I built one of the first corporate wellness companies in the country. But once I became pregnant with my first child (at the age of 40), I really started reading ingredient labels for the first time. I was shocked that many terrible ingredients that had been banned from our food were still in our beauty products. Given that the skin is the largest organ of your body and it absorbs almost 65 percent of what you put on it, realizing the benefits of organic beauty ingredients was a natural progression.

TBK: How important is an organic diet to go along with your beauty routine?

KB: Incredibly important. You are what you eat. Feed your body healthful organic foods, exercise daily, use organic beauty products, and you will glow from the inside out!! According to the Centers for Disease Control, poor lifestyle choices account for over 70% of all premature diseases. Feed your body organic whole grains, fruits, vegetables, small wild fish, and limit processed foods and you will have a ton of energy and feel great. Exercise and practice yoga as much as you can and you’ll feel like a zillion bucks! Eat a diet rich in antioxidants and feed your skin organic beauty products rich in antioxidants and you will be fighting free radical damage on all fronts.

TBK: What’s your favorite part of your job?

KB: Being in our retail partner stores and talking to the customers! I love getting feedback directly from customers and we’ve had so many people let us know that we have changed not only their skin, but their lives!

TBK: What career advice would you give to women?

KB: Follow your passion, work with passion, and create a healthy, challenging, workplace so you can have fun every day. It is possible when you have kids to work out flexible work schedules with some employers because I highly recommend that women stay in the workplace to some extent to stay connected, stay interesting, and stay globally interested.

Read the rest of this article on the Bee’s Knees Blog!

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