Meet Danny and Tenesia Pascal | Founders

We had the good fortune of connecting with Danny and Tenesia Pascal and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Danny and Tenesia, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
During the majority of our company’s life span we’ve also had day jobs until recently and coupled with now a new baby, we’ve found balancing work and life challenging but rewarding.

In the first few years of the business things were easier because we were just getting started so didn’t have a lot of demand, however as we’ve grown we find ourselves much busier, forfilling orders, manufacturing products and also growing the business. Having never run a business before everyday presents a new challenge so we’re constantly learning on the job and sometimes that means sacraficing leisure time for work time.

I think if you’re passionate about your business then you don’t end up worrying about the balance because you see it as a big part of your life anyway. If it starts feeling like it’s too much then we might question why we’re doing it in the first place.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I (Danny) have spent the last 11 years working in the television industry for the BBC until recently. Helping to facilitate and produce hundreds of television shows over the years I’ve learned a lot from the industry about people, teamwork and management. I came straight out of uni in 2009 after studying film and tv and more or less went straight into the industry, with some hiccups along the way. Along the journey the main things I’ve learnt is that hard work and persistance pays off, no matter what field you work in. If you have drive, that energy needs to be harnessed to maximum effect or you’re wasting your time. Years of working in a role I didn’t always enjoy taught me that life isn’t going to do anything for me unless I do I put the energy out there to do it for myself. This is one of the reasons we developed the business in the first place.

I (Tenesia), until last year, spent the last decade in retail as a visual merchandising manager for M & S. This was a physically and mentally demanding job; manual labouring, managing staff and using my creative flair to bring in maximum profit for my company with daily tasks but I managed it successfully with a great reputation behind me when I left.

If I’ve learned anything from my time in retail its that if your business is to succeed, you need structure and working practices in place. Whether that’s the delegation of tasks or jobs that need to be done on specific days, we’ll pride ourselves on putting these things in place even more importantly in our growth stage as a small business.

Our brand is all about people, planet and skin. We strive to continue being a brand that puts people and planet before profit. This isn’t to say profit isn’t important for any business but to say for a sustainable and happy life, we have to have balance in the energy we have and continue to create. Whether that’s in the people who work for us, shop with us or are effected by our company in some way, we want to be able to say we brought only goodness and positivity to a worrld where sometimes it can be lacking.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
While we don’t live in London anymore we still regularly visit our home city and if our friends came down for a week of fun and a good time we’d probably take them on a food bender of all our favourite spots and caterers that you won’t find in too many places. We’d order from Livity Plant Based Cuisine (in south London) for some sexy Caribbean vegan food, Crosstown Doughnuts in Shoreditch, because we have a sweet tooth have a Sunday dinner style meal from Wholefoods because we’re just foodies really.

They would have to come down in August though, during carnival week so we could take them to some fetes at Electric in Brixton before the two days of madness on the road in Notting Hill where we play Mas every year. When adding to the cultural side of the city we might go and see a show in the Westend, maybe Jersey Boys or Motown or maybe a film at the BFI on the Southbank, for a film not in mainstream cinemas.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We would love to give a huge shout out to our customers, especially our day one friend customers who have been with us through every stage of our growth since 2016/17, continuing to buy, feedback and help us develop as a brand.

A special shoutout to our friend and mentor too, Jagjeet Doheley of Ribbons Consultants. She came to us at a time of need that we didn’t know we needed. Supporting our vision and helping guide us through our growth over this last year has seen us to the next level and built solid foundations for us to continue on. Always encouraging and believing in us, even when we’re unsure of ourselves has really helped us to believe and achieve our goals in business and life. We’d strongly encourage anyone in need of mentorship to contact her.

Website: https://www.earthtoearthorganics.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earthtoearthorganics/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/danny-and-tenesia-pascal-10496b176

Twitter: https://twitter.com/eteoskincare

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Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTtp4xkUGw8