We had the good fortune of connecting with Emilie Hoyt and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emilie, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
When I was a child, I suffered from chronic severe migraine headaches. Missing school, holidays, parties became a depressing common occurrence. Luckily, when I was a pre-teen I saw a neurologist who helped my identify a main trigger to my migraines: perfume. Empowered by this information, I eliminated all perfume from my home. What I discovered was that it wasn’t just the straight traditional perfume that needed to go-it was any product that contained the the words “parfum” or “fragrance.” in the ingredient list. And that was–well, pretty much everything! After purging my house of bottles of shampoos, liquid soaps, face wash lotions, sunscreens, makeup, etc, I went searching for substitutions for products that wouldn’t make me sick. This was harder than I could have ever anticipated. Seemingly every where I shopped from department stores to drug stores, everything had the word “fragrance” included in the ingredients. Not only that, but the ingredient lists of these products appeared to be identical to all other products in the category. A face wash at the department store had the exact same ingredient list as the one sold at the drug store, for a fraction of the cost. This was the moment that as a 12 year old girl, I realized that the beauty industry was really just comprised of the exact same product just packaged, priced and advertised to different demographics. This was the beginning of my life-long mission to change the beauty industry. Twelve years later, in 1999, I launched LATHER, a wellness-based personal care company dedicated to providing healthy skin and hair care with a focus on education, transparency and quality natural ingredients from around the world.

What should our readers know about your business?
I’m most passionate about educating people on the ingredients in their beauty products and why it matters. I see people every day scrutinize what is in their food, but give little to no thought on what they put on their skin. The fact our blood absorbs up to 90% of we put on our skin.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Hauser & Wirth gallery in the Arts District DTLA with dinner /drinks at Manuela afterwards The Getty Museum Is amazing and such a cool experience.
Hiking around the Hollywood sign.
Hollywood Bowl/Greek Theatre for some outdoor summer entertainment
Brunch at Julienne’s in San Marino followed by a trip to The Huntington Gardens and Dinner at Mi Piace
Of course- The Beach! My favorite is El Matador Beach in Malibu. Alternatively, rent bikes in Santa Monica at Perry’s and bike down to El Segundo.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My husband and my two children, Ellie and Lewis. They support me 100% and are my biggest cheerleaders

Website: www.lather.com

Instagram: @lather.com

Facebook: @latherskincare

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