Nineteen years ago we were brainstorming what to name our new business.  We had newsprint and markers.  The adrenalin flowed as we cranked out various possibilities at the kitchen table.  We knew we wanted to imply our vision of natural skin care having a deeper effect than simply the surface or cosmetic. We believed we could have beautiful and appealing presentation and still be healthful and non-harmful to other life.  Our idea was to  combine the best of an upscale boutique and the Health & Beauty Aids department of a natural products store. We came up with zippy illiterations, clever plays on words and various combinations of our own names.  Nothing struck us as right until we came to our five-year-old daughter’s name, Joia. We asked her if it would be OK to use her name.  She didn’t jump at the idea but was amenable.  So, we went with it using the tag line luxurious products for body & soul. Joia’s name is Portuguese meaning “precious one, gem,” the perfect name for our daughter.  And, although we’ve often had to pronounce it for people, it was a propitious name for our shop.

We are now JoiaBeauty:A Personal Care Apothecary, which totally suits our mission of nurturing the outer expression of our precious inner beauty with healing products and treatments.   Our original name choice may have seemed a bit risky from a marketing standpoint but worked out well.  Adding “Beauty” has enhanced an already lovely name and further defined who we are.  Now we just need a pronunciation guideline for our names Joia (joy-a), Mette (met-ta) and Luahn (loo-ahhn). We ‘re unique!

Luahn is a co-founder of JoiaBeauty. She has a passion for natural skin care and loves practicing and teaching Yoga.