At
the heart of Snow
Fox Skincare is Phoebe Song, the founder and driving force
behind this award-winning skincare brand. Song’s journey to creating
a botanically-based line of products was spurred by the fact that
many conventional products often merely treated the surface
symptoms. Her own experience with inflammatory rosacea also played a part. The
belief in proactive care and maintenance has become part of the
foundation of Snow Fox.
“No amount of skincare is going to truly fix you unless you have a disciplined method,” explains Song. “Skincare can be combined with so many lifestyle things to really achieve what you want. Snow Fox didn't fix me. I still have rosacea, but Snow Fox gave me the tools to look the way I do today.”
With her unwavering commitment to skincare that emphasizes prevention over reaction, Song works with her head chemist to create formulations that are multi-functional and effective. Effectiveness is important to Song, even after a product has launched. “If something doesn't perform as well as I would like, I will discontinue it and revamp it and then relaunch it if I have to,” says Song. “It's not about the money for me in that sense. It has to achieve a certain standard.”
To meet her standards, most of Snow Fox’s formulations take two to three years to come to market. Every product is created from scratch and nothing is white labeled. This focus on quality has everyone taking notice, as evidenced by the multiple awards Song and Snow Fox have received.
This success, however, does take a lot of work and Song has faced a some challenges along the way.
“I think as an Asian female business owner, one of my biggest issues is that my brand and my work always gets ethnicized. I feel like most people should like my work for what it is. For example, they should like my products, they should like my brand regardless of whether I'm Asian or not. But I always get pigeonholed into this cultural identity which is then used for trends,” Song explains.“Now the problem with that is when you're not trending anymore."
"I love my ethnicity and my culture," continues Song, "And I think it has a huge influence on who I am and what I do, but it’s not front and center of who I am as a person. I see this happen to Latino founders, I see this happening to black founders.”
Another challenge is trying to find the right balance between work life and home life. Being a mother is a full-time job in and of itself and when you layer on the responsibility of running a successful international skincare brand, it becomes even more demanding. When asked about what advice she wishes she had starting out, Song responds, “I think one of the biggest pieces of advice I wish someone told me as a female business owner is that there's no such thing as having it all."
"I don't want to paint this picture that you can have it all. I run a multinational business with two kids and, I'm going to be very honest, there are days where it is, mentally, probably one of the hardest things. If you're going to do really well at work then you're going to suck as a parent for that day.”
Realizing that she can't be perfect in everything every day, as well as having a fantastic team behind her, has given Song the ability to successfully navigate these intricate roles and grow Snow Fox to where it is today - an innovative brand that is committed to effectiveness and sustainability.
