After discovering a connection between water pollutants and and her skin issues, Ma tapped into her background Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and passion for holistic health to create Filterbaby, the world's first skincare-focused faucet filter. Working with her sister Lin, Filterbaby has been growing organically at an exponential rate as word spreads about its incredibly affect on people's skin. We spoke with Ma about her professional path so far.
How did the idea for Filterbaby
come about?
Being raised in a family filled with Traditional Chinese Medicine
practitioners, who are experts in herbal medicine and acupuncture, I
was inspired from a very young age to pursue the same path. I
decided to pursue my Masters of Acupuncture ten years ago and have
now treated thousands of patients. The foundation of TCM is the
discovery of root causes of ailments in the body and then treating
patients with natural, simple, and effective remedies. Since I’ve
been around holistic healthcare my whole life, I am deeply
passionate about finding natural treatments and eliminating toxins
in the body- a core tenet of TCM is that simplicity is key.
Three years ago I relocated to a new area, and noticed a correlation
between the quality of my tap water and my own facial skin. I was
able to deduce that my extremely dry and irritated skin was caused
by my water supply. I subsequently did a deep dive and I realized
there is a population-wide exposure to pollutants, chemicals, and
microcontaminants in the United States tap water system. According
to the Environmental
Working Group (EWG), over 200 million people in the United
States have exposure to these contaminants in their home water
supply. Scientists have found links between a number of these
chemicals in our water supply, and many health concerns, including
skin disease, kidney disease, and immune dysfunction among others.
Upon further research, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), on a global
scale, at least 2 billion people are exposed to water contaminated
with feces and pathogens. I just knew I had to do something about
it, and after years of dedicated research and experimentation,
Filterbaby was born.
What has been the most challenging aspect of starting your
company? The most rewarding?
The most challenging part of starting Filterbaby has been the fact
that we are a pioneer in the skincare water filtration space. We are
the FIRST faucet filter developed for skincare on the market! We
quite literally had to create a new category for ourselves. When you
create a new category, there is a lot of educating the consumer that
needs to be done. We were also forced to do massive amounts of
research to make sure we were creating the best product and working
with the best manufacturers. This also pushed us to vigorously
create trust in our brand by doing extensive clinical studies and
finding dermatologists to peer review our product. On the flip side
of all the hard work, because we are first to market, we notice the
consumer is very excited about this product. We go viral on social
media all of the time!
The most rewarding experience, that I was absolutely astonished by,
was the demand we received for Filterbaby after our soft launch in
May 2022. Our inbox was flooded with thousands of messages from
individuals who claimed they had been searching for a product like
ours for years after discovering something was wrong with their
water. Dozens of customers who suffered from acne, rosacea, and
eczema thanked us and sent us their before and after photos. I was
shocked. When I practiced acupuncture, I thought that nothing could
surpass the feeling of helping to alleviate a patient’s physical
pain, but receiving transformational photos and seeing firsthand the
difference we’ve made in improving the quality of their skin and,
ultimately, their general wellbeing is something that I’m eternally
grateful for. I’m so excited to help more people improve the way
they look, feel, and live.
You conducted significant research while creating Filterbaby.
What was the most surprising thing you learned?
The most surprising thing I learned is that the EPA(Environmental
Protection Agency) only regulates 90 out of 320 toxic chemicals
found in 80% of our tap water. In the United States we have
something called the Clean Water Act, a landmark Nixon-era
legislation that regulates the discharge of pollutants into waters
of the United States. The act requires the EPA to establish
pollution limits based on the best available treatment methods and
then review the limits yearly and every five years to keep pace with
advances in technologies to reduce and ultimately eliminate water
pollution from industrial sources. However, for 40 of the 59
industries subject to the pollution limits, the standards were last
updated 30 or more years ago, and 17 of those date back to the
1970s.
If you ask the average person if they drink tap water the answer is
usually no. So if we inherently know something is wrong with our tap
water, why would we wash our faces, the most delicate part of our
bodies, with it? I think this is a huge reason why this product
resonates with such a large audience.
How has it been starting a business with your sister? Do you
think it’s easier to work out problems or harder?
The biggest blessing in starting a business with my sister is that
we both have very different strengths and weaknesses. It can be so
helpful in decision making when we can see things from a 360 view
because of our different opinions. It’s also easier to understand
each other's work flow due to the fact that we know each other so
well. Whenever there is conflict things get resolved very quickly
and since we are sisters there is an inherit close relationship that
garners a lot of trust and comfortability to talk openly to resolve
things.
Statistics show that men are more likely to be funded than women;
and the rates are even lower for people of color. Do you think
being Asian women has affected your company in any way? Positive
or negative?
We are currently completely bootstrapped from $20,000 to where we
are today. We have been extremely lucky to be able to create such a
strong community and product sell through velocity that we haven’t
had to raise capital yet. I am excited for the new challenge of what
raising capital may look like but so far I can’t speak on any
positives or negatives regarding this.
What is a typical day like for you?
A typical day in my life consists of many zoom calls with my team,
advisors and manufacturers. This year we worked with an industrial
design team to reinvent the look and feel of our product and that
whole process was fascinating. The manufacturing process from design
drawings to final product was a lot more involved then I could have
ever imagined. I spent a lot of time going back and forth with my
manufacturer to perfect the product. I feel confident in saying this
is the
