 James Swanik here. Welcome to another show. We've got Jesse Golden on the show today who is a devoted mother, a model yoga teacher and a skincare expert with her own skincare line. We're going to be talking about skincare health, which is a favorite topic of mine, mostly because I help people to quit drinking alongside of obviously having my sleep business. And I always tell people if you want to improve your skin, you can go a long way to doing that by just stopping drinking attractively packaged poison. It was what we call alcohol. But there are plenty of other amazing things we can do to improve our skin. Jesse, great to have you here. Welcome. Thank you for having me. I can already tell you have wonderful skin. I hope you can tell that I have magical skin as well. You do. You do have magical skin. So what do you do? Like what's your skincare regimen, if you like, just to kick things off? Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, the face tells what's really going on on the inside kind of like you were talking about. So being healthy, not drinking and doing all those basic things. But what I put on my skin topically is all my skincare is organic. And currently I handcraft everything still to this day. And I think less is more. I think you guys are really lucky because you really haven't been hit by the skincare industry as much as women have. But for years, women have been told that they need like 10 different products to achieve beautiful skin. And I'm really an advocate of one great organic skincare line that works for you or product and just being consistent with it. And less is more, you know, especially with like the microbiome of our skin, like using soaps and harsh chemicals can really strip the skin and actually cause more harm than good. So. And our skin is our body's largest organ. Yes. And if we're not taking care of it, we're not taking care of our body's largest organ, that's going to show up externally, like you said, aesthetically in our face. And I love what you said there, how we look on the outside as an extension of how we feel, I think on the inside and how we're taking care of ourselves. You mentioned organic, the word organic a few times. Someone once said to me, never put on your body what you wouldn't put, sorry, never put on your body what you wouldn't put on. Let me start again. I've said it so many times that at the moment that I came to do it professionally, never put on your body what you wouldn't put in your mouth. But I see these products like Neutrogena and Morial and all this kind of stuff. And I read the ingredients and I go, what the heck is that? I'm not putting that in my mouth. I can't even pronounce these names. So what are your views on that? Yeah, I mean, I haven't used any kind of skincare products like that in years. I mean, my story, I started using essential oils in high school and I've always been fascinated with aromatherapy and skin. As you mentioned in the beginning, I made a living as a model for most of my life. And people were putting all these different products on my skin, horrible products. So I really didn't have a say in that when I was on set. So when I was home, I was really conscious of what I was putting on my largest organ because it absorbs into the bloodstream so quickly. So of course, when I, my company was an accidental business. So I started making all these skincare products for myself. And then I had a blog where I was just sharing a yoga teacher. So I was sharing yoga stuff, holistic health stuff, parenting, spirituality, and eventually that transferred into what are you putting on your skin? And everybody would always ask me, what are you wearing? Your skin looks so great. And I was just kind of like, it's my golden secret, which is the name of my company. My last name is Golden. And so all these products I was making for myself. So it was really an organic process where everybody just started wanting them. And at the time, it wasn't like it is now, I think to answer your question, thank goodness the market is shifting and becoming more transparent. So customers are wanting, you know, the organic and more natural products and realizing that I always say that toxins keep products on the shelf longer, not your skin. So, you know, that's the benefit of like when you, when you buy from someone like me is like, I'm small batch, it's, it's very fresh. So I can do, you know, just minimal preservatives, you know, vitamin E and stuff like that. So. Yeah. What are some of the common, like if you go over to someone's house for their dinner party or something, or you're a guest and you go into their bathroom, you know, a bathroom that's not your own, what are some of the things you see in someone else's bathroom that you're like, oh man, this is horrendous. You know, even, even beyond skincare, which I think there's a lot of, there's a lot of great marketing out there. I don't know if I would say it's great, but you know, with the influencer stuff going on, there's a lot of celebrities that just put their name on something and they have no, they've never actually used the product that, you know, stuff like that. And there's a lot of perfume companies that do this and perfume is now being called the secondhand smoke. It's so like the new secondhand smoke, it's so I don't use perfumes. I don't use anything with chemicals or toxins or anything that's going to disrupt my hormones or, or anybody else's, you know, I think that's why they're calling it the secondhand smoke because you're not only affecting yourself, but anybody that's has to deal with the scent that you're wearing is also being affected. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of crazy. Someone said to me the other day, if it's advertised on TV, then it's not for me. Wow, that's interesting. I like that because you think about it like you think about what is advertised and marketed on, on, on free to air TV these days. If you really break it down, it's all terrible for you based on what we now know about the human body and health. Yeah. Right. So I mentioned before, L'Oreal and Neutrogena, like they're just full of parabens and toxins and chemicals. And yet we have Jennifer Aniston or Cameron Diaz, I don't know, whatever the latest Hollywood celebrity is advertising these things. I was in Brisbane airport in Australia a little while ago and I saw one of those big digital billboards with Kira Knightley, the English actress, and she was promoting one of the perfumes. I'm not sure which one it was. Yeah. And it's very glamorous, man. She looks glamorous and it's a glamorous setting. It might be Chanel. What's that? I feel like it might be Chanel. Yeah. It might have been Chanel. Yeah. And I was thinking, man, this is just like the greatest marketing machine ever, but essentially they're promoting something that's very bad for you. Yeah. Not only that, but most of the people have never actually used it. You know, because I was on the other side of marketing for so long as a model, they hand you the perfume. You've never smelled it. You never tried it. You know, I mean, I was never as lucky as Kira Knightley, but they're getting paid millions of dollars to be the face of these companies and they have no idea what goes, you know, what, how it's made or what's in it. But the industry is changing. There are more companies like me coming about. I think also because of social media, there's more transparency in how we get to share. And that's the good side of marketing is I try and be as genuine and as authentic as I can. And I think that that really translates to a customer and just being honest. Yeah. Well, even, I mean, even with us being honest and being transparent, the level of knowledge is frighteningly low, isn't it? Like in terms of education around these things, why is it, do you think? Like, because you and I, you and I seem to know how bad these things that we were all putting on our skin are. But most people are, why don't more people know about this? Why aren't they aware of it? Do you think? Well, I think you hit the nail on the head. I mean, most people are home watching TV, watching these commercials and think, and, you know, as we, as we were talking before we hopped on here, used to live in California. And a lot of people are dreaming of this California dream where these celebrities are using these products and living this life and they associate it, you know, hand in hand. And it's just not true, you know, lack of education. Like you said, a lot of people just don't know. And the people that do have the money to spend on marketing show up more. They show up more, you know, they're able to get the word out on their products more and kind of tinker away a lot of these products that companies are starting to use the word natural or like Jehovah oil, you know, these little, these little words that get people to think that it's more natural. And a lot of them are starting to transfer over a little bit. But there's still a lot of work to do, for sure. So Jesse, your line is the golden secrets. So tell us a little bit about what products you create and why they are so good for you, as opposed to what we traditionally know as those kind of similar products on the mainstream market at the moment. Yeah. So all of my formulas are based on ancient formulas. So I'm not reinventing the wheel. These are ingredients that have stood the test of time that date back to Cleopatra with Heliochrysum, which is the immortal flour, rosehip seed oil, some of the best ingredients on the planet. And I have face oils, body oils, powders, essential oils. Most products are multi purpose. And that's one of the great things when you use natural products, you can use it on your face, your body, your hair, your nails. And then a big part of just the products in themselves for me when I was creating my line is having been on the other side of the industry and having everything be more of a superficial level. I really wanted to bring it beyond the skin. So every product comes with an affirmation card with specific affirmations to encourage people to take a moment to tune in with themself and give themself a little moment of self love. And women more than men, although I don't know your skin looks pretty good, you might spend a lot of time taking care of it, but looks really good, by the way. We're doing all these things all the time. We're brushing our teeth or washing our face, we're putting products on. So why not bring some mindfulness into it and turn it into like a little ritual of self love. And that's really what I love encouraging, like the products in themselves are some of the best in the world. The ingredients, you can't get any better. The formulations are insane, but also on top of it, encouraging you to create these rituals of self love. And I believe self love is the foundation for everything, for everything thereafter. So that's kind of what sets me apart from other companies. I'm in alignment with you there on self love and self care. Self care is another way of saying, I have two health and wellness businesses, sleep company, and then I help people quit drinking. And one of the things that I have my quit drinking clients do to reduce and ultimately eliminate their cravings is something that I've named the daily 20, which is in the morning, I want them to write down 20 things that they're grateful for in their life. Not three, not five, that's cute. That's nice. 20. And 20 activates the reticular activating system, which makes us then go about our day and we tend to see more things to be grateful for simply because we did those 20, that list of 20 gratitude, you know, list earlier in the morning. Yeah, because when you reduce your stress and anxiety, it reduces your cravings for alcohol or sugary foods or for, you know, any addiction, quite frankly, it could be like TV or porn or it could be like love addiction, it could be anything. Our desire to seek refuge or to numb ourselves from whatever pain we feeling tends to subside when we are living a life of appreciation versus expectation. So when you say self-love is the greatest thing that you can do, I'm total alignment with you there and then things like your products are great, are wonderful supplements to that as well, right? Like we're taking care of ourselves inside and then we're literally, like on top of that, building this beautiful supplemental kind of process to make us just feel better overall. Is that kind of where we're at? Yeah, I mean the products kind of become the tool to do the practice and I think especially for women and younger women, it's amazing to me and, you know, I was the same way years ago is I noticed that I had a negative dialogue internally, whether I was because of modeling, I grew up as a ballerina, so I had this inner critic where instead of pointing out my positives, I would always point out my flaws and I can tell that you're with me on this like whatever we put out into the world, like we create. So it's so fascinating to me when women start using my products and they're like I couldn't even utter the affirmations because the affirmations are things like I love and approve of myself, my body is beautiful and safe and I'm worthy and, you know, very beautiful empowering words and a lot of women can't even say that to themselves in the mirror, which is a sure sign that you need to start saying it and it's so amazing when you use the products hand-in-hand with this practice, kind of like your gratitude practice, what happens, the shift that happens, because we all know yes, topical treatments are amazing, but they can only go so far, you have to do the inner work and you can tell the people that do the inner work because they have an inner glow that just shines despite what they're putting on the skin and I kind of do like a back-end process where I use the product to do it, but it's working and it's amazing, I had a meeting today with one of my girls that works with me and it's just, I feel like everything is coming together where we're just starting to get, you know, so many reviews a day, five star reviews and DMs and before and after pictures and just women like coming to life, we have more women than men that use our products, so I keep referring to women but we do have some men, it's just so, so I love getting these DMs and messages where people are like, oh my gosh, like I just, I've created this ritual and my life is complete, like their life has changed because of this little ritual of skincare, you know. I love it, I'm sending you a DM right now at the Golden Secrets Instagram account, if you're listening, the Instagram is the Golden Secrets and message, here we go, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna actually just say love what you're doing, I was gonna say love your work but that's a bit, I was, love the good you are putting out in the world. There we go, so there's, there we go, Golden Secrets Instagram. So I wanted to ask you a skincare question, which may be some of your women clients or customers experience, I think I have pretty damn good skin because I haven't drunk since 2010 and I've always been putting natural products on my face sticking by the mantra that if I wouldn't put it in my mouth that I'm not gonna put it on my face. Having said that, I went to a dermatologist recently and we wanted to just check that a couple of sunspots that I had weren't cancerous, thankfully they were not, however, I still have sunspots nevertheless. If I go really close here, there's one that's right there that's kind of coming up a little bit. Thankfully there's no cancer in it, which is fantastic. I grew up in a very harsh Australian climate where the sun, the ozone layer is not as protective as it is in the northern hemisphere and most of the damage to our skin I was told by the dermatologist is done from birth until age 20 and then thereafter you're playing catch-ups. Of course still wear a hat and all of that kind of stuff for sure, protect yourself but really most of the damage that's been done to my skin by the sun happened before I turned 21, essentially. So I guess my question to you is twofold. One, what should I do for a sunspot? What do you advise your clients to do? And two, what can people who are watching or listening now do to protect themselves from damage from the sun ongoing if they're an adult, obviously? Yeah, this is an interesting topic for me because I have always been in the sun. I'm kind of a sun worshiper. I grew up in the opposite climate that you grew up in. I grew up in Chicago where we rarely saw the sun so I kind of worshipped the sun. Like when it came out we were laying out with tanning oil. And I did this, you know, any chance that I got and then I moved to Florida, same thing. I was in the sun all the time, never wore sunscreen. I have a lot of melanin in my skin so I never was one to burn. And then when I was modeling all through my 20s, skincare, makeup artists, my agents would say you're going to look horrible in your 40s if you continue to do this and you don't wear sunscreen and so like that. Well, I'm 41, I'm about to be 42 and I think I still look pretty good. So I have this theory about the sun. I think everybody is different, obviously, and that your climate also depends on it. Like in Australia you have to be very careful. Depending on the melanin in your skin, that determines how long you can stay in the sun. I think that sunscreen has really given a lot of people a false sense of security. But because it completely blocks our body's own signals of telling us we've had enough sun. Our body's telling us we have had enough sun and we have gotten an efficient vitamin D, which is going to help you not only look younger, but decrease cancer risk and everything else, is when you get slightly pink. When you get slightly pink, a little sun glow, that's when you should seek shade, put a hat on, put some clothes on. Sunscreen I feel like should be more of a last resort instead of a first resort. I don't think we were created to have to lather anything on our body every single day. So I think that's the first thing and foremost. And then also with the sun and sunspots, a lot of it has to do with diet. I've read studies and I'm not an expert in this. I've just read a lot about it. It could be an overt intake of protein sunspots. And also taking things like extensethane, microalgae, tons of antioxidants, like as many different fruits and vegetables as you possibly can, can also help you not get burned, not get sunspots. And then topically, I think you're doing the right thing as far as using natural products. Because when you use let's say chemical retinoids or anything that has like an acid in it that could make your skin more sensitive to the sun and then you do go in the sun, you're going to get sunspots, melasma, you're going to get all these kinds of issues. So I think you're on the right path. Thank you. I hope that was helpful as well to anyone who might be experiencing a little concerned about that. Yeah, I get a lot of pushback from, especially my parents who were from an earlier generation and also from other people when I don't put sun cream on, especially in December when we tend to go to an island called Stradbroke Island off the east coast of Australia for Christmas. And what I do is, because the sun is harsh in Australia in December, really harsh. I know, I've been there and I do remember it was like, I had to get out. I mean, I couldn't stay in the sun nearly as long as I would here. No. So what I do is I go out in 15 minute blocks. So what that means is that, I won't put sun cream on, but I'll go out and I'll be in the sun for 10 or 15 minutes. I might go in the ocean and have a swim for 10 minutes and then I'll come back and I'll put a shirt on and I'll put my hat on and glasses and I'll cover myself up, right? And I've got a long sleeved shirt and I cover myself up and then maybe 45 minutes, an hour later, depending on how long we're going to stay at the beach, I'll just remove it and I'll expose myself to the sun again. So for me, whether it's a placebo effect or something different, I just feel like my body was designed to get the sun. I want to give it the sun, even though it's particularly harsh. I'm just going to limit my timing and I cut it off. So I'm not getting sunburned. I'm not doing damage. The problem is if, especially with my bald head, if I was to go out with no sun cream, no hat, no protection and stay up there for even an hour, I would be like a red lobster. Yeah. And my son is a surfer. So like there are times where he does have to use sunscreen. And when we do, we try and find the most natural, organic, non-nanoparticle, coral reef safe sunscreen. There's this amazing book by this woman, Elizabeth Plorday. It's called Biohazard Sunscreen Biohazard Waste or something. And it's really a fascinating book because she talks about how if sunscreen actually worked, then skin cancer rates would have gone down in the last 30 years and they've actually skyrocketed. And I think a part of it is not only of our diet, of course, but not getting efficient vitamin D because we're constantly blocking ourselves. So I think exactly what you're doing intuitively is a smart thing, just not getting burned and listening to your body. I mean, like everything else we do that we're told to ignore. I want to ask you about sleep. Obviously, I have a sleep company, Swanix Sleep, and I wear the Swanee's blue light blocking glasses and have helped lots of people and especially entrepreneurs. I got my glasses. You got your Swanee's rocking there. Yeah. There we go. Oh, nice. You're rocking them. How have you found them and how have they impacted you in wearing them? Well, I mean, because I have my own company, I'm on the computer way more than I like. I'm on social media way more than I like. So this is a great way to make me feel less guilty about how much time I actually spend on these things. Yeah. I mean, I think it's amazing. I think it's great. I always tell everybody that they should get them. Have you noticed, I mean, you're, look, you're a mother and you're a business owner, right? You're running a big business. So you're an entrepreneur. You've got to be on your game. Obviously fogginess and irritability is a destroyer of business effectiveness. Yeah. And wearing the glasses certainly, you know, predominantly if you wear these glasses at night time when you're on the screens, it's going to improve your sleep. In the next day, that's going to improve focus and clarity and productivity and efficiency. So what's been the benefit that you felt maybe as an entrepreneur and or a mother from wearing the glasses, sleeping better, performing better? Yeah. I mean, thank goodness I've always slept really well. But I think I think more than, you know, even the sleep issue, it's like an eye strain. Like whenever I feel like my eyes are straining just from looking at the screen too much, I'll just that's that's what will remind me to put them on more than like the blue block and the melatonin and all that stuff. Yeah. Yeah, wonderful. And tell us, you know, how do you organize your work day in conjunction with whatever it is that you'd like to do in terms of your personal life or hobbies and interests and being a mom as well? Like, what's a typical day for Jesse look like and how is it structured purposefully and like that, you know, for chief optimization and overall health and wellness, I guess? I kind of break it up in sections. I've been going through different phases since since this whole quarantine thing. So I'm working from home, but I try and get most of my work done in the morning. That's when I'm most productive, get my emails done, you know, any kind of work things. And then I'll work out. I usually I always work out in a fasted state. So I'll usually work out and then I'll eat at lunchtime. And then probably I'll usually work some more, but I kind of do like little increments and take I'll take a break. I'll go for a walk. I live close to the beach. So I'll either go for a beach walk or I'll go for a little walk in the canals just to kind of switch up the day. So I'm not sitting too long. So I'm not looking at the screen too long. And then the nighttime family dinner and I have my sauna that I like to do and it's pretty chill. It's a pretty chill, a chill day, but like I break it up between family and work and health. It's those three things. And you feel like you have a nice balance there? Yeah, I mean, I think seeking balance is constantly the balance within itself. You know, some days are better than others where I feel like work kind of takes over. But then other days, I'll just, okay, I'm done it. My son gets done at school at 2.30 and we'll just go to Malibu and take him surfing and I'll just take the rest of the day off. So I'm able to like shut things off and and really appreciate my life. And I'm so grateful to be able to do that. Yeah, wonderful. Jesse, tell us where our listeners and viewers can find out more about you and the Golden Secrets. Yeah, I'm most active on my Instagram, jessiegolden, J-E-S-S-E-G-O-L-D-E-N. And then the Golden Secrets also has an Instagram and our website is thegoldensecrets.com. I love it. So now you're getting two stalking messages from me. Love the good that you are putting out in the world. There we go. I love it. Jesse, thank you so much for your guidance on all things skincare and self care and self love. I think we should say yeah. I love it. Thank you. Yeah, appreciate that. And keep up the great work and all the good that you're putting out in the world. So thank you so much for your time. You too. Thank you so much.