 Mellie James, host of Let's Mana Up. This show is meant to dive into stories of local product entrepreneurs and how they're growing their companies from right here in Hawaii. My guest today is Rona Yim, co-founder of BodyMint based on Oahu. Welcome to the show, Rona. Hi, Mellie. Thank you for inviting us. Of course. Why don't you start off by telling us, how did you get started? Well, I guess, you know, I was, we were, this was over 20 years ago. This was back in 1997. And a girlfriend of mine that I went to graduate school with had told me that she was going to go and work for the state so she could get medical coverage. And I said, oh, do you wanna work for the state? She said, no, not really. And I said, well, I said, well, I'm gonna start a company. And she said, really, what in? And I said, well, I have this list of stuff that I, you know, entrepreneurs just, I write stuff down like all the time. And one of them was BodyMint, but I didn't have the name for it. It was just like uphill that helped you to smell good, right? So wait, so you just had these random thoughts about like crazy ideas. I wish there was a pill to help you smell good. Yeah. Did you have any other ones that you can share? Yeah, I had created, before all of these wristbands everyone had, I had this wristband idea that was gonna color code for a single and, you know, whatever kind of sexual preference or what kind of, or, you know, like, you know, on the market or, you know, just fun, stuff like that. Stuff that was very relevant for you at that time. It was just silly stuff. I had just crazy ideas of books. I had books that ideas for kids that were, you know, that had, you know, I don't like learning disabilities, handicaps, because they were at that time just starting to, this was a long time ago, right? Integrate them into public schools and things. So it was just the, just all these ideas, you write them down on this book. Yes, that I have a really sensitive nose. And it always, I was always wondering, like, why is there no solution to body odor? Why is there no solution to this? It's always, everything's a cover up. You know, everything's a put it up, you know, under armed deodorants or sprays or, you know, pads, it took up boots, I mean, smells. Basically, I guess I wanted to invent a pill that was a solution for that, or a natural thing. And a solution for like all of your body types of odors. Yes, not just your underarms, but your breath, also your feet, so like just how a breath mint would be for your breath. It was a body mint for your whole body. And we finally did it after three years, though. It was a three year challenge for us. We had nine different formulations that we worked on. And really it was my partner and I, so Eddie O'Noy, Claire, Tanoy at the time, who was really involved then, but she's, you know, just kind of on a hiatus right now. But my, we're so all partners, but Eddie would take it because he'd go to a lot of dinner parties like every night. And then he would say, hey, wanna try this new thing we're working on? And so really it was, the ninth formula was the lucky one. And it was like, everyone hands down, all the ladies, all these friends were like, this is it, this works so great. So that's what we went with. So the formulations that didn't work, people were like, no, this isn't like it didn't really help me. I mean, there were some that were okay, you know, and some that were not good at all. And then the ones that were okay, but it wasn't good enough for us. I mean, we felt that it was something so different and it had to work. I mean, really people had to be able to tell a difference. And with body mint, you can actually tell in two to four days and that's really quick, we feel, that you can really subjectively say like, wow, this works, you know. It works like full body, so full body. I was saying most people start taking it because of breath. Well, no, I think people, a lot, the majority of people who purchase body mint buy it for breath. I think a lot of people do buy it for an alternative natural underarm deodorant. It works great for that too. But I think maybe it's because people are much more willing to admit to taking things for breath versus people admitting to, oh, yes, I need that for my underarms. But there's only 2% in the entire population is scientific. Only 2% of the entire population have underarms that do not smell. So it's 98% of people have underarms that do smell. And it's not a big deal, it's just natural. It's your glands that excrete sweat. And when it hits with bacteria, which is on everyone's skin under the armpit, that particular type of sweat from those sweat glands under your arms, it just has this very sulfur-ish odor that is very strong. And I think people can to not want to admit to that, but that's what a lot of people worry about a lot. But breath is easy because, you know, everyone goes around wanting Altoid. Would you like a breath mint? Oh, I need to do this. I like orange and garlic for blinds, I need them. Oh my gosh, and you know, oh my goodness, excuse me, I'm not gonna hug you today because I just had onions, you know. It's much more acceptable, but with the other thing, it's not. So I think it's not that it works better for breath or anything, it's just I think people are willing to talk about it, that's it. So you say it even works for, like, toe jams. Yes, toe jams. But you already have the jam in the shoe, you can't get rid of the jam in the shoe. It's gotta be like a fresh set of shoes. So go on body mint for, like, we say a month, you know. I mean, really you can tell in two to four days, but it's, you know, you gotta spend the money to buy a whole new shoe. You know, beyond it a month. And then go and buy new, you know, tennis shoes, new whatever, you know. Usually it's closed shoes that people have more smells with. People flip flops, generally people can, because your foot kinda ears out, you know, and but yeah, buy a new shoe and you'll see a huge difference. Okay, so you came up with this idea. You started working with a team, doing concoctions of different, like, ingredients and recipes and formulas. You're on your ninth version and Eddie's going to dinner parties, testing it out on different victims, not victims. The different test guinea pigs. And you finally come up with the perfect pill and recipe. Then what happened? So we basically said, okay, this is it. This is the winning green formula. And we wanted to make sure that it was, you know, a very healthy thing. That was awesome. We were kind of a little bit before you're ahead of our time, which is not necessarily a good thing when you're in a retail product. But, you know, I think back then people weren't as health conscious as today. Like today it's like a no-brainer. Everything's gotta be green, plant-based. Luckily we are plant-based and luckily we're very green. And we have a lot of antioxidants, a lot of detox, qualities to the ingredients. So basically what we did was we said, okay, let's go to market. We had biochemists on the mainland that our manufacturers are in Orange County. We basically decided to find a name. And the body mint name, we got friends together, focus groups, because we couldn't really afford to, you know, pay 10, $20,000 for a professional focus group. So we just got people from all walks of life in our own friend groups and families and got them all in our huge room. And we started, I had a whole list of different names. And, oddly enough, the body mint name I thought of only the night before the me, I was just bothering me, I don't have the right name, I don't have the right name, and I kept thinking, and the name just popped in my head. So that went on the list. And then when we had food for people, you know, it was kind of just for fun. And when we threw that name out, everyone's like, are you kidding me? That's the one. And it was just the majority of everyone. It was probably about 99% of people. That's it. So that was the name. And then, from there you started, put that on the label. Ran production. Well, ran production, hoping that somebody would buy it. Back then, the internet wasn't big either. So it's like, we had to go sell it into. So when is back then to give me a drug date range? This was April of 2000. Okay. Yeah. Almost 20 years ago. Almost 20 years ago, exactly, yeah. So it was three years of R&D before that, 1997. And then we went to market in April of 2000. Okay. And when we went to market, we had to literally go to the buyers at Longs who allowed us to go to, they have these like Longs buying shows. And so we got like a little corner of a table and we set up our little body mint. We didn't have any kind of, you know, POP or any kind of, you know, back then, I don't even know if you could do that, but you just didn't have like, you couldn't just order up a sign in like two days, you know? And so we went to this show and the buyer said, if you sell 25 of those, okay, I will put you in the store, but it's gonna be store to store buyer decides. And so we thought, okay. And we thought, well, 25, that can't be that hard, okay? But evidently, it's not that easy to sell something no one knows about. I mean, people won't actually fork up the money. And we sold 100, I think, was 108 bottles. And he was like, what? You sold 108 bottles. Okay, I'll put you in the store, but you know, it's up to each buyer. So only four Longs buyers actually- That was your first account. Longs. Longs. Longs drugs in Hawaii. And so only four Longs drugs in Hawaii actually picked us up. We only sold four cases of 12 each. We're like, oh boy, what are we gonna do with all this? And then we had in the stores, and we were really lucky. Someone at the, it was, what is that? Midweek did a story on us about how we invented this thing. And in like one week, I think there were like thousands of people going in and saying, I read about this. I wanna know what this is. Where is it? And so then all the other Longs had to bring it in. We were really fortunate. I mean, yeah. So grateful to Midweek. So that was the first fortunate event that happened with Midweek. Got into all the Longs. And then I know that you guys got some national recognition. So how did that all happen? Okay, so that, well, it actually happened. So we, you know, we're still trying to get distribution like Walmart here, which we eventually did. We're in Walmart, we're in a bunch of stores locally. But just, it was in February, I think of 2002. So less than two years later, we had only distribution in Fred Siegel. It was, at that time, was only a Sunset Boulevard, which is a small boutique, kind of like a kind of a hip store, you know? And then Henri Bendal on Fifth Avenue in New York City, which really was kind of a high-end store. Gosh, I can't afford anything in there. But it was like, just the buyer thought it was a great idea. And when he heard it was in Fred Siegel, he said, I'll bring it in. And so it was really like on both sides of the continent. And that was it too. And then Jeannie Moost of CNN calls one day. We thought it was a prank call. Oh, Rona, CNN's on the phone. I'm like, yeah, right. But it was actually Jeannie Moost. And she said, hey, I have this midweek article that is pretty old. And I was reading it. And it was someone from Hawaii just sort of handed it to me. I think this is a great thing. Is it real? You know, are you selling it? Do people like it? Does it work? And I said, yes, yes, yes, yes. She said, send me samples. So we sent it up there. And I guess she tested it on a bunch of people there. And felt that it was a viable, real product that worked. So when she did the spot, and you know, Moost and Jeannie were on the spot. No, we were actually on the spot. It was a long spot. I guess we filmed through one of the TV stations here. She asked questions. She really went out and did, because she usually does really funny spots, usually, humorous and kind of fun. And she actually passed out bodymen to people in the streets of New York. She went to Henry Bendell where they were selling it and interviewed the sales lady. And the sales lady said, gosh, we have people coming and asking for the discount large size or the ones that last forever. And because they were buying every month, coming back and buying every month. And so basically, she passed it out on the street to people at Henry Bendell, people at like dentists on the street, people that she just saw. And were asked to come back in a few days and report in. And all of them reported that it worked for them. So she did that all. OK, that's incredible. So I'd love to show some of our audience here, some of the images of what we're talking about here. So I know the first image we've got here is of the bottles. OK, so this one here is kind of a funny, like, just to get the idea across. Yeah, like somebody stinks. Yes. Let's take some pills over this. So this is our new box that we have redesigned and hopefully is much more appealing. Yes, I'm looking forward to speaking about that after the break to hear more about your rebrand. OK, yeah. So OK, so you were on CNN. You had this national recognition. And then things just really started blowing up. And just from a company that's from right here in Hawaii, which is really exciting. And I'm excited to talk more about that after our break. OK, all right. Great, thank you. Aloha, I'm Catherine Norr. And I'm the host of Much More on Medicine on Think Tech Hawaii. We talk about medical issues. And I interview guests regarding medical matters. And I'm really excited about upcoming guests. I hope you join us every other Wednesday at 3 PM. Aloha, and see you then. Aloha. I'm Marcia Joyner, inviting you to join us on Wednesdays at 1 o'clock for Cannabis Monocle, a 10,000-year odyssey, where we take a look at cannabis as food, cannabis as medicine, cannabis and religion, cannabis, and dear old Uncle Sam. So please join us to learn all about cannabis. Again, Wednesdays at 1 o'clock. Thank you. Welcome back. I'm Mellie James, host of Let's Mana Up. We have co-founder Rona Yim from Body Mint based here on Oahu. Welcome back, Rona. Thank you so much. Yeah, this is going to be fun. So we were talking about getting on CNN. And then things just totally exploding. So I know you've got some images around what happened there. So what happened? Yeah, we were on CNN. We got into all, then all the magazines came to us after CNN. It was 17 Men's Journal, the New York Post, the LA Times. They were writing all about us, but we had no real distribution. So at the time, the internet pieces 20 years ago is not what it is today, but our internet sales did just really take off. I mean, it was huge, because they couldn't find it any other way at the time. So it was a little bit too early. So our timing wasn't the best, but we did it. But you were just like the small company here in Hawaii getting these national publications. Internet, not as where it is today, but starting to increase. So that was kind of big like 15, 20 years ago. And I know that you guys have kind of done a rebrand, kind of looking at, all right, there was this generation that all knew about Body Mint. And then now it's been 15 years, and now we've got kind of this next generation of millennials, Gen Z. And I feel like nowadays, people are even more open about talking about body odor. Do you feel that way as well? And I love for us to show some of the images of the new packaging, so everybody can see what we're talking about. But go ahead. Yes, I absolutely agree. And I think that's why with Manna Up and everyone, we just said, OK, yeah, we're going to just change our packaging, rebrand, keep the name. Because all of the people who have been taking Body Mint for the last 20 years are now, like some of them are in their 60s, if they started 40, or they're in their 40s, and the 20-year-olds don't know about it. So over the last 20, actually for 20 years, we have been a top 10 selling skew at CVS Hawaii. So we thought, OK, I would ask some young person that I'd met, you know about Body Mint? They'd be like, no, what's that? So yes, we decided to rebrand and relaunch to find a whole new generation. So these are some of the air places you can be found now? Yes. The Whole Foods, actually we are going to get in locally. And that was, thankfully, through your wonderful help with Manna Up. But we are in select Whole Foods on the mainland right now. But yeah, we're in Walmart here, Don Quixote, we're in all the commissaries, and CVS, of course. Let's take a look at some of the closer products that people can see, the new packaging. So you've changed this to really try to target the next generation, the people that had no idea. Maybe weren't even born yet when Body Mint was at its heyday when it first launched. Absolutely. OK. And they are the health conscious young people of today, sports minded. People are dressed much more casually, I think, but there's a lot of people who are very active. I think just with the health craze and how people eat healthily, whatever they want to put on their bodies needs to be healthy. That's why Body Mint, but they also are, they exercise a lot. They play sports. They're outside. And so they sweat. So it's all together a great generation to target, yes. And also, there is that connection to Hawaii, because we're running around. It's hot here, we're on the beach. You're not going to let go in the bushes and put your deodorant on as no one sees you. It's just kind of nice if you just naturally don't need to be putting deodorant on all day. Yeah, I think that was the whole sort of idea, is not to have to worry all day long. This is something you take in the morning, and then you take another one in the evening, and that's it. And then you kind of just do your thing. I think also in Hawaii, everyone takes their shoes off when they go in the home. So the toe jam part is a natural. The tropical year on weather, it's a natural. So what's coming up next for you guys? Like, I know, obviously, you guys just graduated from Mana Acoma 4. Yay. Yeah. Well, we're really excited because I think Mana Up's done a lot of with us on the internet, and how the opportunities are so great there, Shopify, and all of that. So we definitely are going to be focusing, instead of on retail. Well, we do still want retail, but we're really going to focus a lot on internet sales. We are changing our whole website. We also are excited about more of the health stores, so more of the whole foods, maybe the down-to-earths of the world, things like that. So kind of speaking around the health piece, it was really interesting for me because it was so focused on odors, but there's all these other health benefits, because it's like a detoxant? Yes. So can you just quickly list off a couple of the other awesome side benefits? OK. Yeah, we actually are coming out with new SKUs, but they all will have the original body mint formula in it. But we just wanted to educate people that there are, and we added even more antioxidants, or even more detoxifying types of plant-based products into the new SKUs. So basically, body mint and the new SKUs, which is one is called daily salad, that's going to have just like power antioxidants. So you get body mint benefit of smelling good. At the same time, you get added, added antioxidants. Yeah, body mint has great antioxidants. It's the plant ingredients in it, and also a lot of detox, which helps liver cleansing. Yeah. So I know you've been in business for quite some time here in Hawaii. You have a couple other different companies. Can you share a little bit around what have been some of the challenges with being an entrepreneur here in the islands, and also any kind of advice you may have? So maybe we'll start off with challenges and how you've kind of gotten through them. Challenges for sure. I think, well, one, I think, you know, Hawaii is a wonderful business environment. People are just so helpful and caring, and everyone sort of wants to help each other and help each other boost each other. But what we find very, very challenging is because we're way out here in, you know, for this place ever, from anyone, we're out in the Pacific, it's very difficult to do a lot of business on the mainland because our families are here, our corporate offices are here. We depend a lot on, you know, finding brokers, distributors on the mainland, and that can be really difficult. Culture is very different, and also the business environment is very different. It's very, very hard to find, which is why Manaup is wonderful, because it's hard to, what I feel is the hardest to do is to find people on the mainland that can take the products that have been successful in Hawaii and duplicate that on the mainland because to find the same relationships are so different. And you know, a referral is so different than getting a referral on Hawaii. It's like you cannot be a bad person or a dishonest person and survive in the Hawaii environment because everyone knows everyone. But on the mainland, you know, really, there's just so many people. There's just a whole cottage industry, I think, of people who just move from one client to the next, not necessarily doing a good job, but they can because they can just, like, you know, nobody really knows who they are. Yeah, it's like the anonymity. Yeah, and that bridge is just onto the next thing. Yeah, they're just onto the next thing, and I think that that is a huge challenge for people from Hawaii. And we're also very, well, I don't want to generalize, but I was very trusted, you know. So in the beginning, it was like, oh, what? You know Oprah? Oh my goodness, right? Well, then I learned every PR company knows Oprah and you're paying these people, you know. So yeah, it's pretty, it's kind of, it's, yeah. That's what I felt was the biggest challenge. And kind of like, well, through mana up, but also just having this great network of other local companies where you can kind of bounce ideas off each other. What vendors have you worked with, or service providers that were great or not so great? It's kind of helpful as you continue to grow. Yes, yes, I think, you know, really, we've worked with everyone that, everyone here has been great. We originally went with WebCo, which is the largest distributor of most consumer goods in Hawaii. Most of their stuff in longs is theirs. They were wonderful. And we, they, you know, got us far for the first, I would say, eight years, maybe. And then we just, it was just something that we decided to do mostly looking for a little smaller boutique type distributor. And we like that. And it's not for everyone. I think some people just love big distributors. There's much more people there, helpful. I think we just like the boutique one because we could move a little quicker. We could say, okay, we're gonna do this promotion. We need this POP up a day, you know, or tomorrow. And then it would just, it would get done. And it's hard when, you know, there's people who have, you know, like a lot of other obligations. Yeah, yeah. So what kind of advice would you give entrepreneurs that are here in Hawaii and, you know, building up their businesses, whether it's products or other, any kind of, you know, I think it's, like I said, a fabulous business environment. I think there's people like you and the willingness to really want to see people succeed. We're just like all one big Ohana. I think I love that. I think it, and there's, you know, we have the top Costco in the nation, right? We have the top, I mean, Long's drugs, well, from what I understood, the whole chain of Long's drugs did better than all the Long's drugs on the whole West Coast, like 450 of them, right? And so just the Hawaii Long's do more business than that. So I think that the climate here is great for success. I think the word of mouth, the help that family and friends, the whole Ohana will, will talk about your product. I think that is a huge help. Yeah, like a great place to start, such a great place to start, and then expand. And then expand. So now that you guys have gone to national, now you're doing this rebrand really to start connecting with the next generation. You know, what are some of the key messages that you're now having forward facing? Cause a lot of it is direct to consumer, it's on social. Yeah, like what are those, some of those key messages? So what are key messages for embodiment, especially, you know, hopefully to the younger generation is, is basically if you want something that really is a solution, that really can help your confidence, can really help you not have to even deal anymore with, you know, chemicals, harsh chemicals, irritated skin sometimes, messing up your clothes, you know, having sticky feet from, you know, just like little pads that you put in there, worrying about, don't not worry when you had onions or garlic for lunch. Really, we're looking for the person that is health-minded and wants a solution for your whole entire body. And I think that's awesome. And I want to thank you for being our show today, Roa. Thank you. Thank you so much. But BodyMint is at BodyMint.com. It's, yeah, we are for sale on BodyMint.com. All right, yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Aloha. Thank you, Melly.