It’s rare to be able to sum up a brand in a single word. Often, brand owners are uncomfortable with the idea that their brands can be so easily defined, as if it puts a limit on their creativity.

In the case of Joonbyrd, it’s safe to say founder and CEO Dr Alexis Granite has bucked this trend. She has embraced the opportunity to sum up her disruptive new premium skincare brand with one simple, three-letter word: JOY. And, after a cursory glance at the Joonbyrd website and a few minutes in her company, it’s clear that this infectious sense of joy permeates every aspect of the business, from the top down.

Bringing joy to skincare
Alongside her role as CEO of a burgeoning personal care business, Dr Alexis remains a practising dermatologist – a field in which she has nearly 20 years of experience across two continents, as the first dermatologist to be dual-certified in both her native United States and the UK.

Many dermatologist-founded skincare brands with that kind of expertise behind them might be expected to tend towards clinical minimalism, as most products in the category currently do. Not so in the case of Joonbyrd, which wraps its brand identity in a bright, fantastical candyfloss aesthetic. As Dr Alexis explains, her experience in dermatology has directly inspired the creative direction of the Joonbyrd brand.

“I practice aesthetic dermatology, which involves treatments like injectables and lasers, all aimed at helping patients look and feel their best,” Dr Alexis says. “So much of what I love about what I do is the confidence that comes from these types of treatments and the joy that ties into my day-to-day experiences with patients. I love hearing their stories, building relationships, and tying that back to the joy that I've had with skincare since I was a young child.

For Dr Alexis, that sense of playfulness is directly tied to the hours she spent playing with her grandmother’s scented lotions and potions. “My grandmother was ahead of her time, a pioneer of self-care before self-care had even been defined.”

“I always knew I wanted to create skincare - it makes sense with my background,” she continues, “but I wanted to bring to life a brand that marries my clinical expertise and results-driven formulations with that joy and a dash a fun.”

The name ‘Joonbyrd’ is a nod to Dr Alexis’s Persian grandmother – ‘joon’ is a term of endearment in Farsi, meaning soul, spirit or life. “I felt if we could bottle all these things together, clinical efficacy with joy and nostalgia, then we’d really be on to something. We worked closely with our packaging partners at Hunter Luxury to bring the experiential aspect of Joonbyrd products to life through packaging.”

A challenging industry
So much of Dr Alexis’s story is atypical and groundbreaking. But one thing that she has in common with many new business founders is that she has spent many sometimes-gruelling long days and late nights working to carve out a space for her new brand in a highly competitive sector.

“It’s tough, very tough!” she admits. “As a founder, you live and breathe your brand, so barely a minute goes by when you’re not thinking about it in some way, shape or form. And we’re definitely still in the thick of it.

One thing that helps is that we’ve built an incredible team, so having amazing people to bounce ideas off really helps bring the vision to life. Launching a brand is incredibly rewarding, but it’s hard work. The beauty industry can sometimes be viewed as somewhat superficial or frivolous. But when you peel back the curtain and develop a cosmetic product you realise just how intricate and complicated the process is, there is nothing frivolous about it! The road is long and bumpy. Just developing a stable formulation is challenge enough, then adding fragrance and making sure the formulation and fragrance are compatible with your packaging creates a whole host of new potential issues. Layer in manufacturing and scale up, warehousing, logistics, shelf life…there are a lot of pain points.”

A holistic view of skincare
The struggles that came with launching with a relatively broad portfolio of products, Joonbyrd’s core launch range includes a body wash, lotion, scrub, butter and serum (which will soon be joined by a range of hand and hair care products), proved to be worth it. The diverse body care range filled a gap left by other skincare brands that are predominantly focused on the face.

“We didn’t feel there was much out there addressing skin concerns below the chin,” Dr Alexis explains. “Performance-driven, active skincare tends to focus on the face. I was inspired to look to the body by my patients, as so many come present with concerns on their bodies such as dryness, roughness, blemishes, pigmentation and crepey skin. So, at Joonbyrd we’ve focused on developing body products using the same types of premium ingredients you would typically associate with premium facial skincare to deliver meaningful results. Our ALXmd04™ technology is based on a 360-degree approach to skin, incorporating hardworking actives and botanicals, microbiome support and functional enhancers such as adaptogens and functional mushrooms to mitigate skin stress. If you Formulating with these types of high-quality ingredients and proving efficacy through clinically tested results, I think really speaks to today’s increasingly knowledgeable beauty and wellness consumer.”

Turning the vision into reality
This highlights how the Joonbyrd identity is, in many ways, inseparable from Dr Alexis as a person and as a professional. Her face is featured prominently on the company website, her decades of expertise inform every ingredient in every product, and her colourful personality is manifested literally in the form of Joonbyrd’s playful packaging and branding. Does it take a lot of confidence to put so much of yourself into a brand that appears on shelves?

“The confidence has to work both ways,” Dr Alexis says, “The consumer is placing their confidence in us to provide something that’s high quality, that's going to do what we say it's going to do, and at Joonbyrd we take that very seriously, we are committed to excellence and integrity in everything we do. But equally, we're very much about helping our consumer and our community feel more confident through our products, their results and our engagement together.

“I hope there's confidence coming from all angles. It’s hard when you put yourself out there, as a new brand, it can be very daunting. It's your baby you’ve poured your heart and soul into, you know?”

While the vision of the Joonbyrd brand might tell the story of one person, making that vision into a reality took a team effort.

“The team helped bring this dream to life,” she says. “Not only the Joonbyrd team, but we’ve been really fortunate to work with partners like Hunter Luxury, who were willing to get to know us and the brand and worked diligently to understand our points of differentiation.”

Building relationships is key
On 12 September, Dr Alexis brings Joonbyrd to the bright lights of London Packaging Week, as she will be one of three business founders speaking at our ‘Brands to Watch’ panel on the Luxury stage. There, she’ll share her experience of starting a brand in a must-see panel for anyone looking to keep their finger on the pulse of the luxury market.

“Everyone starts a brand with their own unique strengths and areas of expertise,” she says. “I came armed with my knowledge or skin and formulations, but I was a complete novice when it came to packaging design and understanding how the supply chain works. I think events like London Packaging Week are incredibly helpful, not only in terms of meeting people, gaining an understanding of the process and what is available, but also to catch a glimpse of innovations that may be in the pipeline.

“As a newcomer, it’s important to find suppliers who are willing to take the time to understand your brand and your vision, and it’s incredibly helpful to build those personal, face-to-face relationships, especially when you’re first starting out.”

As we finish our conversation, it’s clear that, while London Packaging Week will host many insightful talks and panels this year, one panel will stand out as the most joyful.

Register for your free visitor’s pass today to catch Dr Alexis and the other speakers at London Packaging Week 2024.