Kadian Pow
Founder of Bourn Beautiful Naturals
Kadian Pow
Bourn Beautiful Naturals prides itself on products that are based on real needs and tested on real people. But before it became a brand, the project started as just a hobby, happily coinciding with Kadian Pow’s journey back into academia.
“I started working on a conditioner for myself in 2014,” explains Kadian, who at the time was working three jobs, including teaching at University of Birmingham and attending part-time as a PhD student. This intense mental exertion was what pushed her to pursue more creative outlets as a way to switch off and find stillness.
It’s partly for this reason that Kadian thinks of BBN as a wellness project rather than simply a beauty brand, as it became her way to blow off creative steam at a stressful time. “What started as a wellness activity for me soon became a way to pass down that sense of joy and caretaking through the products,” she explains. “There’s a lot of pain and sorrow in the world and if what I do could be a small part of relieving that after a long day, that’s a great legacy - it makes me feel really purposeful.”
Inspired by Kadian’s academic background and her teaching, BBN’s ethos is grounded in intersectionality and Black feminism.
“Everyone benefits from treating the deepest and most gaping parts of the wound and when we start with the most marginalised, everything else follows.” She explains: “Black women are usually the most readily connected to their entire community, so if I’m addressing their wellbeing, I am also helping them address the wellbeing of their children and their families too.”
Just as the products themselves are based on herself, family and friends, so is the brand’s playful tone of voice, with names like “Curl, Please!”
“That’s my African-American heritage, growing up in the States, my Jamaican birthplace, and even living in the UK now,” she says. This Creole sense of my personality is infused into the brand. The lines between Kadian and her brand are often blurred - so it’s not surprising her customers wax lyrical on the personal touches.
But it must be a lot to pour so much of yourself into something. When asked about the hurdles of turning a hobby into a business, she laughs. “I truly think that if I’d started with the intention of having a brand I would have never started - I would have been overwhelmed by all that there was to do and just given up.”
She adds, “But then there’s the feedback that you get where someone has finally found something they’ve been looking for in your products and it makes the sleepless nights worth it.”
This sense of joy found in caring for others is what she hopes will make her brand stand out in a sea of organic vegan beauty products. She muses on a loss of meaning in a world where “natural” has become a buzzword. “We sell ourselves on uncomplicated formulas that feel great, not because they’re made in a lab and based on what will sell well, but because they’re made in a home and based on what’s going to be useful.”
Interview by Katy Pryer
