Botnia is eight years old this year. I’ve been a business owner for 14 years, and something about being in the adolescence of running a company has me feeling more capable than ever. Like a rebellious teenager who’s seen enough to know what’s wrong with the world and is ready to change it. All these chemicals, the greenwashing, the influencer marketing, the outright assault on women’s health—it has me fired up like never before. And while I wouldn’t claim to know it all, I know enough now to feel solid in my footing. I don’t stress about the small things anymore. Now I think about the bigger picture, about the responsibility we hold as a company to do things right.

I think back to when I started my spa in 2010. So many people told me I couldn’t have a fully organic spa, that I had to include chemical-based services if I wanted to be successful. But I knew in my bones that wasn’t true. Back then, only a handful of brands were doing organic skincare, and none of them were offering the kind of care I wanted to give my clients. It’s wild to think that the words clean beauty didn’t even exist yet. Trends come and go, but skincare rooted in nature isn’t a trend. It’s whole foods for your skin. It’s nutrition. It’s herbalism. It’s understanding human physiology and working with the skin rather than forcing it into submission.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the number eight. It’s a full circle, an infinite loop. And that’s exactly what this year feels like—coming back to the core of why I started Botnia, but on a bigger scale. We’re growing in ways I could have only dreamed of when I first started, but at our heart, we are still a grassroots skincare company. And something I don’t talk about much…. 

I have no outside funding. We are completely self-funded, and no, I don’t come from money either. We are funded by the sales of our skincare and your trust in us. Every choice I make is based on our values. That means everything we create is made with you at the center—not some bottom line at an investor meeting.

So in year eight, I’m asking the questions that matter most: Are we truly taking care of the ecosystems we impact? Is our packaging actually recyclable in real-world systems? Are the plants we grow supporting the soil, the farmers, and the land? In our lab, are we following the highest safety standards, making products with the utmost integrity? Are we giving our spa partners the resources they need to feel confident in the skincare they put their name behind? And for the people who find us—on our website, through word of mouth, in their inbox—are we offering something real? Something meaningful? 

Is our skincare the best on earth?

In year eight I believe it is. 

This year, I want to make sure that everything we do reflects that. Year eight is about doubling down on what we’ve always stood for. I'm coming back to the vision I had from day one and making sure we’re still on that path. We're holding ourselves to the highest standards, not because it’s trendy but because it’s what we believe in.

Thank you for being here, for choosing to align with something bigger than just skincare, and for believing, like I do, that we all deserve better.

Here’s to year eight, and everything ahead.

With love,
Justine