My happy place has always been the woods and shore along the Ottawa River, where I grew up. As a kid, I mixed river clay, sumac and clover flowers into spa days for my Barbie. (She'd earned it after a long day of digging with her Tonka trucks.)

I studied French herbalism in my early 20s, then moved into Montreal's fashion industry hoping to work in sustainable fashion. But skincare was always my true love, and I kept mixing facial oils for my friends.

I found that "natural" brands didn't work for me, and "active" skincare was too harsh, especially in winter. My friends and I watched our oily, breakout-prone summer skin turn sensitized and flaky half the year. It reminded me of the Nordic saying, "There's no bad weather, just bad clothing." Why weren't our routines adapting with the seasons?

When I confided my secret dream of a skincare line to my then-boyfriend, he told me to go for it. So I did. (Then I married him and we had our son.) After earning a university degree in Environmental Studies, I built on my herbalist background with clinical aromatherapy and a diploma in advanced skincare formulation, and I was ready to launch Stark!