BKIND: at the heart of business

Update note: this interview was published in May 2023. The staff, projects, locations and goals mentioned reflect BKIND's situation at the time of the conversation. The brand still has products currently available at Signé Local.

Founded by Marilyne Bouchard, BKIND develops skincare and beauty products with a focus on vegan formulas, no animal testing and reduced packaging. This portrait looks back at the birth of the company and what its founder has learned along the way.

Personal recipes that became a business

Marilyne explains that she started making her own products because of her reactive skin and her interest in what goes into cosmetics. Her university training in microbiology and her concern about animal testing then shaped BKIND's values.

After her studies, she worked in the pharmaceutical industry while developing her recipes in the evenings. The project remained part-time for about two years before she decided to devote herself to it completely.

Learning to build a team

At the time of the interview, Marilyne named hiring her first employee as one of the most significant milestones of her journey. Moving from a solo project to a structured team required her to develop new management and delegation skills.

Continuously improving products and practices

The founder explained that she wanted to regularly review packaging, ingredients and ways of working. She presented this pursuit of improvement as a core part of the business rather than a one-time goal.

A product currently available

Superfruit Face Cream with Bakuchiol: $76

This face cream is part of the BKIND range currently sold at Signé Local. See the product page for the full list of ingredients and directions for use.

This portrait preserves Marilyne Bouchard's account of turning a personal project into a Quebec skincare company.