Get Well With: Hannah Minardi

Meet the Founder of Standard Skincare

What are your daily wellness non-negotiables?

As someone who is obsessed with wellness my routine changes often. I’m always testing and tweaking my routine. Some seasons of life I have had an extensive routine, but recently I have tried to pair down to the essentials and then on the weekend I might add a few extra steps.

Current Routine:
– When I wake up & drink water with drops of curcumin in it from Nurish.me. The main benefits are that it can reduce joint pain, decrease overall inflammation in the body, maintain healthy blood pressure range and boosts your energy.
– Lemon water: I try to do lemon water in the morning or throughout the day, but I don’t always have it first thing when I’m traveling.
– Apple cider vinegar: I do about a tablespoon every day and I have for years.
– Sunshine, first thing in the morning: I work better and feel more focused throughout the day if I get outside first thing. Even if I only have a few minutes!
– Organic Sulfur: The benefits are unending! I started taking it years ago because of my Grandparents influence. They are the healthiest people I know and take it daily!
– Working out: I need my workout time every day! I prioritize strength training and then 2-3 days of cardio every week but it’s my time for my mental health and helps me be at my best in every area of life.
– I also use waveblockers on my phone, computer and airpods and notice that I feel and sleep noticeably better.
– Spiritual health is also part of my wellness routine. Prayer time, journaling, church and reading time is something I also try to prioritize. Some days I only do 1 of them, (it’s a really good day if I can do all!), but overall I try to be conscious about what I’m inputting in to my mind and make sure that there are more quality things I’m consuming, than what I am consuming from social media, etc.

Running your own business can be a 24/7 job. What are some ways that you make time for yourself? Do you have a favorite ritual?

I touched on this in my wellness routine but making time for working out and for investing in my spiritual health is essential for me. I make time for both by scheduling them in my calendar and then building my day around them. When work is busy I don’t always have as much social time, but I am an extrovert so time with the people I love also fills my cup and helps me to stay more focused and inspired with my work.

Any advice for founders seeking to maintain a healthy lifestyle while going full steam ahead on building their companies? How do you find that balance?

My definition of ‘balance’ has evolved a lot over the years. I’m not really focused on being ‘balanced’ as my goal. Balance at any stage in life is not really possible. I try to keep my priorities in check always, and then anything else is subject to ebb and flow with the season. As life goes on, we don’t have more opportunity to be ‘more balanced’ I think that life increasingly becomes more full. With new businesses, kids, etc. So I think the key is to not stress about having a perfect balance, but rather keeping the main things, the main things and especially when you have a start up. You have to be willing to get done what needs to get done at any time.

I also had seasons where work was the highest priority and I let my health slip becuase of it. I was still working out, but sleeping 3-4 hours a night and I was not able to recover from the stressors of work and life. I ended up have an auto-immune flare that set me back for a few years. I would also share with anyone: your health is #1. You have to prioritize your health, so that you can give your best to your employees, share holders, business, etc. I think you make time for what is important to you. Schedule it in your calendar and find an accountability partner!

Tell us about your ideal morning routine.

My ideal morning routine would be to get up before sunrise. Read a few chapters of a book, journal with coffee, then get outside and workout out. Or meet a friend for a workout so I have some social time to start the day!

What are some tips you would give someone who is trying to start their skincare journey?

Start simple. Not something that you might hear from a skincare founder, but I think it’s an often overlooked aspect to daily skincare routines today. There are endless products on the market and always something new to try as well. Chances are, if you try too many things all at once, it might be less beneficial for your skin, than more. Find the basics – a moisutrizer, exfoliator and cleanser! Make sure that they work for your skin and that your skin is even and not actively breaking out. Then you can build from there.

What’s your number one beauty tip?

Since I already shared about simplicity, my next best tip would be: Ice! Icing 1-2x a day. First of all, it’s an amazing self care moment to reset from the day and secondly, ice has many many benefits for the skin. It will help to minimize the appearance of pores, make your skin more consistent and less prone to breakouts, helps your breakouts heal quicker and boosts collagen.

Standard & The Beauty World

Can you share the inspiration behind starting Standard Skincare? What motivated you to create this brand?

In 2022, I started the brand with Austin Wiberg and Adarsh. Austin and I were college friends turned business partners, and saw a gap in the ever growing personal care space. We met almost 10 years ago and, after working on various projects over the years together.  We launched Standard Self Care with the goal of creating high-performance personal care products that have formulas you could have the highest confidence in.

What sets Standard Skincare apart from other skincare brands in the market? How do you define the "standard" you aim to achieve?

It was obvious that there were a lot of other “clean” beauty products but, at the end of the day, if your products don’t produce the desired results, you return to your tried and true routine.

So Standard Self Care was founded with the mission of creating products to a higher Standard and encouraging consumers to prioritize self care. What started as just a few sample formulas of skincare products, turned into our first product line of 3 ultra-hydrating and anti-aging products.

1) Hydrating Omega+ Cleansing Balm, 2) Hyaluronic Daily Moisturizer, and 3) Omega+ Cell Regenerating Eye Cream. Always Bioactive, Non-Toxic, Vegan, Paraben-Free, Cruelty-Free, Fragrance-Free, Silicone-Free, and made with the highest Standards.

What are the essential ingredients everyone should look for in their skincare products?

A few that I suggest checking for are parabens, synthetic fragrances and synthetic chemicals. There are a lot of amazing apps now that you can check your products on like Think Dirty.

I also suggest checking your products to see if they are tested for heavy metals, carcinogens, and molds. A lot of brands don’t have that information accessible or they don’t test at all, but it is really important to know. Because of that, we publish our testing on our website here to provide the most transparency to our customers.

How do you see the future of Standard Skincare? Are there any long-term goals or aspirations you'd like to share with your customers and community?

We are looking forward to continuing to create more better for you skincare products and are will launch lip balm and body products next. (Email us if you want to be one of our product testers: info@standardselfcare.com) We also are excited to develop more products under the realm of self care: supplements and products that enhance your daily routines.

As a founder, what has been the most rewarding aspect of creating Standard Skincare? Are there any memorable moments or experiences that stand out to you?

It has been most rewarding to see and hear the skin transformations that our customers have had! There are many rewarding aspects to starting the business but the feedback from our customers has been the most exciting part! I’ve always wanted to make products that are a higher standard for every area of your life, and your skin health effects your confidence as you go throughout your day. It makes me smile to think people are more confident and bold because of the products we developed.