In a world where female hair and personal-care products focus on looks rather than functionality and accomplishment, University of Utah business student Sadie Bowler saw a need for a change.
That’s how SadieB Personal Care was born — a startup powered by girls with a mission to create products to empower girls.
Bowler has been passionate about hair from a young age and has been doing hair for special events like weddings and dances since she was about 14 years old. This led her to constantly try new products, always on a search to find the perfect ones for her everyday use.
“I came up with the idea for SadieB on a camping trip,” Bowler recalled. “There was some discussion over my current favorite products, and it led to the realization that none of the products out there really connected to or spoke to girls. I wasn’t able to connect with any of the brand messages or missions out there.”
After some thought and planning, Bowler and her team decided to launch a set of products that would be useful and speak to girls — a mission statement that she hadn’t been able to find elsewhere.
“We started with the products and came up with different personas, focusing on girls’ abilities and activities, rather than looks they might be trying to achieve. We came up with four lines of personal care products, all based around different personas,” she said. “The athlete, the go-getter, the adventurer, and the creator.”
This entrepreneurial path Bowler began on eventually led her to the Lassonde Founders program at the University of Utah’s Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, where she’s now been able to facilitate relationships with other people with a passion like herself. As a current Lassonde Studios resident and Lassonde Founder, Bowler is always surrounded by tools and people to help her grow SadieB with real entrepreneurial insight and direction.
“I was drawn to Lassonde Founders because I knew it would help me launch my business,” she said. “I’m currently at a point where we’re getting close to a launch. The Lassonde Institute has a lot of great resources for launching a company, and I knew I wanted to do this through them. I wanted to use their mentors and resources, and also connect with other entrepreneurs to build a team and get more people involved.”
Bowler is a current freshman at the University of Utah, working to gain a degree at the David Eccles School of Business, and she has been readily utilizing many of the resources at Lassonde and at the university to gain all the knowledge and mentorship she needs to get SadieB off the ground.
When asked what entrepreneurship meant to her, Bowler paused, then said, “Creating something that doesn’t exist, and doing it with passion. It’s very risky, so you need to be passionate about it.”
SadieB Personal Care plans to launch early next year. Follow Sadie’s journey on Instagram at @sadieb.co. Visit the company website at sadieb.co.
