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[00:01:11] Hala Taha: YAP Fam, what's going on? We've got a special episode for you guys today. We're talking to Carolina Reis, the co-founder and CEO of OneSkin, a biotechnology company looking for ways to fight against aging. In this episode, Carolina and I talk about the science behind aging and the problem with traditional anti-aging products.

[00:01:29] We also break down the relationship between skin health and certain age related diseases like diabetes, and we talk about how we can reverse our biological age. This episode is absolutely fascinating and it's relevant to everyone. It's never too late to start taking proper care of your skin, and the science behind this stuff is incredible.

[00:01:47] So let's dive in and I hope you enjoy my conversation with Carolina Reis.

[00:01:55] Carolina, welcome to Young and Profiting Podcast. 

[00:01:58] Carolina Reis: Thank you so much, Hala. [00:02:00] I'm so excited to be here today. 

[00:02:02] Hala Taha: Likewise. YAP Fam, today we have Carolina Reis on the show. Carolina is a scientist as well as the co-founder and CEO of OneSkin, a biotech technology company working to fight humanity's oldest problem, which is aging.

[00:02:15] Fueled by their passion for science and love of life, Carolina and her three other women, PhD scientists joined forces to create the pioneering skincare company, OneSkin, to forever transform the way humans experience aging. In this episode, we're gonna learn about Carolina's mission in founding the company OneSkin, and how our skin can impact our overall health.

[00:02:34] We'll also discuss how to reduce biological aging, why we need healthy skin habits to find success, and we'll learn about Carolina's go-to skincare routine. 

[00:02:43] Carolina, you grew up in a small town on the countryside of Brazil, and I read that since you were young, you've always been interested in the code of life, which is how our cells and tissues are part of a beautifully orchestrated system that creates an organism.

[00:02:56] So why does the code of Life intrigue you so much? 

[00:02:59] Carolina Reis: I [00:03:00] think when I realized that everything in our bodies are basically a result of how our genes are controlled, and then if we can understand how that code works. We can basically manipulate that code to allow our tissues, our cells, and our bodies to basically work better and allow us to have a better life.

[00:03:22] So it's so interesting how every single disease or disorder, it's basically a result of the genes that are being activated or suppressed. And if you understand that you can manipulate in a way that you can make like amazing things. You can reverse back the age of the tissue. You can delete the gene, you can create so many interventions that can cure diseases.

[00:03:47] So to me, this was so like fascinating and I was so interested in using this to help people, to live a better life. 

[00:03:56] Hala Taha: I love that. And YAP Fam, we always have entrepreneurs on the show, but [00:04:00] one of my favorite types of conversations is to actually speak with scientists and researchers like Carolina.

[00:04:05] It is so much fun to learn about our body, our health, and really get the nuances of all of that. So let's talk about your journey into the field of science, how you ended up in Silicon Valley, and how you ended up creating OneSkin. Tell us that journey. 

[00:04:21] Carolina Reis: So I was always passionate about the applied science. Science, that I could see a translation in the end.

[00:04:29] So on my PhD, I studied stem cell biology and tissue engineering. So basically what I was doing, I was like recreating human tissues in the lab and simulating a disease and then coming up with different ways to treat that disease. And then I thought that we could start like using those models, those tissues and tests like new drugs, new products, that are out there in the market in order to replace animal testing.

[00:04:57] So that's how we started back in [00:05:00] Brazil. In 2014, I joined with three other colleagues from my lab and basically we were growing different types of human tissues, like a small heart, mini brains, mini redness. And then we eventually we got into skin because there was a huge market opportunity in terms of companies needed alternatives, methods to develop and test their products and not use animals.

[00:05:29] And then we decided to specialize in growing human skins in the lab eventually. This first endeavor didn't work out in Brazil, but it got us the opportunity to come to the US. So in 2016, I came to Silicon Valley to join a biotech accelerator called IndieBio. So what IndieBio does, basically they help like scientists like myself and my co-founders to become entrepreneurs, to build like a scalable and sustainable companies.

[00:05:59] And [00:06:00] here at IndieBio, we basically decided to start over with a new approach. Of initially growing human skins to test the products that were in the market to validate if they actually work. One of the areas that we are most interested in, we see that it's a huge market's like anti-aging. We know that there is so much out there, but unfortunately there is a lot of, pseudoscience, a lot of hype.

[00:06:24] And we thought that we could come up with the way to validate the efficacy of those products. So our approach was if we can grow those skins in the lab, if we can measure the age of that tissue, then we can test a given product or an ingredient, and then we can quantify if that tissue is actually promoting any age reversal effect.

[00:06:49] And it turns out that we can quantify this by reading the DNA of the skin. So there is this new concept that we are gonna talk more about biological age and you [00:07:00] know how our DNA accumulates change over time that are associated with aging. And then we can measure that as a way to first determine what is the biological age, and then second how a given intervention can change that biological age.

[00:07:18] So that's the beginning. And then eventually we pivoted a few times until we got to what we are doing today, but maybe I can stop there and we can go from there. 

[00:07:28] Hala Taha: This is so fascinating. So you guys would test existing products on your skin that you manufactured essentially, and you would see if it would actually work, and then you decided to start a skincare company.

[00:07:40] So I'm wondering, did you find that these products weren't really addressing the problems? 

[00:07:45] Carolina Reis: It was exactly that. So what we found is that most products out there, first of all, they were not developed to target aging itself. The majority of anti-aging products, they're, they are either just like a moisturizer [00:08:00] trying to improve, the appearance of your skin, or they are like acids or retinols that are inducing like a peeling effect.

[00:08:07] So you're inducing your skin to grow a newer skin, not necessary a younger skin. So what we saw that there was first no rationale behind the targeting aging on those products. And second, we also realized that a lot of those products they were, they are not doing anything or they were accelerating aging.

[00:08:29] So essentially if a product is bad, it can cause more harm than good. And then on the flip side, what we saw, because we were like following this science of longevity and aging research, and we now have a much better understanding what's actually driving aging at the cellular level. And there was several companies in the longevity field starting out with this approach of targeting aging as their main like value proposition in order to [00:09:00] treat or prevent age related disease.

[00:09:03] So several companies were more focused on different types of diseases like Alzheimer's, osteoarthritis, and cardiovascular disease, and basically realized that we could use a very similar approach to target skin aging and bring this new innovation to consumers faster. 

[00:09:22] Hala Taha: This is so cool and I love it. I am a huge skincare fan.

[00:09:26] I'm all about anti-aging. I have a brand called Young and Profiting, so I've gotta always look young. And honestly, I look maybe people are very surprised when they learn my age. I'm in my mid thirties and everybody thinks I'm like 25 or 26, and it's because I really try to take care of my skin. So this is very interesting to me.

[00:09:44] So you're an expert in all things skin health. And you believe that creating healthy skin actually will help reverse the aging process. And an interesting fact is that our organ, the largest organ in our body is skin. And a lot of people, when they think of skincare, they think of the [00:10:00] superficial things, the reducing their wrinkles, looking younger, looking hotter, but there's a lot more to it.

[00:10:05] So talk to us about how treating our skin is actually treating the health of our entire body. 

[00:10:10] Carolina Reis: And maybe just to get there, I wanna explain what we are actually targeting with our products. So what we realize is that one of the main drivers of aging was the accumulation of old cells, also called like senescent cells.

[00:10:25] So basically those cells are cells that are in the end of their life cycle. So they're already really damaged. They stop dividing, and this is good because if they continue to divide, they could become a cancer and would cause a lot of harm to our bodies. But on the flip side, those cells start secreting inflammatory signals that basically spoils the cells around to age faster.

[00:10:49] So we usually compare like a senescent cells with a bad apple in a basket because one senescent cells basically spoils the good cells around and this [00:11:00] accelerates aging. So what we found is that if we can decrease or if we can target only the aged cells. We reduce the amount of like old cells and then we can allow the healthy cells to proliferate and they start producing more collagen.

[00:11:17] They basically recover that healthy and youthful state of our skin. So when you think that your skin is, and answering your question now, when you think that your skin is your largest organ, and as we age, our skin start to deteriorate and start to accumulate those old cells and they start secret inflammatory signals because of the sheer size of this organ. Even lower levels, inflammation that's coming from your skin, can actually influence your body's levels of inflammation.

[00:11:51] So I think we have heard of inflammaging and how this is risk factor for related disease and one [00:12:00] of the main sources of like inflammation can be our skin because the skin, again, is our largest organ and it started to secrete those damage signals that affect our internal body. So treating, again, treating our skin is a way that we can help lower our systemic levels of inflammation.

[00:12:23] Which can help us to prevent age-related disease. And to me, when I connected the dots, this was like, wow. So you know, when you go to a doctor now and you have a cardiovascular problem, instead of just give you medication, maybe the doctor was gonna give you like, Hey, you should also treat your skin with this product because it's gonna help lower your body's levels of inflammation.

[00:12:49] Which is like very like paradigm change.

[00:12:53] Hala Taha: It is really eyeopening because when you think about the skin, a lot of us are really focusing on our face, but your skin is your whole [00:13:00] entire body. Your skin protects you from viruses and bacteria, and as you age, if that gets weaker, that's a risk factor. And like you said, it also contributes to inflammation.

[00:13:10] And you don't often think about that. When we think of aged related diseases, we're thinking Parkinson's disease brain stuff, joint stuff, bone stuff. You're not really thinking of your skin. And it's time that we stopped ignoring our skin. So I really think this is important work that you're doing.

[00:13:26] Okay. So let's talk about the things that trigger skin aging. Can you walk us through the intrinsic and the extrinsic factors that affect our skin? 

[00:13:34] Carolina Reis: Definitely. So as we know sun damage is one of the main drivers of skin aging. So it accounts to 90% of the signs of aging. So this is the nextt extrinsic factor, right?

[00:13:48] Rights and damage pollution. Any type of infection. And there are a lot that we can do to protect our skin, although it's obviously really harder [00:14:00] to prevent all the damage that we are exposed in a day to day unless we live in a bubble and we don't do anything. But then there is also the intrinsic factors that are basically, no, your cells dividing and the inflammation that is inside your body and things like diet, obviously your habits will influence those intrinsic factors.

[00:14:20] So it is a combination of these two that will lead to, again, the accumulation of damage and the accumulation of those old cells. And there is several ways that we can prevent or counteract that. And obviously, sunscreen is a very important one. It's the number one rule.

[00:14:39] Obviously there are also good and bad sunscreens there. So there is another topic that we can talk, but then eventually you always accumulate. Some kind of damage in your skin, even wearing sunscreen. So you need like products that help your cells to be more effective in [00:15:00] repairing damage and in producing more collagen basically, counteracting those factors that are basically the default system, right?

[00:15:08] I think aging is the default and we need to do everything that we can to basically fight those factors, that will lead eventually to tissue dysfunction. And in the case of the skin, now obviously all the signs of aging. We don't wanna sing wrinkles, sagging, sunspots, and so on.

[00:15:28] Hala Taha: I wanna ask you about products on the market right now, because there's lots of things that are being advertised to people for sunscreen, for makeup, for skincare, anti-aging wrinkle creams and whatever.

[00:15:39] What are some of the things that we need to look out for that we should not be putting on our skin? 

[00:15:43] Carolina Reis: I think, and this is so hard for consumers and I can't imagine, I imagine because before I started this company I was, basically lost and just following some recommendations or trying to do my own research online.

[00:15:58] But there is only so much that you [00:16:00] can find. But my recommendation is always to look the ingredient list. And there are some ways that you can understand if so, those ingredients, if they are safe. So there are websites and none of them are perfect, but that help you like make some assessment.

[00:16:18] One is like EWG, that you can basically input a name of the product or an ingredient and you give like a risk factors if it's safe, it safe is usually green and red is usually not safe. And you'll be surprised how a lot of those products out there have ingredients that have potential risk of causing cancer and obviously no hormone disruptors and things like that.

[00:16:45] And then in our case, for example, the way that we can evaluate our safety, since we can grow skins in the lab, we can apply and test any product on those skins. And if the product's clean [00:17:00] or safe, the skin will be fine. And then a lot of times it'll be better. But if the product is full of like toxic ingredients, the skin will start to degenerate.

[00:17:10] And it's really shocking how like some products cause this cause so much toxicity into the skin. And we don't see that when we put on our face immediately. But with long-term use, we usually is going to, we're gonna start seeing some, either like some rashes, Or some like irritation. So for the consumers, I know that's a little tougher, but there are like sites like EWG or like Skin Safe for example, is one that we use to make sure that the third part is also validate the safety of products.

[00:17:44] They basically evaluate all the concentrations of ingredients because this also matters a lot. It's not like which ingredients are there, but at what concentration. And then in the end they give a score like it's completely safe, even like for [00:18:00] sensitive skin or no. And that's a way that the consumer can at least have, a better understand if they don't have the capabilities that we have to test it in real human skins.

[00:18:13] Hala Taha: You know what? I really hope that there's like a revolution around this stuff in America, because I feel like in Europe, they're much more stringent, they're much more safe. In America, people can basically just sell anything, and it's really dangerous. And I know, I, like I told you, I'm obsessed with skincare.

[00:18:28] Something that I never do is I never put fragrance on my face, and I feel like that really helps with anti-aging. But then you go to the store and all these really expensive products, and they're a lot of money and they seem like they work, they have great packaging, great marketing, and then they're full of fragrance. Which is like the worst thing that you could put on your skin.

[00:18:45] So, I'd love to understand is there anything specifically ingredient wise in sunscreen or skincare that we need to look out for? Or is it more just tested on the websites and that's the best way? 

[00:18:55] Carolina Reis: The list is, and the list, so it's hard for me to name all [00:19:00] of them. But as you said, the like fragrances, usually a lot of petroleum that derived ingredients.

[00:19:09] If you see a lot of bags that are also, plastic derived ingredients, this is never like too good for you. So avoiding a lot of those ingredients is always better. And if you can have like organic kind of more, I would say natural ingredients and also be careful if the word natural, because it can be misleading as well.

[00:19:30] There are several websites that can help you, like with a list of ingredients. Even obviously Sephora is not the main expert, but they do have a good list of this is clean by Sephora. And then you should avoid those ingredients that are in their bend the least. 

[00:19:48] Hala Taha: Let's hold that thought and take a quick break with our sponsors.

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[00:23:24] I love that. Okay, so we'll stick those websites that you mentioned in our show notes so it's easy access for everyone. So at OneSkin, I heard that you guys don't say anti-aging. You say pro aging. Why is that? 

[00:23:36] Carolina Reis: I think the word anti-aging comes with a lot of I would say fear in terms of like aging is a bad thing and I think aging is a process, that we can embrace so we can enjoy and we can be proud of it.

[00:23:50] But, obviously we don't want like the drawbacks of aging. That's basically, the health decay part. We wanna still grow older, but [00:24:00] keep doing whatever we love doing. And for that we need our health, right? I think health is like the number one thing that allow us to do everything that we do. I think maybe the best word is pro longevity because longevity means like aging at your best way and maintain your health and really harnessing your own biology to work for you, in the most effective way.

[00:24:26] And that's what we are doing at OneSkin and other longevity companies in terms of understanding aging biology. Creating products that can help our bodies to perform better and allow us to enjoy this beautiful process of our lives. 

[00:24:44] Hala Taha: And I know that we're gonna talk about diet later on. And there's so much progress that can be done in this area.

[00:24:50] Even if you just look now, there's so many, 40 year old, 50 year old people who look 2030. It's like we're already starting to look more younger because we are taking better care of our skin. We do [00:25:00] understand sun damage now, but there's so much more that we could do. Imagine a world where 60 year old people look like they're 30 and act like they're 30 and feel like they're 30.

[00:25:08] It would be so wonderful and really help the quality of life for so many people. So let's talk about this phrase. Age is just a number. We always hear this and turns out through your research, it actually might be true because we have two ages. We have our real age, which we were like the year that we were born, and then we have our biological age.

[00:25:26] So how would you define biological age? 

[00:25:28] Carolina Reis: Basically biological age means like how healthy and functional is your tissue, whatever tissue or your whole body. We have our specific biological age. So for example, you can be 30 something and your skin can be either like 25 or it can be like 40 depending on your lifestyle, if you've been exposed to too much sun or if you smoke and things like that.

[00:25:54] So what we learned is that this biological age is actually malleable. [00:26:00] It's reversible. We have done this in the lab in many ways. There is even this groundbreaking research that the first scientist that could turn an adult cell into embryonic stem cells. So completely resetted the biological age, like from 30 years to basically zero years.

[00:26:19] So this is possible. And then what like we are trying to do with our products and in the longevity space is to promote. A rejuvenation age reverse effect that we don't wanna go all the way obviously to an embryonic state, but we wanna go to a younger state in which our cells are, performing the best.

[00:26:40] So there are ways that we can do this with products. For example, at OneSkin, one of the experiments that we've done in the labs that when we treat it like ancient skins with our peptide. We can see that we can reverse the age of the skin in 2.6 years over a course of five days, which is like [00:27:00] obviously a very. 

[00:27:00] Hala Taha: Wow, sign me up.

[00:27:02] Carolina Reis: I know this is a very controlled condition in the lab, but now we are repeating this study with humans. So we have a clinical studies that the people are actually applying our product, and then we're collecting a piece of your skin, a biopsy. And then we can quantify the age of your skin before and after using our product.

[00:27:24] So this study is ongoing and is gonna be a validation, that it is possible to reverse the age of your skin with topical treatment. 

[00:27:34] Hala Taha: I've been trying OneSkin. I love it. So far. You mentioned that it's topical, right? So I'm pretty sure all your products are topical. Did you guys like think about whether or not you were gonna do something oral or topical?

[00:27:46] And then why did you decide on the topical? 

[00:27:47] Carolina Reis: Great question. So first, like topical is the way that we can bring this product to consumers faster because it's a completely new peptide. Obviously we have done all [00:28:00] the safety studies, but basically when you prove that safe, you applying topically, there is, I would say lower risk to your overall body in case that could have some something unexpected.

[00:28:13] For a narrow product, you needed to do a lot more studies. You need to do like studies with animals. It's basically a new drug, so you need to go through FDA and so on. And that's why it takes much longer. We can come up with a supplement that's based on natural ingredients that we know that also reduce the amount of senescent cells.

[00:28:36] But our goal is really first to treat the skin first and then go internally. But we can also show in our studies that the peptide is able to penetrate the deeper layers of the skin. So it does not get to the bloodstream, at least like in higher concentration, but it gets to the dermal layer. Which is the layer that gives more firmness to the skin and is the layer that we [00:29:00] actually wanna fight.

[00:29:01] Those old cells. And allow them to produce, the healthy cells to produce more collagen. So basically it penetrates and works from the inside out. So again, focusing on your largest organ first and then e eventually expanding from there. I think one skin vision is go way beyond this skin.

[00:29:20] Hala Taha: So talk to me about genetics in terms of biological age. How much does genetics really play a role in all of this? 

[00:29:28] Carolina Reis: Another great question. It's interesting because a lot of people think, I don't have good genetics. There is nothing that I can do about it. I don't know if you guys heard of like the centenarians, right?

[00:29:38] People that live over a hundred years old and they are usually, they have a very good, quality of life and a lot of times you can find them concentrating some blue zones, but what really the terms, how well you're gonna age, it's basically your lifestyle. Your lifestyle accounts for [00:30:00] 70, some people say to 90% of how you're gonna age and your genetic is only about 10 to 30%.

[00:30:08] So it doesn't matter if you are, if you have very good genes and if you have terrible habits. You are definitely gonna age in a much like worse, weight than someone that doesn't have a good genetic, but it's really doing everything that they can to maintain their bodies healthy. So that's the ratio like around like 80 20.

[00:30:31] So genetics account only for 20% of how you're gonna age. 

[00:30:35] Hala Taha: That's great news for all of us. It means that we actually have control over this and we are not just like helpless. So talk to us about these blue zones since you brought it up. What are these blue zones and what can we learn about from people who live there?

[00:30:47] Carolina Reis: That's a very interesting. Scenario in which people are concentrated in those areas. Basically, they have a higher concentration of centenarians people that live over around a [00:31:00] hundred years old, and they are usually very healthy, and they don't develop many chronic diseases. So there are few of them that have good genetics, but in general it's their lifestyle that allow them to have that long lifespan and health span as well.

[00:31:20] So basically their lifestyles are usually like a very, I would say, a diet that's based on like natural foods, not much processed foods, more Mediterranean kind of diet, so more like fish, olive oils, nuts, not much like red meat or not too much of like carbs as well. More like good oils and good fish and vegetables and so on.

[00:31:47] And also these people are usually, they're very connected to each other. So there are other things that is not only like exercise, but it actually like bonding and living in a community that they help each other [00:32:00] really impacts like how long we live. It's very interesting how those things also matter, right?

[00:32:05] So there are many things that we can learn from them, but I think in general, like lower levels of stress, which is not common for us here in the western side. But I think a good work life balance in terms of sleep, diet, exercise, but again, this community style also definitely is a great trait of those areas.

[00:32:30] Hala Taha: Okay. So let's talk about why skincare is healthcare. I learned when I was going through your website and your blog that you call. Skin longevity, skin span. So I'd love to understand what is skin span and how can we increase it?

[00:32:45] Carolina Reis: So we all know about lifespan. That's basically, how long we're gonna live.

[00:32:51] We all know about health span. That's basically how many years of good health we are gonna live. And the goal for us is to [00:33:00] basically make health span really close to lifespan. So we have a very short period of our lives that we are, in some kind of disability or suffering from a specific disease.

[00:33:11] And then skin span is basically how long your skin is healthy and functional. Because we are young, so a lot of times we don't think about that. But as you get old, obviously your skin, you start to get deteriorated and then the skin will get thinner. So it can bruise much easier. It can start flaking itching.

[00:33:33] So that's not a healthy skin anymore and this is impacting your quality of life. So our goal is really, again, to extend the skin span. Do everything that we can to keep our skin youthful, functional, and healthy as long as possible. So basically, again, fighting those old cells and protecting our skin of excessive damage and [00:34:00] allowing our skin to do its work at its best and, continue to protect our body as it should.

[00:34:07] Hala Taha: And like you said, skin is a serious organ. I can speak from my own experience. My father passed away from Covid in 2020, but prior to that he was diabetic and he had like ulcers on his feet and he had to get a toe amputated and it was all because his skin couldn't fight an infection. As you get older, like this becomes a serious problem if your skin is not healthy.

[00:34:29] Carolina Reis: And what we also need to learn is that it is not something that we should treat only you have that problem. It's we need to shift our mindset to a more preventative mindset. So building a strong skin and a resilient skin is something that starts right now. Like you should take care of your heart, you should take care of your lungs. Treating your skin paying attention to that.

[00:34:52] Again, not only from the aesthetics point of view. And that's what I usually say, Hey, our products not only for women, it's [00:35:00] for guys too. You guys also needed to have a strong and a healthy skin. 

[00:35:04] Hala Taha: I think there's a lot of like stereotypes that can be broken down in this whole industry.

[00:35:09] First of all, your skin is not just your face. Your skin is your whole body. Yes. Your skin is your biggest organ. It's not just about looks, it's about health. It's not just for girls, it's for everyone. And I like how your branding's really unisex. Cause I think that's gonna really help with everything that you do.

[00:35:23] So speaking of how, it's not your face just your body. Your products are not just for your face. It's also for your body as well. 

[00:35:28] Is that right? 

[00:35:29] Carolina Reis: That's correct. So because we wanna improve your skin health as a whole, our second product, immediately we thought, okay, we needed to treat your whole body as well.

[00:35:39] And this turned out to be a great bet in terms of consumers are starting to worry or to pay attention more on your body. There's so much treatment for your face, but how about the rest of your body? And it's even impressive, like how it can help people that are going through some issues in terms of some skin [00:36:00] conditions, that can be ameliorated by using the product because the product helps repair the skin barrier.

[00:36:07] And with that addresses a lot of the conditions that are associated with a weakened skin barrier and so on. So our approach is really holistic in terms of treating skin as a whole. And again, we wanna protect our skin from those inflammatory secreting cells. So our body is super important in that concept.

[00:36:29] Hala Taha: So let's get really nerdy now. You talked about it a little bit, but I really wanna understand senescent cells and how they drive the aging process. So what's the difference between a senescent cell and a healthy cell? Maybe that's where we can start. 

[00:36:43] Carolina Reis: Basically senescence cells are old cells.

[00:36:46] So these are cells that have replicated around like 50 times. They reach this limit, they are very damaged already, and then basically stop dividing and they function [00:37:00] like a zombie cells. They start they don't do anything good anymore. They just sit there and they start secreting some bad vibes around on the cells around.

[00:37:11] And that's okay when we are young because our bodies can actually, our immune system can actually identify those cells and clear those cells up. What happens when we age is that our immune system gets deficient in doing to work well. And those cells start to build up in our tissues. And it turns out that the accumulation of senescent cells in different tissues is associated with most chronic diseases that we know today.

[00:37:39] So they're associated with cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's, osteoarthritis, diabetes. And then that's when scientists thought, okay, if th those cells are driving inflammation and diseases, can we fight those cells? Can we find a way to attack only the bad cells? And that's [00:38:00] OneSkin. Also realize, okay, those cells also accumulate in our skin.

[00:38:03] UV damage is a great way to induce senescent cells. How we can fight those ancient cells that are driving skin aging. That's when we started to search for new molecules, specifically peptides that had. This impact on these old cells that are the bad cells in our tissues. 

[00:38:25] Hala Taha: And so one skin has this patented peptide os one.

[00:38:29] And this is something you guys discovered. Can you walk us through how you discovered this peptide? 

[00:38:33] Carolina Reis: That was a long process. So we actually spent four years testing first, like growing skins and replicating the skin aging process in the lab. And then we developed the clock that we could measure the age of the skin.

[00:38:49] And then finally we needed like molecule that could promote the skin age reverse. So we tested over around a thousand different peptides. These are novel [00:39:00] peptides and until we landed to this one that we call OS one. And OS one has this great ability of decreasing the amount of senescence cells up to 50%.

[00:39:13] And with that it allows, again, the healthy cells to proliferate. So there is an increased production of collagen, hyaluronic acid, elastin. And then when we tested this and then we formulated our peptide in a topical product and we did like clinical studies, we can validate that this leads to a better looking skin.

[00:39:36] So it's very interesting the concept in which, if I am attacking the root cause of aging. The consequences that your skin will be healthier and look younger because healthy skin is usually, a younger skin, a better functional skin. 

[00:39:53] Hala Taha: I love it. How you guys are actually concerned about driving results with your product and not just the marketing and the [00:40:00] hype behind your product.

[00:40:01] So let's talk about elasticity. Why is elasticity important to pro aging or anti-aging? 

[00:40:08] Carolina Reis: So basically when your skin starts to get old and there is a lower production of collagen, elastin, hyaluronic acid, basically these are, we call like a matrix extracellular arm matrix that holds up our cells and our tissue.

[00:40:25] So gives like the foundation of our skin. So the skin is more supple if you have a lot of those proteins. And then when you have, the aging process, obviously this get compromised. And then when you can fight, this aging process, you can basically recover elasticity, firmness, and allow yourselves to produce again, those proteins that are really important to maintain that youthful appearance.

[00:40:54] But the pay attention that what we are doing is not like adding ingredients [00:41:00] that will give elasticity to our skin. It's basically our peptide allows our cells to start producing elastin again. So it's basically, again, using our own cells, your own biology, to do its work. Instead of just adding something that would be temporary, but it wouldn't work for the long term.

[00:41:22] So that's a very interesting difference from how our products works and how some other companies want to deliver some, just some like immediate results, but that doesn't really sustain. 

[00:41:37] Hala Taha: We'll be right back after a quick break from our sponsors. 

[00:41:42] Hey, YAP Fam. As you may know, I've been a full-time entrepreneur for three years now.

[00:41:47] YAP Media blew up so fast, it was really hard to keep everything under control, but things have settled a bit and I'm really focused on revamping and improving our company culture. I have 60 employees, so it's a lot of people to try [00:42:00] to rally and motivate. And I recently had bestselling author Kim Scott on the show.

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[00:48:11] This has been so awesome. I wanna move to close out the interview while talking about mental health and entrepreneurship, because it turns out skin can actually impact our mental health. So let's talk about the connection between skin and our brain, how we think and feel can actually show up in our skin.

[00:48:28] Can you talk to us about that? 

[00:48:30] Carolina Reis: Obviously we are talking about, health and the impact of our skin in our overall health. And there are many ways that this happens. And obviously one of those ways is how we see ourselves and how good we feel about ourselves, right? So obviously, having, I would say, a clean skin or a healthy skin does help in terms of increasing our confidence, increase our self-esteem, increasing our social ability.

[00:48:58] Even like people [00:49:00] that, I was not wearing shortest sleeves anymore because I was ashamed of, my arms or or my legs. And so these are all things that impact our lives and it really matters. People that have suffered from, some skin conditions, they can attest for this.

[00:49:18] So I think this is one way that, having a healthy skin can give you what I call like peace of mind. I feel good about myself and I feel, confident. And that's something that the changed so much with the pandemic, right? Because people were looking at, zoom and web camps like for so long and they were starting to pay attention on their skin and how they're seeing themselves.

[00:49:42] So that's why also the skincare, space grew a lot in the past, like few years. So that's one way that I think we can definitely impact, like mental health, which is super important as well. 

[00:49:56] Hala Taha: In terms of who these products are good for, I [00:50:00] know we said it's neither male nor female. It's gender neutral OneSkin products.

[00:50:04] But is there certain age that's appropriate? Can teenagers use OneSkin or is it more for people above a certain age? 

[00:50:11] Carolina Reis: Our product is definitely safe for whatever age we usually recommend around like your twenties or so, when you are starting to really, if you're putting a moisturizer or even people in a very early age, they're already worried about anti-aging.

[00:50:28] So I'm super pro like preventative measurements and I think what we offer is actually a way that we are gonna prevent and maintain your skin, youthful and healthy for as long as possible. So it is totally, suitable for young people as well. And obviously we are here to help people that are going through this aging process that already feel like the aging pain some ways.

[00:50:58] So obviously, it start [00:51:00] to feel to see some lines here and there or some, discoloration you're seeing and things like that, that really starts like to affect your day-to-day. So that's when one skin can really help. But we have customers that are, on their sixties, seventies, eighties, and they still see amazing results.

[00:51:19] So I would say that it's basically for everyone. It's everyone that's worried about, their skin health and they want to be proactive about putting something, that's scientifically validated and that's gonna bring benefits to your skin. 

[00:51:36] Hala Taha: Okay, so I have a personal question and I just got Botox for the first time a few months ago.

[00:51:42] And just curious on your perspective of do you think Botox is a good idea since you're a skincare expert? 

[00:51:49] Carolina Reis: I love this question because its something that comes to us a lot of times. I think when you already have some signs of wrinkles or [00:52:00] fine lines. It is a good idea because you can help your skin basically to not go further, to deepen those wrinkles and fine lines.

[00:52:11] I think when you don't have those signs of aging. You shouldn't use yet because you are basically making your tissue lazy in a way that you are not using your tissue, right? So if you are doing that, the one thing that I always recommend, use a product that's still stimulating your skin cells to be working for you.

[00:52:29] So to be producing more collagen and some obviously our peptides is a great product for that, but I'm not saying only our peptide. And then there are other ways that you can also simulate your cells. Like for example, doing some microneedling, things like, that cause like small injuries in a way that stimulates your cells, you produce more, more collagen again.

[00:52:53] And the other thing about Botox is just like obviously careful to not overdo. And that happens a [00:53:00] lot because it tends to get less effective over time. And if you overdo again, you are just letting your tissue really, I would say lazy in a way that is gonna be more sagging and sagging because, so that's the balance, I think if you know how to do it. Then obviously you know, professionals here are super important.

[00:53:23] There is a way that you can, harness. The benefits of Botox, but make sure to compliment with other things that continue to stimulate your own cells. 

[00:53:32] Hala Taha: What you're saying is so important. I align to this too, so I always do like radio frequency microneedling, especially after I did Botox because I was always very hesitant, about it because like you're saying, you're basically making your muscle dead and we know with the worst thing you should do with your muscles if you wanna look young is paralyze them. 

[00:53:51] So it's so counterintuitive and I see people who do Botox for 10, 20 years and they look terrible, right? So I would say as less as you can and think of [00:54:00] alternative methods like OneSkin, like microneedling, like radio frequency that actually help your collagen and your skin perform at its best rather than paralyzing it and making it lazy.

[00:54:11] So I think it's like a short term fix. But not a long term fix. Let's talk about your entrepreneurship journey really quick before we close out the interview. I found out that you started this company with three other scientists. All four of you guys have PhDs and all women. So what do you, unique team, I'm sure like getting funding is like really exciting for you guys because you are such like a female diverse team.

[00:54:36] Very qualified, but I wanna understand, in terms of other people out there who don't have a business background. What would your advice be to them if they wanted to be an entrepreneur? Like what has your journey been like without a formal business background becoming an entrepreneur?

[00:54:51] Carolina Reis: And just commenting a little bit is it still hard? Even having, for women is a diverse team. Everyone says that they want to [00:55:00] support that, but in the end it is still very little amount of funding go to women's entrepreneurs. So it is still, there is still a long way to go.

[00:55:10] Although I think it is getting better. I think in the end what it matters is your results. You needed to show progress. You needed to show, that you know what you're doing because people won't support you just because you're a woman if you don't have obviously, a good business.

[00:55:26] But yeah, I think it, coming from a technical background. Obviously everything's a little more challenging in a way that you needed to learn. Either you learn yourself, you needed to be very hungry to learn and develop those skills yourself. For example, going through programs like I did, like accelerators and, being part of other entrepreneurs communities that you can exchange learnings and having mentors that can help you develop those skills.

[00:55:57] Super, super important. But [00:56:00] more than that, try to surround yourself with people that compliment yourself because obviously you are not gonna be an expert on everything. And to us, one is keen, are still like we are product-led company, and our products are science. So this is still like a representation of who we are.

[00:56:19] And obviously we need to develop the business side of things, but we do very well what we know best. That's creating an amazing product. So once you have that, which I think that's the main differentiation that any company needs to have, like a very good product. And then the business is not that easy, but there's a lot of people that can help you to do the business, help you to do the marketing.

[00:56:45] Now, what is very unique from you. That's your unique insight of how to solve, to tackle a specific problem. This is much harder to find. 

[00:56:56] Hala Taha: And I totally agree. It's if you have a really good [00:57:00] product, it's gonna sell itself by word of mouth. People are gonna tell their friends if it works. And so for you guys, because you focused on your product and not just everything else. First of all, it's really a good thing that you're doing for society in terms of like actually putting out a safe product that's gonna reverse aging. That's for your whole body and addresses like the real things, that are impacting our skin and I think it'll sell itself.

[00:57:26] So I totally agree. When you have a good product it sells itself. 

[00:57:29] Carolina Reis: It's not those things simple like that, but I think it is the first thing. Once you have a good product and then you can figure out everything else. The first year for us was not an easy year for sure. But eventually, if you continue to do your work really well and connect with people that are aligned with you, with your vision.

[00:57:49] Eventually, people will recognize you as, an authority, as a disruptive company or technology in the field. So [00:58:00] it's not, it's still as simple, but I agree. 

[00:58:02] Hala Taha: Totally. Okay, so I end my interview with two questions that I ask all my guests. The first one is, what is one actionable thing our Young and Profiters can do today to become more profitable tomorrow?

[00:58:14] Carolina Reis: I would say that don't be afraid of starting today. Even if you don't have a brilliant idea, for example, with us. I knew that my mission was like to translate our science and I didn't know where to start, but I said, we gotta start somewhere. So we started and then ventured our idea, pivoted like three times and we landed to this beautiful mission of reversing aging.

[00:58:41] But that's now how I started. So don't be afraid of taking the first step because things will change in the future. And if you keep you waiting for the right moment, for the right idea. You want to make progress and you are just gonna learn so much when you start actually doing things.

[00:58:59] Hala Taha: That's [00:59:00] great advice. I love that advice. And what is your secret to profiting in life? And this could be beyond financial.

[00:59:06] Carolina Reis: I think my secret is actually aligning my purpose in this world with my work. And for me, because I love so much, enjoying life every single moment. And I can't imagine that there will be a time in my life, that I won't be able to do that.

[00:59:29] So I wanna dedicate my life to help myself, not being like selfish. But help everyone to actually be able to continue to enjoy and have an amazing life at whatever age. And I think when you find that the overlapping point in which you are so passionate about what you do and there is a very clear, purpose for you in terms of, benefiting, society. [01:00:00] I think that's when profit will come no matter what.

[01:00:04] Because you are so dedicated, you are so passionate and you are also generating value for people out there. So try to find what is that thing for you. 

[01:00:17] Hala Taha: Awesome. Thank you so much Carolina. This was such a wonderful interview. Where can our listeners learn more about you and OneSkin? 

[01:00:24] Carolina Reis: Thank you so much, Hala. This is was so fun.

[01:00:27] Obviously, on our website, oneskin.co on our social media also OneSkin.co. I also really recommend everyone to subscribe to our newsletters because we put out so much good content, so much educative content, that's beyond the just skincare. A lot of, you know the science that we do in the lab, how we test our products and the data that we find in longevity general, like things that you can start doing today that will impact your [01:01:00] lives tomorrow.

[01:01:00] Hala Taha: Awesome. Thank you so much. We're gonna put all those links in this show notes. Carolina, it was such a pleasure. Thank you so much for coming on Young and Profiting Podcast. 

[01:01:08] Carolina Reis: Thank you, Hala. This is awesome.

[01:01:16] Hala Taha: Talking to Carolina was so fascinating. I had no idea that her skin has such a huge impact on our overall health. By prioritizing our skin health, we can actually lower our inflammation levels and fight off age-related diseases because inflamed cells put us at higher risk for heart disease, cancer, and even Alzheimer's, and OneSkin can help with that.

[01:01:36] They actually found a way to lower your biological age through topical treatments. I really hope this method of treatment becomes more mainstream because it could help so many people lower their risk of age-related diseases. But you have to be careful when trying new skincare products before buying a new product.

[01:01:53] Research the ingredients to make sure it doesn't contain cancer, causing chemicals, hormone disruptors, or ingredients derived from [01:02:00] petroleum. And keep in mind though, we have incredible products like OneSkin. Available to reverse the aging process, we must maintain a healthy lifestyle. First and foremost, this means a nutritious diet.

[01:02:11] So not a lot of carbs, processed foods or red meat. And of course you need to establish a workout routine and wear sunscreen. To recap. Using signs backed skincare products like OneSkin and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, will reverse your biological age. And you're listening to Young and Profiting. So you probably wanna look and feel Young forever.

[01:02:31] I know, I sure do. OneSkin is the real deal. I can't recommend them enough. You can go to oneskin.co to learn more. I love skincare products. I'm a skincare junkie. I'm super piggy with my products and I love using OneSkin. Again, that's oneskin.co to learn more. Thanks for listening to this episode of Young and Profiting Podcasts.

[01:02:50] If you listen learned and profited, be sure to share this episode with your friends and family and drop us a five star review on Apple or your favorite podcast platform. If you like watching your podcast videos, you [01:03:00] can find us on YouTube. You can also find me on Instagram @yapwithhala or LinkedIn.

[01:03:04] Just search for my name. It's Hala Taha. Big shout out to my amazing YAP production team. You guys are so talented. I appreciate everything you guys do behind the scenes. And also shout out to you guys listening to the show day in and day out way to level up your life by listening to a podcast like YAP.

[01:03:23] This is your host, Hala Taha, a k a, the podcast Princess signing off.