How I Went From Insecure Teen To Forbes 30 Under 30

Banish started through the personal journey of an entrepreneur, hustler, workout addict and shopaholic named Daisy. She is a gem polished and crafted by life changing experiences.  

Her personal battle with cystic acne pushed her with strong determination to rise from adversities and judgements thrown at her. Banish was created as a natural solution that helps with acne and scars. Daisy had struggles with bad skin but realized putting on the harsh medications and ingredients that are prescribed for acne made it worse. 

After a few months, everyone noticed how much her skin has improved and Daisy started selling her skin care concoctions to her subscribers. Banish is not about following the standard of perfection, it is about embracing and defining what perfection means to us. Being empowered and confident in our skin- that is the real deal! All worth it!

 

My Personal Journey With Acne

When I had acne I felt depressed and alone. 

I had cystic acne and it was so bad that when I washed my face there would be blood on the towels because my skin would just pop all the time. I fell into this depression. This depression of people calling me pizza face, this depression of people saying, “Why don't you just wash your skin?” As if the solution for acne was that simple and people did not really understanding how I felt. I felt alone.

I was determined to try every single product out there. I tried everything from over-the-counter to high-end products to dermatologist recommended, to drugs that I would intake in my body. It seemed like the more I tried and the more money I spent, the worse my skin became.

In 2009, I turned on my webcam and I started reviewing skincare products. I kept my channel a secret. I was too afraid. I was too embarrassed. I didn't want anyone to see me without all the makeup on my face and then within a few years I developed a really loyal following.

People who loved how vulnerable I was and loved the honest product reviews I gave about the products. Then on YouTube, I felt like for the first time, I finally belonged I had a community. I had people that cared about me and people that didn't judge me because of the way I looked but really cared about me because the person I was.

I also realized I didn't look like anyone else. I grew up in Minnesota growing up there I was the only Asian in my school and in my community. Going to lunch was probably one of the scariest moments for me because I didn't know where to sit. I would just eat lunch in the classroom or in the bathroom and just wait for a lunch period to be over.

I didn't look like anyone else on TV or in the media or in the magazines. They were all blonde hair, impeccable skin, big blue eyes. I was this slanty-eyed Asian girl with really, really thick black hair.

Because the media society and everyone around me was telling me that I didn't look like them and I felt like I couldn't ever live up to the standard of beauty and therefore I was not beautiful.

My YouTube Breakthrough 

On YouTube, this was the time when gurus like Michelle Phan became popular, and I noticed that there was an influx of Asian beauty gurus out there. I felt like I belonged because there were people who looked like me so I continued making videos and it was the best time of my life because I felt like I had friends in a sense of belonging.

In 2013, I met with dermatologists and I was planning to get laser on my skin. However, he told me laser wouldn't really do much for the acne and post acne marks on my face. So, he recommended me specific ingredients to use on my skin with a skin care tool. I took his advice, researched some of the ingredients, sourced some of them, concocted it, put it on my skin.

Within a few months people around me and on my YouTube channel started noticing a difference. They said. “Daisy, what are you using on your skin? it looks like it's just glowing.” And, “Daisy, what happened to all those red marks on your face? Where did it go? Before long, I realized it was the concoction-- I put on my face that really created those results.

So you guys wanted it and I shipped a few of them to you. I realized it kept selling out again and again. So, I was juggling between creating YouTube videos and shipping out products and answering emails and going the post office. It grew into what the Banish Kit is known today.

Today, we are a team of 20 employees and we are distributed all over the world. 60% of our customer base is domestic and 40% is international, as well as 40% of our customers are men.

So, yes guys you can still use Banish. We were featured in Inc.’s 5000 fastest-growing companies and I was featured as one of the fastest growing female founders in Los Angeles.

This year, I was awarded the Forbes Under 30 in manufacturing. A lot has happened since I first launched my YouTube channel.

The Rise Of Banish

It is not just about how many units can we sell and how big is the company, the mission of Banish and the mission of why we're doing this, so that we can give you the power to feel like you can be who you are, the way you are and show that to the world.

Every day we receive hundreds of emails and reviews telling us how Banish has changed their lives. This review was sent to me a few weeks earlier and she says:

“Dear Daisy, thank you so much for creating Banish. It has completely changed my skin but more importantly the way I feel about myself. For my entire life, I felt like I couldn't face people without wearing makeup. I would have to put on makeup every morning before my now-fiancé wokeup because I thought he could judge me by my skin and see the scars and marks on my face. Well, just a week ago I was able to face him without wearing any sort of makeup and he told me how beautiful I looked. Thank you so much Daisy and the Banish team for making me feel confident in my own skin. I'm confident now that I can go outside, go  there shopping, go to work without wearing any makeup. And I'm so excited to marry the love of my life.”

Our Mission: Empowered, Confident, And Beyond

You don't need to have poreless skin. You don't need to be a 5’11” supermodel to be considered beautiful. You don't need to look 25 years old at 40 to be considered beautiful. You can be who you are and you can own that and you can share that with the world.

I am so proud that our team, our influencers, our customers. Basically, our Banish Army our Banish family is out there spreading the word about confidence. We're out there creating a movement and we're challenging the status quo of the beauty industry. The beauty industry telling you that you're not good enough unless you're this and that to sell and market more products to you.

At Banish, what we do is tell you what the ingredients are. To tell you what exactly each ingredient does and to give you the power to figure out if this product is going to work for you or not. We don't tell you that the product is going to make your acne disappear or make your scars blemish free because there is no cure for that.

But, we will tell you that these products are genuinely good for your skin and will help your skin to benefit in the long run. And we also use your own body's natural healing process to make your skin rejuvenate and repair itself. That's what Banish does.

The overall mission of Banish is to be who you are and to be empowered and to be confident in your own skin and beyond that. Even if I can help one person no matter their age, race, sexual orientation, no matter what they have on their skin; if I can make them feel confident in their own skin and if I can make them feel okay with not fitting in; I can make them feel like they can own who they are and share that to the world, then my own personal journey behind Banish and behind the brand will have been absolutely worth it.