In Conversation With: Saela Co-Founders Elke Richter & Kirsty Sinclair

Behind Saela are two women with different backgrounds, different strengths and, quite often, different ways of approaching things.

We sat down with co-founders Kirsty Sinclair and Elke Richter to talk skincare, wellbeing, building Saela and the small things that make life feel good.

MEET ELKE RICHTER

Beauty + Wellbeing

The Saela product you never skip?
The Antioxidant Serum. No hesitation. It’s the best Vitamin C serum I’ve used and an absolute non-negotiable for me.

Beauty treatment you’ll always make time for?
Can cleansing my makeup off count? I cannot bear the thought of going to bed without a clean face. No matter how tired I am, it has to come off.

Current wellness ritual?
It’s nothing elaborate. This busy working mum starts the day with a probiotic, water, exercise and skincare. It tends to descend into chaos after that!

One thing you do when you need to reset?
Sunday is my reset day. A sleep-in, breakfast with the family, a 12km run and then some time on the couch before the Monday mayhem starts again.

What does looking after yourself actually look like at this stage of life?
My kids, husband and work are my priorities, so, like a lot of working women, there isn’t an enormous amount of “me time”. It’s usually the simple things that make the biggest difference. A quiet coffee after school drop-off, taking a little time with my skincare or occasionally stopping to smell the flowers after a big day. I also think it’s important to stop occasionally and acknowledge everything you’ve managed to do. A few minutes can make a surprising difference.

Behind Saela

What part of building Saela do you enjoy most?
I love working with Kirsty. I love being able to throw ideas around together, talk about what we’re building and constantly look towards what comes next. It has been such an exciting journey to share.

What do you bring to the partnership?
I’ve spent the past 16 years working across distribution, clinics, sales and education within the professional skin and aesthetics industry. I understand the clinic environment and the importance of building genuine, long-term relationships rather than simply selling a product. My focus is largely on our B2B partnerships, working alongside our Customer Success team to grow Saela within the professional market through strong relationships, ongoing support and education.

What does Kirsty bring that you don’t?
Kirsty brings incredible strength across brand development, marketing and the digital side of the business. Her ability to take an idea and build the strategy, brand and systems around it has been such an asset to Saela. We bring very different skill sets to the partnership, but we’re very aligned on what we want the brand to become.

What has surprised you about building Saela?
I knew it wasn’t going to be a quick process, but it certainly opened my eyes to how much goes into creating a skincare brand from scratch. From the very first prototypes through to the final formulations and packaging, there are so many stages and decisions along the way. It has been exciting, daunting at times and incredibly rewarding.

What are you most excited to see Saela become?
I want to see Saela become a well-loved professional skincare brand that genuinely helps people feel good in their skin. We created the Capsule Collection because we wanted to take some of the pressure and complexity out of choosing skincare. I believe you can have highly considered formulations, beautiful textures and meaningful results without needing an excessive routine and I’m excited to see more people experience that.

What is your role at Saela?
I lead our professional partnerships, sales and education, working closely with clinics and our team to grow Saela within the professional skin industry. 

Quick Fire

Current read / listen / watch?

Read: I’m still waiting to read the book Kirsty bought me - Start With Yourself by Emma Grede, but I’m saving that for the Christmas holidays... if things settle down.

Watch: I love the Harlan Coben series on Netflix - always a good thriller. Although I’m also a hopeless romantic, so a good soppy movie never goes astray. 

Drink or cocktail order?
I’m always happy to kick off the weekend or an event with a glass of Veuve!

Favourite snack
My daughter and I run on Saturday mornings and afterwards we get a Vegemite and cheese toastie from The Herdsman with a coffee. Such a good start to the weekend.

Ideal Sunday?
A long run, some time on the couch, preferably with a movie, time with the family, then a nice dinner and a glass of wine in the evening.

Something people would be surprised to know about you?
Most of my friends already know I’m a bit of a germaphobe. The long-running joke is that my husband had to do an antibacterial wash-down before proposing all those years ago.

Coffee or tea?
I do love coffee, but if I could only choose one, it would be tea. There’s something very comforting about it.

Early bird or night owl?
It depends. I’m pretty adaptable, but I’m usually up early to exercise and get the kids organised, so I tend to be ready for bed fairly early too.

Three things always in your bag?
Hand sanitiser (No surprises here!), hand cream and lip gloss.

 

MEET KIRSTY SINCLAIR

Beauty + Wellbeing

The Saela product you never skip?
This feels a little like choosing a favourite child... I genuinely can’t. For me, it’s the entire Capsule Collection. It’s exactly what I hoped we would create, and I love using the products together as my daily routine.

Beauty treatment you’ll always make time for?
A lash lift. Mostly because it makes me look a little more awake which is very much needed during this season of life. Skin needling and LED are also high on the list when I can find the time.

Current wellness ritual?
With young kids, there isn’t much time for an extensive ritual. At the moment, it’s usually a cup of tea, a quick shower and my Saela skincare routine. Simple, but enough to feel like I’ve done something for myself.

One thing you do when you need to reset?
Meditate, or get outside into the sunshine and fresh air for ten minutes. I’m always surprised by how much difference something that small can make.

What does looking after yourself actually look like at this stage of life?
There’s no extensive routine, and I’m quite fluid with my days. For me, it’s much more about micro-moments:  a cup of tea, some fresh air, sauna, reading a few pages of a book. Small things I can fit into real life rather than another routine I feel I have to manage.

Behind Saela

What part of building Saela do you enjoy most?
Building brands is one of my favourite things to do, so having the opportunity to build one of my own has been incredibly special. I love thinking about the entire ecosystem: the brand, product, customer experience, content, systems and the overall vision - where to next. There genuinely isn’t much of it I don’t enjoy.

What do you bring to the partnership?
My background is in marketing, brand strategy and business, so my role naturally sits across brand development, positioning, marketing, digital, ecommerce and the broader customer experience. I tend to think about Saela as a whole, what we stand for, where we’re going and how all the individual pieces connect to build something meaningful over the long term.

What does Elke bring that you don’t?
Elke has extensive experience owning and managing clinics and working closely with clinic owners to support their growth. That perspective has been invaluable in shaping the professional side of Saela. She’s also incredibly good at relationships, sales and building strong teams and company culture. We have very different strengths, which is exactly why the partnership works so well. I am so lucky to have such an amazing business partner.

What has surprised you about building Saela?
I don’t know if there has been one big surprise. More a constant reminder that momentum matters. There is always something to work on, improve or move forward. Launching feels like this enormous milestone when you’re building towards it, but really, it’s just the beginning.

What are you most excited to see Saela become?
I would love to see Saela sitting on bathroom shelves across Australia and, eventually, around the world. But beyond growth, I want Saela to become part of a small daily ritual for busy women, a few minutes that are theirs, that help them feel good, feel confident and look after their skin without it becoming another complicated thing to manage.

What is your role at Saela?
I lead brand, marketing and digital, alongside the broader strategic direction of the business. Elke and I work closely across many of the bigger decisions, from product and brand development to where we take Saela next. We each bring a different perspective and skill set to the table, which has been invaluable. And, as with any founder-led business, there are plenty of things that sit outside either of our official job descriptions.

Quick Fire

Current read / listen / watch?

Read: Start With Yourself by Emma Grede. She doesn’t know it, but I consider her a mentor.

Listen: I listen to at least one podcast a day. I think my favourites need an entire Journal post of their own.

Watch: I rarely watch TV as I prefer podcasts or reading, but I recently finished the latest season of The Morning Show and loved it. Also watching WeCrashed - the We Work docuseries - I love a start up & founder story!

Drink or cocktail order?
A mocktail, red wine or a Negroni. 

Favourite snack?
Loco Love chocolate or my homemade low-sugar banana cake. Maybe we need to share the recipe?

Ideal Sunday?
Snuggles in bed with my boys, a quick solo dip at the beach followed by a sauna, family time, music and antipasto in the backyard, a delicious dinner and an early night.

Something people would be surprised to know about you?
I’m a bit of an open book, so I’m not sure there’s much people don’t already know about me! I’ll have to come back to this one when I think of something genuinely surprising

Coffee or tea?
Both, but I couldn’t live without my morning pot of tea. It’s a ritual.

Early bird or night owl?
Early bird. Early to bed and early to rise. 

Three things always in your bag?
Lip balm, hand cream and, at this stage of life, nappies for my little ones.