Irish founded and innovation-led, SEABODY is beauty and wellness brand with a passionate team of biochemists and nutritionists unlocking the potent power of marine molecules to create luxury oceanic-based food supplements and skincare products. The brand was accepted into our Accelerator Programme for young luxury brands in 2022 and in May 2023 officially passed the ESG+ assessment. We hear from the Co-Founder, Dr. Helena McMahon on her role running the business, what she thinks makes a great leader, the biggest challenges she’s faced along the way and more about what is to come for SEABODY…
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Hi Helena! When did you join SEABODY and how long have you been in this role?
I have been with SEABODY since the beginning, I joined as a co-founder in 2018 bringing my experience and expertise in human health, molecular medicine, natural products, and sustainability. As a biotech led company co-investing in the development of high efficacy functional ingredients and sustainability the R&D phase was very intensive which is why it took until 2021 to launch SEABODY as we built it going from the ingredient discovery to the final finished branded consumer product, from Sea to Self.
What three things do you think make a great leader?
Action: If you want a team of people to work with you to innovate and deliver excellence you must lead by example, to take hold of a project, increase the tempo and deliver on all aspects of the brief, in full and above expectations through collaboration. Once you show what can be achieved and set the standard on what the company can achieve.
Empathy: We should all be working to live, not living to work. Every team member has their own unique personal backdrop and in work experience and it is really key to ensure that you have that awareness, event at the pace and intensity of work that can take place in a growing company. Having that awareness, understanding and compassion is really key to creating an environment where creativity and productivity can flourish.
Passion: When creating a brand, you are asking the team to trust and commit fully to the vision and mission of the company. As there is no direct path to success, with highs and lows along the way showing passion and full commitment and conviction that you are on the path to success is central to not just your internal team with you but also your extended network of partners and stakeholders.
What is the toughest lesson you learnt?
There are so many lessons learnt. The main on is that projects never move as quickly as you want and to build in contingency / risk assess every step in the plan. Coming from academic environment where things move slowly and a research environment which is hugely collaborative and where things move quickly, I thought I had experienced it all from a project delivery perspective. The business environment is totally different. With the complexity in supply chains and dependency on other companies and partners to deliver things can go from full speed ahead to road blocked – for example if there is an ingredient or component that is un-expectedly out of stock with a timeline of “months” until available you need to be able to problem solve and pivot at pace.
And the most rewarding?
Creating products that benefit peoples skin health and full body wellness, that are a luxury user experience and have sustainability designed in.
What is the one piece of advice you wish you had been given early on in your career?
It is ok to not know the answers – always ask for advice – get comfortable with mentoring and networking is the best accelerator in business.
What is your immediate focus for creating positive change as a leader for SEABODY?
We are very focused on local impact and regional development given how short our supply chain is, our aim is to work with as many local suppliers as a possible that meet our sourcing standards, in parallel we are advancing on our new production facility and seaweed farming all if which is critical to both our ESG+ performance but also the scaling of the business.
And your long term goals?
To globally scale SEABODY to create Ireland’s first heritage beauty and wellness brand, that is biotech led and regenerative, pushing the boundaries of sustainable innovation and circular economy implementation.
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