Tell us about Dársy.
It’s actually about you. Well, sort of. We’re a brand that champions the natural beauty – and range of diverse beauty – of Australian women. We think we’re most beautiful when we’re comfortable and at ease – and part of ease is simplifying your life. Our products are natural, made with ingredients written in plain language so you know exactly what’s in them. We launched with one product for your face and one product for your body. Not to say it’s all you need – though it could be – it’s just a nice addition to whatever your routine is, to make sure you’re covered for the day (literally).
What inspired you to start Dársy?
We were each coming up in our respective careers and were overwhelmed with busy-ness. We wanted to be good at our jobs, there for our people and maintain our interests – all while looking good. We found we were devoting more time than we wanted to on our image. There had to be a hack, to look and feel good in our skin – so we could get on with the rest. Trying to navigate skincare and beauty was overly complicated, so we created products that simplified it for us, and other women too.
Tell us about your career and background.
We both grew up in Brisbane and moved to Melbourne at the same time to further our respective careers; Tereza has a background in creative industries and Kate has a chemistry and skincare formulation background. In other words, Tereza is the creative one and Kate is the science-y one. For Dársy, we each dabble in both sides, but on the whole, that’s how we come together.
Describe a typical work day for you.
Around 7:30am, we talk on the phone or meet for a coffee to go through priorities for the day and how we’re tracking for the week. Tereza is still active in creative industries, so she heads off to that while Kate gets on with some of the day-to-day stuff like fulfilling orders, emails and new product development. We usually regroup at lunchtime, if we need to, which is when we might make a few key decisions together on new opportunities and events. We’ll meet for yoga at the end of the day, to sync up both as business partners and friends. We try to keep our evenings light, because our days are pretty fast!
What advice do you have for those wanting to start a business?
Take a friend with you. It really helps to have someone you can bounce things off and also share the load. Also – things are always going to cost more than you think, so make sure you have cash flow or capital to ride things out when the unexpected happens.
What’s next for Dársy?
We’ll slowly expand and scale. We say slowly because a slow burn means we will be able to make sure everything we do is of a high standard and high quality. Part of our growth is to add more products to our range, and what we add is largely based on what we hear from our customers – that’s what the Sweet Hair Booster was born out of. So you’ll definitely see more products soon and more collaborations with other businesses and brands – so stay tuned!
