Article by Mavian Arocha, reprinted with permission from OTC Beauty Magazine

The Pure'ity™ brand will launch late summer of 2008 with the introduction of Pure'ity™
Shampoo and Pure'ity™ Conditioner (in Peppermint and Citrus) in beauty supply
stores and hair salons. The attractive price point (under $10 per 8 oz. bottle) will
make the Pure'ity™ line a compelling buy for health-conscious African American and
Latino consumers.

And before Darlene Alexander's schedule gets busy with her launch, OTC Beauty
Magazine had the opportunity to speak with Alexander, upclose and personal.

OTC:  When you received the news that you had chemical exposure, did you say to
yourself: "You know what? I am done with this, and I want to do something for
myself and something for other women"?
Alexander:  After my chemical exposure that was basically around 2000, I would say
about two or three years after that, about 2003, we really started doing research
and decided I can't handle this anymore; I have to do something for me and yes, for
other women. I had light headedness, ear aches, and many more side effects. Just
imagine everything associated with toxicity. I knew I had to do something for
myself and for others; I knew there were more people out there that had this same
problem.

OTC:  Did you ever feel like, 'Darlene, you can do this?' Maybe something for you,
but for other people? Did you ever feel that negativity like 'Oh, it's probably too big
for it to come true in real life or were you always optimistic and ambitious about your
desire?
Alexander:  At first, I will say I wasn't as optimistic, but then, as time went by, I
knew that yes, although it is too big for me, I was able to see the final vision. It can
be done, and it has been done in the past by other wonderful women.

OTC:  What was your first step? Was it specifically working on the product, working
with the scientist or would you say your first step was trying to discover who your
target audience was going to be.
Alexander:  I would say the first step was actually trying to define what type of
ingredients we wanted to place in the products, so immediately I started to work
with a chemist.

OTC:  Can you reveal your signature ingredient?
Alexander:  I would have to say one of the main signature ingredients is Shea butter.

OTC:  How was your relationship between the chemist? I hear you were you were the guinea
pig for the discovery of the formula.
Alexander:  I worked with one chemist and basically gave him exactly what I wanted
in the product. The first prototype didn't turn out as well and immediately, we
needed to make improvements. So, I just went through the list again and told him
this is what I want, and I can't tolerate a whole lot of the chemicals and fragrance,
can you please just bring it down a step? And the second time we were able to actu-
ally put together a formula that worked.

OTC:  After identifying the formula, what was your next step?
Alexander:  Learning about the business of targeting to your own market, defining the
target market, and learning how to actually structure our company was the second and
a crucial step for us.

OTC:  What was your challenge in building the structure for the business?
Alexander:  Since I knew about hair, but I didn't know about business,
that was my particular challenge. I knew I needed to find individuals, consultants
that could guide us. And, I chose to delegate to the right people. We needed to have
a strategic plan in order to bring this vision to completion. Although I wasn't super
experienced in business, I combined my current intelligence with my intuition in
order to save us from making mistakes.

OTC:  Can you explain your philosophy behind your packaging?
Alexander:  The packaging, to me, is elegant, and it is so professional. They
resemble something pure, clean, simple. Also, the way it's designed, it is
extremely easy to talk about for brand identification. You can literally
say, 'Look for the P, it's the hypo-allergenic one.' I wanted something very easy
so others can pick out from the shelf.

OTC:  When someone sees the bottle, and picks it up, they open it up and smell it,
describe what the experience would be for the consumer.
Alexander:  Clean. They are going to smell clean, refreshing. It simply smells clean
and refreshing when you open it up. You will not find this overwhelming fragrance that
you are going to receive and turn away from.

OTC:  What advice would you provide our readers on how to properly present your
product in their stores? How would you want them to represent your product?
Alexander:  I feel through our Pure'ity™ line, we are actually giving distributors,
beauty supply stores, and salons the opportunity to provide quality, hypo-allergenic
hair products to the consumers; someting they have never had on their shelves
before.

OTC:  Have you thought about making personal appearances or speaking directly to
store owners?
Alexander:  Yes, that is in our future plans. We're actually putting that together for
our launch along with our promotional activities. We want to present and personally
hand our products and introduce ourselves to the beauty supply owners.

OTC:  What advice would you give someone else, maybe not specifically in the hypo-
allergenic market, but maybe someone that's interested in launching their own prod-
uct line?
Alexander:  Never give up. No matter how it looks or if you don't see how it's going
to happen. Just keep going; keep believing. Believe in yourself when others don't
believe in you.

OTC:  This is more of a personal question: Tell me something about yourself that has
made you the woman you are today and the family-loving individual you are.
Alexander:  Since I went through a period in my life of being sick, it has actually
strengthened me in ways that I can never imagine. I used to be so afraid of so many
things; just thinking of starting a business would not have crossed my mind. But,
there was a need and I needed, that need. I needed to create a solution, so I could
help not only myself, but others.

OTC:  Lastly, how did you come up with the name of your company and the product line?
Alexander:  My prayer group became involved. We actually got together, and we
went through names of other companies and products and these are the names we chose.


Formulated by Heavenly Essence, Pure'ity products are exclusive to the Pure'ity
brand. Based in California, the company is a member of the Professional Beauty
Association (PBA) and MBE certified with the National Minority Supplier Development
Council. For more information about Heavenly Essence and Pure'ity hair care prod-
ucts, please contact 916.501.3766.

Photos of products: © 2008 PaulFrancisPhoto.com
Photos of people: © 2008 Chris Carter