Hi, my name is Koa and I work for Beach Street Skincare in Bali – Indonesia.
What do I do? … I am in charge of aligning the image of the company with its mission and vision, its corporate values, and also the personal motivations of the people who work there.
Considering the characteristics of our products, environmental motivations, and why not? our business vision and strategy; I support the structuring of communication channels for our corporate sustainability plan, the planning and development of our conservation and educational programs, and as you can see, the company’s blog. I love it, and it’s not more than what my colleagues do, we all do a lot. Here we all row together and with the same strength to reach a common north. The personal improvement and the success of the brand.
In this publication, I wanted to do something different. Not necessarily informative or educational but perhaps, if I have success, maybe inspirational. Today I woke up feeling the necessity to communicate and express myself; and when you feel it, well, that this is the right thing to do. No hesitations are needed.
Backgrounds are not chains! So how does it begin?
I’m 38 years old. I studied law at the University of Lima – Peru, and I dedicated myself to environmental law, specialising in the conservation of the biosphere and climate change. Later I completed a master’s degree in environmental sciences in Barcelona – Spain and I also got a specialisation in corporate sustainability – CSR, in San José – Costa Rica.
During my last years practising law, I was working as a political advisor in the Congress of the Republic of Peru and after that for the Ministry of the environment from Peru as well, a great experience that gave me a lot of knowledge. But even if it sound amazing or successful I never felt it that way.
I always felt that I was an enthusiastic person; my dreams are aimed at doing fun things that, in addition to making me happy, help people to feel the same and protect the environment. Under this idea, I worked with various NGOs for amazing programs, always aligned to my motivations. But returning to my day by day, as you will understand, a lawyer does not usually lead that life of adventure, right? is usually more focused on the corporate world, so despite dedicating myself to the environment, my work involved sitting behind a computer writing regulations all day every day. I did not feel happy at all, perhaps satisfied by the salary, but … One day, from one moment to another I decide to stop, sell everything I got and get out of my comfort zone. Permanently. I just wanted to find myself while exploring the world. I was scared but decided.
During the last years, I had countless adventures, I became a professional climber and fire performer, I got to know the 5 continents basing my travels on simplicity and joy. Without any plan, just a backpack and a lot of heart.
During this time I was able to learn that when you are really sincere, authentic, good person, and happy, people notice it in your energy. An authentic and permanent smile is the key to personal success and it will always attract good things that sometimes cannot be explained, but everything just happens; eventually.
What About Beach Street?
Within my travels and experiences, I ended up flying to Bali – Indonesia, where I met Ams, who is now our leader, and CEO of Beach Street. At that time the company was not even a plan; the only advance we had was a simple conversation about how to help the local community in environmental terms; we talk about subjects as development, conservation, education, travel, and some other ideas, all of this during a little live music event in a café. Anyway; as it was just an idea I had to continue my plans so a couple of days later I took a plane to Australia to learn project management.
A year later I got a surprising call from Ams; she was inviting me to join the Beach Street team and to work together in Bali on the mentioned projects but as a natural sun-related brand. About that, Ams has an awesome style and in addition to her love for the ocean, she knows a lot about natural skin and body care products, so it makes sense. Ams was interested in my previous knowledge and that is why she invited me to join the Beach Street project, she believed in me and gave me the opportunity to use everything I learned both in my life and professional career, but in a different way, with heart and having fun. I did not think twice and accept, so after the lockdown was done, I took the first plane.
Here I have wings to fly high as I can, and the confidence to know that everything is possible. We have a common dream and we are here to go for it. With humility, ethics, responsibility, authenticity, and a lot of affection. Little by little, we want to make a difference.
Ideas that spread and the birth of a dream
As I mentioned before, Beach Street was born from the idea of providing help and raising awareness, but with some time, creativity, and vision, it took a different form until it became what it is today, a beautiful and friendly line of natural beauty products, which in addition to providing quality, are responsible for protecting the environment and inspiring people.
What do we have and what do you offer?
In addition to our common love for Bali and its unique lifestyle, culture, religion, its amazing waves, and the beautiful coral reefs and mangrove forests that surround it, we have extensive knowledge about the environmental problems that threaten it and about the reasons that make this happen, and this is how Beach Street was born.
A lesson for life
Having a goal is always good, and fighting for it feels even better. However, today I think that instead of having a specific goal it is better to have an idea, not a unique ay but a global panorama of happiness and success; there is no one way to do things, our behave will attract them so we should focus on doing what makes us happy every day, our own energy and positivity will make it real. It may take longer, but we will have a great time.
Success is not always happiness. I was growing fast in my career but never felt entirely happy until I decided to get out of my comfort zone and change.
By the way; I am not saying that the other way is not good, it certainly is, but I prefer this one.
My relationship with Beach Street happened this way
Beach Street offered me an idea of a business with strong values, kindness and motivation. Since working with them, I have been able to resume my dreams of helping others with my knowledge, use my creativity to develop projects and create a style by using the skills I learned during my past experiences.
How nice it is to feel important for the company you work for, and for the people you work with. And how incredible it is to be able to do all this by feeling free.
Today I have a beautiful opportunity that despite being laborious and difficult will be achieved at all costs. With teamwork, leadership, ethics, and enthusiasm. We have lots of things to do.
Responsible Products
So far I have written about personal themes and motivations, but what about the products we offer?
In addition to local development, education, and conservation projects, we offer high-quality natural hair and skincare products. With time, I have come to know and understand its importance for people, especially if we consider the negative effects of climate change.
At Beach Street, we understand the importance of leading a healthy, balanced, and conscious lifestyle, but we understand that we also have special needs. Considering this, and understanding that natural is always better. We are living a new era where environmental awareness and the sustainable use of its resources is a priority. We always keep this in mind and this is why our products are strictly natural-based; their production does not involve any type of animal cruelty, they are vegan, and of course, they do not do any type of damage to the beautiful coral reefs like some other brands. In addition to all these, we have developed a kind of packaging that replaces the plastic with sugar cane, ensuring biodegradable compounds in favour of our planet. We want to offer a conscious product and generate an organic impact on the island where our brand was born. It is our way of giving in return and thanking for the life that we have to lead.
We want to generate a real change. It is our commitment. Would you join?