Letisha and Zeena Brown
Zeena and Letisha Brown
Photograph by Lydia Carmichael/The Thirty-One Percent
When sisters Letisha and Zeena Brown teamed up to translate their experience battling frustrating flare-ups into a plant-based, non-toxic skincasre brand, Brown & Coconut was born. From marketing to packing orders, these two put their heart and soul into every mask, moisturizer, and face wash. Want to know how it all gets done? Follow Letisha and Zeena through a typical workday.
Letisha’s day:
6:45 AM
My alarm goes off at around 6:45 AM. I’m not a morning person at all, never have been. I’m one of those people who has about four alarms set, each two minutes apart, and I still snooze all of them.
About 10 to 12 minutes later, I get out of bed. I do all my showering and prep the night before, so that I can wake up as late as possible and can get ready quickly in the morning. I wait to eat breakfast until I am at the office, and I prepare my lunch the day before to grab and go when I’m ready to leave.
8:00 AM
I walk to work, which is great when it’s nice out, not so much when it’s cold and rainy, but when I walk, I feel more energized and awake.
Once I’m settled in at work, the first thing I have to do is get my cup of coffee. My breakfast is generally a plant-based protein shake. I’m not a huge breakfast person, so it’s usually going to be something light. I’ll enjoy my coffee while going through emails. I like to listen to music while I’m working, too. By the time I’m done with my coffee, I am looking at the clock waiting for noon, when I can eat lunch. I love lunch!
12:00 PM
I get so excited when I get to take a break and eat my food! I try to unplug while eating, but I’m not very good at it. I’m used to juggling so many things all the time that I don’t actually know how to stop. I’m usually multi-tasking in some way, answering emails or going back and forth with my sister about new ideas while I eat.
Photographs by Lydia Carmichael/The Thirty-One Percent
4:15 PM
Later in the afternoon and into the evening, the day is still going. Sometimes I’m working on product research and development, event prep, marketing, order fulfillment, or financials. Right now, it’s just me and my sister/business partner. We both wear so many different hats and our time is spent juggling them all.
5:00 PM
Around 5:00 PM I like to get a workout in. I’ve tried working out early in the morning and it’s not for me, the lady who snoozes four alarms before getting out of bed, ha!
After a quick shower, I am preparing dinner at home before my fiancé arrives. When he does, we try to be present in the moment with each other while eating dinner. So, no phones, no laptops. He’s also a small-business owner, so he’s constantly on the go and juggling a million things, too.
After dinner, I like to unwind with my shows. I’ll admit, I watch a lot of shows. Some of them are pretty mindless, but they are my chance to decompress after a busy day. While catching up on said shows, I’ll usually open up my laptop again to check email and get in a couple more hours of work. I do a lot of design work for my fiancé’s company, too, so I’ll work on those projects at night, as well.
10:45 PM
That’s when the exhaustion sets in and I get ready for bed.
Brown & Coconut’s skin care products are not only a beautiful addition to your bathroom shelves, they are also made from 100% plant based ingredients meant to heal your skin without exposing skin to abrasive or harmful chemicals.
Photograph by Lydia Carmichael/The Thirty-One Percent
Zeena’s Day
7:20 PM
I usually get up around 7:20 every morning. Much like my sister, this is after snoozing a few times.
Once I’m out of bed I have a strict routine of starting my skincare regimen right away which usually involves a quick face wipe down then applying a few pumps of our face oil. I can’t start my day any other way. This usually only takes about 2 minutes. I don’t spend too much time on my hair because I like to do protective bun styles during the week so I can usually be seen wearing a low or high bun.
8:00 AM
I have this thing where I don’t usually check the company Instagram Monday-Friday until I am out of the house. It’s so easy to get lost in the vortex that is Instagram that I save it for my commute. That’s when I check DMs, comments, and scroll through the feed.
Photograph by Lydia Carmichael/The Thirty-One Percent
12:00 PM
By lunch time I usually check if we had any new orders come in. Since we’re a small-batch company I like to make sure we have the products in stock. If not, I can plan the rest of my week which would most likely include restocking.
Later in the day you can usually find me working on order fulfillment. I love packing orders and by this time in the day we usually have a ton that we can start to pack up. My sister will tell you that I am super particular when it comes to our packaging. I am all about our branded tissue paper and floral tape. I like to spend time packing each and every order so that it’s an experience for the customer on the other end. With that said, we can easily spend two-three hours packing. Of course this is between us joking around and losing the roll of tape.
9:00 PM
On big order days, I don’t have much time to relax but I do like to make sure I take a long, warm shower. I then spend another 5 minutes on my skin routine which includes using our face wash and face oil. Once in bed, I check email and Instagram one last time; got to make sure I don't miss any comments. By 10:30 p.m., I’m out like a light.
—As told to and written by Oset Babur for The Thirty-One Percent
