Jasmine Lawrence is the Founder and CEO of EDEN Bodyworks. This company provides natural products that integrate wellness and beauty inspired by nature to restore and maintain the hair and body’s original design. After experiencing hair challenges at a young age, Jasmine shifted her challenge into purpose and began finding solutions independently. Almost two decades later, what started as a kitchen remedy has become a company with over 50 products in Target, Walmart, Amazon, and several other retailers.
However, Jasmine’s love for science and math did not stop at her creating her hair oil. Not only is she a Founder and CEO, but she is a STEM advocate, engineer, and senior product manager at Everyday Robots. The Everyday Robots project from X, the moonshot factory, aims to build a new type of learning robot that can learn by itself to help anyone with (almost) anything.
Jasmine’s extensive background in STEM, a dual career in technology, entrepreneurship, and commitment have led to features in several media outlets. Including Vanity Fair, The New York Times, TEDx, and the Oprah Winfrey Show (to name a few).
So let’s take a closer dive into the innovator that is Jasmine Lawrence.
Tell me about yourself. How would you describe yourself?
I’m a charismatic engineer and entrepreneur with a passion for helping others.
Growing up, did you ever think you would be a business owner? What was your relationship with entrepreneurship?
No, but after learning how businesses can be used to solve problems at large scales, I knew I needed to
Now that you are an entrepreneur, how do you stay motivated? How have your entrepreneurial motivations changed since you first started?
I stay motivated by reviewing the impact we have on people, whether from direct feedback on product reviews or our internal surveys.
It’s one thing to stay motivated by yourself, but who would you say is your greatest support when facing hardships in business?
My greatest support is my team. They keep me mission-centered and come up with new ideas.
How important is having a sense of community in your day-to-day?
Community is crucial! It has been helpful and supported me in growing my career, my faith, and finding partnerships for my business.
Briefly tell me about your career background and journey. What idea inspired you to start your business?
I lost my hair and made a solution to heal my scalp and grow it back with my engineering background. I went to a business camp for low-income teens in middle school and decided to start a company to help other women love and care for their hair. I’ve supported women living happier and healthier lives for 18 years.
How did you come up with the name of your company?
The garden of Eden inspired my line of natural hair and body care products.
Do you feel that your career background directly impacts your business?
Working in tech has made me a critical thinker that relies on data to make decisions. I’ve brought this skill set into my business as well.
What are the main roadblocks or challenges you experience when starting your business? If any, what are your current challenges?
Starting my business at such a young age made it tough for people to take me seriously. Today, our main challenge is finding new ways to connect with people who haven’t heard of us yet.
What are the next steps for your business? What do the next five years look like?
The future looks like continuing growth of our product lines to address more hair and body concerns and increasing distribution around the world.
What advice would you give to other women entrepreneurs?
My advice would be to take the time to create your own definition of success. This definition is driven from your personal motivations and drives how hard and how much you work towards your goals. True success for me is living a life that I am proud of. This has always nudged me down a path of focusing on serving people and bringing good into the world rather than more self-serving desires.
To learn more about Jasmine, visit her website for featured podcasts, keynote videos, projects, coaching, and more.
