Guests

Speaker 1: You are listening to Love Maine Radio hosted by Dr. Lisa Belisle and recorded at the studios of Maine Magazine in Portland. Dr. Lisa Belisle is a writer and physician who practices family medicine and acupuncture in Topsham. Show summaries are available at lovemaineradio.com.

Lisa Belisle : This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to Love Maine Radio show number 326 airing for the first time on Sunday December 17, 2017. Today’s guests are architect and sugar loafer Kevin Browne and sisters Sarah Kelly and Leah Robert, the founders of Salty Girl Boutique and a natural cosmetic line called Salty Girl Beauty. Thank you for joining us.

Speaker 1: Portal Art Gallery is proud to sponsor Love Maine Radio. Portland Art Gallery is the city’s largest and is located in the heart of the old port at 154 Middle Street. The gallery focuses on exhibiting the work of contemporary Maine artists and hosts a series of monthly solo shows in its newly expanded space, including Daniel Cory, Jill Hoy, and Dave Allen. For complete show details, please visit our website at artcollectormaine.come.

Lisa Belisle : Kevin Browne is a Maine licensed architect. He also owns a house in Carrabassett Valley and he skis and mountain bikes at Sugarloaf Mountain Resort throughout the winter months. And you do so with your two children I hear, Kevin.

Kevin Browne: Yes, yes.

Lisa Belisle : It’s good to have you back in here.

Kevin Browne: Thank you, thank you for having me.

Lisa Belisle : You’re very welcome. You came in here, I think we decided back a couple years ago, a year and a half ago, we were talking about the Falmouth Library and you live in Falmouth. So I just wanted to get a little update on what’s going on in Falmouth in the library, ’cause there’s some big stuff happening now.

Kevin Browne: Yes. We’ve been … the Capital Campaign Committee has been hard at work trying to secure the fundraising to do the renovations. And I believe to-date they have just over 2 million dollars with the goal of raising 2.8. So we’re on the homestretch in terms getting towards that goal to make this a reality for Falmouth and the community. It’s exciting to see it, and as we get closer to that fundraising goal, we’re gonna continue with the design to make sure that everything is in place to have the building built that they want to have it for the community.

Lisa Belisle : So what are the things that you’ve learned over the last year or so since I’ve seen you?

Kevin Browne: It’s interesting watching the fundraising committee and just understanding how hard it is, with so many other factors in the Falmouth community, ’cause there’s a lot of other entities going after the same fundraising resources. So it’s been a little challenging in that sense but I think they have a really strong committee and it’s been good to see the progress and I think we’re on the homestretch for it.

Lisa Belisle : Hen I spoke with Scott Simons about the Portland library, he said one of the interesting things was just the evolution of what libraries are to us. And I think you and I spoke about that last time, where it used to mean one thing, but now information has such a lot of tentacles to it that trying to know how best to work with community members is kind of an evolving process.

Kevin Browne: Yes. And I think it’s important in Falmouth in general just because there really isn’t a downtown. I’ve spoken about this last time, but … It’s really, partially a place for people to come congregate and have meetings. It’s not just about the books. It’s more than that. It’s crazy the amount of programs I never even realized until I got involved with the library, what they offer with people, elderly people learning to use electronics, iPads. They have classes for all that stuff. And story time for you kids. They’re very popular programs, an being on the board, we’ve … I’ve learned a lot of the resources they learned at the library. It’s pretty … I never would have guessed.

So I think the building itself it gonna be sort of a meeting place, information center. Just a nice location and the part of Falmouth where there’s a lot of businesses and stuff. And I think it will … it will be a great sort of building for that, to bring all those people together.

Lisa Belisle : And I think Falmouth has been trying to create more of a downtown.

Kevin Browne: Yes.

Lisa Belisle : It’s much easier now to, for example, run or walk even along Route 1 where all the stores are.

Kevin Browne: And I think that went back to … they did a reconstruction of route one. Really, they changed the zoning in that area to really slow the cars down and create more, like you said, pedestrian walks. And I think it’s been nice to sort of give it that feel of street lamps and trees and all of those things. Any new building need to be built closer to the road, not further away, like what was currently there. Changing that fabric over time is going to take some time just because … the Walmart, the Staples, all of those things. The idea of bringing the buildings closer to the road will help give it more of a feel of a walkable community.

Lisa Belisle : Explain that to me, if you would. Because I know in Yarmouth, where I live, there is a big building that has gone up on Route 1 and it’s right next to the road. And I wondered what is it about that that makes it easier for a town to be walkable?

Kevin Browne: I think it’s just, you don’t have a parking lot in front of your building, like the big sea of parking spaces in front of Walmart currently in Falmouth. It’s more about, you look at these old communities, these old towns that have been around for hundreds of years, but all the buildings are pretty much right on the road. But that’s what sort of creates the downtown feel. First is, being more separated from the road where it just sort of gives you this sea of expansive space and asphalt, really. So it’s really a sense … You know, like downtown Portland, you know all the buildings are very close together. You can walk in a store … in and out of stores much easier than walking across a big parking lot.

Lisa Belisle : How long have you been an architect, Kevin?

Kevin Browne: I’ve been in the architecture business about 19 years. I’ve been an architect for about, let’s say about 15.

Lisa Belisle : So tell me what changes you’ve seen, as far as people’s expectations of design. Whether it’s for their own houses or whether it’s for commercial projects.

Kevin Browne: I think, when I first started out, I started out in a residential firm in Camden. And we were doing very traditional, shingle-style, Maine homes. But nothing crazy contemporary, nothing like that. But I think it was a nature of the type of firm I was working in, too. But I’m seeing a lot more creative solutions to similar designs. So we’re able to, not basically recreating the things that have been done in different forms but really adding some new interests and exciting new contemporary structures. And that’s kind of what we like to do. We don’t like to do one set sort of style, ’cause it gets boring over time.

To be creative about it, run the gambit with the styles. That’s kind of our goal. And I think, I remember when we first started out, there wasn’t much contemporary stuff going on. Now especially in downtown Portland, there’s just a lot of modern, more contemporary structures going up. There’s so much going on in Portland right now. It’s just interesting to see all the different talents and all the different angles people take with their designs.

Lisa Belisle : That’s true. When I was out to dinner the other night with my daughter, she was commenting on one of the hotels in the old port, which looks very different from all the other surrounding places. And I think sometimes people in the past might have said “We want all of the structures to look exactly the same.” But I think it’s lends variety to the landscape. I think there’s some more visual, at least to my mind, some more visual interest to having different types of structures.

Kevin Browne: Yeah, It’s more of an evolution of the sort of architecture. Just like the different periods over time. The Arts and Crafts movement, the Art Deco, all those different time periods. I wouldn’t say that there’s a name for what we have going on right now, but it’s just a blend of all those different architecture theories and designs that kind of is creating what we’ve got now.

Lisa Belisle : So you have a home in Falmouth, but you also have a home in Carrabassett Valley?

Kevin Browne: Yes.

Lisa Belisle : Tell me about that choice.

Kevin Browne: It’s actually … a rainy day, we were supposed to go hiking and we ended up looking for a house, which wasn’t even something that we were thinking about, my wife and I. But we were gonna hike the Bigelow Range, but it was raining so we drove around the Ruddington neighborhood, which is just south of the mountain. E have good friends that live in the neighborhood, and to us it was appealing because it wasn’t … We like to mountain bike and we like to ski. And at the time that we bought, the mountain biking was just starting to explode up there with the trails that they were building and they money they were putting into the network of trails. So, I’ve always dreamed of having sort of a mountain camp or a lake house or something like that. But, as my wife and Heather and I have been talking, we decided, let’s spend the winters here, skiing on the weekends and being up there just as much in the summertime, depending on schedules.

So we ended up finding a house that day. Well, we ended up going to contact the realtor that was listing the house that was for sale that we bought. And then we went and looked at it. And then I went back and looked at it a few weeks later, and we put an offer on it. It’s a 1970 … 1973 house. Three stories, the neighborhood of Ruddington was all started in the early 70s and … No two homes were the same. They were all different, but that same sort of style. And the style, I was talking about, some of the contemporary forms that we’re starting to see in Portland with the kind of design, is what the house is.

So in a way, it was kind of interesting. We’re slowly trying to make it a fun little funky camp, and it’s a 3 story house but not very wide and long. But it’s actually more comfortable living-wise, the way the rooms are laid out, compared to our home in Falmouth. It’s camp. We get up there and we have a wood stove, which we don’t have at home, so it’s kind of … like a project where we’re doing some creative things to make it our own. But it came fully furnished. We didn’t really need to do much to it. Over time we’ve just been starting to change some things around to make it unique. It’s kind of fun.

Lisa Belisle : How long have you been skiing at Sugarloaf?

Kevin Browne: I believe we’re going into … Trying to remember now … I think this is our fourth or fifth year up there. Pretty much every weekend through the winter. It’s just a great community, you know. There’s mostly Maine families that we see. Lot of people that are in the kids’ school classes. it’s just a laid back atmosphere. Everyone is so friendly. And I think that’s why we’re really drawn to it. And the kids have their friends that they’re in ski groups with.

Usually we always go to dinner on Friday night when we get up there. And then usually Saturday night we either go to one of our friend’s houses and we have a smorgasbord of food. Buffet kind of thing.

It’s nice. It’s nice hanging out with friends and not feeling like we’re at home and we’re gonna be running around doing errands. We’re up there and either we ski, we cross-country ski, we mountian bike. It’s just, being outdoors is really what it’s about.

Lisa Belisle : So in some ways, having a house that’s more like a camp makes that possible. Because it kind of … You want something comfortable enough that you can put your feet up at the end of the day. But during the day, you’re gonna want to be outside.

Kevin Browne: And that way we can leave our stuff up there and not have to truck as much stuff back and forth if we were renting a place. Although if we rented it for the season, it would be a little different. But it’s just nice, having that ability to not have to drive two and a quarter hours back home after a long day of skiing or biking or whatever.

Lisa Belisle : When did you first start skiing?

Kevin Browne: I don’t start until probably 1994. Not until I got out of high school. And it was just something I never, we never did as a family. But I was interested, I did with some friends when I got out of high school. I was starting community college in Pennsylvania. The mountains are much different in eastern Pennsylvania than up here. Or even out west for that matter.

Lisa Belisle : Tell me about the decision to move to Maine from going to school in Pennsylvania.

Kevin Browne: I want to … I started out my community college in an architecture field in Pennsylvania. My parents wanted to make sure I wanted to become and architect before all the money was spent on the school to realize that’s not what I wanted to do. So it was a much more cost-effective way to get the start to architecture school process. From there, I went on to a Bachelor of Architecture school and I ended up going to Norwich University in Vermont. Really became in love with being in New England, and being in Vermont through the year. I skied even more, I started to get really into skiing when I was in Vermont.

And then, after I graduated from college, I went back to Pennsylvania to work for a year in a firm that I had worked in during the summers during school. Then a friend of mine was working at John Morris Architects up in Camden. He’s like, they were looking for the hire and they were busy, so I ended up interviewing and I moved to Camden, Maine. I thought it would be short term, I didn’t know. I was trying to figure out where I wanted to be. I ended up living and working in Camden 3 years before I then moved down to the Portland area.

And it grew on me. It was more my speed of life, more the outdoors that I liked. Hiking, biking, skiing, you know. The ocean and the mountains close by. When I was living in Pennsylvania, it was an Eastern Pennsylvania town called Hellertown and we were probably an hour and a half from New York City. But it was getting to the point where, it’s gotten really built up over the last … since I’ve left. It’s been about 18, 19 years. And … the traffic. It’s just harder to get to do what I wanted to do, because I’d have to drive further to get there.

So, to me it was … Moving up here, it’s just more my way of life. That’s what I like up here.

Lisa Belisle : Do you worry that Maine could move in that direction? With being built up and having more traffic?

Kevin Browne: I think certain areas. I think the Portland area, eventually over time. Hopefully there’s … Hopefully we can figure out ways to control that before it gets to the point and it ruins that sort of character that people come to Maine for. Sort of that rural feel to it. But I think certain areas could, bigger city areas. So hopefully there’s ways we can control the growth of that from happening.

But there are a lot of people moving here, that’s for sure. It seems like a hotspot right now, especially the Portland area just with all the building. The empty-nesters, we’re doing a lot of projects for that. The type of people that are downsizing and moving, they want to move closer to the center of town.

Lisa Belisle : And at the same time, I’ve noticed that people who are downsizing, and maybe moving to the State of Maine, they’re looking for smaller spaces. I’ve been to a lot of people’s condos that don’t take up very much space. They’re not looking for a big lawn. So there’s something very efficient about that, it feels to me.

Kevin Browne: Oh definitely. And I think, we run the gambit for all size projects, but I have to say that you have to think more with those smaller projects because every square inch matters. But you can do some unique things in those small spaces to sort of be dual-purpose. Kinda of an interesting way to think about things.

Lisa Belisle : I have to tell you this, this is only the second time this has happened.

So I guess we’ll … Hold on.

So Spencer, do you want me to just keep going? Okay.

All right Kevin, you and I are up and running.

Kevin Browne: All right!

Lisa Belisle : I’m just gonna lock this down so we don’t get as much background noise.

Kevin Browne: I like that.

Lisa Belisle : It’s like you’re talking….

Kevin Browne: Yeah.

Lisa Belisle : All right, let’s see. What was I gonna ask you? Oh yes.

Tell me about your children’s experience up at Sugarloaf. You have two kids who ski, but from what I understand they have very different approaches to skiing.

Kevin Browne: Yes. Yes. … I enjoyed skiing, so at a young age I had them both try it, and we started off at Shawnee Peak because it was close. It’s a nice little mountain and … stole decent terrain. So we started off in like a Sunday program, and my daughter did it for I think two years, my son did it for one year. From there, we decided my son wanted a bigger challenge, so he ended up … That’s right about the time we decided to buy at Sugarloaf. The first two or three years I think they were both in the Bubblecuffer program, which is sort of the weekend program that … The people that come up every weekend, that’s the program that their kids usually get put in. They’re with the same kids every week, and they really start to get a little group of friends together from all different tons. Southern Maine, a lot of times. But there’s kids from all over. Most of the time, it’s the Maine families.

It’s incredible how fast they pick it up. I remember skiing with them after their … They’d ski a full day on Saturday and half day on Sunday every week. And at the end of the Holidays they’d be with their group pretty much every day for the week except, like, one or two days or something. That consistency of learning to ski like that, I remember the first time we went skiing I was trying to get my son … Crazy the amount of control they have. You worry about them flying down a mountain, and you’re like oh jeez, hope he’s not going too fast where you can’t control them.

They’ve become really almost better skiers than my wife and I. This is their, going in their fifth year that we’re going into being up there. It’s just fun to watch them. They’re much lower to the ground, so that’s when I’m contributing that they’re taking chances part of it. Yeah, I remember the first time we ran into the trees to start skiing in. I was like, I didn’t want to do that. “Are you sure your instructor’s taken you in there?” But their instructor takes them through every trail on the mountain. Like, double black diamonds and it’s just, it’s crazy. I’m glad you’re trained and you know what you’re doing, because I’ll just …

It’s a little leap of faith to take them, when we first started to take them on some of that challenging stuff. But now I know they can handle it and it’s a lot of fun because we’re not … They’re waiting for us, sometimes, coming down the mountain. It’s a great family thing to do that we can do longterm. It’s not something that we’ll grow out of. It’s something that they can do up until we’re retired. That kind of thing.

So it’s a great family way to all enjoy the same thing.

Lisa Belisle : Yeah, I think about the benefits of skiing where you’re, especially if you’re all up there at the same time. There’s a few things to do but most of them are around skiing, at least in the winter. Versus when you’re down here and you have one kid who’s playing basketball and another one who’s swimming and you’re kind of going just from events to events to events, just watching them all the time. It just has a very different feeling to it.

Kevin Browne: Yeah. Yeah, it’s totally true and that’s what we’re experiencing right now, being home.One’s doing field hockey and one’s doing soccer and … My wife and I are each trying to find our own time and just balancing all that. It’s a rat race to find the balance. Once it comes Thanksgiving, our weekends, we’re all together and we know what we’re doing. It’s the one thing, we’ve discouraged basketball and those type of winter things because that will cut in. We’re being selfish about it, but we all can do skiing or there’s these other things which would keep us home. Things that would sort of break up the weekend.

Lisa Belisle : I think that’s an important consideration. That we want our kids to be healthy, so we want them to be doing things that are active. But then, if you want to keep you family structure healthy, and then to try to find things that everybody can do, whether it’s mountain-biking or hiking or skiing … That’s not necessarily the direction that we go in these days.

Kevin Browne: Right, right. And it’s true. We’ve been … They’re both very into mountian biking, too, which we’ve been slow not forcing it one them, but making sure they enjoy it. Because it’s kind of what we do in the summertime. We all go out and again, it’s a lot like skiing. It’s this great family thing that we all love to do. My daughter, this summer, she did it. She did mountain biking with us but she wasn’t always crazy about it like her brother was. But she’s hooked now. She did a camp. An all girls camp at the gear hub, which is part of the Camp Ketcha. And that really energized her. She was all excited when she got done with that.

It’s like a most of the week, half-days, and then the last one they biked all the way down from Portland down to Camp Ketcha. They did like 30 miles, 26 miles, something like that. And then they camped out over night. She loved it. And I think that really energized her to really … A lot of times, like when we were out biking, her brother would be trying to be first and all that. I think that discouraged her a little bit, but I think she’s really energized now to … She enjoys it just as much, I think.

It’s another fun thing that we’re just gonna keep … When we go up to Sugarloaf in the summertime, we … The trails up there are great for all levels. And that’s where they’ve really learned, is to mountain bike in the woods, slowly progressing up to the harder trails.

Lisa Belisle : I’ve noticed that I run on a lot of trails that mountain bikers share. And I would say by and large, the people who mountain bike are very aware, and very aware of the runners, the walkers, the dogs, the small children. And also, I think the people who maintain the trails and the mountain bikers and all the users are more and more aware of what happens when you put fat tires on a muddy surface, for example. Or when you have a lot of runners who that are going through.

And I think that that’s kind of … I think that that’s good, that we know that we’re having an impact on the environment and sometimes you need to close a trail down or …

Kevin Browne: Yeah, there’s definitely been a lot more advocacy. There’s been a lot of new trails that have opened up in the last 5 years. There’s a lot of groups in place that help control the trail, the user groups. It’s not just mountain bikers. It’s a multi-use trail, so it’s not gonna just be for mountain bikers, it’s for really, everybody. Sharing the trail with those people and being courteous of somebody passing you, you pull over and things like that. It’s just gonna make it much easier to … continue the use of those trails.

One user group’s not yelling at another. Just so everyone is polite to each other. I think it just makes it a much better environment. Certainly, there’s some of those people out there that will go biking on a rainy day, which they shouldn’t. You wait for the trails to dry out, especially in the spring. Because otherwise you’re gonna lose the ability to go back and use that trail because they’ll close that trail.

I think more people are getting a little smarter about being respectful of that stuff.

Lisa Belisle : Yeah, it’s an interesting … It’s kind of an interesting discussion. It’s not that different from having a discussion about how you use the trails on a mountain. There’s a lot of different groups that are using those trails and we also have to be aware of our impact on the trees and the other things that are still growing on the mountain and the wildlife. And actually not that different than being aware of more people moving to Portland, more people sharing the space more people sharing the roads.

Kevin Browne: You have to work together.

Lisa Belisle : Yeah you do have to work together. Which is something we don’t always think. Sometimes we’re more about what’s best for us but we have to realize there’s a lot of other people in the world. Not everybody’s like us.

Kevin Browne: No, and I think touching on that, that’s great to see of what’s going on in Carrabassett Valley right now because it’s not just a mountain bike group creating these trails. It’s a collaboration of all these different groups working together to make on trail, or a network of trails. The main Hudson Trails Organization, the town of Carrabassett, the … Sugarloaf Mountain. But the biggest, I think, spearheading part of it is the Carrabassett Valley NEMBA, which is New England Mountain Bike Association.

So they’re all working in conjunction with each other to sort of create this network because they can see this big picture is creating more of a stronger economy for up there. Because Off-season, it’s great in the wintertime, they’ve got all the skiing traffic. In the summertime it’s kind of quiet up there. It’s kind of nice, but, it would be great to … There’s sort of a … area of trails over in northeast kingdom of Vermont, call the Kingdom Trails. They’ve taken the area around Burke Ski Mountain and there are over 100 miles of mountain bike trails.

But you go there in the summer and it’s like the mountain biking Mecca of the northeast. A lot of Canadians coming down, but the whole town is just swarmed with mountain bikers. And I think Sugarloaf is trying and Carrabassett Valley is really trying to create a community like that. But think, if anything, they have more of the potential there in the Carrabassett Valley to be able to do that. It’s just a lot of longterm. There’s lot of land out there to be able to create all this. It just takes the time and the money to get there.

But they town’s been putting in a lot of money into that, because they can see, this could be a longterm economic help for them.

Lisa Belisle : Well, I will see you up at Sugarloaf. I know that for sure. Although, I also know that we cross paths often because of the work that you do with Maine Home Design. It’s been a pleasure talking with you, and I appreciate you coming in. I’ve been speaking with Kevin Browne who is a Maine Licensed architect who also owns a house in Carrabassett Valley and he skis and mountain bikes at Sugarloaf Mountain Resort throughout the winter months along with his wife and two children. Thanks for coming in.

Kevin Browne: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1: Love Maine Radio is also brought to you by Aristelle. A lingerie boutique on Exchange Street in Portland’s Old Port. Where every body is seen as a work of art, and beauty is celebrated from the inside out. Shop with us in person, or online at aristelle.com.

Lisa Belisle: Sister Sarah Kelly and Leah Robert are the sounders of Salty Girl Boutique and a natural cosmetic line called Salty Girl Beauty. It’s great to have you in today.

Leah: Thanks for having us.

Sarah: Thanks for having us.

Lisa Belisle: This is something I’ve been interested in for a while because, we know that health products, or beauty products, I should say, aren’t necessarily good for our health. And it seem to be that something maybe not as many people are aware of.

Sarah: Yes.

Lisa Belisle: But you’re both pretty aware of this.

Sarah: Yes.

Leah: We are.

Sarah: So I started out my career working at Toms of Maine, so it’s always kind of been something that we were brought up, using natural products. But then, it was funny, it was more body care products and also eating organically and natural and whole foods, and that kind of stuff. And then in 2015, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. And I was … It makes you kind of rethink everything when that happens. And Leah is an oncology nurse, and so the two of us just started really looking at what we put on our bodies.

Not only did the body care become important, but I realized my makeup case is just full of products that is not good for you. The mascara has Formaldehyde in it, that’s why it’s water-resistant. All of those things that you’re putting on every single day is just not as good as you would want it to be. And there’s just so many great products out there, and that’s when Leah and I just started to be like “What are we doing? I think this could be a business for us.”

Leah: And I think with my career in nursing, I don’t think that there’s much education with patients about the products that they use at home. What I do, as a nurse is I give chemotherapy. So I give treatment. And after their treatment, then they live their lives, and I think sometimes there’s no followup on eating right, what products to use, and what products you have been using and what sometimes can cause- And I’m not saying that beauty products cause cancer, but, you know when there is just as effective products out there that you can use that will do that job-

Sarah: That include those things.

Leah: That include those things, why not? And it’s really nice that now my patients are recognizing me, recognizing our brand and saying “Oh my gosh, I’ve been on your website. I love you products.” And I can start that conversation with them before they go home, after I treat them, which I really nice.

Lisa Belisle: One of the things I’ve noticed with beauty products is … Sometimes you have to work with maybe not getting as … Well, effective, I guess is the word for it. A product, in order to get healthier products. And what you’re suggesting is now there are better products that can be just as effective and clean your face just as well. The makeup can look just as nice. And just not have extra stuff in it.

Sarah: There’s been so much research and scientific advancement over the last 25 years, so the deodorant that people might have started with as a teenager, or as a … what our parents might have used, is so different now. And there is a difference between the chemicals. They stop, they block things. And then some of the natural approaches, it is body chemistry, so sometimes people might use that first deodorant or that first cream or something and it doesn’t fit well with their body chemistry, but it doesn’t mean all natural products are like that. So I think sometimes you do have to experiment a little bit to find out what the best approach is. So I know I’ve gone through a couple different natural deodorants before I found the one that works for me. That’s an important thing.

But then, from a cosmetic standpoint, it’s, I think, the products out there … There’s so many wonderful products out there that are just as effective. And they make your skin feel better. Some of the skin problems that have been out there have been cause db the chemicals that are in these conventional products. And when you pick a natural product, it’s used with aloe or shay butter or mango butter. And those are good things for your body.

Leah: And there’s just not much regulation in the United States with using ingredients, and I think people don’t realize that. I know that the last article I read, there’s British literature out there saying parabens were found in breast tissue of women with breast cancer. There is research out there, so it’s just what you decide to do. What do you do with that literature and I think for Sarah and I, if there’s research out there, we wanna …

Sarah: Educate.

Leah: Educate ourselves, yeah.

Lisa Belisle: Well we know that in Europe and even in Canada, people are a lot more careful about what they’re using. And in part because the government is helping regulate those things.

Sarah: There’s only 11 ingredients banned in the United States, versus over-

Leah: 13 hundred, 12 hundred in the EU

Sarah: In the Eu. So it just … That alone makes you step back and take a breath and be like, whoa. What are we using?

Leah: Yeah.

Lisa Belisle: I have a special concern about the younger women especially. For example, my 21 year old daughter and my 16 year old daughter. My son doesn’t wear makeup, so he can have healthier soaps and that’s good. But, they’re getting into makeup and body care at a time when their bodies are still really vulnerable. And for the longest time, I’ve tried to emphasize natural and healthy products. And they’re expensive. And my kids, when they go to buy these at the store, they’re like, “You know, I have to decide between this very expensive, natural product and this very inexpensive product that has all these chemicals in it.” And as a parent I can step in and be like “All right, I’ll help you out with this. I’ll help pay for this for a little while.”

But it is an issue when you’re out on your own and you’re on a limited, have a limited budget. So how do you deal with that.

Sarah: So, for us, I mean … Our philosophy has always been pick the most important things that touch the biggest area of your body, and go from there. So when people are trying to make that switch, for example, I don’t say throw away everything in your medicine cabinet and go buy new because that’s-

Leah: It’s too expensive.

Sarah: I know when we were making the switch alone, it was … I ran out of my mascara. Okay, now you buy a new one.

Leah: It took us a full yeah.

Sarah: Yeah to go.

Leah: To really make that switch. And then, you can also pick and choose those products that are more important to you. So I wear mascara every day as a redhead, that’s important to me. So if I was gonna pick and choose things, that is something I would invest in as a natural. I don’t always wear foundation, so if I was looking at price … and I could only choose certain things, maybe that’s not the area that I would choose to spend my money in.

So I think you can do it that way, and there also products … It all ranges, so out product line is within the 20 dollar. Our lipsticks, our cheek tints, our concealer, mascara. That foundation is a little bit more expensive, but it lasts a while, too. Like I said Burt’s Bees, which is a little bit lower, so you can pick … I think there’s comparative brands out there in the marketplace.

In our boutique, we sell things that are 120 creams or a 20 cream so you can really choose and pick what fits your budget. And I think the biggest thing, especially with the younger generation is, and even with women in general is, deodorants in general I think is the most important thing to first switch over. Because we shave our underarms, me nick our armpits, and then we put toxic chemicals right into our bloodstream. I think the first thing, we have to take care of our skin. It’s our largest organ, so … I think the number one things that if you’re thinking about making the switch, is kind of focusing on deodorants

Which, deodorants are so personal, you know? It’ show you smell. It can be hard.

Lisa Belisle: And I agree to Sarah’s point that it hasn’t always been that you can find a natural deodorant that actually works. And having experimented with many of these, over time … Sometimes you give up quite a lot in order to have a natural product. But they are getting better and better.

And sometimes you can just … “Okay I can use my natural product this percentage of the time, which is most of the time.” And every so often you need to go with the product that maybe works a little bit better.

Leah: Yeah.

Sarah: Yeah.

Leah: I mean, I tell women when you are making the switch, for two weeks bring your conventional deodorant with you to work. So when that 2 o’clock time comes and you’re starting to smell maybe a little bit, you just add a little more. But it can take up to … I think a couple weeks for your body to get used to something like that. That’s fine if you have to apply your deodorant that you were using before just to detox-

Sarah: Yeah. It is your body detoxing itself, getting rid of all the toxins ’cause it’s been used to being suppressed from a deodorant standpoint, at least.

Leah: And I think Sarah and I with our boutique. It’s all about education, it’s all about our customers first. So when they do email us and say “I got this one deodorant. It’s not working.” Well, why don’t you try this one?

I think we’re very … What am I trying to say? … We want …. Yeah! We want our customers to really like their products.

Sarah: And find one that works for them.

Leah: Yeah.

Lisa Belisle: It’s a pretty competitive market, is it not?

Sarah: It is.

Lisa Belisle: There are a lot of people who have resources that are funneling them into these types of products. So what had your experience been, getting into this yourselves?

Leah: I think, what differentiates Sarah and I is our story. Everybody has a passion. If you’re in this industry of health and wellness, but I think with us it’s-

Sarah: It’s our story, but then also along with our boutique and our beauty line that we started, we also started a nonprofit. Register 501C3, that’s called Foundation for Love. When I was going through treatment, I had a 15 month old and I as pregnant at the time as well. And me and my husband had just gotten married a couple months prior to that, so … I think my family, my friends, they saw that me and my husband Chris really needed time together just to unplug. Unplug from what we were going through. ‘Cause I went through months of chemo and then radiation and surgery.

And so, our foundation focuses on giving back to adults and many of the adults that we give back to are also young parents themselves. It’s almost like Make a Wish but for adults. And on a smaller scale ’cause we’re small. But we’ve given, most recently, a family in Massachusetts, he had stage 4 stomach cancer. He had a 5 and a 7 year old, and he wanted to bring his 5 year old daughter to her first Red Sox game. So we were able to send the family to their first Red Sox game, they were able to meet Jackie Bradley Jr. And they had a wonderful day and he passed way a month later.

So like, to be able to give back in that way has been significant for us. Like, always makes me a little upset, but to see what these people are going through and for us to be able to build our business on kind of that foundation-

Leah: Giving back.

Sarah: To be able to give back. Not only are we educating about what’s out there, trying to provide a really great product. But then also give back to our community is really meaningful for us.

Leah: Yeah.

Lisa Belisle: What was it like to watch your sister go through breast cancer, especially given that you’re an oncology nurse.

Leah: Well, I’ve been in this … I’ve been a nurse for 10 years. And for some reason you think that yourself and your family’s untouchable to cancer because of what you do. Don’t ask me why I thought that, but I did. And so I remember when my sister called, and she was 32 weeks pregnant and she found a lump, you know we thought it as just her breasts changing and I said “You’ve gotta go get an ultrasound, tell your OB.”

And then when the diagnosis came back … I think it made me become a better person in a way. Oncology nursing has made me be a better person, in general. These patients that I take care of are so resilient, they’re amazing. They come in with a smile on their face and I know they go home and they just feel defeated some days. And then I add my sister into that group it’s like, jeez. I know exactly what you’re going through because my sister went through it. So sometimes I think I can relate to them on a different level than a nurse who maybe hasn’t had a family member go through it.

It was hard. I mean, I had to at times … I wanted to be a sister first, especially, and a daughter to my parents who I saw them struggle. And that was really important. But then, I needed to be a nurse, too with my family and with my sister.

Sarah: I felt bad we were always you-

Leah: Yeah, I mean.

Sarah: This is what’s going on. What does it mean? And she’s like, “Call your doctor.”

Leah: It was hard. My father, I think, was the worst. He would call me. “What does this mean? What does this mean?”

So it was just, you know, being there for them. When I look back at it, I’m not happy that this happened to my sister, but I’m really happy that I was able to have the experience that I have, and just to be there for her.

Sarah: It definitely brought us closer.

Leah: And then it brought this business.

Sarah: Yeah.

Leah: I mean, we really took lemonade … lemons and turned it into lemonade. We’ve had one hell of a ride doing it.

Lisa Belisle: When I … When I went through breast cancer myself, I was so surprised, because I tried to use natural products. I was aware of my makeup and my natural shampoos. And I didn’t smoke and I was a runner, and I ate healthy foods. And the people around me were shocked. And I had no family history. And I think that this is the funny place that we get ourselves into. That we know where the risk factors are for things like breast cancer, but we forget that most people who have breast cancer are actually, don’t have for example a family history. And many people don’t even have recognizable risk factors. It’s a funny … I thought I did everything right, but you can still get cancer.

Sarah: That’s exactly-

Leah: That what everybody says. And there’s no answer. Especially when we educate women, obviously we’re not saying “Using all natural products will decrease your risk tremendously.” We don’t know what’s gonna happen.

Sarah: It’s all about taking every precaution, I guess.

Leah: Yeah. And just being-

Sarah: Making the right, for us, the right decision. And we always caution with the judgment or telling people they have to use certain things, because I really think that you have to decide what’s best for you at the end of the day. And I hope people that come to us get that sense as well. That we’re definitely not saying you have to do this, but these are our recommendations if you are looking to make those switches.

Like you said, there’s no foolproof way of avoiding cancer, unfortunately.

Leah: It doesn’t discriminate.

Sarah: We don’t know. It doesn’t discriminate. So I was 36, I had run marathons. I was healthy. Like you said, there was no family history of any type of cancer in my family, so it was definitely a shock. That’s why, you’ve got to exercise, you have to eat right and you have to choose healthy products because you just don’t know what could be that trigger for your body that leads into cancer, I guess.

Lisa Belisle: And it’s also something that there are more and more people that are being diagnosed younger and younger with all different types of cancer. Breast cancer specifically, but I think even colon cancer we’ve no seen. The recommendation is, 50 you get a colonoscopy. But that might actually change. So there’s a lot of stuff going on right now and our bodies are really trying to deal with this. But if we want to have long lives, ’cause we still have a pretty long life expectancy as an American group, then we kind of have to maximize our chances. Even if it’s not a guarantee.

Sarah: And I think … So, not only is it about using natural products, for us. But that trickles down, right? I think a lot of cancer, and this is just my opinion, has to do with the stress that we’re exposed to, and the environmental components that are in the environment now. And so, if we use products that aren’t using chemicals, then those products aren’t going into the environment. And so it’s all about the trickle down and creating that atmosphere you want to live in. That’s part of our philosophy and what we’re doing. We’re not using chemicals. We’re taking that piece out of … It’s like vegetarian. Meatless Mondays. You go meatless one day and how that trickles down into the ecosystems of helping lessen the carbon footprint is tremendous.

That’s part of why we do what we do as well. I think it all kind of comes back to one thing at the end of the day.

Lisa Belisle: It’s also something … It’s important to recognize a lot of the things that maybe leading to cancer also are hormone disruptors. Even if people don’t get cancer, they might have problems with early menopause or maybe they’re gonna struggle with-

Sarah: Infertility.

Lisa Belisle: Infertility, or … I really believe that there is some sort of chemical something that’s going on in the environment that is cause people to have problems with losing weight and being a thyroid disruptor. So, again, can’t really prove any of this stuff. It’s all kind of in the same …

So the other thing that I think about is, as I said, my children. And I’m guessing that … Obviously your children are very young, Sarah, but, at some point it’s gonna be nice that you’re role-modeling the behavior that your hope that they will someday take on themselves.

Sarah: Yes. Yeah. I have a 2 year old daughter now and a 3 year old son. Like you said, recommending products to your teenagers, it’s the same thing when I put on my makeup in the morning and my daughter wants- or my son for that matter, wants to grab my lipstick and put it on. I feel okay about them doing that. When they say, “Are you going to Salty Girl? Can we go to Salty Girl with you?” That makes me feel really proud. They’re really excited about coming to the shop and seeing what we do.

Leah: How we interact with our community and the events that we put on.

Sarah: People that we help.

Leah: It’s been pretty rewarding.

Sarah: Yeah. And so, Leah’s obviously expecting in a couple of months. And then I have my two. I hope they always look up to us and think that we’re doing things that are changing the world a little bit.

Lisa Belisle: Why is it called SaltyGirl?

Sarah: Do you want to do it?

Leah: Well, I think if you know Sarah and I, we’re two redheads. We’re pretty sassy. We’re confident. And so what a salty girl means to us is just being the best woman you can be, be confident, be beautiful, be sassy. Just be you authentic self.

Sarah: And a little badass.

Leah: Yeah. I forgot that. That’s huge, actually. I think that’s on our packaging. Being a little badass. I think that’s awesome. So that’s what that means.

Lisa Belisle: And is there something special about the fact that you’re here in Maine, with your product line being Maine-based?

Leah: Well, we grew up …

Sarah: I was in college and Leah was starting High School here, so. Leah grew up more so here. But, we … I grew up in Connecticut, so this has always felt more like home. And I lived in Boston for 15 years almost prior to moving up here after I was done with chemo. And it just … Being close to Leah, our other sister, we have a brother that is a merchant marine now. But he’s home, and then my parents, so … It’s amazing just to be close with the family and nature and-

Leah: The ocean has always been part of our lives. I think that salty, too, that’s where is comes from as well. Even when we were in Connecticut, we would always vacation in Maine. Maine’s always been a big part of our lives.

Lisa Belisle: And where do you hope to see you company going in the next 5, 10 years?

Sarah: We’d love to be-

Leah: A national brand.

Sarah: Known nationally by people. We’re definitely working with a lot of boutiques right now. And wellness and cancer centers provide our product as a resource to their patients and customers. And then we’re speaking at a couple of conferences coming up this fall.

Leah: One in New York City, which is really exciting. Being from lowly southern Maine.

Sarah: We have a really great partnership with Dana-Farber. So we’re doing their Young and Strong conference next week. So, yeah. I hope we’re able to touch as many lives as possible, especially … Our biggest message is definitely … Why we started with he cosmetic line too, I don’t think we said this. After you lose you hair, and especially your eyelashes, putting on makeup becomes very difficult. So putting on lipstick became really important to me. I put on a scarf because I just didn’t like the wig. And I put on a colorful lipstick and I felt empowered. I felt, “Okay, I kind of look like myself right now.” And we want to be able to share that message with women.

Whether you’re going through treatment or some other kind of journey, that’s how we wanna share.

Leah: That’s what we wanna share with women.

I think it’s pretty special and pretty cool at the same time that we’ve developed a line that caters to women going through treatment, and women who don’t have cancer. We all have something in common.

Lisa Belisle: Sisters Sarah Kelly and Leah Robert are the founders of SaltyGirl Boutique and a natural cosmetic line called SaltyGirl Beauty. Thanks for coming in today, and that you for bringing your product and your spirit, your beautiful spirits into the world.

Sarah: Thank you so much for this.

Leah: Thank you for having us.

Lisa Belisle: You have been listening to Love Maine Radio, show number 326. Our guests have included Leah Robert, Sarah Kelly, and Kevin Browne. For more information on our guests, and extended interviews, visit lovemaineradio.com. Love Maine Radio is downloadable for free on iTunes. For a previous of each week’s show, sign up for our E-newsletter and like our Love Maine Radio Facebook Page. Follow me on twitter as Dr. Lisa and see our Love Maine Radio photos on Instagram.

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This is Dr. Lisa Belisle. Thank you for sharing this part of your day with me. Join us again next week, and in the meantime may you have a bountiful life.

Speaker 1: Love Maine Radio is brought to you by Maine Magazine, Aristelle, Portland Art Gallery, and Art Collector Maine. Audio production and original music are by Spencer Albee. Our editorial producers are Paul Koenig and Brittany Cost. Our assistant producer is Shelby Wassick. Our community development manager is Casey Lovejoy. And our executive producers are Kevin Thomas, Rebecca Falzano, and Dr. Lisa Belisle.

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Transcription of Love Maine Radio #326: Kevin Browne + Sarah Kelly and Leah Robert