Introduction to VXN Wellness: Our Journey and Commitment

Hi! I'm Shauna, one of the original co-founders of Color Up and VXN Lab and Wellness Den.

We know a lot of you have felt left in the dark without much communication over this past year as we transitioned from Color Up to VXN Lab, so my plan here is to provide you with more details and explanations on what we've been up to, and give you an opportunity to engage and ask me questions you want answers to!

I've always loved writing, and through the years other responsibilities took priority at the company, so I stopped leading our blog I'd started writing almost a decade ago. Earlier this year when I realized we hadn't been communicating with ya'll the way we used to, I committed to getting a VXN blog going before my 44th bday which is almost exactly half way through the year. Which is now, so here I am!

Though this post will be shorter than most, I'm just dipping my toes in to see how it goes. I feel this is the best way for me to share with transparency and authenticity, and it opens up a new platform for us to connect on! 

This past year has been the most challenging since we started in 2015. The departure of my original business partners and the transition to VXN brought about a year's worth of unexpected challenges; ones we prepared for and ones we never saw coming. Our core team went from 20 members to just 8, and then down to 3. And despite us failing to get that message across to you properly, we have remained steadfast in our mission to keep our beloved brand alive and thriving so you can continue using our products in your services and skincare routines. 

During this time, we all worked tirelessly to address financial and operational issues that had been plaguing Color Up for several years. We discovered that the costs of ingredients and packaging had skyrocketed, yet our pricing hadn't adjusted accordingly. This led to us losing money on several products, which slowed down our ability to roll out more. We were making smaller batches to accommodate smaller orders, which caused the cost of production to rise even more, so we had to take a pause to recalibrate. 

Along the way we lost incredibly valuable team members due to the uncertainty of our situation. We've had many challenging conversations and made difficult decisions to get our products back up online. Every day, we faced the tough choice of whether to keep going or to close our doors. What was best for you? What was best for our small business? What was best for each individual holding us together? 

In the end, our commitment to you, our valued partners, fellow professionals, and beloved clients, along with our belief that small businesses can take over the world if we remain strong in our fight, kept us pushing forward.

We've been digging deep to find solutions. We spent time negotiating with suppliers, switching up our packaging to extend the shelf-life of our products, and even bought our own label printer to cut back on costs of outsourcing.

We have wanted to reach out to you to say more, every darn day we thought we would, and yet we continued running into time management issues. We are deeply sorry for the lack of communication and the impact this has had on you. Moving forward, we are committed to better transparency and regular updates. 

We're working hard to get all the resources you need back online and to resume full production within the next few weeks. We WILL keep you updated on details, and please know that your purchases MATTER to us. Every cleanser, moisturizer, and salve that go out there door, keep those doors open another day. We are eternally grateful to you all, and you will see that in how we show up for you again moving forward.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support and love, it means the world to us! I will be offering more details and explanations as this blog unfolds, so please feel free to send me any questions you want answered or topics you want me to cover.

Please email: vxn@vxnwellness.com with the subject BLOG TOPIC, and I'll get back with you right away! 

With gratitude, hugs, and love - Shauna, Amber, Marrana, and our extended VXN Team 💚

P.S. This pic of me is from a couple of years ago, I've since shaved my head. An intentional action I took after the partnership buyout to support me in releasing what once was, to embrace what is and will be. I'll get a pic of myself soon and post it so you have a better idea of who I am!