My beauty break: Clark’s Botanicals founder Francesco Clark turned a life-changing event into a skincare brand

Clark: It was really refreshing and I felt so normal because in that meeting I was treated the same as everyone else. I was part of the group and part of the conversation — I wasn’t just patient #542. To be recognized as a human being is a huge thing. Before, I avoided living my life as a contributor to society who is also in a wheelchair.

After that, I set up a large dry erase board in our garage with the days of the week on it and started planning my schedule. At first, everything on the board went to physiotherapy. Then it was therapy and going to [advocacy group] meetings. Then it was therapy, meetings, and scheduling time to write. Soon, instead of doing physical therapy Where do something, the “and” have become part of life.

Seduce: When did working on a skincare formula land on this dry erase board?

Clark: My wound is so high [on my spinal cord] that my body doesn’t sweat when I’m hot. When I saw myself in the mirror for the first time in three years, I was 10 years older. My face and neck were a hodgepodge of dry spots, oily spots, redness, rashes, a dull gray tone – you name it. Nothing seemed to help, whether it was $3 drugstore creams or $300 face creams from Barneys.

Seduce: RIP, Barney’s New York.

Clark: Yes, respect! As nothing helped, I asked my father for help because he is a doctor who also has training in homeopathy. We researched different ingredients and what they can do for the skin. It was a lot of trial and error and reading studies and research in medical and scientific journals. I came to this from the perspective that I know nothing, so I need to learn everything.

Five years and 78 formulations later, we discovered Jasmine Absolute, which is now Clark’s Botanicals Signature Jasmine Catalyst Complex. Over time, we’ve optimized the complex to include plant enzymes from jasmine and niacinamide to stimulate the skin, time-released red micro-algae that hydrate and plump lastingly and support collagen production, and arnica montana, which soothes the skin so you don’t get any redness from the stimulating ingredients.