Karen Behnke was a pioneer in “clean and green” beauty when she launched the brand in 2005, and it drew wide attention with its powerful, “clinically validated, and gentle, organic Green Apple Peel. A multitude of products followed over the next two decades, from skincare to color cosmetics. The most recent launch, Juice Beauty Prebiotix 10% Vitamin C Body Lotion, is the latest sensation. 

Behnke has now taken on a new role at her company, handing over the CEO reins externally, as she recently transitioned to focus on the innovation of product formulas and sustainable packaging.

Here, she tells Beauty Packaging’s Jamie Matusow about her background, her journey, the future she envisions for her company’s products and packaging—and the brand’s new formula that “will have an impact across the beauty industry.”

 
Jamie Matusow: When and what was your motivation/intent when you founded Juice Beauty?
Karen Behnke: Juice Beauty was born out of my lifelong passions of environmentalism, wellness, and skincare coming together.  

Environmentalism became an intense interest when I was a teenager when I witnessed the devastation from the historically largest PBB spill that happened in my small Michigan hometown. This contamination can last 4-5 generations, and I saw the effects on my community firsthand. After graduating from college and moving to California and seeing the raw beauty of this state, it cemented my lifelong environmental commitment. 
 
I have always been passionate about wellness and finding ways to take the best care of myself and those around me. Whether it’s my fitness passion as a triathlete or my strong belief in clean beauty products, I find when I deeply care about a topic it inspires me and sparks entrepreneurial creativity that leads me to want to find great solutions for people.
 
I have also always been obsessed with skincare and this was enhanced during my pregnancies in my 40’s. I was experiencing hormonal changes and the beginning of lines in my skin during my pregnancies, so I set out to find healthy skincare solutions that delivered visible results—and this quest for a solution led me to founding Juice Beauty, almost 20 years ago. 

 
JM: What made it stand out from other skincare brands at the time? Is this still the case?
KB: My desire to start Juice Beauty and enter into the beauty industry truly came out of the need to fill a void in the marketplace as I could not find healthy skincare solutions for myself. I knew if I was having this much trouble finding healthy skincare solutions that delivered visible results that others would probably struggle to find this as well.
 
Juice Beauty was born out of a passion to deliver high performance yet beyond “clean” skincare.  Our skincare collections offer a broad range of solutions to ensure we are meeting the needs of all consumers—targeted skincare solutions that take our customers from Blemish Clearing/Oil Control to MIcrobiome Barrier Repair to Anti-Wrinkle and Brightening. We achieve incredibly high results due to our organic ingredients’ antioxidant technology.
 
JM: What is your latest launch and how does this continue the Juice Beauty model? Please describe the launch.
KB: We just launched the Juice Beauty Prebiotix 10% Vitamin C Body Lotion, which provides an instant glow and helps balance the skin’s microbiome for gorgeous and healthy-looking skin.

We’ve had a great response to our other Prebiotix products, and we are excited to offer our consumers this fast-absorbing body lotion with ingredients they can trust. As we head towards spring and summer, it’s a great product to benefit dull, uneven, dry skin types and those in need of balancing their skin’s microbiome for an even complexion. So far 100% of our reviews give this innovation 5 stars and we are thrilled with the response. 

JM: I know that sustainable packaging is now part of your DNA. Was this so from the start? How have you gravitated to it—and do your customers know about the packaging characteristics?
KB: The practices of sustainability, organic ingredients, veganism, and cruelty-free are foundational values for Juice Beauty.  We focus on best practices throughout the entire company, and this includes packaging, manufacturing and, in any way possible, at our headquarters and on the farm. In fact, our organic farm and headquarters are powered by solar. 

Our sustainable packaging quest started about 10 years ago and we are on target to have ALL of our plastic converted to PCR/recycled plastic—cleaning up the land and oceans, putting it back in our packaging and recycling again, by the end of the year. We already use a lot of sustainable glass, FSC boxes, recycled cardboard boxes and more. And what is inside the bottle is critical, as we use organic ingredients not only to have the best high-antioxidant skincare results but also to limit pesticides on our planet and bodies. 

We include all the packaging details and our sustainability commitments on our website, and we know it’s an important factor for consumers when they decide which brands they support. 
 
JM: You have recently hired a first-time external CEO. What led you to this decision? 
KB: Yes, we recently welcomed our first CEO, Lance Patterson. I personally recruited Lance as he has a proven track record of leadership that combines entrepreneurial thinking with a high level of financial expertise, consistently positioning brands for exponential growth and market leadership which is aligned with my vision for the future of Juice Beauty.  

As Founder and Chief Brand Officer, being part of this company will always be part of my DNA and I will remain integrally involved—however I am excited to direct my focus on my passion for creating high-tech organic product innovation. I will continue to develop the award-winning product portfolio utilizing the organic ingredients farmed at the Juice Beauty farm in Sonoma County, CA where we have the incredible opportunity to bring our Farm to Beauty philosophy to life every day. 

Lance has been a great addition to the Juice Beauty team, and I am excited to see all that we will be able to accomplish by dividing and conquering as we head into our next phase as a company. 
 
JM: Please describe your plan and vision for the future of the brand.
KB: We are continuing to innovate in all that we do at Juice Beauty to push boundaries and raise the standards of “beyond clean” beauty. In 2024, we will once again bring a breakthrough to market with our patent-pending discovery made on the Juice Beauty farm, which has unlocked the highest antioxidant level possible from the rare Sagrantino Grape. This new formula will be launched in our Juice Beauty Stem Cellular collection and will have an impact across the beauty industry.
 
After almost 20 years since buying the name “Juice Beauty” and starting the company from scratch, I am just as excited and optimistic about the future as Day One and look forward to bringing consumers the beyond clean, organic products they have come to know and love.