I didn’t start this brand because I loved skincare. I started it because I wrecked my skin trying to fix it.Growing up, I had pretty decent skin and figured I was lucky. My mom, though, was the expert. A licensed cosmetician trained in Versailles, Ottawa, she believed skincare was a daily ritual. She used to say, “Men have great skin because they’re secretly doing skincare every day. They just don’t know it.” Shaving, she explained, was cleansing, exfoliating, and moisturizing. Three steps. Simple. Consistent. She’d gently nudge me toward better habits, send me products, and drop me tips. I mostly shrugged it off. I had bar soap and vibes. And for a while, that worked.Then came law school with stress, exhaustion, dry air... and suddenly, my low-maintenance approach wasn’t cutting it. A well-meaning friend gave me a fancy facial cleansing brush, something they loved and swore by. I used it once, and my skin completely freaked out: red, flaky, raw. That was the beginning of a long, frustrating journey.Over-the-counter products didn’t help. A dermatologist’s prescription left visible burns on my face and actually made the problem worse. I was so embarrassed I even called in sick to work. My boss invited me to lunch to reassure me it “couldn’t be that bad.” I walked in, and he took one look and said, “Oh… yeah. That’s really bad.” It really was.I was overwhelmed, embarrassed, and suddenly afraid of every product I touched.So I did what law school trained me to do: research.I turned to the people who really knew skin, starting with my own family. My mom, a trained cosmetician, and my dad, a pharmaceutical chemist who owns an FDA-compliant manufacturing facility, had laid the foundation. I come from a family of science and solutions, so I dove in. I read clinical studies, took cosmetic chemistry and formulation courses, and tested every promising ingredient I could find. I basically became a part-time cosmetic chemist while still a full-time law student.When I had a formula I believed in, I turned to my dad. Together, we developed it in his FDA-compliant facility. We also sent it to international cosmetic experts to refine and ensure it met the highest standards. We wanted it to be gentle enough for sensitive skin but effective enough to actually work.That formula became the Pineapple Peel: a daily, leave-on exfoliator powered by balanced AHAs and BHAs. No scrubbing. No rinsing. Just results. It gave me my skin and my time back.Jo Collection was born from that product and from everything my mom tried to teach me. Three steps is all you need: Cleanse, Exfoliate, Protect. She passed away before she could see the final result, but the brand is named in her honor (“Jo” for Joanne). Her wisdom, my research, and our family’s determination to fix what wasn’t working are at the heart of it all.We create skincare that respects your skin and your time. Real results. Simple steps. No fluff. No 10-step routines. Just formulas that work and are easy to stick with. Because consistency is what gets results- and we wanted consistency to be easy.What started as a family effort to help me is now about helping others.I ruined my skin so you wouldn’t have to. I did the research so you get the results.We’d love for you to join the family.

Lawyer, Daughter, Entrepreneur