27 years ago Linda Jørgensen started with blank sheets in the business world. When attending beauty school, she told her classmates that she would be running Oslo’s best skin care clinic within five years. She explains with a smile on her face,
-It took three years. I built up six clinics from scratch, with no money or loan, only with my two bare hands and a lot of hard work.
Linda is originally Swedish, but has been living in Norway for over 30 years. As the owner and founder of the successful skincare brand, Nordic Formula, she is constantly looking for new challenges. Her next leap of faith is investing in a new market. The goal is to build a global brand with Nordic Formula, and she is starting with Singapore. Additionally, the brand will be opening for global distribution through e-commerce.
-I have to try, my dream is for this to be a brand that Norwegian people can be proud of. You can say that I’m jumping into the sea without a life vest on, but I can swim, she winks.
Since being a little girl, Linda was inspired by her mother’s beauty products and passion for selfcare.
-It has always been a natural interest for me, and I was taught early to use creams.
After some time, the fascination for her mother’s products turned into a deeper passion for skincare and skin health, and she became a skin therapist at age 24.
-Skin has a health perspective for me
In 2014, she started developing her own products after several years of experience, dealing with many different types of damaged skin conditions. Nordic Formula launched its first product in 2017, and has since then become a great success.
-Skin has a health perspective for me. I have worked so many years with it, seen many different skin types, -disorders, -conditions, -ages and -colors. The most common thing I see is sun damage, and I feel the need to make products that can repair and prevent this damage.
For Linda, skincare is to take care of yourself in many different aspects, both psychologically and physically.
-You can, in some cases, see people’s life situations reflecting through their skin.
She loves the constant product and study development, the search after new innovative ingredients and the use of technology in the skincare industry.
-I love my work, I have a passion for it, and I wish to be in this industry for a very long time.
What is your biggest accomplishment professionally?
-It must be that I made a change in the beauty business. Starting the modern skincare clinic “FACE IT”, and building it up to a chain, was something no one else had done before.
Before her, the beauty businesses were named “beauty salons”. This changed in 1999 when she started the concept “beauty clinic”.
-I am a person who always searches for new inspiration, and I am very innovative. Working in the old environment, I felt that I had to create and start something new. It was a risk to take, but I had the need to do things differently than others.
Linda’s main goal is to have happy clients with healthy skin, who see results from her treatment. Therefore, she chose to categorize her therapists by degree with junior, senior and elite titles. This strategy is intended to secure the clients expectations and wishes.
-Instead of hiding the differences, I recommend the therapists according to the client’s needs. The expectations are higher, but the delivery is also better.
Additionally, she made a shop zone, and put the products that had been locked up, in front of the disk so that the clients could touch and observe them. She removed the diplomas from the walls, threw the curtains out and changed the uniforms from white to black. This way of minimalistic and modern brand-building made her concept unique in the beauty market.
-With the uniforms, interior and the delivery of our service, it became a strong brand image.
Do people treat you differently in the business world because of your gender?
-The comments come, but I choose to not use energy on them. I take note of them, but it makes me take action rather than dragging me down. (…) Comments like “Oh, beauty creams…” can come, and I don’t always feel like I get taken seriously. Just wait and see, soon you will be my client!
How can women support other women in the business world?
Emphasizing that it is necessary to be humble and applaud each other, she adds that it is important to lend a helping hand, be open and let others learn from your journey.
-Share your experiences, when you give you get. Respect your competitors and focus on what you need to do to reach your goals. (…) Don’t be jealous, speak well of others and the business world will be better for all of us, women and men.
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