Women With GRITT: Priscilla Hajiantoni Shares Her Secret To The Social Media Success Of Bangn Body And How To Stay True To Your Purpose
“Not only did I put a home deposit into the business—and all my life savings—but an abundance of time and energy and research into ensuring that by choosing this road, I was going to add purpose.”
Welcome to Women with GRITT: a series where we interview the resilient, hardworking women who have kicked in the glass ceiling and inspire us to do the same.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a beauty junkie who isn’t familiar with Bangn Body. That iconic yellow tube of the brand’s Firming Lotion is almost guaranteed to be found in every bathroom vanity across Australia—but who is the woman behind this incredible business? Priscilla Hajiantoni.
Hajiantoni founded her natural, vegan and organic skincare brand three years ago at 26-years-old and has now grown it into a successful business. What set her brand apart in its first stages was the way in which Hajiantoni harnessed Instagram to create a community before dropping her first product right into their laps.
Here, Hajiantoni speaks to us about her secrets to this social media success, why she decided to start her business at such a young age and how she’s stayed true to her purpose along the way.
Hi, Priscilla! We’re so excited to be speaking with you. So, you launched your brand at just 26-years-old, back in February of 2019, which is so impressive. We’d love to know: why did you decide to enter the skincare game and at such a young age?
Before starting Bangn Body, I was in corporate—and I was in corporate for quite some time. Skincare had always been such a big part of my life and upbringing. For so long, I did struggle with hormonal breakouts and acne and eczema and really sensitive skin, so to this day, creating products that are very suitable for hypersensitive skin, temperamental skin is essential for me because that is a big part of my life. With Bangn Body, that core message of feeling your best and enhancing your natural skin, wellbeing and really looking after your own personal health journey is a really big part of the brand. I was very overwhelmed with what was present in the industry at the time and I didn’t wanna add to that—I wanted to simplify the process.
You launched with only one product—that iconic yellow tube of Bangn Body Firming Lotion—and it quickly sold out. Take us back to that time, what were the days and weeks like after launch?
It’s still quite surreal to think about. It was a lot of investment. Not only did I put a home deposit into the business—and all my life savings—but an abundance of time and energy and research into ensuring that by choosing this road, I was going to add purpose. [I wanted to ensure the brand] delivered results first and foremost, with natural, beautifully derived ingredients that are homegrown, that are from within Australia. For me, that was the biggest thing. Marketing was always front of mind because I always believed that showcasing all your hard work and a product that you so strongly believe in.
Pretty much from the moment that I could register Bangn Body as a trademark, the next one you go to is Instagram to see if the handle is available! Thankfully there was that opportunity for @bangn.body and I secured that. That was the moment that I started to build our community.
How did you do that?
I was posting a lot of motivational quotes, a lot of inspirational content, a lot of Q&As but people didn’t know that it was a skincare brand at the time, it was just a brand to enhance a sense of belonging. At the time it was much easier to acquire new audiences and eyeballs with that algorithm.
By the time I was ready to launch … I think I had a following of around 50,000, which was amazing. We also had started to build out our email database about a month or two before and by that point we were sharing that it was a skincare business and ultimately what the first product would be, which would be based around firming.
That’s an amazing story. I do want to touch a bit on how you’ve scaled your business because you’ve done it incredibly thoughtfully. Can you tell us more about that?
We’re a very consciously-led business. Ultimately for us, customers are front of mind and our brand values around sustainability and our conscious beauty cycle is something that we take great pride in. Ultimately, the benefits that you receive from them has been something that has put us in a position of being a leader in that space. We believe that in terms of a range, you should be able to use your products in more ways than one, and also for more skin types and skin concerns and ultimately benefits, so that was also a really big part of the brand.
We don’t launch products every month or so. It’s every year and a half, to two years, so we take immense pride in our formulation process.
How did you make that decision to be a more conscious company?
It does cost a lot of money, in terms of our margins. I weigh up, what’s more important to me and what’s more important to my customer and ultimately the brand adding value into society? That’s, I guess, where the decision is made. It’s important more than ever for everyone to try to do their part, even in the smallest way, so I’m really proud that I stuck to my guns so early.
What is a piece of business advice you’d like to pass on?
I think staying true to your authentic self is essential. It’s like an elastic band. It stretches out, but you’ve always gotta come back to your ‘why’ and your own authentic personal beliefs. Always make sure you’re coming back to your authentic self in why you’ve chosen to do what you do. Why is it essential that you are going up against a saturated industry? Every industry’s saturated—but there’s a reason as to why you want to put your finger on the pulse, or put your hand in it and really give it a go. So you have to sit in that belief of what that means to you and how you can really either improve the industry.
We can’t chat with you without asking about your own personal beauty cabinet! In terms of your AM and PM skincare routine, what do you use?
Oh my goodness—okay! So I tend to do my body routine at night. I have a shower and I feel like it’s ‘me’ time. Mornings are quite rushed. I definitely tend to moisturise [my body] twice a day … but definitely my nighttime routine includes Bangn Body Firming Lotion. Then I’ll do our Smooth Skin Scrub and honestly, my skin feels so, so soft!
For my face routine, I always start my morning and night routine with our Hydrating Facial Cleanser. It’s so gentle for someone who suffered with sensitive skin for such a long time. It’s really gentle. It’s really effective. It removes makeup really gently. Then depending on how my skin’s feeling, I will either reach for the Firming and Brightening Beauty Treatment, which is our Serum / Mask. It’s like a water cream moisturiser … so depending if my skin needs that extra hydration, I’ll go for the Firming Lotion. You can also pair them together! Then SPF to finish off is essential in the mornings. I love La Roche Posay. It’s super light weight. You can wear it with other moisturisers and you can wear it under makeup. I wear that with a bit of tinted concealer and that’s it!
Priscilla, it has been an absolute pleasure chat with you!
Hi, Priscilla! We’re so excited to be speaking with you. So, you launched your brand at just 26-years-old, back in February of 2019, which is so impressive. We’d love to know: why did you decide to enter the skincare game and at such a young age?
Before starting Bangn Body, I was in corporate—and I was in corporate for quite some time. Skincare had always been such a big part of my life and upbringing. For so long, I did struggle with hormonal breakouts and acne and eczema and really sensitive skin, so to this day, creating products that are very suitable for hypersensitive skin, temperamental skin is essential for me because that is a big part of my life. With Bangn Body, that core message of feeling your best and enhancing your natural skin, wellbeing and really looking after your own personal health journey is a really big part of the brand. I was very overwhelmed with what was present in the industry at the time and I didn’t wanna add to that—I wanted to simplify the process.
You launched with only one product—that iconic yellow tube of Bangn Body Firming Lotion—and it quickly sold out. Take us back to that time, what were the days and weeks like after launch?
It’s still quite surreal to think about. It was a lot of investment. Not only did I put a home deposit into the business—and all my life savings—but an abundance of time and energy and research into ensuring that by choosing this road, I was going to add purpose. [I wanted to ensure the brand] delivered results first and foremost, with natural, beautifully derived ingredients that are homegrown, that are from within Australia. For me, that was the biggest thing. Marketing was always front of mind because I always believed that showcasing all your hard work and a product that you so strongly believe in.
Pretty much from the moment that I could register Bangn Body as a trademark, the next one you go to is Instagram to see if the handle is available! Thankfully there was that opportunity for @bangn.body and I secured that. That was the moment that I started to build our community.
How did you do that?
I was posting a lot of motivational quotes, a lot of inspirational content, a lot of Q&As but people didn’t know that it was a skincare brand at the time, it was just a brand to enhance a sense of belonging. At the time it was much easier to acquire new audiences and eyeballs with that algorithm.
By the time I was ready to launch … I think I had a following of around 50,000, which was amazing. We also had started to build out our email database about a month or two before and by that point we were sharing that it was a skincare business and ultimately what the first product would be, which would be based around firming.
That’s an amazing story. I do want to touch a bit on how you’ve scaled your business because you’ve done it incredibly thoughtfully. Can you tell us more about that?
We’re a very consciously-led business. Ultimately for us, customers are front of mind and our brand values around sustainability and our conscious beauty cycle is something that we take great pride in. Ultimately, the benefits that you receive from them has been something that has put us in a position of being a leader in that space. We believe that in terms of a range, you should be able to use your products in more ways than one, and also for more skin types and skin concerns and ultimately benefits, so that was also a really big part of the brand.
We don’t launch products every month or so. It’s every year and a half, to two years, so we take immense pride in our formulation process.
How did you make that decision to be a more conscious company?
It does cost a lot of money, in terms of our margins. I weigh up, what’s more important to me and what’s more important to my customer and ultimately the brand adding value into society? That’s, I guess, where the decision is made. It’s important more than ever for everyone to try to do their part, even in the smallest way, so I’m really proud that I stuck to my guns so early.
What is a piece of business advice you’d like to pass on?
I think staying true to your authentic self is essential. It’s like an elastic band. It stretches out, but you’ve always gotta come back to your ‘why’ and your own authentic personal beliefs. Always make sure you’re coming back to your authentic self in why you’ve chosen to do what you do. Why is it essential that you are going up against a saturated industry? Every industry’s saturated—but there’s a reason as to why you want to put your finger on the pulse, or put your hand in it and really give it a go. So you have to sit in that belief of what that means to you and how you can really either improve the industry.
We can’t chat with you without asking about your own personal beauty cabinet! In terms of your AM and PM skincare routine, what do you use?
Oh my goodness—okay! So I tend to do my body routine at night. I have a shower and I feel like it’s ‘me’ time. Mornings are quite rushed. I definitely tend to moisturise [my body] twice a day … but definitely my nighttime routine includes Bangn Body Firming Lotion. Then I’ll do our Smooth Skin Scrub and honestly, my skin feels so, so soft!
For my face routine, I always start my morning and night routine with our Hydrating Facial Cleanser. It’s so gentle for someone who suffered with sensitive skin for such a long time. It’s really gentle. It’s really effective. It removes makeup really gently. Then depending on how my skin’s feeling, I will either reach for the Firming and Brightening Beauty Treatment, which is our Serum / Mask. It’s like a water cream moisturiser … so depending if my skin needs that extra hydration, I’ll go for the Firming Lotion. You can also pair them together! Then SPF to finish off is essential in the mornings. I love La Roche Posay. It’s super light weight. You can wear it with other moisturisers and you can wear it under makeup. I wear that with a bit of tinted concealer and that’s it!
Priscilla, it has been an absolute pleasure chat with you!
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