Meet Kassandra | Pediatric Critical Care Registered Nurse & Earth-Based Skincare Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kassandra and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kassandra, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
I won’t even try to lie. When I first started this business, my work-life balance was chaotic as all heck. It was my first time ever experiencing what managing a business was like, so I was doing and learning at the same time. Because I was so concerned about making a good first impression on new clientele and because of my intrinsic perfectionistic nature, the business essentially consumed the majority of my life that wasn’t spent working in the hospital at my nursing job.

It’s almost been two years now since starting the business and I absolutely can tell the difference in my work life balance compared to my start up. I am baffled at how much I let my worries and anxieties about not doing well with my brand take me away from other aspects of my life.

But it’s all a learning process. My balance is far from perfect, but the stress and pressure I would feel that would drive me to spend so much time on the brand that I would get in handling orders, developing blends, creating advertising content, organizing finances, updating the website, & scheduling social media posts & products drops has significantly improved. I have learned how to better manage my time and allocate my efforts proportionately to the different aspects of my life so that my work life balance is essentially.. well.. more balanced.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Sense, my brand, is based on self-care and joy, and I am HELLA proud of that (Am I allowed to say that? Just censor me lol). I crave to help people feel better about themselves in *literally* any and every sense possible: mentally, physically, & emotionally.

Yes, it’s a major cliche, but you really can’t pour from an empty cup, and that kind of stress has its roots tangled with those of mental health. This brand started with the making and gifting of aromatherapy-infused sanitizers to everyone who worked on my unit during the peak of COVID—regardless of job title (because why does that matter?) to let them know that they were seen and appreciated and to remind them to take a breather and care for themselves too.

As I created other types of skincare, my goal remained the same: joy, self-care, and maintenance of mental health.

It wasn’t an incredibly smooth road getting this brand off the ground. You’re talking to a critical care nurse with absolutely zero experience or knowledge in business management. None. There was a substantial learning curve and it wasn’t pretty. A lot of trial and error was involved, but I gradually got the hang of it. We aren’t even going to talk about what my time management looked like. ::nervous chuckle:: But, you know, it wasn’t for nothing. I’ve learned more than a few valuable lessons, most importantly, the fact that I seriously need to take my own advice and remember to step back and take care of myself too.

If I’m speaking bluntly, another one of the main things that sets me apart from many other brands in skincare is that I am not and never have been a profit-based business. Money has never been a motivator or incentive for me to keep going with the brand. Joy has. I organized a donation project for the teachers of a local private school, donated over 100 sanitizers to Vous Church to be put in bags of essential goodies for their “I Love My City” outreach for the less fortunate, just wrapped another donation project for more teachers at another school for Teacher’s Appreciation Week.

Self-care. Mental health. Joy.
That’s it.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Oh, man I’m about to bore the HECK out of you. I’m not much of a city girl so I’m definitely not even in the vicinity of being someone who knows the best spots in Miami. LOL I’m usually the one other people are showing around.

But let’s say we start off the week with some kayaking at Oleta River State park. Our next stop would be Robert Is Here fruit stand way down south in Homestead for fresh shakes and local produce. If they’ve never done an airboat ride—OH—we’re doing that out in the Glades, followed by some gator bites at one of the Miccosukee restaurants out west on Tamiami Trail. Little Havana would also be somewhere I’d want to take them if they’d never been, simply for the food, music, and culture.

The Wynwood Walls are a given. You’ll be hard-pressed to find graffiti art like that anywhere else. Then we’d definitely head out to Oasis one night for some chill vibes, music, and food. I don’t frequent Brickell or much of Downtown Miami mainly because I live quite a bit away from the area, but I suppose we would need to make the obligatory trip, starting with shopping and ending with bar hopping.

One of those days, if they reeeaallllyyyy wanted to hit the beach, we’d be going to Bill Baggs State Park at the end of Biscayne on a weekday morning—it’s absolutely lovely. After that we’d take a short drive into the Gables to visit Viscaya Museum and Gardens, followed by another short drive to Jaguar in Coconut Grove for drinks and some of the best ceviche I’ve ever tried.

I would absolutely, positively, without a second thought take them to Schenbly’s. If you’ve never been, you need to go. Like, yesterday. It’s a winery with a brewery in the back, too. But if you’re expecting typical wines and beers, you might be disappointed because all of their alcohol is made from fruits like passion fruit, lychee, and mango.

Perez Art Museum would be on our list of stops, along with one of the performances being featured at the Adrienne Arsht Center or the Knight Center, followed by finding a spot under the Biscayne bridge to take in the Miami skyline with the ocean in the foreground.

Welp.. I won’t take it personally if y’all have dropped asleep by now.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I definitely want to thank Katy for giving me spark of an idea to even start my brand. I also seriously need to give a galaxy-sized shoutout Chris, for his genius creation, “Man of the Woods,” his patience, support, and—let’s be real—tolerance of it and every single one of the chaotic moments that consumed my whole being for quite some time. That man has the patience of Job.

Website: www.sensebykass.square.site

Instagram: instagram.com/sensebykass

Facebook: facebook.com/sensebykass