Lara Schmosiman (00:11)

Hi everyone, how are you today? We are here today with my warm coffee and so happy, so, so happy because we’re gonna talk about eternal beauty and how to find, I mean, in mythology, in all the books, all the painters, everyone was just trying to show beauty and how they will see beauty. We are surrounded by beauty.

 

Actually, last night I went to a concert with my son. Yes, I’m so glad my son still takes me to concerts. I enjoy going with him. But you know what I felt so proud? How far we came. There were people in so many ways and forms and we became a lot more open and what we judge beauty. And there is a much bigger acceptance, at least here in California, Los Angeles, where I live at the time.

 

Alec Batis (00:47)

you

 

Lara Schmosiman (01:05)

And I felt so proud that we can all coexist and there was respect there. But at the same time, something very unique happened to me. I was in the bathroom line because this happened. And let me pause for a second. I will tell the story, but I want our guests to be part of the story too. So I want to welcome Alec. Thank you so much for being here.

 

Alec Batis (01:29)

Thank you for having me.

 

Lara Schmosiman (01:31)

So I will get to you for a second, but I want to tell the story that happened to me tonight, last night actually. So I was in the bathroom line and there is this woman, she was around my age and she had a drawing of a third eye in her forehead, which was very interesting. I’m cool with it. And the girl who was after her online told her, ⁓ that eye is cute. I said, thank you. My daughter did for me. And she.

 

woman same age like we smile politely to each other so the girl behind said ⁓ is she your daughter talking about me I feel so terrible for her what a moment so uncomfortable and I that got me thinking the perception of this girl that she thought I was younger than the woman that I was not younger but

 

I was chasing that eternal beauty all the time and I know I do. know that I want to feel the best I can. And what do think, Alex?

 

Alec Batis (02:36)

can very much relate. This is the whole reason why I’m in this industry. I was obsessed with the chasing eternal youth.

 

Lara Schmosiman (02:44)

Okay.

 

Alec Batis (02:45)

⁓ since a child, ⁓ just obsessed with it. think I agree with you. It’s something that, ⁓ is out there. ⁓ we talk about the pressures of society, why having to look a certain way, having to look young, this whole idea of like, you know, it’s not about anti-aging, it’s about well-aging and all this, but underneath it all, there is this desire. There’s this desire to keep your youth as long as possible.

 

in it. I’m no psychiatrist, but our psychologists, but I assume it’s like the closer you are to the end of life, this closer you look to the end of life is not desirable because people are tend to be afraid of death, right?

 

Lara Schmosiman (03:29)

Yeah.

 

Alec Batis (03:29)

So as much as we try to be like, we’re just, you know, all wonderful, different people and aging is a sign of accomplishment in life, which it is, ⁓ it is understandable why people have an issue with aging and looking, right,

 

Lara Schmosiman (03:39)

Mm-hmm.

 

But let me ask you a question.

 

Is this about eternal youth or eternal beauty? Can we say are they? Why?

 

Alec Batis (03:51)

They’re attached. I think so.

 

Because ⁓ again, not a psychiatrist, but it’s the desirability of sort of, know, evolution and mating and health. Health is thought to come with youth, right? ⁓ And beauty and health are attached because when you see someone who looks healthy,

 

Lara Schmosiman (04:10)

Mm-hmm.

 

Alec Batis (04:18)

that’s oftentimes associated more to youth than age, because with age, health deteriorates naturally, right?

 

Lara Schmosiman (04:28)

Do

 

you think that, because I see a switch in the industry and I think we’re talking a lot more about ageism and there’s some people just want ⁓ to live with it and say this is great and it’s normal and it’s healthy, which I don’t 100 % agree with it because I just want to feel the best I can. I mean, I’m not gonna go and change my face, but I’m gonna try to make my

 

beauty stage or my youth stage as long as we can so we can call it maybe longevity.

 

Alec Batis (05:02)

Sure, we can call it whatever anyone wants. And I think like my mom is 90 and she’s never done a thing. And she’s stunning.

 

Lara Schmosiman (05:04)

Okay.

 

Mm-hmm.

 

I’m sure she’s gorgeous.

 

Alec Batis (05:14)

Right? what’s so stunning about her too is that she really, even though she says, I, I look, I do not look like I did in my youth and my beauty in the, in the respect is gone, but I appreciate who I am now. And I think that’s beautiful. Right? She’s come a long way. On the other hand, I am like,

 

Lara Schmosiman (05:35)

Well, I think I

 

know your mom’s secret too. She might be using some sweet, sweet products out there.

 

Alec Batis (05:41)

Sure, exactly. Yes. She’s using sweet chemistry. Let’s get the plug in there. ⁓ But, you know, it’s also because she’s healthy. so she’s, you know, she’s been a physical phys ed teacher and, and yoga teacher since the 70s, right? She’s eaten, she’s eaten raw ⁓ and healthy since, ⁓ since the beginning of time.

 

Lara Schmosiman (05:45)

Yeah, okay.

 

Alec Batis (06:04)

but there’s others of us, including myself, who are much more insecure. I am just insecure about how I appear to the world, and I’ve worked on it, I’ve worked on it, but that’s what got me into this industry, is this idea of eternal beauty and eternal youth, like intermixed.

 

I’ll say some of the reasons why is because, for example, my grandmother, she was sold as a bride from Japan to come to Canada, actually, not the States, but Canada. And so, and then my mom was born during the Second World War in the internment camps of Canada, you know, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and mom was put into the…

 

Lara Schmosiman (06:31)

Mm-hmm.

 

Alec Batis (06:48)

internment camps, so you can imagine the Japanese were not thought of as, were not looked upon very, you know, well back then. And so my mom grew up with this idea that a woman is sold for her beauty, right? And that for as long as she has it, she’s able to be loved and taken care of and desired. But when that goes, so does the ability to be loved. So when my father left, when she was in her like mid 30s,

 

Lara Schmosiman (06:52)

Yes.

 

Alec Batis (07:16)

her response was, ⁓ well, it’s my fault because I’m no longer beautiful as I used to be. So therefore it’s understandable that a man would leave ⁓ and that’s sort of the teachings she grew up with because a woman is only property, right, ⁓ of a certain value.

 

Lara Schmosiman (07:34)

Mm-hmm.

 

Alec Batis (07:35)

So she told me that while it’s very important what’s on the inside, that she was gonna sort of, know, tell me something I should know, that even though what’s important on the inside, what’s on the inside is important, that really how you look to the world is really critical in terms of being accepted by the world and being loved.

 

And so it’s important to hold on to what you have as long as possible, right? Beauty, your beauty, your appearance. And this is why I sort of had such strong insecurities and why I went to get my degree in chemistry because I was determined to figure out how to look as good as I can as long as I can. Because I thought that’s what love was tied to.

 

Lara Schmosiman (08:20)

Mm

 

Alec Batis (08:21)

I’ve since learned a lot in therapy that really that is not it. ⁓

 

Lara Schmosiman (08:27)

So you’re kind

 

of a therapist then. You’re kind of a therapist. You said that you weren’t before, but you learn so much.

 

Alec Batis (08:30)

What?

 

I

 

learned, I learned, yes, because my insecurities ⁓ were so, this is why I went into beauty. This is why I was marketing for Victoria’s Secret Beauty. This is why for Body by Victoria, I had them retouch the hell out of these models.

 

Lara Schmosiman (08:47)

Mm-hmm.

 

Alec Batis (08:53)

And of any little imperfection, I made sure it was retouched out. ⁓ And because I bought the Kool-Aid, that appearances were so important that there’s this ideal that you need to reach in order to be your best, right?

 

Lara Schmosiman (09:09)

and how you feel about it today.

 

Alec Batis (09:11)

And that was in the 90s, you know, the supermodel times. but I was very, exactly, yes. But I was very unhappy. I then went on to head up marketing for NARS Cosmetics.

 

Lara Schmosiman (09:13)

Okay. Yes. I’ve been there.

 

Mm-hmm.

 

Alec Batis (09:25)

And

 

I again bought the Kool-Aid and then going to therapy, I realized that like my pursuit of being young looking, as attractive as you possibly can as the first goal in life was not making me happy. It was making me miserable. The people I was connecting with, there was no value and no meaning, right? The relationships of us having. So finally did a bunch of therapy and I finally learned that while it’s nice to

 

have the outward appearance and to look great and it opens up a lot of doors and all this, that if you want any meaning in your life, that the true beauty is when you treat people with respect. You find others that feel the same, that have those values, that you are there for people when they need you and vice versa, and that you value other human beings for who they are. And that brings meaning.

 

and a joy in life that is unsurpassable versus just like being fabulous and looking amazing, right?

 

Lara Schmosiman (10:28)

So that’s how you feel today. So how was your transition and how did that affect your life, your routines, your social life, and what changes you had to make in order to get where you are today? And we’re going to get to where you are today in a minute.

 

Alec Batis (10:45)

⁓ So, I understand the question correctly, was just ⁓ being in the beauty industry, It was like the Kool-Aid wasn’t tasting really good anymore. You know how we’re supposed to be, people were calling me a beauty expert, right? Because I’d worked in R &D and marketing and all for decades and the press would be like, Alec Patiz, beauty expert. And I started to think to myself,

 

If we are the beauty industry, right, and we are beauty experts after I don’t know how long working in it, then don’t we have a responsibility to the world, to the people at large, community, to not just talk about beauty on the surface level.

 

Lara Schmosiman (11:18)

Mm-hmm.

 

Alec Batis (11:29)

And I feel like the beauty industry, it’s kind of like fruit and juice. I feel like the beauty industry is focused on the sugar part, the juice part of the fruit, the appearance, the outward appearance, which we all know, juice is great, has lots of antioxidants, but it also has a lot of sugar and is going to make you get sick with diabetes. Right. And we all forget about the fiber of the fruit, right? Juice isn’t the best part. It’s the whole fruit with the fiber. And I feel like the

 

Lara Schmosiman (11:47)

Mm-hmm.

 

Alec Batis (11:56)

same thing with beauty, we focus so much on the outside ⁓ that we forgot the fiber of beauty. And that to me is like, so this is why Sweet Chemistry, like we support the arts, we support young people in the arts, because the arts is about all the disciplines about expression of oneself, more than just my perfect nose and my perfect this and my perfect apps, right? It’s in

 

arts and music and literature and learning and expanding yourself as a person is expanding your is the fiber of beauty right

 

So much more than just the outside. So I just sort of started to focus on parts, parts of beauty that hadn’t been expressed before in the industry.

 

Lara Schmosiman (12:44)

So do you think that when you make this switch, you had to make changes in your lifestyle, in your social life, or those changes were happening organically because you had to detach yourself?

 

Alec Batis (12:51)

yes.

 

Yes, so yes, I started to make changes. I started to make changes in who I hung out with, right? All of a sudden, I wasn’t attracted to the same type of, after the therapy, after learning that I’m more than just how I look.

 

Lara Schmosiman (13:03)

Mm-hmm.

 

Mm-hmm.

 

Alec Batis (13:12)

All

 

my life people have said, you look younger than you are, or you look, and I started to equate the value of myself that way. And then through therapy, I learned that I’m much more than that and that who I am doesn’t depend on that at all. If I start looking 60 tomorrow, I’ll still be beautiful. Do you know what I mean? Like as a human being with value, right?

 

Lara Schmosiman (13:36)

Yeah, I,

 

when my kids were little, I, they, I remember parents being very competitive and I realized that either I can get into that train or trying to raise the best human being they could possibly be.

 

Alec Batis (13:52)

Yes.

 

Lara Schmosiman (13:53)

So, and I think that that happened the same with beauty is like you can define your own beauty and you can be the best version of yourself.

 

Alec Batis (14:01)

Exactly, yes. This balanced approach to it, it’s just the beauty industry has never supported this balanced approach to beauty. The beauty industry usually just focuses on that one aspect of physical beauty. But really, if we’re the beauty industry, we should be responsible to talk about

 

Lara Schmosiman (14:16)

And do you think? Yes.

 

Alec Batis (14:24)

everything internal as well. We should be educating ourselves and teaching that beauty is not just right skin deep. And it should we should really be promoting the fiber of beauty, not just the sugary juice of it.

 

Lara Schmosiman (14:37)

Something that I’ve been seeing consistently in the last few years in the beauty industry is that I see that new brands and the brands that they are successful are the ones who really has a wellness aspect. And do you see that this is something that the beauty industry had taken from people that are demanding that or they see it as the next trend of beauty?

 

Alec Batis (14:51)

True, yes, I’ve seen that too.

 

So I look at like say rare beauty, for example, right? And I remember when she first came out, it was all about like ⁓ mental health, right? Like who you are as a person in terms of your beauty, right? And I heard that she struggled with mental health, right? And issues and to me it felt sincere, right? That to be talking about that when you could just be talking about the makeup, right?

 

Lara Schmosiman (15:07)

and

 

Mm-hmm.

 

Yes.

 

Alec Batis (15:30)

So I think it’s, there’s now a vehicle, a communication vehicle, right? Like with social media and just more much immediate impact, right? Before it, remember it used to be to get a message to someone. was in her office email. You typed it on a typewriter. Someone picked it up and took it to another floor and they would read it. Like communication has just gotten so much more fluid now that I feel like it’s a two way street now. Right? So

 

Lara Schmosiman (15:52)

Is it two ways straight now?

 

Alec Batis (15:58)

we can question things in real time. And so I think it’s a natural evolution to sort of question our thoughts about beauty and how one dimensional it’s been as an industry. And I think the world is craving for more meaning in beauty. And so this is why brands that some brands that are speaking about that sincerely and promoting other aspects of beauty, not just looking good, like looking good is great. Like we love to look good, right?

 

Lara Schmosiman (16:27)

We do love to look good. But we love to feel, we love him more to feel good.

 

Alec Batis (16:28)

We love to look good, but I…

 

Exactly, right? Like, and I don’t think it’s just about accepting our age and aging gracefully and all that. Like, I think it’s also about having meaning in your life and how important that is to feel beautiful.

 

And whether that be through mental health, whether that be through your education and encouraging young people to, you know, become artists or scientists or, you know, promoting the, not just how perfect your nose or like how short your crop top is on, on TikTok, right? Or like being able to promote all sorts of aspects of who you are and what brings you, what makes you beautiful, I think is, is the next.

 

Lara Schmosiman (16:47)

Mm-hmm.

 

Alec Batis (17:12)

You mentioned it could be the next trend, but when it comes to meaning in terms of beauty, people can see through if it’s trend driven or if it’s sincere.

 

Lara Schmosiman (17:15)

Mm-hmm.

 

you

 

I think

 

people can see both, but still when something is very trending, people many times it’s like formal. They cannot not do it.

 

Alec Batis (17:38)

Yes, totally,

 

yes, exactly. It gives them permission as well to talk about other things in the concept of beauty besides just how gorgeous my skin is.

 

Lara Schmosiman (17:42)

Yeah. ⁓

 

So Alec, I love you, what you believe and what you’re talking about, but you also went ahead and created another brand in the world of beauty, which makes it really special coming from you with all your experience and to understand, and this is what I love about you, that you have a reason to bring another beauty brand into the world. And because there are so many brands that are coming to the world,

 

you look at the ingredients and they’re all the same. So why you decided that it was time to bring sweet chemistry to the world and how was born the idea?

 

Alec Batis (18:24)

Yes.

 

Yes. Okay. So, so no plans on bringing sweet chemistry to the world. Are you freaking crazy? There’s no way I’m going to skincare line or beauty line. No way. I’m going to consult for other brands, make my monthly retainer and then leave them Friday afternoon and let them worry about, you know, everything. That’s that.

 

Lara Schmosiman (18:41)

Ew.

 

I get you on that.

 

Mm-hmm.

 

Yes.

 

That’s so not you. Sorry. Not sorry.

 

Alec Batis (19:01)

That was me until 55, right? And I’d seen since the 90s, so many brands like do really well for 10 years, 15 years. I killed it in Sephora, know, this and that. They worked 24 seven and then they failed.

 

Lara Schmosiman (19:04)

Okay.

 

Mm-hmm.

 

Mm-hmm.

 

Alec Batis (19:19)

And then they still had to work after that. So I was like, even if you’re a success in the industry for 10 years, that doesn’t guarantee you anything, right? So I decided I’m happy consulting. the problem was is ⁓ I had met a potential client named Xylex Bio, and they are a lab that spun out of Columbia University’s lab for stem cell and tissue engineering.

 

Lara Schmosiman (19:29)

Nope.

 

Mmm.

 

Alec Batis (19:47)

And

 

every time I go see a new client, it’s usually a cute little office in Tribeca or somewhere cute. And this time they asked me to come to their lab at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center. And it’s the first time I’ve ever been invited to an actual lab to meet a potential client. So I was like, that’s interesting.

 

Lara Schmosiman (19:54)

you

 

Alec Batis (20:11)

And so I went and when I got there, the first two floors were the AIDS vaccine lab. And the second two floors are the tissue engineering lab, right? And I’m thinking, oh wow, this is like, this is different, right? And even I thought, okay, if I’m going to a lab, maybe it’s a beauty lab where it’s like bok choy extract or a asparagus peptide.

 

Lara Schmosiman (20:32)

Yeah, that’s just mixing

 

little things.

 

Alec Batis (20:36)

you know, make, we’re kind of pulling what’s trending, a mushroom peptide, something. So I thought I’ll get there and it’ll be whatever, it’ll be a beauty lab and we’ll just have fun marketing, marketing a new mushroom something or whatever, right? And then when I got there and I was like, they were explaining to me that they were a spin out of Columbia.

 

Lara Schmosiman (20:38)

Yeah.

 

Mm-hmm.

 

Yeah.

 

Yeah.

 

Alec Batis (20:57)

and that they were working on biomaterials for tissue engineering. So repairing lung tissue during surgery when it can get easily punctured. And so they’re making biomaterials to seal and heal punctures in lung tissue during surgery. And that with their partners at Columbia. I mean, I’m like, you know.

 

Lara Schmosiman (20:57)

Mm-hmm.

 

By the way, that’s incredible.

 

That’s mind blowing.

 

Alec Batis (21:22)

mind blowing and in the fridges there there’s org human organs you know so i’m just like

 

Lara Schmosiman (21:26)

How did

 

you get them

 

Alec Batis (21:29)

I was like,

 

well, you’ll see. I was like, what is this? And then they told me that how their main project and they’re going into human trials this year, but their main project was ⁓ organ rehabilitation and transplant. So in 2019, they were able to take a deceased donor lung that was too damaged for transplant, about three out of four lungs that are donated after an accident.

 

are too damaged so they get thrown in the garbage, right? And hence long wait lists for organ transplant.

 

So in 2019, they took a deceased damaged donor lung and then with their partners at Columbia University, Stanford, Vanderbilt, NYU Langone and Stevens, the team, they took the deceased donor lung and they were able to regenerate it with the biomaterials and systems within two days to be transplantable.

 

And that was hailed by New York Times as a miracle, right, in clinical study. So then this year they’re moving into the first human trial. So they’re doing compassionate use case human trial where someone who’s gonna die imminently because they’ve been on the wait list too long and they volunteer. So this year, as Alex and the academia team will do the first human trial on lung rehabilitation and transplant. And if that works, then they move.

 

Lara Schmosiman (22:50)

my god,

 

you are giving me the chills.

 

Alec Batis (22:52)

I mean, it’s just really incredible, right? And like, I was just blown away, of course. And then if those work, then they move into heart, and kidney trials. And if those are successful, that would effectively wipe the organ transplant wait lists around the world globally. So that anyone around the world will be able to get a basically get a refurbished organ.

 

Lara Schmosiman (23:15)

Yes, Oregon.

 

Alec Batis (23:17)

You know like on Amazon where you can order the refurbished version? It’s basically that, right? So I was like, this is beautiful. This is beautiful, like…

 

Lara Schmosiman (23:20)

Yes. Yes.

 

It is beautiful. It’s giving life, it’s giving

 

the hope of life to many people.

 

Alec Batis (23:30)

Yeah, like

 

I was like, this is beautiful. I really love this. And then they said, we tried to bring it to, so they said they’ve worked on these biomaterials, these major kind peptides that are direct, that are extracted directly from organ tissue. These ones specifically from upcycle bovine bone.

 

So instead of like say the beauty industry where for 25 years we’ve had, you know, some, few synthetic peptides meant to mimic matricon peptides. In fact, when you read the brochures from 25 years ago and today in the, in the beauty peptides, they say these peptides are meant to sort of mimic a few of the extra cellular matrix, matricon peptides.

 

Lara Schmosiman (23:53)

Yes. ⁓

 

Mm-hmm.

 

Alec Batis (24:08)

What Xylex Bio did with eight years and $8 million in government funding, beauty of these is that the peptide technology is funded by the government. It’s medical research. So I don’t have to pay for any of this research. It’s already being done. And they were able to extract over 315 bioactive peptides naturally derived from the upcycle bovine bone.

 

Lara Schmosiman (24:32)

Okay, so how you feel like how this connected with the exosomes that today is like a trendy word?

 

Alec Batis (24:38)

Yes, love exosomes. In fact, Xylex works with exosomes on a daily basis, right, in tissue engineering. So if we go to their lab, like the Wall Street Journal came to the lab, so as Forbes, and I think you had seen where they said that the science was the strongest for us out of 136 brands, it’s because they were showing them how they work with exosomes.

 

Lara Schmosiman (25:02)

huh.

 

Alec Batis (25:02)

But the interesting thing is all over the lab, the two floors of SUNY Downs Lake Medical Center, there are several cryo-freezers. This isn’t a freezer in your kitchen. This is a freezer that’s to negative 80 degrees Celsius. Right? Really cold. And then they have these hoods and they have to like get dressed in these get-ups, right? And they have like 20 minutes to an hour to work with them before they are nothing.

 

Lara Schmosiman (25:15)

Yeah, no, it’s really cold.

 

huh.

 

Yeah.

 

Alec Batis (25:29)

And so they’re very sensitive, right? In terms of ⁓ regenerative medicine study. And then I’m like, ⁓ guess what, Xylex? The beauty industry stabilized them in a package in the shelf in Sephora. And they’re like, ⁓ no university we’ve ever worked with or ourselves can keep them stable at more than an hour.

 

under very, very like stringent condition. Extreme, extrinsic, and like they can just disappear. And so they’re like, wow, we’d really love to know how they’re doing that. Because Xylex is spending a lot of money on the, all of the cryo freezers and all the SOPs that they have to maintain in order to be able to work with these.

 

Lara Schmosiman (25:59)

Extreme extreme conditions. Yeah

 

Yeah.

 

Alec Batis (26:22)

highly, highly fragile ⁓ exosomes. So I was like, you know, and I said, is that why you don’t do an exosome? They’re like, yes, this is why we could never stabilize it. Like for us for over an hour, and never mind in a bottle, right?

 

Lara Schmosiman (26:38)

Yeah.

 

Alec Batis (26:39)

And so the cosmetic industry knows something more than the field of regenerative medicine, apparently, right? Apparently, and what what Xylex explained to me was, well, I guess if I guess what you have left after an hour is the lipid sack or what we call envelope in our industry, right?

 

Lara Schmosiman (26:46)

Apparently, yeah.

 

Alec Batis (26:59)

which is basically A liposome. It’s basically a liposome because it doesn’t have any activity, right?

 

Lara Schmosiman (27:05)

Mm.

 

Alec Batis (27:06)

So, and I know some people, some brands are talking about exosomes, these, those envelopes as a little bit more of a delivery system than actual signaling, right?

 

Lara Schmosiman (27:16)

Yeah,

 

seems that lately there is a lot of talking about delivery systems instead of signaling for some reason.

 

Alec Batis (27:23)

Right. Yes.

 

And that’s a little bit more what Xylex thinks is happening. Although Xylex is very open to any cosmetic company that can help them get rid of the cryo-freezers. They would really love that.

 

Lara Schmosiman (27:34)

Okay, I’m sure. Yes, absolutely.

 

So tell us a little more about the sweet chemistry today. What makes it special?

 

why you think that the and what is their place in the shelf where who you use it because as I’m sure you believe this is not the line for everyone and I think that we have enough products out there that anyone should find what is for you so who should be looking for ⁓ and having a great experience with sweet chemistry

 

Alec Batis (28:03)

Yes.

 

Yes, basically our customers, me, me and my different stages of life. I guess this is the good news where it comes to how difficult it is for a brand. And even though I feel like one of the oldest founders, right, on earth, ⁓ I have to remember.

 

Lara Schmosiman (28:13)

Okay.

 

I don’t believe that.

 

Alec Batis (28:27)

Thank you. I feel like, the experience, the experience of going through all this has gotten me to the point where maybe I’ll be doing this better than I would have when I was younger. That’s what I tell myself anyways. ⁓ So the difference is the reason why we exist is basically threefold. So number one is the peptide technology, right? ⁓ It’s the only peptide technology in the world. And I’ve asked every single law firm I can find and every single investors I

 

law firm as well ⁓ that stays in medicine because even the investors wanted it to be assigned to the brand, the IP, the technology, but this one has to stay in medicine because it’s government funded for medical research.

 

Lara Schmosiman (28:58)

Mm-hmm.

 

Mm-hmm.

 

I see.

 

Alec Batis (29:12)

So the technology stays in medicine, but it’s perpetually licensed in cosmetics for beauty use only to sweet chemistry, right? So just the fact that this is one of those technologies that is used and studied in medicine said to me, this is something I’ve never seen before and was worth bringing to the world, right?

 

⁓ Number one. Number two was, and I was never going to come up with my own formulas, but I’ve used my own formulas since I left the lab. I left the lab in 95. L’Oreal switched me from R &D to marketing. At the L’Oreal group, when I was in R &D for the first half of the 90s, I was a VA chemist. VA chemist means value analysis chemist. So in the mid 90s, L’Oreal was considering to buy Kiehl’s. Kiehl’s at the time was a

 

a compounding pharmacy and they had the ultrafacial moisturizer and was very good. And VA chemists, you do is you take a look, value analysis means you take a look at potential brands or companies that were going to be bought and you take a look at the formulas to see if you can find any cost efficiencies. Basically means bring down the cost of the formula so when it’s purchased, you can make more margin on it, right?

 

Lara Schmosiman (30:04)

Hmm.

 

Mm-hmm.

 

Of course.

 

Alec Batis (30:28)

So which is important for a big company, right? To do and.

 

Lara Schmosiman (30:31)

Absolutely. As long as they don’t

 

with the quality of the product, that happens a lot also when one company is bought by another.

 

Alec Batis (30:40)

Well, and that’s all relative, right? So you can blame me or not, but basically ⁓ I was on the team where we took a look and then the formulation was incredible, right? So it was done by a con pharmacy. But we saw lots of cost savings, which means…

 

You know in marketing, right? You pick and choose which ingredients you want for story and what ingredients you want for function, right? Because you only have 10 % to work with in a formula to put in actives. So you have to decide which one, what you want on the ingredient list to talk about for fun and what, which ones you want to talk about in terms of claims, right? And so unusually a lot of the antioxidants and some of those, they just get brought down to marketing levels. So I did the same.

 

Lara Schmosiman (31:03)

Yeah.

 

Absolutely.

 

Uh-huh. ⁓

 

Alec Batis (31:28)

brought down a bunch of them down to 0.01 % marketing levels just to have the label claim. And then a few of them at functional, still a great formula, right? But the cost was much less, right? And then, ⁓ and that gave more margin. And that was, they were very happy with that. And then they had to move me to marketing. But since that was my job, I used to make my own at lunch.

 

Lara Schmosiman (31:34)

Okay.

 

Mm-hmm.

 

Yeah.

 

Okay.

 

Alec Batis (31:57)

And what I did is, usually there’s only 10 % room, because the rest is water and emulsifier, I brought down my water content by 30 % so that I could put in functional levels of everything. For myself, right?

 

Lara Schmosiman (32:08)

I see. And that’s why

 

you look amazing. Yes.

 

Alec Batis (32:11)

And that’s why I look amazing, right? So

 

I did that for myself.

 

Alec Batis (32:15)

after they moved me to marketing, right, from the R &D, I didn’t have the lab anymore, lunch hour, so I just would make it, you know, at home. And yeah, for the past 35 years, I’ve been using functional levels of everything, right? And then I had the, even though I have the patent pending on those emulsions, I knew that anyone can get around them. ⁓ And guess what? I encouraged brands moving forward to not use marketing levels.

 

Lara Schmosiman (32:21)

Yeah.

 

Mm-hmm.

 

Yeah.

 

Alec Batis (32:41)

So we

 

claim it, we claim it on our website and I’m hoping it becomes a thing where we invite all brands to join. Let’s just get rid of story, ingredients.

 

Lara Schmosiman (32:53)

I think that

 

they are wonderful ingredients. As a marketer, I’m telling you, they’re wonderful ingredients. As a marketer, you can make a story about those ingredients. You don’t need to do makeup ingredients for stories.

 

Alec Batis (33:06)

Yes,

 

yes and and I think to use functional levels of all ingredients is something especially if you’re in skincare like fine if I’m a strawberry moisturizer a strawberry body lotion by some brand okay

 

You can just put strawberry extract at a marketing level, 0.01 just for story and it’s fine. But if you’re in performance skincare, there’s no place for marketing levels anymore. I think that we’re inviting any brand to go out and claim on their website and take out story level ingredients out of their formulas and just go with the sort of functional levels.

 

⁓ and they’re welcome to get around my patent and reduce the water content and put functional levels in that. Right. And then at least I think so too. And this way, I think in the world of transparency, ⁓ that we live in, there’s just no place for marketing levels in skincare anymore. Right. So, ⁓ I think that’s the modern evolved approach for industry. And I look forward to the day that everyone claims.

 

Lara Schmosiman (33:46)

Yeah.

 

That’s very generous of you.

 

Alec Batis (34:11)

We don’t use marketing levels anymore, right?

 

but anyways, that is, I attribute that to sort of my own formula. So that’s the second thing. And the third thing is our social impact. working with our supporting, we’re doing a GoFundMe because Xylex lost a, one of the government grants because of diversity when they were trying to hire a research scientist. They, it got pulled overnight, a million dollars, you know, and, and so, and they’re used to government funding only. They know nothing about the private sector. And so I’m like, well, this

 

Lara Schmosiman (34:42)

Yeah.

 

Alec Batis (34:43)

is our social impact chance. So we’re doing a GoFundMe. We’re going to influencers. We’re going to help get more funding for the human trial, for the organ rehabilitation human trial. We support, I researched the young scientists because there’s

 

Lara Schmosiman (34:57)

⁓ Please give us

 

information. I will put everything in the chapter.

 

Alec Batis (35:01)

I will, I

 

will definitely, yes. And we support, research young scientists who just don’t have the funds, because know, science education isn’t funded anymore. And same with art. Education, education isn’t funded anymore, right?

 

Lara Schmosiman (35:10)

Education is expensive.

 

Alec Batis (35:16)

So, and then young artists at YoungArts, you know, supporting them so they can become ⁓ artists ⁓ and, you know, bring other forms of beauty to the world that the world needs in order to find meaning in life, right? So that’s our third, we call it whole beauty. ⁓ It’s just trying to expand and get the fiber of the beauty, you know, out there. So those are the three things. So like the peptides, my sort of performance optimized formulation.

 

Lara Schmosiman (35:38)

Okay.

 

Alec Batis (35:46)

and then the concept of expanding the meaning of beauty and trying to make it so that unlike myself who grew up feeling the only thing that mattered was who told me I look younger? Who told me I look younger for my age? That everything was tied to me for that, right? Finding love was tied to that. And now…

 

Lara Schmosiman (35:55)

Mm-hmm.

 

Alec Batis (36:07)

I want to make sure that other young people don’t fall into that trap of thinking everything is about this.

 

Lara Schmosiman (36:15)

Yeah, that’s beautiful. like so before we go, I have one more question for you. How do you drink your coffee?

 

Alec Batis (36:19)

Okay. Yes.

 

first of all, with a straw. ⁓

 

Lara Schmosiman (36:27)

Okay, that’s I with you never

 

had that one.

 

Alec Batis (36:30)

because I don’t want to get my teeth because I pay too much to get them whitened. And then in the afternoon is iced with some cinnamon in it. ⁓ And then in the morning is hot so I can just sort of wake up.

 

Lara Schmosiman (36:32)

Uh-huh. Okay.

 

Okay.

 

Very nice. Okay. So cheers with coffee. And thank you so much for being here and for being so open about your story and your brand and encouraging people to go around your And ⁓ to you guys, I will see you next week with more coffee number five.

 

Alec Batis (36:49)

here here

 

Exactly. ⁓