Celebrating 10 years of Formula Botanica

2022 marks ten years since the start of the online formulation school that is today Formula Botanica.  This is a massive milestone and a testament to the fantastic quality of the courses and support we offer. That’s 10 years of teaching students that formulation is fun, easy and empowering.

We are celebrating with a look back at just some of the highlights that have seen us grow from one woman’s idea to the world’s leading online formulation school.

A decade ago, we started with a single course delivered by email. Fast forward to today and Formula Botanica has an online portfolio of eight diploma and certificate courses and our flagship International Organic Skincare Entrepreneur Program that take students from beginner to expert formulators and, as our many graduates have shown, into indie beauty careers too. In the last couple of years, we have added a fast-growing membership site – The Lab at Formula Botanica – to extend the options for accredited training on our award-winning e-learning platform.

We are proud of our 17,000-plus students and graduates who represent us in over 180 countries. After studying with us, many have gone on to launch their own successful beauty brands and are selling in major-name retailers.

Over the last decade, we have gone from one person providing student support to dedicated teams running a large front- and back-of-house administration covering our students’ learning experience, course mentoring and grading as well as managing our vast online Facebook community and groups which together number just under 100K members. We are kept running smoothly online 24/7 by an in-house support team of IT, web and systems professionals. All this would have been a dream of the future when the school first started.

Below, are just some of the team celebrating our 10-year anniversary with Formula Botanica CEO Lorraine Dallmeier (3rd from right) during a film shoot in summer 2022.

Our mission from the outset

When we started life as the forerunner to Formula Botanica, no structured, formal training of the kind we offer in organic skincare formulation existed and we are still market leaders and pioneers in our field today.

As well as providing award-winning eLearning for our students, Formula Botanica has helped train a further 400K aspiring natural formulators, beauty entrepreneurs and enthusiasts on our open-access, online masterclasses and training. These free training courses inspire countless more people to start their journey in natural formulation with us.

We support our students with a team of 40-plus staff based in different time zones to ensure we are open round the clock for our international community. With over 1,600 five-star reviews on TrustPilot, Formula Botanica is leading the way in teaching the world to formulate with botanicals. We like to say we are on a mission to make natural formulation a skill within everyone’s reach.

Thought leaders in natural beauty

Formula Botanica has been instrumental in building awareness of and growing the market for natural cosmetics which is set to reach around $54bn by 2027. A key way we do this is by making our voice known as a thought leader on pressing issues facing the cosmetics’ industry today. Each week, our blog, social media channels and our podcast contribute lively debate on the issues, personalities and trends shaping the cosmetics industry.

In our Green Beauty Conversations podcast, Formula Botanica CEO Lorraine Dallmeier and guests share informed viewpoints and news on topics such as sustainability, biotech ingredients, net-zero emissions in beauty and more. Now, with well over 100 episodes comprising guest interviews and opinion pieces, our podcast has been downloaded over 750K times.

Formula Botanica CEO Lorraine Dallmeier, who is a Chartered Environmentalist and biologist, has been recognised in the industry for her success in building Formula Botanica and as a pioneer in the natural cosmetics’ sector. Lorraine was presented with the Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) Digital Achiever Award sponsored by Google, and is consistently voted into top five of the Natural Beauty News Who’s Who.

 

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Sustainability pioneers

We do more than talk about the need for greater sustainability in the beauty industry; we also support those operating on the ground to make change visible and viable. Formula Botanica has from the outset made donations to organisations that align with our philosophy.

We have made annual donations to two, not-for-profit organisations, both of which work internationally in the field of sustainability and conservation. Plantlife and TreeSisters combine action, research and education to fulfil their aims of protecting and regenerating the environment and promoting sustainable use of its resources. In 2021, the Formula Botanica TreeSister’s forest reached a milestone of 100K trees planted which was made possible through both our and our students’ contributions.

Formula Botanica, as a leader in training people in botanical formulation – a sector that draws on the world’s natural resources – has a responsibility to support sustainability.

The next decade

Today, natural, organic and indie beauty is a powerhouse and akin to an international movement. When the school started in 2012, this would have been almost unthinkable. Now, the school and our students and graduates are such a force we are unstoppable. We can only imagine what the next decade will bring both us as a training provider and the community and industry we serve.

From our experience in training thousands of natural formulators and indie brand founders, we know that our community has some of the most innovative minds when it comes to pioneering solutions to make our industry a better, more sustainable place.

Keep up with our plans and glance through our history on our Formula Botanica school timeline.

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Liz Ayling

Liz was Formula Botanica’s Content Coordinator between August 2020-2024. Liz worked as a professional blogger, journalist and site developer for many years and was also part of the Formula Botanica student community. Read more about the Formula Botanica Team.