In The Weeds aims to create products that are high in quality and safe for our consumers. We aim to provide natural skin products with different healing benefits, and provide these products and our packaging in eco-friendly, recyclable/recycled materials. We stand firmly on the disapproval of animal testing.

Starting from the top… This story begins in May of 2010, when I graduated from Texas State University – San Marcos. I earned my degree in Consumer Sciences in Interior Design with a minor in Technology. Although this was a great degree accompanied by an intense program, by the time I had graduated college, the economy had shifted and it was very difficult to find a job in this field. I moved back to my hometown and eventually found a job at a well known furniture store as an assistant display manager. I was told that after a long training period, I would eventually be taking over my boss’s position who was set to retire in a year. Awesome! I started in September of 2010, and I create highly decorated furniture vignettes in a three-plus acre store, running up and down stairs with lamps, accessories, artwork, you name it! I was in the best shape of my adult life as this job was very physically demanding! I wore sneakers everyday, usually had a back pocket full of nails when I got home, and I always had a measuring tape attached to my jeans. After less than a year at my job, in late April, I was hanging a heavy mirror and I felt a pop in my back as I struggled to get the mirror’s back wire on the hook. I should’ve asked for help, but we were already shorthanded. I was trying to impress the “big boss” because my soon-to-retire boss had been an employee of the year, had been working there forever, and basically left me with really big shoes to fill. That week, she had been working at another store and I was left in charge of the display department. The next few days, the pain in my sciatic nerve became unbearable and I was struggling to walk and stand up straight. I scheduled a specialized deep tissue massage, and though this relieved some of the pain, the pain returned. I went to our “company doctor,” and I received a cortisone shot. It masked the pain for a little bit, but I am so thankful that it wore off quickly, because I almost missed the date in which I could report a worker’s compensation injury. I had gone to one of the store managers since my immediate boss was not currently at our location and told him that I am starting to feel numbness in my feet, and how asked how I could schedule my work with while also getting some treatment during the week. I was told that he could not let me return to work if I was having numbing in my feet until I was OK’ed by a doctor. This was when I began the nightmare of a worker’s compensation case!

I was dismissed from work and began going to physical therapy everyday at first, and then every other day and taking A LOT of medications. I was knocked out all the time. I was put on steroids, nerve medication, and muscle relaxers. I was often propped up in a bed, uncomfortable, and when I was up, I was scaling the walls to get to where I was trying to go. There were times I needed help going to the bathroom because I couldn’t get up. Therapy, though so painful, helped and I was starting to improve. I felt the pressure of returning back to work, so after two months, I returned on light duty. When I returned two months and a half months later in August, I was a good 50 lbs heavier. I still had doctors appointments I had to go to bi-weekly. Because I was at work less, I was removed from salary and placed on an hourly wage. The position I was initially hired for was given away and the pain I had to endure being the “first commander” in this physically demanding position was just too much to bear. The pain was returning, and I knew I needed to get out. I spent my lunch breaks applying to and calling other interior design based companies looking for a job. I would take anything, even an unpaid internship just to get out of my current job. I remember an interview I had with an interior design firm that was a good 30 minute drive away in which I told the owner I was willing to do an unpaid internship. The owner told me though they didn’t believe in not paying interns, they didn’t think they even had enough extra work for an intern as the economy had greatly affected their business, as well. It felt as though I was begging, but she kept it real with me and I appreciated her honesty. I felt completely defeated and lost. People didn’t understand my injury because they couldn’t see it. I was living in constant pain. My co-workers thought I was faking my injury

and was just trying to get time off. My mother thought I had just lost it and couldn’t stop gaining weight. People saw a tall, muscular woman and thought that I could do more than what I could. I subsequently left my job in mid October (six months after my injury) not knowing what I was going to do. I was still recovering from my injury, and going to work on medication was becoming a daily struggle. Additionally, I had been in a pretty new relationship when I was first injured and it was definitely taking a toll on our relationship. She was a home health nurse, and the last thing she wanted to do was come home to my mess. And I don’t blame her. I struggled trying to figure out my next move in life while I woke up and lived in daily pain. I took a few months to try to focus on my recovery, and plan a new life. My favorite uncle passed away right before Christmas, and that was hard, too. The holidays came and went, and I had been thinking about becoming a make-up artist. Oftentimes, I would get asked to do makeup for special occasions, which is something I enjoyed it to do back from my high school days and because of my art background. I told my mom, “Why don’t I just go to school and become an esthetician? I’m not doing anything else, and I can get paid appropriately as a make-up artist.” Of course she had her reservations about me going to “beauty school” after having a bachelor’s, but I was excited to get my life back, so I enrolled.

My school was paid for by the Department of Assisted Rehabilitated Services (DARS), and though it took a while to get approved, I was accepted! I was to begin in early May. My injury and the prescribed medications I was taking had taken a toll on my body adding 70 lbs to my physique in 8 months. The extra weight was making my recovery worse! The first year, I had been to over 100 doctor’s appointments. That’s not a typo. I was trying to go to the gym and diet, but I discovered that some of the medications were going to affect me months after I stopped taking them. As I prepared myself to begin esthetics school, I challenged myself to a fruit and vegetable juicing diet to help lose the weight since I was in too much pain to regularly go to the gym. It started off rough, but five days in, it wasn’t so hard. I noticed my energy was up, my skin was glowing, and I was losing weight! I continued juicing about two thirds of the time I was in school, and started weaning myself off the medications. I would try to only take them when I couldn’t bear the pain. I was always on a heating pad because of my chronic pain.

Esthetics school started and I was loving it! Unfortunately, a month in, my relationship had run its course, and we broke up. This left me moving in with my parents and I remember thinking, “I’m 29 and living with my parents. Super Awesome.” I was not in the position in life I thought I would be in at 29! It felt like my life was in the weeds.

As I continued with esthetics school, I was shocked to learn of all the chemicals in products. We learned about so many skin issues and treatments, but it was discerning that there were so few natural options. I had just been put through the ringer with all the medications I had been on and the last thing I wanted was for chemicals to be absorbed into my body, especially after learning that it only takes 28 secs for 60% of what touches your skin to be absorbed into your skin. Um, no thank you!

Shortly after, a school project came up, and we were to make an exfoliant. “Too easy,” I thought. All you need is sugar and olive oil, but then I thought, “Olive oil on my sensitive, problematic, acne prone skin? Not gonna happen.” Coincidentally, the massage therapist at the school, Ms. Naomi (RIP) had just recently come into our class and taught us about certain facial massages

and about essential oils. Essential oils were concentrated oils from plants, flowers and things “of the Earth.” I was more than intrigued! I had always had sensitive skin and these oils sounded like magic! I was still juicing, and was being very aware of what was going in and on my body since the medications had really changed my body chemistry. Since I couldn’t work, I came home from school and spent hours researching oils, herbs, flowers and fruits using the same juicing concept but with what I put on my face. I made my project jar, and then gave some of the extras to family and friends who just thought it was just fantastic! It was the old school lemon, honey, and sugar face scrub recipe that has been around forever, but I had elevated and tweeked it with natural and essential oils. I was encouraged by my peers and esthetics teacher, Ms. Arguelles to begin selling this product because people were attracted to the fact that it was all natural, handmade, and it was like fresh foods for your face. I began to get excited and wanted to make it better, so I kept adding all natural components with different skin reactions and benefits. My teacher even began buying it for her son, and I thought, “You know you’re doing something right when your esthetics TEACHER is buying it for her son’s acne!” I named it, Dollface.

My first nephew, Ian, had been born and I originally started using my sister’s Gerber baby jars to house my concoction. I was selling jars to friends, to people at school and it got to the point where my nephew just wasn’t eating enough baby food to keep up with my demand for jars, so I started looking into buying jars wholesale. I saw the wholesale minimums and knew I didn’t have enough money to put in an order. I was so broke! More broke than I had ever been. Not that many people know this, but before I lived with my parents, I was on food stamps. I literally couldn’t afford my own groceries at that time. It was a tought time, but wiith the sales I made, I started buying Gerber Baby Jars and emptying them into Tupperware containers because the jars WITH food were actually cheaper than buying empty jars because of the wholesale minimum. I’d them give the food to everyone I knew that had kids. Soon after, my Tia Ruby gifted me a check for $150, and though I had no idea of what I was doing, I placed my first jar order. I sold the jars with little squares of card stock that had the information of the product tied to the jar. Shortly after, I signed up for my first farmer’s market in McAllen, Texas and made $120 at my first show. I was thrilled! I hadn’t seen $120 to call my own in months! Then it started, and I was addicted!

I named my little business In The Weeds Natural Scrubs. I had always been a cocktail waitress during college, and “in the weeds” is a service injury term meaning you are trying to catch up. Think about being a server and having way too many tables to serve and tables to clean so people can sit, and always being behind. That was what my life felt like. My injury, the demise of my physicality and moving back home had put my life in the weeds. I had begun going to the McAllen Chamber of Commerce’s business meetings where other entrepreneurs could talk and get advice. They taught me a lot about starting a business. The same week I finished school, I went to the courthouse and filed for my DBA. I had already started making new products that weren’t scrubs, so that’s when I officially became In The Weeds Natural Skin Care. That was in February of 2013. The chamber had a grant opportunity coming up which was a lengthy application, but I applied. I presented testimonials, demoed the product, and even had before and after pictures. A few weeks passed and I discovered that I was selected as one of the winners! My first summer in business, I had earned a $5,000 Innovative Entrepreneur Grant from the Chamber of Commerce. Did I mention their were seven male judges I had to convince? It was amazing! I used that grant money to pay for my first

website and my first sticker labels. I was officially in business, and I have been riding this crazy wave ever since! I have won a lot of recognition and this business has become my passion. I love being able to help people that also have sensitive skin and skin issues. Seeing my customers return with confidence and smiles on their face is truly the most rewarding part of my job alongside being able to help future entrepreneurs and woman business owners, as well as, learning from them. It’s funny how things happen in life sometimes. Looking back, I know that I was supposed to have that back injury. I still suffer from chronic pain, but I can go to the gym, I take care of myself, and I take life a day at a time. The injury is tough, but I received the greatest gift from that injury which is In The Weeds. When life handed me lemons, I made Dollface. And here we are! I continue to research and develop new products, and I thoroughly test each one. If I break out, it’s back to the drawing board! This can get frustrating, but customers know my standards are high, and it is my mission to build a company with products that are healthy and safe. Life can already be tough and being able to help make it just a little bit easier for someone has been extremely fulfilling! It also has been extremely fulfilling to share my story, and to tell people that it’s ok to be down and out sometimes. It really is about how you get up, how you learn, and how you move forward. Resiliency comes with experience and the trials and tribulations of life. I am truly blessed for the obstacles I have overcome and I try to take the obstacles in my path as lessons. Not only am I a healer, but I am a problem solver and this is something I truly love about myself and I am happy and humbled to be able to share this with those who want to know my story and to those who might just need that little bit of hope. There is always a silver lining if you look for it. Thank you for letting me share a piece of myself, and I hope you will see and experience the care that I put into every In The Weeds product! Please review us as I always appreciate the feedback of my customers! I hope you will continue to support us and follow our story!

Much love and gratitude,
Lika Torline